Pranam

I want to fill you in on pranam.

You might not know the meaning of this, but you've definitely seen it before. Pranam is the placing together of both hands in a prayer-like position in front of the heart or the head. It's often seen as a salutation, but it's actually more of an offering.

In Vedic culture, the left side of our body is considered the feminine side; the right side, our masculine. In placing both hands together, we are offering up our totality, the entirety of who we are.

Vedanta, the ultimate summation of the Vedas, states that there's only one thing and we're all it. The Vedic worldview is centered around recognizing our all-inclusive nature. We contain all the qualities of the unified field; feminine and masculine, universal and individual. How we choose to express those facets is up to us.

That's what's so wonderful about pranam. We're offering up our totality and we're acknowledging that It all resides within each of us.

It's no surprise that our society's main form of greeting is a handshake; the offering up of only the right side. My teacher, Thom Knoles, taught me a simple trick for offering pranam in a less bewildering way: when someone offers you their right hand to shake, go ahead and place your right hand in theirs, but also place your left hand on the outside of their right hand. It's a subtle way to balance things out.

Whether or not you're feeling intrigued to do any of this, it's the intention that matters. There's a lot of power and warmth in recognizing your totality. Lead with that.