Marma Points of Ayurveda: The Energy Pathways for Healing Body, Mind, and Consciousness with a Comparison to Traditional Chinese Medicine - Hardcover

Vasant Lad; Anisha Durve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1883725089 ISBN 13: 9781883725082

Publisher: Ayurvedic Press, 2008

Synopsis

Marma Points The Mystical Doors of Perception

In ancient Vedic times, marma points were called bindu-a dot, secret dot or mystic point. Like a door or pathway, activating a marma point opens into the inner pharmacy of the body. The body is a silent, universal, biochemical laboratory operating every moment to interpret and transform arising events. Touching a marma point changes the body's biochemistry and can unfold radical, alchemical change in one s makeup. Stimulation of these inner pharmacy pathways signals the body to produce exactly what it needs, including hormones and neurochemicals that heal the body, mind and consciousness. This deep dimension of marma therapy has the potential to unfold spiritual healing.

Marma points are an important element of Ayurveda's healing power. Developed in India centuries ago, these energy points profoundly affect the body, mind and spirit and facilitate the deepest levels of healing. Prana is the current of energy that infuses every cell within the body. Stimulating marmani (energy points) directly taps into this reservoir of energy and promotes health.

This work is the first of its kind to systematically present all 117 marmani according to their individual energetics and to compare them with the Chinese system of acupuncture points. Detailed commentaries for each marma shed light on their diagnostic and therapeutic scope. Marma therapy integrates vital knowledge of the energy points with specific techniques of Ayurvedic massage, detoxification, acupressure, aromatherapy, yoga practices, meditation and more.

This book is a valuable resource for Ayurvedic practitioners and acupuncturists as well as medical doctors, massage therapists and yoga therapists. It also serves as a foundation to develop tools for one's own self-healing and for students of various medical systems who are motivated to pursue a holistic approach to health.

About this title

About the Author:

Vasant Lad, Ayurvedic Physician, brings a wealth of classroom and practical experience to the United States. He received the degree of Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery from the University of Pune, in Pune, India in 1968 and a Master of Ayurvedic Science from Tilak Ayurved Mahavidyalaya in Pune, India in 1980. For 3 years, Dr. Lad served as Medical Director of the Ayurveda Hospital in Pune. He also held the position of Professor of Clinical Medicine for seven years at the Pune University College of Ayurvedic Medicine, where he was an instructor for many years. Dr. Lad's academic and practical training includes the study of allopathic medicine (Western Medicine) and surgery as well as traditional Ayurveda. In 1979, he began traveling throughout the United States sharing his knowledge of Ayurveda, and in 1981, he returned to New Mexico to teach Ayurveda. Dr. Lad founded and has served as the Director of The Ayurvedic Institute since 1984.

Anisha Durve is an Acupuncture Physician, Ayurvedic practitioner and Yoga therapist practicing in Florida. She completed her three year clinical training in acupuncture at the Southwest College of Acupuncture in Albuquerque, New Mexico, graduating in 2000 with a Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine degree. Afterwards, she completed a clinical internship at the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing, China. Anisha spent four years training under Dr. Vasant Lad at the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico as well as his clinic in Pune, India. She received additional training in panchakarma at the Indus Valley Ayurvedic Center in Mysore, India. To deepen her studies in yoga, she trained at the Vivekananda Yoga Kendra in Bangalore, India and is a certified relax and renew instructor. Anisha is enthusiastic about teaching workshops on marma therapy for acupuncturists, Ayurvedic practitioners, yoga teachers and massage therapists around the country.

Review:

Ayurveda and Chinese medicine are the world's two preeminent systems of holistic health and healing. These two systems, each complete in itself, have been cross-fertilizing for millennia, and will continue to do so for generations to come. This truly timely book, which presents one approach to how each system's concepts might be accurately translated into the idioms of the other, blazes a trail that future efforts can expand into a traditional medicine information highway. --Dr. Robert E. Svoboda, B.A.M.S., author, Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity, the Aghora series

This is not your typical book about Ayurveda and yoga. One of the topics the authors write about is based on their personal knowledge of traditional yoga postures. But they also offer insight into the ancient practice of Indian pressure points, or marma, which are stimulated in the body during yoga poses. What is unique is how the authors connect the two practices. Following their suggestions can contribute to your deeper understanding of your body and to enhanced health. Recommended for yoga teachers and students alike. --Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., P.T., yoga teacher and author, including 30 Essential Yoga Poses

An excellent and invaluable resource for acupuncturists to enhance their clinical knowledge of acupoints. The authors offer an insightful comparison between Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine and how both systems have a similar approach to heal body, mind and spirit through treatment of these energy points. --Dr. Qijian Ye, Former Professor, Academic Dean, Southwest Acupuncture College

About this edition

• Publisher: Ayurvedic Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1883725089
• ISBN 13: 9781883725082
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384
• Editor: Jack Forem
• Illustrator: Yvonne Wylie Walston