What to look for
In the hand arrangement described by ICYER and the DST/AIIMS booklet, the thumb folds into the palm and the fingers close over it. The important visual feature is the thumb inside the fingers. A tightly clenched fist is not needed to recognize the shape.
Beside its neighbors
Chinmaya leaves an opening between thumb and index finger. Adi encloses the thumb. Brahma uses two such enclosed-thumb hands in a particular relationship near the navel. These are useful distinctions when a small illustration makes all three look alike. The diagram shows the hidden thumb with a dashed outline solely to explain its position.
The source context
Both teaching sources place Adi within a larger breathing lesson. This page isolates the hand shape for understanding and does not reproduce that lesson’s breathing pattern or count. It offers no claim about snoring, sleep, oxygen delivery, or a specific lung compartment. Let the hand relax if forming it is uncomfortable; the library’s seated natural-breath practice already provides a hands-at-rest alternative.
Sources and scope
Main edition
Basic Practice of Some Pranayamas
Passage for this reading
- Basic Practice of Some Pranayamas
“Mudras for pranayama,” item 3 (Adhi), PDF p. 3.
Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, International Centre for Yoga Education and Research. Source page numbering refers to the PDF; hand descriptions compared independently.
- Structured Yoga Module for Diabetes (2024)
9.1(c), printed p. 49.
Puneet Misra, AIIMS New Delhi; edited with Rashmi Sharma, DST. Used here only to check the named hand arrangements, §9.1, printed p. 49. Its treatment claims are outside these pages’ scope.
What this edition covers
An original explanatory guide to this named hand form, with source comparisons and a schematic diagram.
Limits and differences
The prose above identifies material differences. Traditional explanations and promised attainments are attributed to their sources; they are not clinical evidence. Review date: September 11, 2026.