Sealed with a Bliss
February 13, 2015
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.”
~ Helen Keller
Valentine’s Day is the day in which we celebrate matters of the heart. Whether you look forward to Valentine’s Day or would rather avoid it, a lovely way to harmonize your mind, body and soul within the context of your heart is with the Anjali Mudra.
Often used as part of a yogic meditation, mudras are gestures of the hands that symbolize and encourage various mental, spiritual and energetic states and are thought to help manifest these states into physical reality.
The verb manifest, defined as “to make evident”, probably originated as a combination of manus, the Latin word for “hand”, combined with festus, meaning “struck”. Therefore, the etymological roots of the word manifest describe striking a pose with the hand, as in forming the gesture of a mudra.
The Anjali Mudra is made by bringing your palms together in front of your heart center, with the thumbs resting lightly at the sternum. This positioning of the hands is used as both a greeting and a sign of respect in India and other parts of Asia. It is familiar to westerners as bringing the hands together in prayer.
Anjali, in Sanskrit, means “offering” or “salutation”. Mudra translates as “seal” or “gesture”. The Anjali Mudra can be interpreted as “to seal an offering” or “to make a gesture of salutation”.
In certain cultures, as well as in western yoga classes, this gesture of salutation is often accompanied by speaking the word namaste which can be translated as, “the divine in me salutes the divine within you.”
The heart is the center of the physical body, through which all blood flows. Energetically, the heart center is where the earthly, emotional, creative, mental and spiritual elements meet. Placing the hands at the heart center when greeting another person physically signifies that your heart is opening to acknowledge, not only the universal beauty and love within yourself, but also within them. One seals this offering of universal love by bringing the palms together to touch.
This hand positioning is also beneficial as an individual exercise. Bringing the hands together in this way connects physically, energetically and symbolically, the two hemispheres of the brain as well as the right and left sides of the body. It is the most fundamental of balancing postures.
Touching the palms together at the heart also helps to connect the inner self with the outer self. By forming the Anjali Mudra as part of a silent meditation, you are acknowledging the divine within your own heart as well as the universal love that exists within all things both greater and smaller than yourself, while symbolically and energetically sealing the connection.
No matter how you celebrate Valentine’s Day, you can make every day a celebration of love by combining the Anjali Mudra with six minutes of slow, deep breathing. Here’s how:
Sit or stand comfortably. Inhale deeply through your nose as you bring your palms together at your heart center. Rest your thumbs lightly at your sternum. Exhale slowly, again through the nose. Close your eyes and continue breathing in and out, slowly, evenly and deeply, preferably in and out of the nose. Do this for six minutes. If your mind begins to wander, imagine a beautiful rosebud as you inhale and see it opening slowly into full bloom as you exhale.
“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”
~ Joseph Campbell
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You will love Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies.
Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies
These yummy brownies combine creamy red velvet cheesecake with a chewy, chocolatey brownie. I used natural food coloring (available at Whole Foods and online), which is not as intense as artificial food color, so the cheesecake part of my brownies was more of a pink velvet, but just as lovely and delicious for Valentine’s Day!
Red Velvet Cheesecake Filling:
8 oz full-fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup organic sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (or more) red food coloring
Brownie batter:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup organic sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 350°F
Lightly butter the bottom and partially up sides of an 8-inch square pan.
Combine cheesecake filling ingredients in a food processor. You can also use a medium bowl with an electric mixer. Mix on low speed, then medium, then high, until creamy. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl, cream sugar and butter, then beat in eggs, then vanilla, then cocoa. Mix well.
Combine wet and dry ingredients.
Set aside 1/2 cup of the brownie batter.
Spread the remaining brownie batter in the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with the cheesecake filling and spread over the brownie layer evenly. Dot spoonfuls of the reserved brownie batter over the cheesecake layer. Run a knife over the surface to create a swirl pattern.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until top is just set.
Let cool completely and cut into squares.
Makes 16 brownies.
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