9thDan.com Training Blog

Few may have heard of this form of fighting system, even fewer are teaching this ancient art today. Varma Kalai was originated in the southeast Tamil Nadu region of India. Varma Kalai can be translated into “the art of vital points”. Some legends claim that the art was passed on to the humans when Shiva walked amongst the humans.

The art itself places heavy emphasis on learning the human anatomy and various pressure points of the body known as “marma”. Practitioner incorporates such knowledge of manipulating marma with other types of physical trainings which form the foundation of this art.

In addition to hand to hand techniques, Varma Kalai also focuses on weapon fighting and martial gymnastics. The gymnastics are meant to improve flexibility as well as breathing circulation.

One can find a lot of commonalities between the ancient Varma Kalai and modern day pressure points fighting techniques. The history and legend behind the origin of Varma Kalai makes it a very intriguing technique to look up. Here are a few sites which may be of interest to you if you wish to do more research on this ancient art:

Varma Kalai article at mybangalore.com

Wikipedia

Also check out our Pressure Points iPhone app!

Last month 9thDan.com introduced Martial Points, the world’s first iPhone pressure point app for martial artists.

This handy reference guide allows user to locate common martial arts pressure points from a 3D diagram and retrieve information about the point selected. Audio pronunciation helps user learn the point names in either Korean or Chinese.

The app works on iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad, and can be downloaded from the Apple iTunes app store.

More information regarding this app can be found here:
http://9thdan.com/site/Apps.html