Environmentalist and writer Aniyan Thalayattumpilli is busy nowadays putting in place a unique garden with plants that align with each of the seven chakras of Kundalini Yoga. The ‘yoga chakra’ garden is coming up at a biodiversity hotspot near Aniyan’s ancestral home in Kurichithanam, a village in Kottayam district.
The patch of land will have a plethora of medicinal plants.
The yoga chakras, which are part of Kundalini Yoga, denote seven important points of a human body and each one has an appropriate medicinal plant attached to it. Aniyan’s endeavor is to find such medicinal plants and grow them in the upcoming garden. The preliminary work relating to setting up the one-of-its-kind garden has begun in right earnest.
The plants grown in the garden include ‘ashwagandha’, ginger and turmeric (Muladhara Chakra), ‘shatavari’ and hibiscus (Svadhisthana Chakra), ‘inji pullu’ and pepper (Manipura Chakra), rose and lavender (Anahata Chakra), fennel seeds (Vishuddha Chakra), tulsi and ‘shankupushpam’ (Ajna Chakra) and lotus and lavender (Sahasrara Chakra).
The facility that gels with nature includes a pond called ‘vanatheertham’, Buddha statue under a Bodhi tree, forest temple, ‘rashi chakra’ forest and ‘human garden’ in the form of a human, says Aniyan.
No fee will be charged to use the ‘yoga chakra’ garden. Plans are anvil to include an ‘ezhuthu pura’ (a literary space), swing and a forest path without disturbing the balance of nature. An ‘aditya’ mandap to conduct ‘surya namaskaram’ and a ‘parnasala’ by the name of ‘Atheedriyam’ for meditation will be established, he adds.