Marma Chikitsa (Marma Therapy)

What is Marma?

Marma (pressure points) are the vital energy points located throughout the body. They are often located at junction points, where two or more types of tissue meet such as muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, ligaments or bones.

Any obstruction to these points creates an imbalance that results in disease, pain and discomfort. The aim is to identify and address blockages in the marma system to restore the flow of energy in the body. This has the effect of boosting the body’s healing capacity.

Marma healing as part of a warrior tradition

At Kalari Ayurveda Centre, our method of marma applications comes from the martial arts tradition in Kerala, South India.

For Kerala’s ancient warriors, their knowledge of marmas was used for both battle and healing purposes. Marma was very important since the warrior’s life depended on their ability to attack the marma to stun or disarm an opponent, to defend their own marma and to heal injuries to the marma.

Today, this knowledge is preserved in Kerala, where the traditional martial art Kalaripayattu is still practiced. Here, the Kalaripayattu Master plays the dual role of a martial arts teacher and a healer.

Marma applications are done in a very particular way, and a specific technique is used for each point. In the Kalaripayattu tradition, one must know how to harm a marma to understand how to heal it with a counter-application.

The specialty of receiving a treatment with a Kalaripayattu Master is their practical and in-depth knowledge of marma. A Master knows exactly where the points are located, how to affect them in fighting, how to identify them if injured and how to manipulate them for healing.