Mudras
Gestures were used as a
protolanguage prior to the advent of language. Most animals
have verbal or behavioral mannerisms that act as primitive
but in some, elaborate, gestures to warn, attract, alert
and lure others of the pack or herd, or as a general
warning in moments of danger. Certainly higher mammals such
as chimpanzees and gorillas appear to have elaborate
signing gestures that also alert others to various needs,
dangers or for social interaction. In the University of
Washington, the experiments with signing taught to
chimpanzees by Faulks was initiated by early recognition in
the forests of Tanzania, that these animals in the wild,
use gestures to communicate.
In tribal / indigenous situations with many local dialects
and languages, gestures developed because most indigenous
peoples were localized or lived in isolated territories.
They only knew one language. This isolation was initially
maintained by poor means of travel, and thus strangers had
to develop an early lingua franca which was gesture-driven
rather than spoken. This enabled travellers, or those who
were lost in the jungles, or who had strayed into another's
tribal area, a means of communication. Gestures were then
used to sign their intent or explain their situation.
Babies will often illustrate, even with an immature central
nervous system, this early communication language - animal
in origin - as gestures. [Clinically we have seen damaged
or disturbed post partum babies illustrate their woes with
gestures - their little fingers curled in very simple
contortions as well as elaborate configurations. After
twenty years using gestures as a language we now see that
these little gestures are modes, which often (but not
always) indicate what is ailing them.]
In contemporary society we see the re emergence of mudras
from practices of old into present day use. We observe them
in two forms - in dance and worship or ritual. Many of us
will have seen them in books, libraries and exhibitions as
elements of old icons, statues, paintings - and in
present-day exercise as in yoga, or in meditative practice.
The ability to travel into the furthest reaches of the
world, necessitated a more complex but more generally
understood language - usually of commerce or trade - and
these were termed lingua franca. This obviated the need for
a simple gesture skill. However societies have used this
basic protolanguage skill - the use of the hand to convey
communication, for the benefits of the deaf - America sign
language - and with braille in the sightless.
As language became more inventive and skillful, rules and
syntax governing its use became more and more the norm.
Parallel to this the use of religious and ritual processes
designed to alter the state of the human being also
developed. This sophistication of both language and
gestures perhaps parallels the awareness of the force or
power of language and of symbols. Early icons, carvings,
sculptures and paintings depict humans in ritualistic poses
(known also as a gestural pose) as well as depicting hand
gestures or mudras. Bronze casting of eastern sages or a
Buddha in meditative pose will often depict one hand or
both in a particular gesture. The word mudra comes from the
Sanskrit for seal, mystery, or from ancient [Iranian]
Akkadian musara meaning object bearing a royal inscription.
East Indian Classical dancing revolves around the telling
of ancient religious stories through elaborate gestures
both in body and hand pose.
In the countries of Asia where the religious or
philosophical were seen as parallel to the martial and
secular, attempts to elevate the rank of warrior to
initiate was probably exemplified by the monks of Shaolin
in western China. These monks became expert martial artists
as they needed to defend themselves against petty bandits
and rogue states. Their high art form and prowess and
almost supernatural capacity was ritualized with mudras and
gestures that either symbolized the need to stay pure in
heart and mind, and to impart physiological changes in
their state to help them fight in such remarkable ways.
In our Western world, the Eastern Christian Church -
exemplified by the Greek and Russian Orthodoxies - had an
iconic art form depicting Jesus and his disciples holding
particular mudras or gestures. Some are explained as an
illiteration of Jesus's name - a sign of his initials, but
others are more obtuse and obviously not simply his gesture
signature. They are often explained as signs of Grace or
blessing. There has always been a 'fog' or obtuseness in
these ritualized forms so as to impart symbolic wisdom to
the initiate or to invoke a change of state on those who
contemplated the icon itself. The secrets of these ancient
gestures may not have been revealed but merely copied over
the years in the monasteries that produced them.
Mudras are used now in therapeutic protocols as a language.
Coupled with the art of ontological kinesiology, an
offshoot of the practice of muscle kinetics and function,
the mudras can be used to 'ask' the human body - and
essence - as a dialogue to ascertain what has occurred to
cause the present situation. This enables the practitioner
to reveal the story of the person, and the root cause or
dynamic that needs to be addressed. This cuts through
normal models of illness and pathology, for it allows us to
understand the inner processes that occur within a human -
the loss of connection, the lack of value, the disorder of
their natures, the loss of dynamic as a human being.
Through helping people to understand the etiology of their
state, the person can begin to rectify and re-order their
own internal self which in turn can promote health and
wellbeing. This is facilitated by the person beginning to
connect with, adjust to, reorientate with a central
connection, to what we may call, the Great Life.