Abstract:Thebrain viewsthe handas one of its prime sourcesof information aswell as a major destination for neurologicalmotor effort. Thispaperwill discussthe use of hand 'modes' in healingand howthey can bridgecommunicationbe-tween the energetic realmsand the body.
The Hand
The hand is the tool with which wemanipulate and interact with ourenvironment. We can use them to createthe most beautiful and intricate artwork.They can also transmit healing energies. Amother's caress of her child, the touchbetween lovers, and the laying on of handsby a healer all express love and a sense ofconnection. The hands can accomplishmuch in the world and in relationship toothers.
The cerebral cortex transmits and receivesa large amount of information to and fromthe hands. This is evidenced by thehomunculus (little man), a map of the bodyplaced over the cortex, which shows theamount of space allocated to each part ofthe body (Figure 1). The hand occupiesalmost 20% of the cortex for both sensoryand motor function. Therefore, the hand isa major focus in our neurology and the useof specific hand positions can enable us tomaximize our therapeutic effect in healing.
The hands can generate specific sensorystates within a person. When placed inunique spiritual gestures or signs, they canactivate internal worlds. In other words,
both the inner and outer landscapes canbe accessed and influenced. In fact, wecan place hand signs that tune the nervoussystem and energy system of an individualto the subtle realms of the soul, and canuse this attunement for healing ourselvesor for healing others.
Hand Mudras
The use of specialized hand signals calledmudras dates back thousands of years.The term mudra, which comes from theroot mud, means to rejoice. The Tantrictradition considers mudras to be "seals."They are used to seal, or lock into the body,certain energies or states ofconsciousness. The folklore beings of manyAsian cultures are depicted with differentmudras in their hands. Mudras are alsoprevalent in the hands of many Asianreligious masters, and in images of theirdeities. Statues and paintings of theBuddha show his hands in differentmudras, and these mudras are still in usein Buddhism.
Likewise, statues of Hindu deities showdifferent mudras in their hands.Practitioners of yoga use mudras to focus
other biblical personalities with their handsshowing specific mudras. Kabbalistic litera-ture (Jewish mysticism) includes many dia-grams of the hands with Hebrew letters onthe different joints, and modern rabbis con-tinue to use the blessing mudra of the Levitepriests (Figure 2). The ancient masters,saints, and teachers were communicating amessage with their hands. These hand posi-tions were not random, as they tell us some-thing about the message or perspective ofthe teacher. It is not uncommon for people indeep meditation to have their hands uncon-sciously form specific mudras. The handscan, and do, reflect deep inner states of con-sciousness.
Clinical Kinesiology
Alan Beardall, O.C.,one of the original ap-plied kinesiologists, made many great contri-butions to the collective knowledge of thesubject. One of his many accomplishmentswas the development of the therapeutic sys-tem that he called "Clinical Kinesiology."Central to this integrative approach to natu-ral healing was the use of hand mudras. Hecalled them hand modes.
He once observed a patient spontaneouslymake a specific hand sign that altered theresponse of the muscle he was testing. Thisled him to research different hand positionsand their effect on the body. He could ascer-tain the meaning of the different hand posi-tions through manual muscle testing, obser-vation, and a deep intuitive ability. Beardalldeveloped several hundred of these handmodes that represented all parts and func-tions of the body.
The hand mode acts as a neurological filteror focus point for the body. This is like sort-ing a list of names by the first name or the
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last name or the city the people come from,depending on the filter you have chosen.Beardall's hand modes enable the practitio-ner to get specific information from the nerv-ous system. They help to give context to adialog that you are having with the body. It isthe difference between asking a generalquestion and asking a specific one. This is agreat tool for getting to deeper layers of dis-tortion and imbalance in the body.
One common procedure used in appliedkinesiology is to place the body in differentpositions when testing muscles. Some mus-cles will only exhibit inhibition (appear weak)when the patient is sitting, standing, or as-suming the position of the original injury. Itmakes sense, therefore, to include specifichand positions in muscle-testing procedureswhen we realize how much of our cortex iswired to and from the hands. We communi-cate so much with our hands that harness-ing this tool can be a way to enhance ourconscious dialog with the body.
The Master Circuit
Many years ago, I realized that I could placethe mudras in my hands and determine theireffect on my body. I would spend some timeeach day doing very subtle balancing of mysystem as preparation for meditation. In Oc-tober 1983, at the end of a period of deepinner contemplation and work with somenew modes that Beardall had just devel-oped, I had a life transforming experience.My hands spontaneously went together in ahand sign that I had never seen before(Figure 3). I said to myself, "I wonder whatthis means." There was an instantaneousreply. I heard a loud voice say, "This is theMaster Circuit!" The voice came from allsides of me. I was stunned. Not one to hearvoices, this was a memorable experience,
because it was definitely not my little brainspeaking to me. Furthermore, the effect ofthe mudra lasted in me for hours. Withoutgoing into more detail, this hand sign workedin my system like nothing I had ever experi-enced. It took approximately 13 years to re-alize the full meaning of this mudra.
The Master Circuit was the first of manyhand signs given to me in my inner contem-plations over the years. This mudra was ac-tive over only certain areas of my body, andthe design of the active areas was quite dif-ferent from anything I had ever seen. Soonafter receiving the Master Circuit mudra, Irecalled having purchased a book on theKabbalah several years earlier. I retrievedthe book and found that the new mudra wasactivating places over my body that corre-lated with the locations of the 10 Sefiroth;the major energy centers of the Tree of Life(Figure 4). This was the beginning of my re-search into the Kabbalah and how to acti-vate the spiritual patterns in the body. Sincethen, I have spent much time contemplatingthe mudras and the energies of the Kabbal-istic Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life
The Kabbalistic Tree of Life (Figure 5) offersa valuable perspective for healing. Based onJewish mystical thought, the Tree is a mapthat serves as a blueprint for both the cos-mos and the human body. The symbol of theTree of Life consists of 10 spheres calledSefiroth (Sefirah is singular), which are con-nected by 22 pathways. The Sefiroth repre-sent the 10 stages of Creation. The path-ways represent the alphabet of Creation. TheHebrew alphabet consists of 22 letters.These 32 paths (10+22) have a direct corre-lation to the structure and function of thephysical body.
Chapter 2 in my book Sign Language of theSoul explores this one-to-one correlation indetail, but, it is interesting to note that eachextremity in the body contains 32 bones andthere are 32 teeth in the developed adultmouth. The Tree of Life manifests in four dif-ferent dimensions or worlds, which correlatewith the four extremities. The 22 bones ofthe skull and the 20 amino acids plus twostop signals of the ONA(22) relate to the let-ter pathways of the Tree. Keep in mind thatthere are many more such linkages, but theessential idea is that the human body per-fectly reflects its spiritual origins.
Addressing the Soul
My goal was to learn how to dialog with thebody from the spiritual perspective. Althoughthis does not imply any religious connotation,it does assume that there is a sacred placewithin each person. When I realized thatthere was a way to physically tune the bodyto this sacred place, I knew that an impor-tant key had been revealed. I found thatthrough resonance the higher pattern couldbe stimulated in the physical system. Hu-mans are perfect resonators. Anytime we arewith another person we begin to resonate totheir energies and vice versa. If we don't likewhat we feel, we get away from that person.If we embrace the feelings, we find a rapportwith that person. The effects of resonancecan be exposed in the nervous system withmuscle testing.
If I go up to John Wilson and ask, "Hey John,what's up?" I will get a different responsethan if I ask, "Hello Mr. Wilson, how are youtoday?" He responds (resonates) basedupon how he is addressed. The same occursin the nervous system. We all know thetouch of a healer when he or she puts his orher hands on us. Likewise, when we start a
dialog with the body, the type of questionswe ask determines the kind of answers wereceive. The body always responds, but it isimportant to ask the right question in thecorrect manner if we are to gain an accurateperspective.
For instance, asking physical, psychological,or even spiritual questions are of limitedvalue if the problem is biochemical in nature.The job of the healer is to determine thegreatest need of the client. If the only wayyou know how to ask the body questions ison the structural level, then that is the typeof information you will receive from thebody-unfortunately, it may not always be theroot of the problem.
Example
Let us explore one of these hand modes. Themudra that resonates to the Hebrew wordShekhinah and the Sanskrit word Kundaliniis shown in Figure 6. Shekhinah and Kun-dalini are both terms used to describe thefeminine aspect of divinity, which is said tobe exiled in the lower realms, or the physicalplane. Without getting into a philosophical orreligious discussion on this, we can observethe effect of this hand mode.
Place this mode into someone's hands.Touch the tips of the thumbnails to eachother and touch the four fingertips to theiropposites (Figure 6). The person with whomyou are working can then release this mudraas long as he or she remains quiet and cen-tered. Now, touch his or her lower sacrum-coccyx while testing any strong muscle. Youshould notice a weakness or inhibition ofthis muscle. There is nothing wrong or inneed of correction at this area. This test onlyshows that the hand mode activates thisarea of the body/energy field. Now have the
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person with whom you are working speakany word in order to break the resonant ef-fect of the mudra at the lower sacrum or coc-cyx.
This simple exercise shows that the Shekhi-nah/Kundalini mudra activates the energyover the lower sacrum and coccyx. It is inter-esting that the Kundalini force is said to restas a coiled serpent in this area. This is just ashort demonstration of one of the spiritualhand modes.
Conclusion
Hand mudras that tune the nervous systemto the Tree of Life center the body to a veryspecial frequency that is beyond all switch-ing and other neurological distortion in thebody. Beginning a dialog with the body in thisway insures a better outcome. The Sign Lan-guage of the Soul procedures are quite goodat clearing structural imbalances, energeticdistortions, and if you know how, psychologi-cal issues. They can be of great help in clear-ing confusion from the body so that one canevaluate the whole system. You will find thatmany structural imbalances begin to stabi-lize once you address the energetic basisbehind them. There are limitations of anynatural healing method in treating seriousillness without other knowledge or support.However, anyone working with the spiritualhand modes will be pleasantly surprised bythe results.
Schusterman, Dale (2003). Sign Language of the Soul: A Handbook for Healing, The Writers' Collective
Dale Schusterman, DC, Great Falls, VA, a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Virginia since 1977,he has been a diplomat in Applied Kinesiology since 1986 (DIBAK), was Vice-chair of ICAK-USA(international College of Applied Kinesiiology)1999-2000. Author of "Sign Language of the Soul."
