Ashta Vadivs - The Eight Animals postures of Kalaripayyat

Animal postures form the basis of Kalaripayyat. Nature of the animals vary in different styles. The animal postures form the stance, like the various martial arts follow different fighting stances, these animal postures are the fighting stances of Kalaripayyat. Although a little unvconventional than the usual stances we find in arts like Karate, Kung Fu, Boxing and Muay Thai, the Kalaripayyat stances really help forming a solid base and usually are practiced deep both physically and spiritually. These postures bring a great deal of strength and flexibility to the body. Once these stances are mastered then the journery on the path of Kalaripayyat (or any other physical or even mental endeavor ) becomes much more smooth. Animals postures usually followed by the Northern Kalaripayyat systems are :-

• Gaja Vadiv ( The Elephant Posture)
• Singha Vadiv ( The Lion Posture )
• Marjara Vadiv ( The Cat Posture )
• Vara Vadiv ( The Wild Boar Stance )
• Mayur Vadiv ( The Peacock Stance)
• Kurkura Vadiv ( The Rooster Stance )
• Ashwa Vadiv ( The Horse Posture)
• Sarpa Vadiv ( The Snake Posture )

Sri Murugan Gurukkal(In Black dress)  holding a Gaja Vadiv ( an elephant posture )

Most systems also have the Tiger posture which is different from the Lion and the other postures but is practiced in various fighting sequences and usually not practiced separately. These animal postures usually form part of all the fighting sequences of martial arts. These postures or stances are also practiced by the Southern practioners but not separately, i.e. in the fighting sequences these postures get practiced automatically.

Like the stances in other martial arts, these stances are a combination of stationary and dynamic movements. And once mastered they help the martial artist imbibe the qualities of that particular animal. For example Mastering the elephant postures makes one strong, calm and relaxed both mentally and physically. Mastering the Lion postures brings speed, power and fighting abilities in a person. Like this every posture has its benefits. A posture is said to be mastered when the student of Kalaripayyat can hold the posture for 3 hours. Then the student is said to be Siddh(perfect) in the posture.

Since these postures focus a lot on spinal movements they are healing and therapeutic in nature. Many people report healing of spinal injuries and other health defects by the practice of these postures. Ayurveda and other holistic disciplines of medicine realize that most diseases come directly or indirectly from the defects (probably due to incorrect seating postures and lifestyle habits) in the spine. But nevertheless doing these postures is not a replacement to medical assistance. But definitely if practiced with sincerity and devotion these postures can bring about a great deal of healing within the body.

These postures are also highly beneficial to people who are into various kinds of spiritual endeavors, as these postures open up all the chakras ( or energy centers ) in the human body. I personally have benefitted a lot spiritually by practice of the Ashta Vadivs. Besides increasing the energy levels in the body, these postures are purifying in nature and also bring about a groundedness in one's mind. Regular practice of these postures along with maintaining a compatible(fairly healthy) lifestyle can help detoxify the body and the mind naturally.

Postures are best learned under an established Kalaripayyat Guru. Those in New Delhi (India)  or nearing cities ( or those who are willing to come down to New  Delhi ) can learn these techniques from Sri Murugan Gurukkal or his disciples (like me) at various centers around the city. For more information one can visit the site here. 

How to have more Self Discipline

Found a nice and helpful link

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/07/08/how-to-have-more-self-discipline/

Secrets of Flexibility

If you want to be really really flexible in a Healthy way, then you must must sign up for this free newsletter from Lucas Rockwood. He has indeed brought out the secrets of flexibility in a very fine and simple manner.

If you look at his picture below, you will really know what he is talking about.



I haven't tried his Yoga Body Naturals which is a food supplement which boosts flexibility, but have gone through the newsletters and have really benefited from his tips Deep Stretches, Foods to avoid, Foods to eat etc.

And haven't been able to go totally Raw food but just from his few lessons have benefited a great deal.

Go to his site called Yoga Body Naturals and sign up for the newsletter "Seven Secrets of Nutrition and Flexibility".

For those wanting to Learn Some Tai Chi & Chi Kung at Home

I came across two books - one on Tai Chi and one on Chi Kung by Robert Parry, by Penguin Classics.

The steps are defined quite well along with diagrams. Its a beginners guide to learning Tai Chi and Chi Kung. The Tai Chi taught by Robert Parry is of the Tai Chi Chuan Style. The long form of this form contains 108 Moves and the shoter version has 24 Steps. The book covers the shorter version and basically that is all what is usually needed. As the shorter version contains all the moves that are there in the long form.

The advantages of learning Tai Chi is that apart from the Strength, Flexibility and the De Stressing one gets very grounded. In terms of Martial Arts and fighting there are a lot of fighting secrets which are hidden in the Tai Chi form. When one practices these forms one's natural defence mechanism gets stronger and automatically the strategies that one learns in grappling and sparring with a partner get imbibed by the practioner. The most beautiful part is that the form itself reveals the techniques to you very naturally. All the techniques one needs to become a top fighter are actually hidden in the form. Yes I do recommend working out the fast twitch muscle fibers(sprints, Kicks, Tumblings) and the explosive moves once in a fortnight or probably 10 days. If you are a beginner then probably even once in 5 days. The soft relaxation based exercises can be done daily.

For those who cannot afford to go to full time classes(because of time and/or money) this book is an excellent resource. But it will take a lot of focus to learn these techniques from a book.

For the Chi Kung book, there are six exercises which Robert Parry teaches, which again are quite superb some of them are taken from the Ba Duan Jing(The Most Popular and standard form of Chi Kung)

I don't quite agree with Robert Parry on the food aspect though, I would never recommend Non- Vegetarianism for practitioners of Meditative practices, and even martial arts and actually wouldn't recommend Non - Vegetarian Food for anyone. But otherwise the book is an excellent resource for beginners. The grounding which non-vegetarian food brings can be gotten from all vegetables which grow underground, like Potatoes, Carrot, Beetroot, Radish etc, without all the laziness and the negativity. Regarding the Protein, the protein which Non Veg food has takes a long time for the body to digest(72 hrs) if it ever gets digested. Most of it is just thrown out. In the time a non vegetarian meal gets digested a vegetarian meal would have gotten digested 15 times, condering we have 5 meals in a day including Brunch and Snacks during tea time.

There is a cool video of Ba Duan Jing on the You Tube, you can follow the link. The movements and repetitions for each exercises can be increased to 49, or postures can be held for 49 Breaths. In the video its been shown with single repetitions.

The Ba Duan Jing The Eight Sections Brocade

Bodhidharma & the Yi Ji Jing

There are many variations of the story of Bodhidharma travel to China, one of them is this.
It is said that when Bodhidharma went to China from India to teach meditation and spirituality, he went to the then Shaolin Temple which was not really known for Kung Fu back then. This was long before Kung Fu was born. During his discourses and sessions he used to see that the monks were very fragile, lazy, would doze of during the meditations and were over all in a very bad shape. Bodhidharma saw that to have a good meditative mind was not possible without a good and healthy body, he sat to think about a way out to make these monks physically strong enough to meditate. Inspite all his pleadings the monks were unable to get over their own laziness and dullness. When words failed to have an effect, Bodhidharma sat down in deep meditation. He sat not for an hour or two, but he sat for a whole 9 years in deep meditation. A whole nine years in meditation. Just FYI.. 9 Years in Meditation = (1 hour of meditation X 24 X 365.5 days X 9) minus Toilet breaks minus Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Breaks minus Chatting with friends on the Phone minus going for evening walks minus everything one could imagine.

After 9 years of meditation what he came out with was 12 Exercises, which are called the Yi Ji Jing and 49 Postures called the I Chin Ching. Such was the power in these exercises that the monks who at one point could not even sit straight for meditation, and were the weakest of the weak, had joint pains and back pains, got transformed into the Shaolin warrior monks with bodies of steel, just by performing these exercises for about 100 days. It is said that all the variations of Chi Kung and Tai Chi spring from these Yi Ji Jing Exercises. These exercises are also said to be the Mother of the well known Shaolin Kung Fu.

It is said he also wrote a book called I Chin Ching which contains 49 postures. These postures are very similar to Advanced Yoga Postures only difference is that these are held for a long period of time( for 49 Breaths) and while breathing you keep our tongue rolled up. And you wear canvas shoes while doing the I Chin Ching Postures.

Coming back to Yi Ji Jing There are three variation in which the Yi Ji Jing exercises are performed.

One is a Soft Version
One is a Hard Martial Arts Version
And the Third is some where in between, which is a static version. I found two excellent videos for the Soft Yi Ji Jing and the Hard Yi Ji Jing am yet to find a video for the Static version of the Yi Ji Jing. May record one and post it up.
Perform these exercises with 49 Repetitions or you can hold the postures for 49 Breaths.

Soft Yi Ji Jing




Hard Yi Ji Jing



The best times for these exercises are early mornings. And in a little cool atmosphere. Shouldn't really be done in extremely hot conditions.

My personal experience with these exercises has been that these have highly relaxing and energizing both for the body and the mind. My advice to those who train mostly in these soft exercises is to reserve one day in a week or fortnight to work out the fast twitch muscle fibers, with Yi Ji Jing Hard style and explosive exercises, such as kickboxing.

An Interesting Story, Must Read

Came across a very interesting story titled "Weakness or Strength" out here about a one armed boy who wanted to learn Judo. Must Read

http://movingwithangels.blogspot.com/2010/02/weakness-or-strength.html#comment-form

The Secret Of Success

A young man asked Socrates the secret of Success. Socrates told the young

man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met.

Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river.

When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise
and ducked him into the water. The man struggled to get out but Socrates was
strong and kept him there until he started turning blue.

The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get out and the first
thing he did was to gasp and take deep breath. Socrates asked 'What you
wanted the most when you were there?' The man replied 'Air'.

Socrates said 'that's the secret to success. When you want success as
badly as you wanted air, you will get it. There is no other secret'