The History Of Acupuncture And Marma Points And How We Can Use Them

Marma points and what later became acupuncture points are regions on the human body that may consist of muscles, ligaments, joints, tendons, veins, arteries, nerves or a mixture that are extremely dangerous if injured or were specifically therapeutic. We as modern humans should know and carry this knowledge like the wallet in our pocket, for not only do these points or areas give us self-healing methods but they also give us knowledge in regards to the dangers and possible progression of disease.

Transcript

Chinese medicine and ayurvedic medicine have so many similarities to them that one cannot call these similarities mere coincidence.

These similarities are common in the base theory of their medicine as well as the base theory of channels or what the ayurvedic medicine called nadis.

There are some differences though with the primary difference being the more complex and deeper medicinal theory of ayurvedic medicine when compared with Chinese medicine.

China has always been like a giant sponge where it soaks up technology,

Knowledge and wisdom from surrounding areas,

Nations and neighbours.

As time goes on we are beginning to find how much was actually soaked up by China from its various neighbouring countries.

We now know of course that many of the Chinese martial arts came from India,

Including possibly Tai Chi by the looks of it now.

Even in the wrestling arts seem to have come from the Mongols,

Manchurians or neighbouring nomadic communities and peoples.

Bronze was once thought to have been isolated and developed in China by itself,

Now appears as though the technology was imported.

The cartwheel which was also thought to have come from China,

Now we know too that that was also imported.

Many weapons that were thought to have developed in China also were imported from Siberia.

We also know from the Jesuit missionaries that China has always been an incredibly international place.

The Jesuit missionaries mention that the reason why China is so international and everybody wants to go there or conquer the country is because if you were to grow something there,

In a normal country you may get one harvest a year but in China you get four.

They also mentioned how that China is like a garden of Eden in that anything you want to throw into the ground will grow spectacularly.

China has therefore always been a centre of commerce for the last 2000 years.

It is also interesting to mention that Professor Victor Meir who went to Xinjiang province to do DNA testing on the 4000 year old dried up corpses,

When he did the DNA test he found that they were R1A which is one of the most common DNA markers currently in Europe.

When they also looked at the Shang burial pits of the human sacrifice and looked at the skulls,

They noticed that the skulls were from all over the place.

A truly international country for a very very long time.

When one embarks on the study of Chinese medicine,

Many questions cannot be answered because the medical theory at the time just wasn't good enough.

Even in modern times with all our technology and billions of dollars in research,

There are just thousands of unanswered questions.

It also appears as though the Chinese medicine theory may have originally come from India,

Whereas when the Chinese adapted it and changed it.

This does not mean that Chinese medicine is not Chinese medicine,

Because the Chinese medicine practiced today is 100% out of the Han dynasty of China.

The first mention of acupuncture points in China comes from one of their ancient history books which was written around 100 BCE.

The earliest archaeological evidence comes from the Liu Sheng tomb which is also approximately 100 BCE.

When we start to look at Ayurvedic medicine and their acupuncture points,

Called mama points,

We start to notice that the earliest mention of them in their classical text was 1000 BCE.

There's probably about a thousand year difference between the emergence of acupuncture points in China and the emergence of the same points within India.

It is therefore by looking at the mama points that we start to find the origins of acupuncture points,

How they were discovered and how they were developed.

Mama points were clearly the predecessors of acupuncture points.

So what at its essence is a mama point?

A mama point is a place or area within the body that is especially significant.

In Ayurvedic medicine they describe the constitutions of the body in terms of seven layers of skin,

300 bones including cartilages and teeth,

210 joints,

900 ligaments,

500 muscles,

16 major tendons,

700 veins,

Arteries and nerves and 107 mamas.

This means that mamas are important,

Identical parts of our anatomy and reflect key physiological and psychological processes that occur within them.

These 107 points were stressed if you wanted to be a surgeon in ancient India.

Mama points therefore included various important areas of the body.

This means that the points were not sometimes a pinprick small,

Sometimes they were the size of your hand,

Sometimes they were lines,

Sometimes they were certain anatomical features.

Mama points can be small or large or a line or short or a certain area.

They are generally classified into two types,

Lethal and therapeutic.

It does appear that mama points may have originally developed out of martial arts and battle.

The reason for this is that the knowledge of mamas in martial arts and for warriors that went into battle was paramount because it allowed them to know which areas to strike to cause the most lethal damage.

This here must not be mixed up with some mystical practice of tapping somebody at a certain point of the body by which they fall over.

This was based on pure science and anatomy.

For example,

One mama point that was lethal was the carotid artery.

This spot was called death without blood.

Those who have been involved in medicine know that if you take a strike to the carotid artery you should actually get an ultrasound in the following days to make sure that artery doesn't block up.

In the ancient times they knew that a strike to that area of the body could cause death within three days.

Mamas were also associated with the use of armour for the body called vama in Sanskrit,

Which was devised to protect these vital points from injury.

The first references to mama in the Rig Veda speak of using vama or protective coverings to protect these important mamas.

In the great epic Mahabharata in which the Bhagavad Gita of Sri Krishna occurs contains many references to mama and vama.

It mentions protective coverings for the mamas of elephants and horses as well as soldiers.

So the first classification of these lethal mama points included many areas that were dangerous to get struck.

Some examples of course include the temples,

The sternum,

The area of the liver,

The area between the anus and the testicles,

And many various points on the head.

Mama points also included various regions of the body where if you hurt that area it could cause some form of long-term disability or long-term health issue.

Some of the examples of this include the area of the sacroiliac joint.

Those people who have damaged that joint know of the long-term problems that that can cause.

Or even if you've damaged the base of your Achilles,

You know how that can be so debilitating because you can't walk for weeks on end.

The depth and knowledge of these mama points was so profound that they knew that if you injured a certain part of the body,

What over a month to years to decades would happen to you.

Most orthopedic surgeons these days of course have this knowledge and could tell you if you break that bone at that place,

This will happen to you.

If you hurt this ligament or this tendon at this place of the body,

This will happen to you.

And they can probably tell you what happens to you if you didn't get it fixed.

So if we were to define the mama points we can see that they are at sites where muscles,

Veins,

Ligaments,

Bones and joints meet together.

Though all these structures need not be present at each mama.

This explains mamas as important connection centres or crossroads in the physical body.

Mamas therefore include areas where the human body is naturally weak such as the knees,

Or areas where nerves are exposed superficially.

This is why mama areas can be small,

They can be tiny,

They can be big,

Or they can be large.

They can be straight,

They can be a line,

They can be a cross,

They can be all different various kinds.

Mamas are classified according to their dominant physical constitution such as a muscle,

A vessel,

A ligament,

A joint or a bone based region.

Therefore we get five different types of mama.

Mama that is muscle based,

Mama that is vessel based,

Mama that is ligament based,

Mama that is bone based,

Mama that is joint based,

And then there is an extra sixth one which is mama that is nerve based.

Mamas were then classified into the relative type of symptoms when injured.

There are five types.

The first one was immediate death causing,

The second one was long-term death causing,

The third one was fatal if pierced,

The fourth one was disability causing,

The fifth one was pain causing.

So here we start to see the importance and the beauty of the human body and the great depth and understanding that Ayurvedic medicine brought to the world,

Where in such early times they figured out important areas of the human body,

Not only because they were dangerous if injured,

But also because they're therapeutic values.

So many of the points we've spoken about are points that are lethal if struck,

But there's also a vast array of points that were used for therapeutic benefits.

These points even to this day are commonly used.

Those of you who have hurt your back where your quadratus lumborum muscle is tight and locked up,

Know the benefits of massaging the top part of the hip to release that muscle,

Or those who have got problems with their shoulder,

How if you massage the areas of the bicep breakey tendon you can get your shoulder working again very quickly.

All these different therapeutic mama points were also recorded down and are of great benefit to us even in modern times.

These therapeutic points are also seen to be points that are able to have connections to your organs.

This normally comes through the nerves,

It was seen as though the channels were like wires and the organs were like light bulbs.

If you were to press certain areas of the wire,

You could affect the light bulb.

This of course is far more subtle,

But undoubtedly also has its benefits for those who have studied Chinese medicine and know the point neiguan and how well that works for nausea and how quickly it gives results.

This of course is one example out of hundreds.

It does appear as though the Chinese were the first to actually use needles on these points.

The needles were about 10 times the thickness of a dermal needle,

So we hate to know what the death by infection was.

In the end the needles were made much thinner as time went on.

The Chinese tried their best to find a systematic approach to their acupuncture points or the mama points and they used two different methods.

One method was very much based on the yin yang theory where for example you treat the right hand if the left foot is sore or you treat the right hand if the right foot is sore.

The other method they used was imaging where you put a certain part of the body to another part.

So let's say for example you could use your forearm as the whole length of the body and then you would needle on the corresponding area on the forearm.

This theory is nice but at the end of the day nothing beats clinical experience with what points are able and unable to do.

So what does this mean for us the average person?

What this means is that we need to make an effort to learn important mama points so that if we got injured to these areas we know what to do.

For example if you got hit in the carotid artery at some stage you know that you should go to see your doctor and get an ultrasound on it.

This of course includes many different other areas of the body.

You know if you got hit on a certain bone or a certain joint that this must be something that is prioritized and is fixed as soon as possible so it doesn't need lead to a long-term problem.

We can also look at acupuncture points and study them and learn what points we can use for what illnesses.

Learning about these points and what they mean to the human body can help us prevent any major injuries.

It can also tell us when we need to visit the doctor and we can also use self-massage as a way to try to heal ourselves from any illnesses or diseases we have.

Reviews

Thank you - very interesting, I’ve studied a bit of both TCM and Ayurveda within my yoga and tea educations, but there is so much to learn. If you would recommend one book in each of these areas which ones would that be? Thank you in advance 🙏

This is so informative and inspiring. Thank you!!

So much valuable insight and information in a short amount of time. Has inspired me to research further! Namaste

Fascinating! I just started doing acupuncture two weeks ago, and look forward to continuing. Thank you for expanding my knowledge

Marma Points......interesting!!! And the Varma gear to protect these points! Interesting.... how one could die, after 3 days... after a strike to certain marma points!! Good reasons to check in with one’s doctor... when in doubt!
Naquam Point for nausea....correct spelling?!? Thank you Shaun!

Very informative. References would be nice