What is Yoga/Marma?:

Marma Point Therapy is an ancient Ayurvedic form of touch- based energy healing similar to Acupressure. Through the practitioner’s gentle touch, specific points on the client’s body are stimulated in order to ignite the intelligence of the body/mind and to encourage the body’s natural tendency to maintain itself in a state of health and energetic balance. Pressing marma points can also be used as a diagnostic tool to assess and possibly prevent potential health conditions before they fully arise. Your practitioner may use essential oils to engage the sense of smell, and tuning forks and mantras to increase energetic vibration to the points.

Gentle, restorative yoga postures supported by props can be combined with Marma Point Therapy as a way of targeting specific areas of the body determined by the practitioner to be in greater need of physical and energetic release or stimulation. Especially effective as an antidote to stress, Yoga/Marma is suitable for conditions where the client is feeling “not sick, but not quite well” or as a complementary treatment for general chronic physical and/or emotional complaints. Yoga/Marma is not intended as a treatment for acute conditions or as a replacement for a client’s current medical treatment plan, but rather as an adjunct therapy which may facilitate and expedite healing within an experience of deep nurturing, rest and relaxation.

What to expect during a session:

At the beginning of your session, we will discuss your current condition, and determine your intention for treatment. Your practitioner will make some suggestions as to how restorative yoga can be incorporated into your session, or you may opt to have a simple Marma Point treatment without the addition of yoga postures. You will be asked to lie down fully clothed on a comfortably thick, flannel covered yoga mat on the floor. If lying on the floor is not accessible for you, then the session can alternately take place on either a massage table or a folding chair as per your request.

Your practitioner will begin by offering you simple breathing and relaxation instructions. Then, they will apply a few drops of essential oil to their own hands. The oil is for fragrance only, and is chosen as a therapeutic element to help balance your Ayurvedic constitution. Your practitioner will gently treat your head, then continue to stimulate selected marma points throughout the body via gentle touch, either through the clothing or on the skin
where it is exposed. With your consent, your practitioner may chant mantras and/or may touch a vibrating tuning fork to specific points to facilitate energy flow. Once or twice during treatment, your practitioner may guide you into simple restorative yoga postures supported by blankets or other soft props to suit your comfort level. At every moment during treatment, you are in full control. Treatment should be a relaxing and comforting experience, so if you have any discomfort with any of the elements at any time, simply let your practitioner know, and they will adjust accordingly.

During treatment, reactions may vary greatly: you may feel deeply relaxed or sleepy, enter into a state similar to meditation, or you may even doze off briefly at times if your body is greatly in need of rest. You may or may not experience tingling or other energetic sensations, or find trapped emotions rising to the surface as your energy begins to flow more freely and moves into a state of greater balance. When the treatment has been completed, you will be left alone briefly to absorb the effects. Afterwards you may feel either very relaxed or lightly stimulated, or you may simply feel like you’ve had a nice rest. Your practitioner will return to exchange feedback at the end of your session, and may offer follow-up and after care suggestions designed to help you maintain your energetic as per your own intention.