Thumbs Up

Give yourself the 'thumbs up' to improve your mood.

Who knew that rotating your arms forward and backward with hands in a ‘thumbs up’ mudra could stimulate your pituitary gland to bring in calm and goodness?

¹

---

Basic Practice - thumbs up with arm rotation

respect your limits, modify where needed

posture set-up:

• stand or sit

• feel both feet grounded and connected to the earth

• spine is tall

approach your body with softness, gentleness and kindness

thumbs up mudra:

• bring hands in front of you

• wiggle fingers to warm-up joints

• roll the tip of your fingers down without reaching the palms

• leave thumbs stretched out

rotation of arms with thumbs up mudra:

• at about shoulder height:

  • extend arms out wide to your sides

  • bring hands into ‘thumbs up’ mudra

  • thumb points up to the sky

• initiate following actions from shoulder joint:

  • inhale; externally rotate whole arm open and back

    • thumbs point up and move backwards

  • exhale; internally rotate whole arm inwards

    • thumbs move forward, down and then back

  • repeat cycle 2 more times; try up to 7 or 10 times 😀

Explore the Movement

noticing is an inquiry - there are no right or wrong answers

• Are your fingers tense, grippy, tight?

• Are you able to soften and relax the fingers while holding the mudra (hand position)?

• Are you able to engage your shoulder blades while arms are extended and rotating open and back?

alignment is a technique -  there is a correct and incorrect way

• Are your arms straight at the elbow joint?

  • If not, please don’t stress, notice and see if you can encourage the elbow joint to straighten over time. 

Everyday Living

Dinah Rodrigues shares that this exercise “acts on your mood, eliminating fear and insecurity”.

²

  What a wonderful and easy way to bring some thumbs up in our lives!

Yoga Practice

This practice works on the shoulder joints and activates the hypophysis (pituitary gland). 

³

 In my experience it also helps with elbow awareness and finger joints. 

Discover Amazing

Quite honestly, I don’t understand how this exercise activates the pituitary gland to bring in calm. But the idea that it does fascinates me. 

The pituitary gland is one of the eight glands which makes up the endocrine system which produces our hormones. The pituitary is special in that it produces its own hormones, PLUS it is the master gland giving orders to the whole endocrine system. See picture in footnotes of the whole endocrine system.

⁴

  The pituitary gland with its partner hypothalamus control the body’s basic operations like blood pressure, heart rate, reparation (breathing), body temperature, sleep and digestion. 

Discover your own amazing YOU within. Test and see if this practice brings on calm and goodness. If not, know that is okay. Continue experimenting and see if anything changes over time. And, if the practice works for you . . . give it a thumbs up! 👍

Namaste, the Light in me honors the Light in you

keep moving; keep healthy
be in AWE that your body can move
move in a variety of ways:  big, small, wiggle, dance . . . 

Disclaimer: Be safe, know your limits and move wisely without causing harm to yourself. Information provided in this newsletter is for you to explore and discover how your body works. It is not to diagnose any medical condition. Please consult with a physician or physiotherapist if you have concerns. 

1. Came across this exercise while reviewing my course notes from Dinah Rodrigues’ Hormone Yoga-Therapy for Menopause.  

2. Dinah Rodrigues’ Hormone Yoga-Therapy for Menopause course notes.

3. Dinah Rodrigues’ Hormone Yoga-Therapy for Menopause course notes.

4. Picture off the internet - Endocrine System: