Learning Kalari in Kerala as a Woman

by Anne Haack (Germany)

Making a local connection India

Being an avid yoga practitioner since the 2000's and having learned with the best teachers in India and Europe over the past six years, I thought myself to be very advanced physically, mentally and spiritually. Handstand, no problem. Split, no problem. Forearm balance, no problem. Enters Kalaripayattu, the mother of all martial arts, which originally comes from Kerala and I facepalm all over the place. Quite literally. Kalari was originally developed as a defense technique against wild animals in the wild jungles of the South of India. Back in the days when men needed to get their water from the fountain or the lake and a wild boar could come around any minute, defense techniques were needed. Later on the founder of Kalari, the sage Bhodidharma travelled all the way up to China to show the Chinese some moves. Who in turn dialed the wild martial arts version of India down a bit, added a dash of Zen and turned it into the softer practice of Kung-Fu. Now, back to Kerala and Kalari in the year 2018. Kalari is practiced in earthen mud rooms with lots of weapons on the wall. Shields, spears, swords, metal chains, you name it. And an altar in one corner that is decorated with flowers, which needs to be greeted when entering the hall. It´s wild. And the guys who practice Kalari look as if straight from a gladiator movie, since their jumps and fights are beyond physical abilities of an average human being. So I enter my first Kalari lesson with the best of the best, CVN Center in Calicut, who are known for their stage shows and performances all over the world. I`m assigned to practice 2 hours each morning and each evening, which for me as a yoga practitioner of Ashtanga yoga, seems to be no big deal. Well, or so I thought. I`m given mainly leg movements for the first week. Nothing else then marching up and down the mud hall with my arms lifted high, throwing my legs up so that my feet would touch my hands. This requires not only being able to do sitting splits for the flexibility, but also a lot of stamina. Holding a split for 5 minutes is not a problem. Doing walking splits for 30 minutes as a warm-up turns out to be quite a challenge. After the first week I´m ready to throw in the towel, because I can´t walk anymore and feel like this is a men´s club and not a lady's hobby. But well, two weeks payed and the warrior in me is like: I can do this. Also, my personal teacher is incredibly good at getting me to do crazy things and I´m fascinated by my colleagues, who fly through the air like feathers, while circling around weapons. And certainly weighing twenty kilos more than me. This is about practicing a beginners mind. Luckily my two guruji's, the owners of CVN Kalari, assign me new leg movements, such as walking forward like a crawling gecko, jumps, hand movements around my face and pretending to be a walking elephant. As if I was not already feeling like one. Why not. I'm dead by the end of week two, but I got though all the wild animals from roaster, to horse, wild boar, elephant and anything in between. I think I can mingle in the jungle now. I end my training with a full sequence and even started the second one. However, I think what I enjoyed the most every day was the the thirty centimetre big Dosa after each training and a good hour of sitting still in the restaurant (which in Kerala they call hotel, which was confusing at first). But you know how it goes, what you resist persists. So mind you, upon travelling up North to my home away from home Rishikesh, I find myself getting up each morning to march up and down the rooftop terrace to throw my legs to my hands and walk like an elephant. Why not. It seems like Kerala´s sweaty South travelled with me and Kalari did not go to China this time, but at least to the Himalayas.