5 Senses - Touch
I was excited to share this perspective because, when I started practicing yoga, I never expected how profoundly touch would play a role in the experience. You might wonder what touch has to do with yoga, but yoga is all about relationships—first, the one we cultivate with ourselves, and then the connections we build with others.
Think about it: how often do you consciously touch your own body or others? Many of us have become disconnected from our own sense of touch. We rarely pay attention to our movements or the sensations of the things we interact with daily. Life moves so quickly that we often overlook these small but meaningful moments.
Touch is vital in our lives. We need to touch and be touched. It’s an essential part of the natural world too—animals like chimpanzees and birds engage in physical touch as a way to bond and communicate. For humans, physical touch helps increase levels of oxytocin, often called the “love hormone.” Without diving too deeply into the science, oxytocin is a neurotransmitter associated with empathy, trust, sexual intimacy, and building relationships. Its benefits include reduced stress, improved learning and memory, decreased feelings of hunger, and even relief from joint pain.
We can practice touch during our yoga practice in different ways, for me, that would be Mudras.
Mudras
Mudra:
A Sanskrit word, that means a symbolic hand gesture that has the power of producing joy and happiness. There are many mudras that help to improve to ones overall health, but today we are going to focus on the touch Mudras as I call them. The ones I use to build this relationship with myself and to connect directly with my body.
Hridaya Mudra:
Hands to heart. This mudra allows you to go inward into the door of your heart, giving you support, trust and security.
I love to do this mudra at the end of my practice or at any time during my day when i need to ground myself. It centers me, gives me peace and helps calming my heart.
Yoni mudra:
Hands to Womb. This mudra helps to cultivate creative energy and detachment from chaos of the outer world.
This mudra I use during my savasana practice to connect with my feminine power and improve my creativity and instinct. I always repeat affirmations when I preform this mudra such: I have the power of creation, I am strong and beautiful, I have the power of doing what I dream.
Combine Hridaya and Yoni mudra:
Heart womb mudra. A really powerful mudra that connects the meridian between Heart and womb. Uniting emotions and creation.
I use this mudra at the beginning of my practice to ground and settle into my mat. To calm my mind and centre my body and prepare me for the practice. I use it with a visual pranayama using colours to travel around my meridian from the heart To the womb and back. Where my emotions are born to where the actions are created.
Asanas
Constructive rest:
I already have a video in YouTube about this pose and I use it at the beginning or in between my sequences to ground and connect with myself. This posture is grounding, relaxing and soothing. During this constructive rest I use Yoni Mudra (womb) to connect with my inner self and remind me of the power of creation. We come from the womb, we become the womb. Combine it with belly breath (taking deep abdominal breaths).
Breast Self Massage:
As crazy as it sounds, this is another great practice to do. Our breasts have an extensive role in our lymphatic system and offer us wisdom into our hormonal health. Your body is a sacred space, you need to honour it and love it.
Sit in Seiza (hero pose) and give yourself some loving energy honouring your breasts and connecting with your heart centre self.
Savasana Self Hug:
A great way to finish your practice and say thank you to yourself for taking the time and space for yoga. I always encourage you to finish savasana with a hug.
I’ve shared some ideas with you on how to incorporate touch into your yoga practice, but before I wrap up, I want to encourage you to extend this awareness into your daily life. Start by hugging more—the people you love, the ones you care about. Reconnect with the natural world around you. Touch the trees, feel the water, hold the earth in your hands, let the wind brush against your skin, and interact with flowers, plants, and even animals.
When you truly begin to feel through touch, you’ll understand why it’s often called the healing touch. Touch is incredibly powerful and should never be neglected—not by you or for you.
Don’t be afraid to touch your own body, to explore that connection. Allow yourself to feel, to reconnect with yourself and the world around you. Once you open yourself to this experience, you’ll find that your perspective shifts, and everything around you feels more vibrant, more alive, and more meaningful. Touch isn’t just a sensation; it’s a gateway to deeper connection and presence.
“Touch comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language and the last, and it always tells the truth.”