Introduction

Stop!!! Before reading this article ask few questions from your soul and accentuate what answers you get from voice within. Are you living your life perfectly, happily or going through dark times, breakdowns, alone, frustrations, disappointments, discouragement, depression, hopelessness, low self esteem, things go unexpectedly and just simply negative. If yes, it means you are suffering from stress. Here we are revealing some interesting techniques which de- stresses you and your loved ones. Just try or test one of them especially marma therapy which ignites your courage and makes you stress free. Marma are the vital points present in our body whose stimulation create wonders.

Why stress in progress?

Today in our present scenario we can’t stop stress by ruling our lives. Inevitably it is going to affect us no matter what nationality, language, region, religion, culture, society, gender, personality or vocality we are having. Whether you are a child, men or a women stress hasn’t discard anyone and become a part and parcel of our lives. It seems impossible for us to eliminate stress from our lives but one thing which really prepare and energise your body to abolish tension is how we react against it. If we change our mode of action against stress then surely we can get relief from it. Our circumstances, surroundings, atmosphere collectively contribute to increase stress bodily as well as psychologically. All these factors which ruins our peace can be checked by changing our lifestyle and our reaction towards stress. It is the most simplest method that is to be followed.

Be stress free

The physique of a person looks good when you keep your body aligned and carry it correctly. It means good body language and posture is very important as people create conjecture about you from it. But today we are very much busy to achieve our goals, to bring heydays working extremely hard for prolonged periods in a particular posture, spending most of our time on lappies or desks, sitting constantly for 8-12 hours, keep working and working in day and nights against the law of our strength. This leads to strain in specific parts of our muscles, nerves, joints and hence resulting in physical strain/stress. Work is our necessity therefore we can’t ignore it. Sometime these strains collectively turned into mental illness or depression. Depression is not just a dragon like phase, a bad day, hard time, a negative approach or a disease, it is a disorder which affects you mentally and physically. It is rightly said that your continuous efforts creates your destiny therefore perform some teeny weeny workouts so that we are able to take a break from this monotonous activity and can easily reduce our stress which our destiny.

General body parts affected by stress

1. Neck: Using cellphones in a particular posture, continuous driving, viewing televisions computers cause nape pain and strain. So they should be used in such a way that your neck is in comfort zone. Also do small sessions of physical exercise…….! Raise your neck upwards, hold your nape in this position for few seconds and then bend it in forward direction. Effectuate this movement by performing sideways and circular motion.
2. Back: It is the most important part of our body as it underpins our soma and nervous system and static pose can generate a permanent hassle in your spine, ligaments and discs so support it with the help of a pillow or rolled up towel for its proper functioning. These little things can overcome your somatic sufferings.
3. Legs: We usually attain sitting posture most of the times and our legs are in hanging position, it may act as a seed for varicose veins, lymphedema, leg ulcer etc. To evade these conditions stretch your legs or move around for 5-10 minutes in spare time this will bring them in an activated form thus here is no stagnation of blood, venous return improves and local pressure is reduced on bodily tissues.
4. Feet & fingers: Salient feature of fingers and ankle joint movement is that it helps in increasing your blood circulation and in this way we can easily reduce oedema and stiffness of dependent part of our body. You can also adjust an elevator beneath your feet to support them as this avoids numbness, uncomfortable sensations, pain and other ailments.
5. Eyes: Blinking of eyes should be proper as it moistens, cleans and lubricate your eyes by spreading tears over it. To strengthen them rotate your eyes in different directions, rub your hands and place your palms on your eyes, splash your eyes with the water because it provides relief to our eyes as well as to our mind as eyes have direct effect on our mind.

Stress eliminating therapies

There are some efficient, cost-free, cognizant and non-timing consuming therapies which eliminates stress from your life. Now prepare yourself to meet this challenge “Stress” and remove it permanently from your life. So trust in yourself and start adapting these therapies to de-stress.

1. Deep breathing exercises: Small small changes in your daily activities can improve quality of our health and life. In between of your work you can do deep breathing exercises with deep inhalation and exhalation ensuring that while doing this exercise your stomach should move in and out because it leads to the movement of belly and thoracic part of our body. Breathing importance has also been cited through the propagation of yoga and pranayama. But these simple deep breathing break brings a positive effect in our body, burn calories and increases oxygen concentration in our blood and brain thus help in removing physical and mental stress.
2. Stimulating marmas: Marma therapy set forth from ayurveda and it is not an ancient technique as it have its modern aspects and it is applicable in today’s scenario. Marma therapy is known as “Mother of all healing therapies”. Marmas are the cardinal points present in our body which demolishes pain physically as well as mentally and revive us. They are deep seated anatomical structures which can be therapeutically touched, massaged simply or with oils or pressurized. The most important thing is that this therapy can be self practiced daily anywhere and in any position. Hence convert our tough life into valuable one.

When it comes to marma points, stress can be redefined as:

Power of removing stress at your fingertips

Now you have to identify the marmas in order to activate them:

Amsa marma (अंस मर्म)

1. Name: Amsa marma
2. Meaning: Amsa means shoulder
3. Category: Snayu marma/स्नायु मर्म (tendon and ligaments)
4. Location: It is located on the place in between neck and shoulder joint

How to reveal: Keep your arm, forearm and hand straight at 90 degrees and there should be no gap in between fingers i.e they should be joined properly and affixed with thumb. Now bring your arm at 90 degrees w.r.t shoulder joint and forearm at 45 degrees w.r.t your arm. Hopefully your fingers reach at the clavicle precisely index finger touches the neck while middle finger find its route above and beside the medial aspect of collar bone. The pinpoint where middle finger is placed is known as amsa marma. It can be stimulated 15-18 times in one minute and 3 times a day with pressure on both the shoulders. The technique is very simple as you to give pressure and then release it.

Practical aspect: Amsa marma provide relaxation in all the diseases related to neck, example neck ache, stiffness, muscles strain, cervical spondylitis etc.

Tal hridaya marma (तल हृदय मर्म)

1. Name: Tal hridaya marma
2. Meaning: Tal (palmar aspect of hand/foot) and hridaya (center)
3. Category: Mamsa marma (muscles)
4. Location: It is located in heart or center of palm.

How to reveal: Fold your fingers in such a way they touch the palmar aspect of your hand, now let the middle finger to be in contact with palm and release all the others. Where the tip of the middle finger touches the palm that position determines the tal hridaya marma.

Another method to divulge Tal hridaya marma is draw a perpendicular line at the palmar aspect of the the hand vertically and as well as horizontally where they meet is the position of tal hridya marma. Different vessels pass at this point which stimulate the heart. You can activate tal hridaya marma by putting pressure on it with the thumb pulp of another hand. It is present in both hands, you have to press 15-18 times and give stimulus of .8 seconds by just pressing and releasing it. The extent of pressure should be maintained to the bearable level of the patient.

Practical aspect: It is useful in diseases related to heart and brain example hypertension, hypotension, cardiac pain, chest pain, insomnia, to improve memory, fatigue, unconsciousness, epilepsy, seizures disorders, vertigo, depression in every case it helps a lot.

Stanmoola marma (स्तनमूल मर्म)

1. Name: Stan Moola marma
2. Meaning: Stan( breast) moola (base)
3. Category: Sira (vessels may be artery or veins)
4. Location: It is located at the base of breast.

How to reveal: Usually we fold our hands over the chest many times in a day just to relax but we are unaware that marma points are located in this natural posture. If we stimulate these points correctly then a lot more benefits can be availed. When we fold our hands the base of the first metacarpal bone comes over the stan moola marma spontaneously. In this way we are giving the pressure over both sides at lower part of the chest or stan moola marmas as well as over the heart. Put some pressure on these marmas during exhalation and releasing it during inhalation.

Practical aspect: By pressing these points (Stan moola marma and hridaya marma) you are utilising your energy in reviving your prana hence these are concluded under marma pranasanas. They are responsible for the proper functioning of the lungs.

Hridaya marma (हृदय मर्म)

1. Name: Hridaya marma
2. Meaning: Hridaya means heart
3. Category: Sira (vessels may be artery or vein)
4. Location: It is located in heart

How to reveal: Make a fist of right hand, place it over the chest and beneath the left elbow just in a position as we are folding our hands over the chest. In this way the fist comes over the precordial space or the region of heart, during exhalation we have to press it and both the arms work as a single unit. It is also known as cardiac massage exercise.

Practical aspect: When a person lose his consciousness due to decreased or restricted movement of heart then we immediately give them cardiac massage. The nature to give cardiac massage is incorporated in this exercise hence it is very useful in proper working of cordium.

Gulpha marma (गुल्फ मर्म)

1. Name: Gulpha marma
2. Meaning: Gulfa means ankle joint
3. Category: Sandhi marma (joint)
4. Location: It is located near ankle joint

How to reveal: Place your lower leg on the knee joint of another leg in such a way that the feet comes at 90 degrees w.r.t lower leg, here most important marma known as gulfa is present behind the medial malleolus and we can easily stimulate it. At this particular point i.e gulfa marma nerves passes, just you have to press this point and after pressing it you will feel some sensation in the whole foot. Stimulate this point 15-18 times by holding the medial malleolus with thumb and giving pressure by index finger, this helps in getting relief from diseases and stress below the navel. The persons who are suffering from obesity have more subcutaneous fats so this marma can’t be located easily . So in this condition stimulate this marma in the guidance of an expert ayurvedacharya.

Practical aspect: Pain in leg, severe osteoarthritis, sciatica, neuritis, radiculopathy, prolapsed intervertebral disc, kyphosis, pain in spine, prolonged sitting or driving. By stimulating this point you are stimulating the whole lumbosacral plexus.

Apang marma (अपांग मर्म)

1. Name: Apang marma
2. Meaning: Apang means outer corner of the eye/temporal part
3. Category: Sira marma (vessels may be artery or vein)
4. Location: It is located at temporal region specifically at the end of eyebrows

How to reveal: Place your index fingers on eyebrows and move them across the end of brows, you will notice that there is some depressed part at the temples just of the size of pulp/tip of index finger this particular point it is termed as apnag marma and then press it 15-18 times to obtain its positive effects.

Practical aspect: Outcome of this marma stimulation is very much useful in headache, stress, migraine, insomnia and in diseases related to eyes. It also said that an injury to this point may result in blindness. To increase vision of eye we stimulate this marma.

Manibandh marma (मणिबंध मर्म)

1. Name: Manibandh marma
2. Meaning: Manibandh means wrist joint
3. Category: Sandhi marma (joint)
4. Location: It is located at wrist joint

How to reveal: The upper part of the wrist is known as manibandha, hold your wrist with the help of thumb and middle finger of the other hand the meeting point is known as manibandh marma and by giving some pressure rotate it in clockwise and anticlockwise direction.

Practical aspect: It stimulate the functions of brain, decreases the level of anxiety and stress. It calms your mind and provides you inner peace.

These techniques or ways are very simple and need only few seconds for stimulation. Always remember you can make your life beautiful by by making minuscules modifications in your life. Just a click of magnificent marma chikitsa makes you matchless, mind blowing and marvy.