navarrakizhi: never let me down

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7 positions. the kizhi massages, as we have been taught in the ayu school, is 7 positions. the abhyanga massage in the asthanga ayu program i studied in 4 years ago, is 7 positions. the strokes, long or sometimes short, are circular and are done in odd denominations: 3, 5, 7, all the way up to 21 - an auspicious number, dr. prabath, the teacher of movement here says. 

7 is the number of strokes necessary for someone who is in need of treatments based on the tridosha theory. when you are in panchakarma treatment, you are in islam to the person working on you for 7, 14, 21, 28 days. you surrender to their skill, acumen, care, love. you give yourself over to them as a muslim might prostrate to ALLAH, as a yogi might sit before a banyan for days, months, years, like the knotty-haired stranger hrin told me about. "he wandered on to a village by the beach here, some years back, speaking hindi, but mostly silence and gestures." he is still there, years later, rooted into the earth, like the mango tree he is next to.

at 7, you are in mercy. you are also in namaste, acknowledging by practicing, affirming the divinity in yourself to prostrate, to be so in tune with the love of another, that you hand yourself over, become as vulnerable as street dogs, who lay beside you, ignoring rumours of human stonings, gun shots, sticks. namaste. 

suheir hammad said that when the towers went down, she stood outside her chinatown building staring at disbelief through fire and smoke, at bodies flinging themselves into sky. when the tears blackened her arab eyes, a large white woman took note of her, held her. suheir said she was palestinian and her brother was in the u.s. military. double trouble. the woman held her harder. beyond borders, ethnic constructions/profiling, there is is heartbeat. namaste

in the first position of the kizhi massage you are sitting on the hard of the dhroni table, waiting with your hands and feet out like a beggar, receiving the jewlery of a village elder rich in wisdom and so much compassion, he absolves his conscience by giving himself over to you. 

the practitioner touches your vital points – 7 of them – head, ears, hands, feet. at the completion of the 7, you are in preparation for surrender, ready for the prayers the practitioner says over your head - your dome - the holy minaret of a mosque - the bayuwali channel described by khemetic science. you prostrate in silence. the bond is made, the covenant of massage begun. thus begins the sacred process of body work in ayurveda.

i sat and watched as my peer and friend received the hands of the healer, which began with a respect, acknowledgement of the head and face, by way of fluid motions, using a minimal of oil, as this is a peripheral region to the treatment. the procedure then occurs with oleation over the back, arms, chest and stomach, legs, top and bottom, feet. 

7 body parts are completed. they are now prepared n ready for the kizhi, ready to be pressed with poultices of herbs from mother earth, herbs that have been collected with the utmost care, with islam and namaste to the essence manifest in sun-water-soil-air-soaked plantlife.

in the case of navarra, the plantlife used is a grain, a navvarra. navvarra is known for its nourishing qualities. the rice is boiled, cooled and placed in boluses to make medicinal pouches. i watched my friend lay on his back, his side, his stomach, as the healers pounded, pressed, molished, taking extra care near the joints, placing extra pressure near the bulges of mamsa and meda. 

the islam of namaste  - the Light in me to the Light in You - completes the kizhi massage. my friend sits where he began, his legs dangling above the floor. the healer towels him down, cleans and rubs his feet. namaste.