Yoga No Boundary

Lately I’ve been studying the idea of Marmas, the yoga equivalent of pressure points. In total there are said to be 107 of these points on the body from head to toe. The original idea of these comes out of the Indian martial arts system, (called Kalarippayatt) which is classically also a system of Vedic knowledge just like yoga. It comes from a broader field of all things martial and administrative (how to rule a fair kingdom) called the “DhanurVeda”. Thais will recognize the word “Dhanur” which is the same word that goes to make up the word TANWA-KOM (month of December). For those not literate in Thai or Sanskrit, TANWA comes from TANU which is the Pali version of the Sanskrit word for BOW. Like an archers bow. If you know much about Astrology, December is the month of Sagitarius, whose icon is the half man/half horse, called a Centaur and it’s holding a bow, shooting an arrow.

 I love these correspondences, and it’s one reason I love living and teaching yoga in Thailand so much!

The ancient martial artists would memorize these marma points so that when in battle, it would be possible to hit or strike a certain point and cause instant or gradual death. On the flip side, it’s then good practice to strengthen one’s own marma points so in case you meet someone who’s aggressive and knowledgeable  you’re covered.

That’s where there is this interface between martial arts and yoga asana believe it or not.

There are two systems of martial arts in Southern India and they use yoga postures as part of their training.

I just wrote another blog piece about marmas, about how to place Sanskrit mantras at these marma points to create a kind of psychic and energetic armor to ward away trouble.

Yoga also just feels so GOOD, regardless of whether you know what marmas it’s strengthening or not.

Speaking of which, I just have to make a little plug to announce that my favorite asana teacher Paddy McGrath is coming for yoga workshops at Elements yoga studio in Bangkok, Thailand. This woman has taught me more about posture than anyone…  if you’re around we will have weekday and weekend workshops from March 3rd to March 9th. I’ll be there, say hello and let me know you read this!

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under by Adrian Cox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.