KALARIPPAYAT
Kalari is also known as "The Tantra Yoga of Martial Arts", building its principles upon 96 tattvas that constitute our universe in the eternal dialogue of Shiva and Shakti. It developed at the junction of the indigeneous Dravidian culture of southern India and the Vedic culture that migrated from the north. Kalarippayat literally means "training ground-exercise" and the term "Kalari" can used both to describe the practice, as well as the room in which it is practiced. It has been a major influence on the development of Yoga and Ayurveda and vice-versa since times immemorial.
WHEN THE BODY BECOMES ALL EYES
Kalari and Yoga share principles and a lot of terminology. However, there are also obvious differences.Kalari stresses the tantric concept of living in this world, strongly stressing the expansion and development of the senses, as opposed to the classical practice of pratyahara or going inside.This paradigm is commonly called "when the body becomes all eyes". Another unique principle is called "embodying the animal spirit", a psycho-physical practice in which the Abhyasi actually takes on the animal's attributes, not just its shape or posture.
THE MOTHER OF MARTIAL ARTS
Scholars often refer to Kalari as the mother of all martial arts. According to legend, a young prince from Kerala named Boddhidharma and was a skilled Kalari warrior, converted to Buddhism and later traveled north where he became the tutor of the Shaolin monks. Even today, the similarities can still be seen in some animal postures, movements and exercises. But Kalari has also influenced classical Indian dancing and vice-versa. In Teyyam special Kalari-Teyyams reenact famous battles and the dancers often lose themselves of trance-like frenzy not unlike the transformative fury of Kalari-warriors. Kalari-training is also the preliminary education for dancers of Kathakali.
TO HEAL AND TO HARM
Last but foremost Kalari is a unique healing system. This branch is called "Kalari Chikitsa". It is most famous for its original system of marma-therapy, as well as the unique nadi- and foot-massage. It is believed that only a practicioner who is both physically and spiritually strong and pure can bear the strain of the intense treatments where strokes are often administered in the same deep and energetically powerful stances that the practitioner has been practicing for years before finally being taught the massage. It is said that in order to heal, you must first learn how to destroy.
KALARI IN PRACTICE
The actual practice presents itself in class as a blend of yoga, martial arts and dance. The four most important principles in every class are grounding, aligment, flow and focus. Other Key principles include the concept of Siva and Sakti, expansion of sensory awareness, the embodying of animal spirits and continuous flow of contraction and expansion and the reenactment of the eternal cosmic story of creation and destruction. Unlike in many schools of modern Yoga, experience is not induced by the teacher's instructions and practicioners are usually not told when to in- or exhale. In Kalari breath follows movement, not movement breath. The practicioner's subtle as well as his physical bodie's own innermost intelligence and power is encouraged to unfold as the he starts to truly embody the forms.
Kalarippayat
