Marma Point Meditation

(ocean waves crashing) Hi, so we'll slip into this meditation through a Marma point exercise. Now Marma usually gets translated to mean vulnerable, and the Marma points are said to sit along the channels of the Nadis, the Nadis being the channels through which the Prana is said to move through, and the belief is that through pressing the Marma points we can help encourage an easier flow of the Prana. Of course, that's all theory, and so that's why we practice. So what we'll do is we'll move down through several of the known, or believed to be known Marma points of each arm, and then we'll wiggle our way into a seated meditation. Classically, there are said to be 107 Marma points, which is kind of funny because everything else tends to be 108, so you sort of wonder what happened to that last one.

Okay, now you can see, I'm sitting up on several bolsters. I'm quite comfortable. It's a lot easier to sit still when you're comfortable. So take the time to make sure you find your hips a little higher than your knees, maybe you're sitting in a chair, maybe you prefer kneeling. Let yourself kind of snoggle in a little bit, big deliberate inhale. (inhales) Exhale everything. (exhales) Drop down through the pit of the belly.

Do that again, inhale. (inhales) Exhale, let a (exhales) happen, soften. Now for most of this pressing, I'm gonna use my middle finger and my index finger. I'm gonna start out on a spot that sits just between, sort of the triangle action here, you'll find it. It's right about in that upper neck region. If you happen to spend time with acupuncturists you might know it as gall bladder 21. (chuckles) Nuzzle down into that spot, and once you've got your fingers down into that spot you inhale up towards your fingers, exhale, let yourself receive your touch.

You don't have to press harder than you are. Inhale, move towards the pressure of your fingers. Exhale, receive your touch. Yeah, one more time. Inhale up towards the pressure of your fingers, exhale, receive your touch.

Beautiful. Now find your fingers on your outer pectoral, kind of like, just find it in that upper, and usually, do you know if you're in the right spot? You'll know you're in the right spot 'cause it'll feel like, oh, that's the right spot. Nuzzle in there, (chuckles) inhale, like inhale towards the pressure of your fingers, and exhale, (exhales) receive. Inhale again.

Remember, Marma means vulnerable, so there's a little bit of tenderness, usually. Exhale, receive. One more time. And exhale, receive. Nice.

Okay, now bring your fingers out towards what is usually known as the acronium process. You've got this little sort of natural shoulder pad thing, you go bzzt, under that bone, kind of like drpp, inhale, breathe into the fingers, exhale, receive. Nice, do that again. Exhale, receive. Mmm-hmm, one more time.

Exhale, super nice. Now slide that hand down. It's kind of, your deltoid muscle wraps here and then there's a spot where you find sort of where it, zhoo, descends into its connective tissue into the tendon of the muscle, about there. It'll feel inviting, it'll feel like oop, there's the spot. Inhale towards the hand, exhale, receive.

Inhale towards the hand, exhale, receive, and if you've never spent any time engaging in the touching of yourself, you can't really get it wrong. Just begin. Okay, nice, now, I like to turn my hand so that my thumb finds the middle of the bicep. So as my thumb finds the middle of the bicep I press, inhale up into the thumb, exhale, receive. Do that again.

One more time. Nice, now slide the thumb down so you've got the crease of your elbow. Slide the thumb down just above the crease. Slightly to the inside, there's a little tender spot and usually you'll find yourself kind of in between the sinewyness of yourself. Inhale up into that spot, exhale.

Two more. Soften the jaw and the eyes, one more. Nice, now keep your hand where it is, but just rotate your arm, and now slide your thumb down below the crease to the, as if you were in you upper forearm, just below the crease of the elbow in the upper forearm. Press here, inhale, exhale, two more. One more.

Super nice, release that, slide your hand down, and find, you've got this sort of bony part of your wrist. Find your thumb and your index finger just above that bony part, there's this little divot. Squeeze. Last one. Nice, now turn your palm up, bring your thumb right into the center point of your palm.

Press, let the fingers be soft. Three breaths, so you move your awareness towards the thumb on the inhale, and then you just allow yourself to receive the pressure on the exhale. Two more. Yeah, one more. Beautiful, now slide the thumb down to the pad of the hand, just under the pinky.

Press. Same idea, three breaths here. And really start to let yourself get into it. Okay, you're endeavoring to start to touch subtler aspects of yourself. Okay, now slide the thumb to the pad of the thumb side.

Press. Nice, now turn your hand, bring your thumb and your index finger, there's this very sensitive spot. Most people know this spot, right between the thumb and the index finger, like just inside the webbing a little bit, squeeze. For most people this is quite tender. You're not trying to hurt yourself. (chuckles) Okay, you're endeavoring to start to touch different.

Yeah, one more breath. Beautiful, now we're gonna touch each of the base of the fingers, so we start with the pinky one. Bring the thumb and the index, and you just squeeze right here at the base of the fingernail, squeeze, and we'll do two breaths each on this. You can actually squeeze quite hard, but don't create any unnecessary strain in the neck and the shoulders. Next finger, the ring finger, squeeze.

Middle finger. Now when you come to the index finger, you're not gonna be right at the base, you're just gonna be slightly up to the inside of the finger, closer to the thumb, so there's a slight subtlety there, squeeze. Yeah, and then the thumb, base of the thumb. Beautiful, now release that left hand, release that right arm and just pause, close your eyes, big delivered inhale and exhale, let a (exhales) happen. And allow yourself to be aware of the feeling tone of view, like down through the neck and the arm and out through the hand.

Like become aware of the results of spending some time with yourself. And while this is a wonderful way to prepare for seated meditation, this is a great tool, like we find ourselves waiting so many places, and the temptation is to start making out with your phone, and the request is, can you start to like, learn how to make out with yourself again. Trust me on this one Mm-kay, as you're ready, the other side, so middle and index finger, and I find there's this nice little triangular spot here, you've forever got this bumpy part of your shoulder, and then right in there is like, tchdunk. There's this spot that's like oh, okay press, inhale up into there, exhale, receive yourself. Inhale up into there, exhale, receive uh-huh.

One more. Beautiful, slide the hand to that outer pec, like right where it's tender. Some of your lymph glands hang out about, near here, kind of more under the arm, but you can access some of that tenderness. Press, three breaths. Soft in the jaw, soft in the face, soft in the eyes.

This is a wonderful way to start to practice having self-patience. You know, we hurry ourselves and get so frustrated with ourselves. Mm-kay, release that, you find that, I think the formal name is the acronium process. You kinda fwich, stick your fingers under there. If I'm wrong about that you can let me know.

Press. (chuckles) Upper palate soft, base of the skull, soft. Okay, nice, slide your hands down to where that deltoid dives into its tendon self. It's like zhoop, there's this little brrk. Inhale, breathe into there. Exhale, and you know sometimes I use the muscles as reference, and that's not really fair, 'cause the muscles aren't always available on all our bodies, but even if you're working with a body where the muscle suit isn't so obvious, you can kinda find just this tender place.

Mm-kay, turn the hand around so that the thumb can find again, I'm being prejudiced a little bit in referencing the muscle suit but, it's right in the, pretty much it's right in the middle of this upper arm, and it is the middle of your bicep, but that might not be obvious to you. Press. Softer in the upper palate, kinder in the eyes, like start to let yourself slow down with this. Again, this is preparation for meditation. Okay, now release that, slide the thumb down.

So you've got your elbow crease, so you're stopping just before that crease. Right on the inside, you can find yourself in between the sinewies of yourself. That's technical. You know, these spots were identified long before all of these areas had Latin names, so your sensitivity to where the spot is is more accurate than, you know, the current modern map. Okay, release this.

Now just kinda turn the arm around so your forearm is more prominent, and then slide the thumb down to the outer upper forearm, and you'll just, if you find a tender spot, you'll be good. Inhale up into that thumb, exhale. Nice, beautiful, release that, slide the hand down so you're just above that little bony wrist spots. I like the thumb and the index finger squeezing there. I like to let my hand go pretty limp as I do that.

Three breaths. Super nice, release that. The thumb finds right in the middle of the palm, snuggle in. Beautiful, and then the thumb finds the outer pad, the pad that's underneath the pinky finger. Press.

Beautiful, then the thumb finds the pad that's on the thumb side, and it's fine, I like to find the spot where you can kind of like, all of a sudden it's like (slurps), it's like I get invited in, almost like there's a little quicksand spot. Nice, turn the hand over. Find that little tender spot. Most people know this spot. Now you could drive yourself mad trying to make the maps from these different countries, to make the acupuncture map match with the Marma point map, match the zen channel map, you could really drive yourself nuts.

Just trust that there's different flavors from different places. And all of these maps, none of them are as accurate as what you discover. Okay, pinky pad, base of the pinky pad, squeeze. Mm, I've shared this before, the quote from James Audubon, "When the bird and the book disagree, "believe the bird." Okay, next finger, the ring finger, squeeze, and we're just holding these two breaths. Mm-hmm.

Middle finger. Now when you come to the index finger, this is this little detail. It's not the base, it's just slightly up from the base, like the middle of the left side, closer to the thumb. Squeeze. And then the thumb base, yeah.

Okay, nice, snuggle in, let the hands release. Now here, I'm gonna suggest that we sit together here for five minutes, but if you know you'd like to sit for a lot longer then you could just (clicks tongue) click me off and move into your own seat. Okay, but if you'd like to sit together, we'll sit for about five minutes. Snoggle down and in. Big deliberate inhale. (inhales) Exhale, let a (exhales) happen as you soften the lower belly.

Now as you let the back of the heart soften and the shoulder blades relax, can you feel a sense of letting the elbows get heavier, and as the elbows get heavier, can you feel how that lets you gently lengthen up through the base of your skull, open up in the upper palate, the palms are turned up, and the palms are sensitive, so you've opened and soothed the quality of yourself, down through the arms, out through the hands. You've soothed some of that natural movement towards reaching, grasping. We yearn to hold, and we yearn to be held, and through just your tender efforts of communicating back into yourself, I see you, I'm here, I'm willing to pay attention. The sense of separation can be eased, quieted. Let the tone of feeling in your hands, that sweet, vibrant, receptive openness hold your attention.

When and if you find yourself moving other places with your awareness, maybe let the Marma points help bring you back, so reimagining yourself pressing down through those Marma points, down through each arm, down into the hands and the fingers that might help tether you if you find yourself flying off. Okay, allow for a deliberate inhale, and exhale everything. Maintaining this kind awareness in your hands, so gently, so slowly, begin to let your eyes start to allow light in by letting them tenderly start to open. So sweet, and receptive and alert in the hands, soft in the eyes, wide in the upper palate. Ready.

Namaste.