Overlapping of yoga and Ayurveda is quite visible when one studies the chakra concept, which is the same in both yoga and Ayurveda. In yoga, one studies deeply about seven vital energy chakras located along the spinal cord, while Ayurveda just mentions about the chakras. However, Ayurveda never excludes any other knowledge. One becomes a complete Ayurvedic practitioner or follower only when he/she is able to appreciate other sciences and gain knowledge that is useful to humankind from them. Yoga happens to be one of them, which in turn follows Ayurvedic lifestyle regime in a stricter fashion.

Ayurveda is the oldest known complete medical system. It describes the world (universe) as a continuous stream of interaction energies. The interaction is mainly between the macrocosm (universe) and the microcosm (living things including man). There is a balance in the interaction. The balanced interaction gives humans and balanced mind, body and soul. Then the person is said to be living in harmonious with nature and with optimum health.

The universe is made up of five elements names akash, bhoomi, jal, vayu and agni. These five elements in turn make three humors (doshas) of living bodies – vata, pitta and kapha. Each living thing is a combination of all the three doshas. However in each person one or two doshas dominate. Only in rare cases can you find domination of all the three doshas. A balance in the doshas is essential for the illumination of Ojas, or the essential life energy of human body. According to Ayurveda, every living thing is a mass of constantly evolving energy, with Ojas as its essence or core. An abundance of Ojas means the person is bubbling with health and a deficiency is ill health.

The main centers to locate this energy are the seven major chakras located along the spinal cord. Chakra means a wheel. The energy chakras when healthy will continuously rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise rotation indicated ill health. Each chakra vibrates at specific frequency and supports different parts or functions of the body. There can be different factors that block this energy and bring ailments to body and mind. It also affect the spirituality of the person. Balancing and freeing up the chakras enables the person to attain peak performance in whatever he/she does. The support of energy will be maximum in such a balances state.

The seven Chakras
Yoga and Ayurveda suggests that there are seven different chakras, each with specific physiological and spiritual functions.

Mooladhara (muladhar) or Base Chakra
It is the first among the seven chakras and is located at the base of spinal cord. Basic survival instinct and adrenal functioning are due to the working of this chakra. A weak base/root chakra causes negative viewing of life and increased suicide tendency will be the results. Its color is yellow and shape is a square with four vermilion petals.

Svadhisthana
This is the second chakra located near the genital area and linked to sexuality and reproductive system. It is also linked to love, sexuality, mental composure, and enjoyment of life. Its color is blue and shape is circular with six petals and with a crescent.

Manipur (Manipuraka, Manipura)
The third chakra is located at the navel area, as an inverted red triangle within ten petals of a sunflower. Its color is golden and controls liver, stomach, small intestine and nervous system. Negative energies like anger, frustration etc blocks this chakra and causes hypertension and quick burnouts.

Anahata (Heart Chakra, Hridaya chakra)
This chakra, located at the chest area is associated with heart, immune system, love and compassion. It appears as a six-tailed star circles by 12 petals. Excess energy here can cause heart diseases, asthma, etc. This is regarded as the central chakra and the balancing power of whole body and living system.

Visudha (visuddhi, Throat Chakra)
Visudha is the fifth pranik chakra, located at the throat-neck area as a silver crescent within a ring of 16 radiating golden petals. It controls respiratory system and endocrine system. It also is associated with voice, hearing, and intake of food and water. Singers are blessed with a balanced visudha chakra. Nurturing this chakra by meditations gives peace of mind, pleasant and commanding voice, gentle nature and acceptability as a leader.

Ajna Chakra (Forehead chakra)
Ajna chakra, located at the forehead appears as a white circle circled by two petals. It controls some glands, parts of brain, eye and nose. Mental problems are associated with block of this chakra. Meditating this chakra is very difficult to impossible.

Sahasrara
Sahasrara is the last chakra, appearing as a full moon, above the crown. Controls brain and is related to spirituality and consciousness. Common people rarely identify the effect of this chakra and hence the chakra is not generally identified in different classifications.

The directions of Ayurveda acharyas on food habits appear to be too tough to follow in present conditions.

Appetite, according to Ayurvedic principles is the mechanism of body to tell the brain that the body needs food. Eating food at the right time will automatically create appetite or hunger at the right times – this is the basis. Man needs to take food only two times a day – in the morning and in the evening. The body requires food only after the taken food is digested.

One will not feel appetite when his mind is disturbed – sadness, anger, fear, etc are negative emotions. Food taking with a disturbed mind doesn’t get absorbed by the body. Eating food should be in a pleasant environment, possibly in the presence of family or friends.

Eating the food should be a slow process. Completely chew the food before swallowing. This is needed for good digestion of food. Another thing is not to take cold water with food. A little walk a few minutes after taking food can help in better digestion of the taken food. DonÂ’t exert body immediately after taking food. Another thing is to avoid eating for time pass.

Any food that can affect the balance of any of the three doshas of tridosha can be termed a virudhaharam (virudha aharam, virutha aharam, viruthaaharam) or incompatible food. Certain food items when combined together can create reactions. These reactions can sometimes be harmful to health. Food items that cause such reactions are known as incompatible food.

Food and milk, chicken and ghee, etc are examples of incompatible food combination.

This may not be a serious problem to healthy persons pursuing a continued exercise regimen. However, pregnant women, weak persons, elderly persons and children can be affected by such incompatible combinations. It is necessary to check the nature of food and food combination one takes.

There are also chances for food poisoning. The general symptoms of food poisoning are described in different Ayurvedic texts. Infected meat has blue lines, milk has dark red lines, alcoholic drinks have black and white lines, etc provide quick diagnostic measures of food poisoning.

Excess intake of alcohol can cause serious damages to liver. Too much of sweets and fatty food can affect teeth and can upset stomach. They also affect the health of bones and can cause beauty problems like pimples. Its effect on diabetes is well known to everyone.

The preservatives added to food are also chemicals that can act as poison. Modern researches hint that accumulation of chemicals from such preservatives and additives can even stunt the mental growth of children.

People at the time of origin of Ayurveda, the science of life didn’t have to worry much about baked or fried food items. Modern man eats a lot of bakery products like cake, pastries, drink artificial drinks like colas – all these can cause different problems to digestive system, blood, and bones.

Kalarippayattu is widely practiced in Kerala and in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu, the southern most states of India. It is also believed that ancient Buddhist monks took kalarippayattu lessons from Tamil Nadu. They used the knowledge in the places of their exile and pilgrimage, mainly to protect against wild animals. In their hands, it was transformed to Karate. Aggression and physical harm to others is completely absent in Buddhist philosophy – thus the monks took only a small portion of the knowledge.

Kalari means an arena and payattu means fight. Hence kalarippayattu is a fight at the arena. The master of kalaripayattu is called an ‘asan’ or ‘guru’. Asan is the most common usage. There are different wings in kalarippayattu – empty handed fight, short stick, long stick, small knife, sword and shade, belt sword, are the weapons of aggression and defense.

Kalarippayattu primarily is the method of self-defense, but it also gives enormous benefits to the practitioners. It gives flexibility to body, better immune system, mental alertness, good physique, confidence, and self-control.

There are two distinct schools of Kalarippayattu in Kerala – Vadakkan or Northern style and Thekkan or Southern style. In the northern part, prominence is for weapons and in southern parts, empty handed fights. Vadakkan Kalari depends primarily on full body massaging to attain body flexibility, while southern style practitioners have a wide set of exercises to attain physical flexibility.

Marma concept is unique to Kalarippayattu. According to marma knowledge, there are 108 vital points on human body, which when is attacked with proper force and balance can cause even death. These highly sensitive points are called marmas. Among the 108 marmas, 12 are extremely critical.

An Asan (master of Kalaripayattu) must possess a sound marma knowledge as there are chances that the students may accidentally shock a marma (marmam). The effect of this shock, called thattu can be rectified with a maruthattu, which is the application of a controlled shock in an appropriate manner to neutralize the effect of the first shock.

Marma massaging is a method of massaging the body by giving proper pressure at the marma points. One must observe and work under his Asan for long time before venturing into using the skills on his own. Marma massaging can rectify deformation of bones and injuries like fracture occurred during fighting and/or accidents. Choice of medicated oil depends on the kind of massage the person requires. The medicines are transferred directly to the blood through the skin with this high pressure massaging.