INNOVATING KALARI WITH YOGA FOR EDUCATION OF YOUNG MINDS AND BODIES

I intend to present through this book, “Innovating Kalari with Yoga for Education of Young minds and bodies,” the formation of a new practical lifestyle, derived from my own personal experience, reforming the artistic values, safety measures and  health protection methods innate in the Indian martial arts, Kalari practice systems and Yogasanas, in the wake of the knowledge acquired.

The importance of Yoga and Kalari in daily life is undoubtedly true. What prompted me to write this book, besides this knowledge, is the realization from my inquiry into the Kalari practices and Yogasanas with a view of patient’s wellbeing after treatment, doing some exercises, that Yoga and Kalari are indispensable for a serene life. I have attempted to include here only certain aspects of Kalari and Yoga. My chief potential, in the making of this book, is my thirty year experience, learning Kalari system in the conventional way and imparting it to the new generation and practicing Kalari treatment system. We also have the satisfaction that many of the patients in our institution have recovered fully through the Kalari Marma treatment they underwent. The ‘Yogavidya’I practiced meanwhile revealed to me that the practices of Kalari and Yogasanas have much in common. Much of such findings are chiefly given in this book.

While the Kalari practices that we got as a legacy give our body enhanced competence and power. Yogavidya puts our body and mind in a state of repose and renders daily life serene. It is not known that attempts to study or inquire into the interrelationship of these two invaluable knowledge are made. This is a humble attempt to open up such an inquiry. I am sharing with you the practical experiences that I have so far acquired and the knowledge that I acquired through Kalari practices, learning as well as teaching, by means of blessings of my teachers, from the precious books and the interactions with the Yogacharyas.

I have accepted as my life’s aim to make possible to the maximum number of people a relief from miseries with the help of the system of treatment prevalent and by enhancing their capacity to resist diseases and attain cure by combining the system of Kadathanadan Kalari treatment and Yogasana.

I have included here only the treatment of bone fracture and bone prolapse, comparatively simpler of the vast Kalari treatment system. As the different knot systems applying medicines and the oil systems, have the scope for a detailed book, I have not attempted to deal with them in details here. It is important that this branch of knowledge of our Indian tradition, which is going to be extinct, is to be revived and its good fruits may be made available to the coming generation too.

This book, however, does not intend to state that Kalarippayattu and Yogasana are the same, or that the one is derived from the other. In the preservation of health, both systems can make similar gains. As the two systems are capable of maintaining peace of mind a comparative study is attempted here. Both are ocean like. Yogasanas follow the ‘Sathwika’ style, chiefly performing in sitting and lying postures. Whereas in Kalari, besides these, jumping and flying in the air are done and thereby the Kalari system is seen as hardening one’s physique more than the Yogasanas. Kalari and Yogasanas ultimately reach into spiritual sensations.