Anann Yassin

Part of my own daily self-care is to open and clear the energies in my hands. This helps to release any accumulated, stagnant energies and bring in fresh energy by activating the chakras in the hands and encouraging energy to flow through the meridians.

Opening your hands has many physical benefits including relief for pain, arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome. It also helps you to ground your energies. 

If you use your hands to work on yourself or other people, doing this will increase your connective, healing abilities and the way in which you sense with your hands. You may wish to try it before doing the Daily Energy Routine or any other self-care routine you have.

If you are creative with your hands, through art, music, plant care or food preparation for example, I encourage you to try this beforehand and see the difference it may make!

1. Begin by vigorously rubbing your hands together long enough to generate some heat. Then shake them off.
2. Interlace your fingers and gently stretch your hands and wrists.
3. One hand at a time, with fingers still interlaced, very gently and slowly pull your hand away from your wrist to open this area more deeply.

4. Using your thumb, massage the entire palm of the opposite hand, including the muscle below the thumb ( the group of policis brevis muscles) which connect to the Spleen.
5. Do this on both hands.
   • Use deep but comfortable pressure. Tenderness indicates stagnant energies, so lighten your pressure if needed and give extra attention to the area.
6. Next gently massage along the inner and outer wrist crease using small, circular movements.
7. You can also lightly hold the wrist and twist it back and forth. End by tracing along the outer edge of your hand and pulling or twisting off your little finger and then repeat on the thumb side, pulling or twisting off the thumb.
8. Repeat on other hand.

9. Massage along the spaces between the metacarsal bones on the back of each hand, also known as the ‘hand gaits’. Use deep but comfortable pressure working your way along the gaits towards each finger and then twisting and pulling off that finger. Work your way across the entire back of the hand using this method.

To activate the hand chakras use gentle, focused pressure as you circle firstly counter- clockwise for 3-5 repetitions and then repeat clockwise. Use the tip of the pad of your thumb to do this (not the nail).

1. Start with the point in the centre of your palm and then the centre of the pad at the end of each finger, beginning with your little finger and finishing with the thumb.
2. Begin by working on the left hand and finish with the right hand.
3. Integrate the changes you have made by moving your hands and wrists in a figure 8 pattern.

Any of these exercises can be used alone and repeated often throughout your day.

Pain or tenderness indicates energetic congestion which you can clear using these methods.

Lighten your pressure and as the congestion clears, pain will release and you can work more deeply.