We could call Marma Chikitsa – ayurvedic acupressure. Wth 108 points or Marma sthalus around the body, we can gently stimulate for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance. Working with marma therapy can help us tune into prana – creating a felt-sense that energy is flowing and yet we feel grounded and present at the same time; in turn helping us feel more focused and energized.
For inspiration and creativity, we can focus on a sequence of marma stimulation on the head. This sequence can also be used to clear mental fog and ease brain fatigue, relieve a headache, help us sleep and generally create mental space. It is a great sequence to do to enliven in the morning, to create clarity ahead of seated meditation practice or before bed to calm the mind.
Six Sacred Points
Shivarandra – unwind your mind with this marma. Literally translating as ‘opening to the transformer’ – it gives us the chance to create conscious change. Together with Brahmarandra and Murdhani – Shivrandra helps us to surrender – calming the mind by going beyond sensory overload – creating presence even in times of overwhelm. Shivarandra is good for both depression and anxiety. I love the idea of unwinding the mind – I sometimes repeat that as a mantra as I start to work on this area. It is said that Shivrandra supercharges all the other marmas and it is good to start a routine with stimulation of this marma.
- Shivrandra lies where the hair spirals out behind the crown of the head – the fontanelle.
- Bring the tips of your fingers together with a thumb to form a little beak – place your fingers on the hair spiral and then do very slow anti-clockwise circles (I find it easier to think about moving left then down and around to form a circle – I tend to get muddled with clockwise/anti-clockwise!) I would do this stimulation for a slow count for around one minute – and you could do this hand position for the first four marma points.
Brahmarandra –As this marma is known as the ‘opening to the creator’ – it is the best marma to stimulate for creativity. It also helps us move beyond any sense of limitation – literally expanding our awareness – so essentially building trust in the universe. Adam says he feels it is the ‘peace button’ – creating a deep sense of calm.
- You can find Brahmarandra by finding Murdhani which will come next in our sequence ( bringing the base of your palm to the bridge of your nose – where your middle finger touches is murdhani) then with the other hand measure two finger width (use your middle and ring finger) behind Muradhani. This is Brahmarandra.
Murdhani – Moment to moment awareness is a beautiful descriptor of this marma – Working with this marma has a cascading effect on all the marmas of the face helping us become clear and focused. I always find when I circle this marma that it frees up my mind and creates a deeper sense of relaxation. I even like the way of measuring/finding it – to me it’s very reassuring and brings me into the moment. Some schools refer to this marma as Adhipati.
- Find Murdhani by bringing the base of your palm to the bridge of your nose – where your middle finger touches is murdhani.
Kapala – known as the ruler of time – stimulating this marma helps us reduce our stress and anxiety that often arises from feeling that we do not have enough time – it helps us
reset the pace. We could say that it helps us press pause, take a breath and be present. It helps with stress and in turn sleep. It also helps with hormonal imbalances.
- Kapala marma is at the very centre of the hairline – directly above the bridge of the nose.
Krikatika Marma – at the base of the skull – stimulating this area naturally helps relieve tension (physical and mental) so in turn frees up energy and improves flow of prana to the mind. My storehouse of tension tends to be in this area so for me it is one of the most important marmas to stimulate – it helps me let go of the thinking mind and it’s grip on my shoulders and heart . If we look at the western anatomy of this suboccipital region too – Adam would always say that if we work on this area, it informs the spine and back muscles to relax. If Shivrandra unwinds the mind, maybe Krikatika unwinds the spine and soothes the shoulders.
- There are two points either side of the neck in the suboccipital groove. I like to massage them with the heel of my hand or with my middle and ring ringers – I tend to massage them together with outward moving circles.
Sthapani – naturally as this correlates with the third-eye it is excellent as an aid to meditation – drawing us into a conscious focal point. So I like to finish this ‘inspiring the mind’ sequence with Sthapani – bringing our awareness to one focal point for dharana (focus) and dhyana (meditation). It helps balance the senses and bring clarity.
- Bring your thumb knuckle to the bridge of our nose and where the tip of your thumb meets the forehead – this is sthapani. Then I simply use the tip of my thumb to draw small anti-clockwise circles – or just pulse this point – it depends on how I am feeling that day – sometimes, I need more stillness, more focus, more stillness and I just use a pulsing rhythm here.