The hands are a source of tremendous power.

With such profound dexterity, sensitivity, and utility the human hands may be one of our most defining features as a species. Playing guitar, delivering a baby, knitting a sweater, building a house, wielding a sword, painting intricate figures: through the use of our hands we create and shape the world we live in.

Hands can heal, hands can harm.

One touch can convey a wide array of thoughts, feelings or intentions. Hands tell the story of our mood or state of mind.  When we feel angry, a clenched fist. When anxious, fidgeting fingers. Even plants and animals respond to the subtle nuances of our touch.

With the hands playing such a central role in our experience of being human, it comes as no surprise that many of the world’s great spiritual and artistic traditions have considered the hands as sacred. With five digits, twenty-seven bones, and fifteen joints—plus numerous carpal joints affording articulation of the wrist—the human hand is a masterpiece of nature.

Perhaps, this is why many cultures throughout history viewed the human hand as a perfect microcosm of the universe. For example, the shaman kings (Wu) of ancient times viewed all things in the animated world as emanations of the changing relationship between five fundamental principals (commonly referred to as the Five Elements): Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal. They viewed the human hand as one of the most poignant examples of these five principals, with each of the fingers representing one the Five Elements (Earth/thumb, Metal/index, Water/little, Wood/ring, and Fire/middle). These relationships, and the character of each finger based on the theory of Five Elements, is woven into the philosophy and practice of all the traditional arts: calligraphy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, astrology, martial arts, cha dao (tea culture), classical music, dance, and theater. 

In many of these arts, specific hand positions and gestures are used in relationship to the precise effect desired by the practitioner. For example, a healer-shaman might instruct a patient suffering from worry to tuck her thumbs into her palms and hold them firmly. Since the thumb relates to Earth, closing the other fingers around it creates an energetic seal, a mudra, which imparts a sense of safety and stability, thus reducing anxiety.

In Asian calligraphy, the brush is held firmly with the thumb, index, middle, and ring finger while the little finger is tucked slightly in and not used. This is in an effort to conserve the energy of the kidneys (Water), giving the calligrapher a certain vitality that can be seen in the qi of their brush strokes.

In everyday life, our hands convey the art of living through the articulation of five fingers. We give "thumbs up" to a driver who lets us merge onto the freeway (or the "middle finger" to a driver who doesn't). We connect with the objects, plants, animals, and humans around us through our hands and fingers. 

Perhaps now more than ever -- during this time of distancing and sheltering -- we need the power of our hands to stay in touch with the essence of life and continue to relate in meaningful ways. 

We can enliven presence through touch in many ways: in our self-care practice, while cooking, doing dishes, gardening, petting animals, running our hands through sand, or making contact with loved ones.

The secret to awakening the power of our hands is feeling.