Vyayam / The Heritage of Dhanurveda

Vyayam, a martial arts exercise that is transmitted to Rishikesh in North India. I have not yet looked at it directly, and there are many unknown points.


The word Vyayam itself derives from the common Indic word meaning bend and stretch the body, hence means exercise. For example, Kushti Akhara traditional wrestling gymnasium is often referred to as "Vyayam Shala".
The video below shows the Spanish group of Vyayam practitioners (including Japanese Satomi) filmed by kalari gurukkal who gave me the video and I uploaded it on Youtube. So they came to the kalari for practice that's why wearing Karali costumes, but this is not formal for the Vyayam.






Very unique movements and breathing

The characteristic movement seems to be derived from Sthana, the basic posture and its training movements described in the holy scripture of Dhanurveda which records about ancient Aryan martial arts.
There are many parts that overlap with the pose of fighting Buddha statues, such as 不動明王(acalanātha) and 仁王(Vajrapāṇibalin), and the distinctive breathing method has an obvious influence of Pranayama of yoga. Probably it was born from Dhanurveda tradition, Tantric Buddhism and yoga in hybrid.
In addition, the extremely low attitude is interesting as it reminds me of Kalari's Meypayattu and Sumo training.
In fact, I watched meypayattu of central style kalaripayattu, with its unique breathing techniques and hand movements, I got an impression that was very similar to Vayam.


Central style Kalaripayattu


Official Vyayam Movie

Vyayam seems to be a valuable tradition that almost only remains in Rishikesh now, but as a full-body exercise with a breathing method, I see it as having a potential attraction comparable to Tai Chi. I would like to continue researching and promoting it from now on.
See Vyayam.org for information on the net. In Spain, there is a school founded by the Rev. Javier Plazas master who trained in Rishikesh, where Japanese Satomi is also active as a teacher. Every winter, it seems to have a workshop in Rishikesh. For more information contact them by email.






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