Marmas and the Power of Yoga

Marmas are key energy centers for the practice of yoga on all levels from yoga poses to deep meditation. Yoga poses affect the energy, which are in the limbs, joints and spine, these all contain important marmas. You can learn to stimulate and balance the marmas in your body in various ways. The best way to do that is through your daily oil massage, and meditation.

Marmas connect to the subtle nerves and to the chakras; these are energy centers (I talked about chakras last week) of the subtle body and the mind. The subtle body is our internal energy, moods and emotions. These subtle nerves and the chakras govern the interface between the physical and subtle bodies and the interchange of energy and information between them. This means if you think you are going to get cancer (or any illness), you will. “Whatever you say you speak into the existence”. It also means that marmas are important for healing the subtle body as well as the physical body. Through using marmas we can restore proper connection between the subtle body and the physical body, bringing our body to wellness on both levels.

Marmas are the places where stress and attachment accumulate, blocking the free flow of energy and awareness. At marma sites toxins, stress and negative emotions get lodged and are held, sometimes for years. Disease is reflected in pain, blockage or swelling in these areas even before it may manifest outwardly in the full rang of disease symptoms. You can learn to send our breath into the marmas with your awareness, improving their energy flow from within. Remember half the battle of balancing doshas is being aware.

A Thai Yoga Therapist will focus on marma regions and Sen-Lines that are in need of stimulation or of release and use the methods that are necessary to adjust and move the energy flow. You cannot heal the physical body without healing the emotional body (which is the subtle body). You cannot heal the subtle body without healing the spirit. 

You cannot heal the spirit without healing the others.

Regular meditation can make us more sensitive to the condition of marmas and aware of the flow of energy through them, then you can learn to modify them through thought and will power.

A good Yoga teacher should have a good knowledge of marmas and how they relate to Yoga practice. He/She can teach you how to meditate and breathe so you can move the energy in your marmas. A serious Yoga student should not overlook the benefits yoga poses have on the marmas and sen-lines and the importance they are to the practice.

                                    Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                            And Ayurveda consultant

What energy work is best for you

Do you wonder what energy work is the best for you? I believe energy work is energy work it is all connected. Most of my work is with Marma and Sen-line Therapy, which balance the doshas, however I have found if you balance the doshas you unblock charkas as well.

Chakras have come to the west through the tradition and practice of yoga. Yoga (which means “yoke”) is a discipline designed to yoke together the individual with the divine, using mental and physical practices that join our mundane and spiritual lives.

Chakra literally translates as “wheel”. There are seven of these wheels stacked in a column of energy that spans from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Chakras can be thought of as junction points between mind and matter. The first center at the base of the spine is associated with basic survival issues. The second center in the reproductive area represents sexuality, and creativity. The third located in the solar plexus is power. The fourth center in the heart is love. The fifth, located in the throat is communication. The sixth is located between the eyes is intuition. And the seventh is at the crown of the head and is said to open when we experience higher states of consciousness.

Chakras are not physical; you cannot see them, yet they have a strong effect upon our body as they express the visible form of spiritual energy on the physical plane. Chakra patterns are programmed deep in the core of the mind-body interface and have a strong relationship with our physical functioning. Just as the emotions can and do affect our breathing, heart rate, and metabolism, the activities in the various chakras influence our glands, chronic physical ailments, thoughts and behavior.

What blocks a chakra? The same thing that causes imbalance in the doshas. Traumas, childhood or other wise, cultural conditioning, bad food, bad air, bad water, limited belief systems, restrictive or exhausting habits, physical and emotional injuries, or just lack of attention. When we have difficulties we develop coping strategies. When difficulties persist, these coping strategies become chronic patters, anchored in the body and psyche as defense structures. Eventually these defenses create holding pattern in our musculature that restrict the free flow of energy; even when real threats cease to exist. This chronic tension is known as body armor. It affects our posture, breathing, emotional states, and our belief systems.

 If doshas are not balanced, chakras cannot be unblocked. If charkas are blocked doshas cannot balance. For this reason, it is important to recognize the blocks we carry, find ways to understand their source and meaning, and develop tools to heal them. As we learn to open and heal the chakras within us, we become the Rainbow Bridge—the living link between Heaven and Earth.

The beauty of the chakra system lies in its multidimensionality. These imbalances can be approached verbally through discussion, physically through work with the body, and spiritually through meditation.

                                Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

Marmas can transform our lives

I have people say to me all the time, “I need to come for a Thai Therapy and get stretched out”. They mistakenly believe that it was the stretching that made them feel so great. And I say to them “it’s the running of the Sen Lines and pressing out of the Marmas that balances the doshas, and balancing the doshas is the key to wellness”. So, in this blog lets talk about the sen lines and the marmas. In Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, marmas, (meaning ‘vulnerable’ or sensitive zones), are the same areas that acupuncturist use as pressure points. But they extend to larger areas of the body. They include vital organs like the heart and bladder as well as bones and joints and points along the surface of the body. Marmas are centers for the vital-force, the master power behind both physical and psychological processes. Through manipulation of marmas, vital-force can be directed to remove blockages, and improve energy flow. At marma sites toxins, stress and negative emotions get lodged and are held sometimes for years. Disease is reflected in pain, blockage or swelling in these areas even before it is manifest outwardly in the full range of disease symptoms. These points can be used specifically for diagnosis and treatment of disease or for promoting health and wellness. Relieving pain, blockage or swelling at marma sites is am important therapeutic aid and one of the first stages of many Ayurvedic treatments. The 72,000 Sen Lines (we may interpret this to mean to sense) run throughout the body. Sen lines are not physical, like nerves; they are channels for the flow of consciousness. This consciousness helps the spirit and the body co-exists harmonically in physical form. When this flow is in rhythm with our overall well-being, then we are both healthy and happy. When there is congestion (a slowing down or interruption in the flow; be it spiritual, emotional, mental or psychic), the physical body is also affected. Think of the marmas as a village, a place of community, it provides sustainable living and protection; a place to rejuvenate. But if the village remains isolated for to long, it can become stagnant and closed off to the in and out flows or the outside world. Isolated for too long, the inhabitants become controlling and the culture can canker and over time self-destruct. The sen lines are paths, between these villages on the body. Ideally there is a healthy free-flow of energy through the sen line that helps the marmas stay vital. Activating the marmas through pressing, rubbing, or stretching also helps the Sen lines where they intersect marmas begin to clear. It also balances the three doshas. As the doshas come into balance, the subtle aspect of each one can then rise to the surface. When you experience the subtle essence of the doshas, your sense of being balanced and feeling of well-being is elevated to a whole new level. Marma therapy is an important method of Ayurvedic texts along with their specific effects on both body and mind. Marmas range in size from very small to very large, from special points along the hands and feet to significant regions on the trunk of the body like the heart or the navel. When manipulated, marmas can alter both the organic function and structural condition of the body. Through the right use of marmas our entire physical and mental energy can be consciously increased, decreased or redirected in a transformative manner

                                        Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

Kapha—the principle of stability

We are all born with an inherent constitutional balance of the three doshas. When they are in balance, they create a state of physical and psychological harmony. When they are out of balance, they create a sense of dis-ease. I want you to know what each dosha governs so when you feel out of balance you will know what dosha is the cause.

Kapha is the combination of earth and water. It is mostly water. The word Kapha means, “that which holds together.” Kapha governs tissue growth, strength, stability, and natural tissue resistance. It lubricates the joints with synovial fluid, promotes coolness in the intestines and stomach, cools the skin with perspiration, gives vitality to the heart and lungs, and helps heal wounds. It governs growth, maintenance, longevity on the cellular level, and stabilizes the auto-immune system to promote stamina. On the mental level, it promotes qualities such as patience, endurance, calmness, serenity, and devotion. Kapha govern the region from the head to the diaphragm. Its home region is the chest cavity and its seat of balance is the heart.

You can see how when the Kapha is out of balance you will notice stupor, depression, slow movements, oversleeping, and sinus congestion. With an imbalanced Pitta you will notice resentment, outbursts of temper, heartburn, acid stomach, and criticism of others. And with the imbalance of the Vata you will notice worry, anxiety overactive mind, depression, insomnia, low appetite, dry rough skin, low stamina, and loss of energy.

It is hard to work on someone who is very out of balance. Their body is in a lot of pain, their nervous system is terrified I will hurt them, and their spirit is broke. When people this ill come to me, they are in charge. I have to work soft and slow asking questions as I go so their nervous system will trust me. The nervous system is the most important thing at this point; it is what caused the illness in the first place, by creating the pain, anxiety and so forth to keep the body safe. And it is what can help to bring the body back to wellness. Which is totally what I expect, to bring the body back to the place where it was before the illness.

When Martha started coming to me she was scared, she had never heard of Thai Yoga Therapy, and she didn’t know me. She was worried, and depressed. She had been sick for more than 10 years and had lost all hope in ever getting well. Martha’s whole body hurt. For the first hour of the two-hour session she was terrified I was going to hurt her (I, was terrified I was going to hurt her). About half way, she relaxed completely and said “you are so worth it” from that time on her nervous system trusted me and believed I would heal her. When a client is at this stage of illness it is important that I see them every week for six weeks. This jump-starts the doshas into balance, and then we can keep them balanced by doing a maintenance therapy once a month. During that six-week time, I got Martha ready for yoga class, taught her how to meditate, coached her in how to listen to her body, and instructed her in a Vata balancing diet. I am happy to say, Martha is well, and we are maintaining her wellness with yoga twice a week, meditation, and diet. Martha is one of many experiences I have had on the mat. What an honor it has been to work with her.

                                        Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist