Yoga and the Art of Mudras

Nubia Teixeira was born in Brazil but currently resides in California with her family. She is a dance and yoga instructor and business owner. She has been practicing and teaching for over a decade, and founded her own school called Bhakti Nova School of Yoga and Dance.

To practice yoga is to practice a Hindu discipline that, among other things, focuses on breathing, relaxations and meditation for health and wellbeing. A mudra is a hand gesture used in these disciplines during ceremony, dance and/or yoga.  Yoga is more than a physical expression. It is a mental and spiritual one as well. Teixeira, while rooted in traditional yoga, also combines Odessi dance and Bhakti yoga storytelling in her yoga mudra system.

Using Indian dance influenced hand gestures; she creates new poses to help bring about a full bodied approach to yoga through devotion. Each post is demonstrated in rich, fully colored illustrations throughout the book. Readers will feel like the instructor is demonstrating poses directly in person.

Readers will be guided through Vedic inspired poses that are part of the ritualistic yoga. In these poses, they can expect to honor all five of the elements, each with different movement. Teixeira does a great job of introducing the poses, the associations and the purpose so that the person feels fully connected and understands the meanings behind the movement.

Readers will honor their inner life force by connecting deeper with each mudra through several different poses. This is done through meditative yoga. Teixeira offers 10 separate meditative yoga’s for the reader to pursue.

Throughout the poses, the reader will work on things like balance and breathing while connecting spiritually. I would recommend this book to all spiritually aligned yoga enthusiasts. It is perfect for anyone looking for a way to beautifully express themselves and honor what gave them life. The artistic expression that Teixeira displays in Yoga and the Art of Mudras is gift to the spiritual world and to those seeking alternative ways of worship.

~review by Keri Nichol

Author: Nubia Teixeira
Mandala Publishing, 2019
p. 199, $24.99