Lotus Mudra is a mudra, a symbolic hand-gesture of the Indian religious traditions, known in Sanskrit as Padma Mudra and signifying the blooming lotus of the heart.
Form and meaning
In this seal the heels of the hands, the thumbs and the little fingers stay joined while the other fingers open like petals. It represents the opening of the heart and the lotus rising unstained from the mud, an emblem of purity and devotion.
Mudras appear across Hindu and Buddhist ritual, iconography, classical dance and yoga, where a fixed position of the hands carries a settled meaning or is held to direct attention and breath. The gesture is described here within those documented traditions.
History and attestation
Lotus Mudra, or Padma Mudra, in which the hands are held together at the wrists and base while the fingers spread outward like opening petals, is widely taught in contemporary yoga as a gesture for opening the heart centre (anahata chakra) and cultivating compassion. Its documented history is considerably shallower than that of the classical Buddhist iconographic seals or even of the Hatha yoga text-attested Yoni Mudra: the lotus is an ancient and pervasive symbol across Indian religious art generally, but Padma Mudra as a specific named hand position taught in group yoga classes is a largely modern, twentieth-century addition to the wider repertoire of hand gestures rather than an old scriptural instruction.