The pattern is: one arm moves forward, then transquarter (flip-it). Repeat 4 times to get back to the starting point.

(Yes, you get back to the starting point after 3 moves as well – but it’s not at the end of the pattern. This happens in Level 3, too – you get back to the starting positions after 7 (out of 16) moves. Interesting that they both happen one move before halfway through the pattern.)

With your other arm, you can: also move in a forward/transquarter pattern. Or, what I demonstrate is moving this hand in a different spiral that takes 8 moves to get to the starting position – 4 moves forward, and 4 moves backward – the first 8 moves of level 1.

A complication: To avoid repetition of the Transquarter pattern, I decided to keep one arm doing the pattern for both sides of the starting position – then switch to the other arm for the next starting position. You can see how that works in the video or in the written-out instructions.

To write two starting positions out:
(LH: Spiral, RH: Forward/Transquarter) 1-5; 2-6, 3-8, 4-5, 1-7, 4-8, 3-6, 2-7, 1-5 Mirror
(LH: Spiral, RH: Forward/Transquarter) 5-1; 6-2, 7-4, 8-1, 5-3, 8-4, 7-2, 6-3, 5-1

(LH: Forward/Transquarter, RH: Spiral) 2-5; 3-6, 1-7, 2-8, 4-5, 1-8, 3-7, 4-6, 2-5 Mirror
(LH: Forward/Transquarter, RH: Spiral) 5-2; 6-3, 8-4, 5-1, 7-2, 8-1, 6-4, 7-3, 5-2

And finally, the practice:

Have yourself a merry little savasana, and may epiphanies flow freely!

Please chalk any weirdnesses of language and grammar to the fact that I had figured out and recorded a different Shiva Nata variation and a little practice, then worried out the ~actual~ reasoning behind my shortened set of starting points (both coming soon), and only then had this difference show up and hit me in the face.

Have fun!

I adore the square/triangle variation I posted yesterday. I also realized (during taping!) that square vs triangle was just a stand-in for a spiral of 4 vs a spiral of 3. So… you can change the length of those spirals – if you’re not attached to them being particular shapes. So you can make a spiral moving from 1-2-3-4-5, and contrast it to a spiral of 1-2-3, and enjoy the 15 moves it takes to get you back to your starting point, 1,1.

Other fun lengths-of-spirals to dance with (work in vertical or horizontal spirals!): 4/3, 5/2, 5/3, 5/4, 6/4, 6/5, 7/2, 7/3, 7/4, 7/5, 7/6, 8/3, 8/5, 8/6, 8/7 Geez – that was WAY more then I was expecting, somehow.

Sometimes writing about Shiva Nata feels like writing about math.

I realized I’m feeling a bit self-conscious about these being “boring” variations… the ones that aren’t giggle-inducing from fun words or silliness. But I love the way the systematic, brain-y stuff makes my brain reshuffle itself, and these are practices I really like to do on my own.

I might not use them at all if I were teaching a class – it seems like word games are more engaging, especially for beginners, and equally flail-inducing.

It’s an interesting question – what do you think about ‘silly’ variations vs. straight-up brain busting?

So the square = 1-4-2-3-(1…) or 1-3-2-4-(1….)

And the triangle = 1-2-3-(1…) or 1-4-3-(1…) or 3-2-4-(3…) or 3-2-4-(3…)

And then – they dance. Chose a starting point (both hands at the same point is easiest to recognize when you’re done) – move one hand on a square path, one on a triangle path… whee! Move along the paths until they line up again.

Have fun with this one! It inspired a mini-epiphany, just taping this one – so I immediately taped a follow-up – and I’ll post it tomorrow.  (Whoa – plus I just had a few more ideas. Yay, recursiveness!)

Enjoy the flail!

(p.s. thanks to Miss Anna Lawrence for the initial inspiration!)

Do this: Level 1 or 2… BUT after each move, mirror image. The mirroring takes out the spiral-repitition that so conveniently let your body know what’s next. It’s fun! Explanation first, and 8-minute practice following. Also works with levels 4 and 5. Also might make my brain explode.

Do watch the explanation if you want to comprehend or replicate the pattern – the forward/back and back/forward movements get confusing.

Note: this below is not an entertaining video. There is no sound, due to the YouTube selection being huge and completely unknown, and I’d rather not deal with copyright stuff. So pick your own music, and pretend I’m dancing to it, horrendously and slowly? Drunk Octopus Dancing! Or follow along and enjoy, more positively. Just mirror, or mirror and name the positions with numbers, or write the numbers as you watch… Hope you like it! (Please just be focusing on the Dance and ignore my brain turning to deliciously scrambled sludge. Thanks!)

Ahhhh. Savasana time.

True story: the two days after I made this video (that would include today) ROCKED. Uber-productive, monster-grumbling minimized, and crazy getting-myself-out into the world. I made a vision board – been resisting for years. Went to EIGHT new places to talk about yoga and Shiva Nata possibilities – been putting that off for a good three months. Set up mailing list with goodies, sign-in, customized emails – completely from scratch, in about 30 minutes (poke poke, sign up! the goodies are REALLY good). Goooooooo Shiva Nata!

(Breathing exercises sounds awful. Pranayama sounds so much better, if you’re not opposed to Sanskrit with your yoga.)

This is a very basic breathing exercise – which does not mean it’s easy! When you’re not used to using your belly and ribcage to breath, it can take some effort to play with your anatomy to figure out what the crazy yoga lady is saying. It would probably be best to watch the video before I take too long trying to describe it.

Basic routine: 3 parts to your breath – expand your belly, expand your ribcage, lift your heart/top of your chest.

Benefits: Far more natural breath, stretch and loosen core muscles that have forgotten how not to “suck it in”, a very relaxed state of mind.

When to do it: When you wake up in the morning, any time you’re feeling stress, as a way to center yourself anytime, at the beginning of yoga class.

Very basic, very important. Enjoy!

I want my teaching to feel like a raft guide on the most gorgeous river.

I want watching my students grow to feel like watching fireworks.

I want my body to feel like a mountain stream – always clear and graceful, sometimes jumping and sparkling and fast, sometimes placid and slow and dreamy – and sometimes roaringly powerful!

I want my website to feel like sitting down at a gourmet but unpretentious restaurant and the waiter brings a hand-written menu…

I want my heart to feel like the Moon – wildly radiant, never depleted.

I want my yoga to feel like the living breath of trees – and the sparrows swooping around.

I want my blog to feel like stepping into a clean, well-stocked craft/art room, with full permission to play.

I want writing to feel like playing in a sheltered grotto.

I want my relationship to feel like a long, delicious bike ride, wandering to follow our whims and intrigues.

I want my smile to feel like jumping on a trampoline!

I want laughing to feel like a field of fiesty little flowers waving in the breeze.

I want my home to feel like a warm hug in a fall-scented breeze.

I want my meditation to feel like the stillest, deepest pond. Where you see stars, even in the daytime. (I’m quite sure this is something I’ve read. I’m also not sure where, and it’s gorgeous and true and how I want to feel. Thank you, anonymous.)

I want my money to feel like a swimming pond in summer.

I want my bank accounts to feel like an intuitive friend who preps the perfect tea and snacks for when I come over.

I want breathing deep AND dreaming to feel like the jaw-dropping view you get at the top of the mountain.

I want my internal dialogues to feel like a warm friendly quilting circle.

I want my creation to feel like dancing to String Cheese at Rothbury ’09.

I want my shiva nata to feel like riding a dragon.

I want waking up to feel like Lakota-dog stretching when she knows we’re taking her out.

I want my friendships to feel like sitting in a cozy chair by a fire – inside or on a beach – laughing.

I want my LIFE to feel like the delicious moment in bed when you start to stretch and smile and realize the whole exciting day is in front of you!

___________________

I was surprised at how many of these were actions and sensations, rather then things. Also a little surprised at how much water and swimming showed up – I miss swimming and living close to water (quite allergic to chlorine, and no longer live in super-laked Minnesota).

I’d love to hear about your wished-for feelings and dreams!

Photos by me

Summary/ less-clear written version:

Arms straight out or straight down by your side, Shiva Nata spirals are approximated using just your hands, bending at the wrists.

Horizontal equivalents:
1 = flat hand, palm out, fingers pointing up and away from body
2 = flat-ish hand, palm facing in towards body, fingers pointing down and to midline
3 = flat-ish hand, palm facing in towards body, fingers pointing down and away from body
4 = flat hand, palm out, fingers pointing up and towards midline of body

Vertical equivalents: required more creativity!
5 = five. palm vertical, pointing away from body, hand coming straight off of wrist
6 = hand position from 5, fingers closed into fist
7 = hand in fist, palm pointed at sky
8 = open, flat palm towards sky

Notes: Arm/wrist/hand works best by far when your arms are straight – parallel to the ground, or straight by your side. Wrist fatigue sets in quickly if you try to keep your hands a few inches in front of you.

This is a lot of work and stretching for your wrists – please know or discover if your wrists can handle it. Be safe!

Enjoy!

Just the vowels with Havi was a ton of fun – it’s somehow automatically singing when you blend the vowels together. You might think that with such short things to remember (doesn’t get much shorter than individual letters!) it wouldn’t be that hard of a variation – but it definitely fries me, pretty fast.

Have Fun!

Here’s the cheat sheet I made for the sounds with each position:

Ideally someday soon I’ll have full classes uploaded – but this is my stepping stone to get there.

My first – and most complex to explain – variation is Shiva Nata on a floor mat. I’ll insert the video here – it’s quite a bit more concise then the write up, and shows how fun jumping around on a mat can be.

I go quickly through level 1-jumping, level 2-stepping, and on level 3 I start going slowly enough to really follow.
Rather then using arm movements, you dance with your feet from position to position. It ends up looking like Dance Dance Revolution.
(Which is a video game with a 4-way pad on ground, the falling arrows on the screen tell you where to move your feet. Like footwork Guitar Hero. Might not translate if you’ve never seen it. PLUS Random story: I lived in a frat house one summer and the guys above me used DDR to stay in shape. They lost ~20 pounds. I may have lost a bit of sanity from the jumping.)

How to make a Shiva Nata DDR mat:

Supplies: Cheap yoga mat and sharpies – possibly carpet tiles and tape.

To make the “board” = floor mat, I used sharpies on a VERY cheap yoga mat ($5, and it’s horrid-soft and rip-prone for yoga. Great for the jumping on though, and porous enough to absorb lots of sharpie ink).

Step-by-step, follow the captions!

First, do a few jumping jacks to see how wide you're comfortable jumping. Mark 1-2" outside your foot.

Fold mat over to your width mark - sharpie the exterior line, then nice and thick in the half-way crease.

Continuing to fold to find halfway points, make 2 4-grids. As you can see, making perfect squares is not as important as being able to reach all sides.

Draw Circus-Diamonds on the inside, number as shown. I color-coordinated to go with my SN cheat sheets. Lakota-Dog was a faithful helper.

There are a million different ways to use the floor mat. Stepping to Shiva Nata audios. Jumping both feet at the same time is a step harder. Saying the formulas yourself as you step or jump, harder. If you’re getting tired, pointing with one hand and stepping with the opposite foot. Sitting on the floor and tapping the numbers with your hands. Making a tiny version and using your fingers simultaneously on it (I have visions of Shiva Nata-board wallets).

Any thoughts? Any better ideas for how to lay out the numbers? Hope you can use this and play with it!

Here is my logic on the layout of the mat. It’s explained briefly in the video; this may or may not be more clear.

So: Floor mat, with the numbers, in a sensible order – we’ll relate them to the Shiva Nata hand positions. Horizontals make sense, like so:

1, 2, 3, 4 – echoing how your hand makes the spiral. This is the left foot, mirror image for the right.

Vertical does not translate as well. Here’s the arrangement I’ve settled on for the left foot.

To combine the two, and enable every Shiva Nata level on the same board, I’ve done this (pictures do speak louder then words)

Love, Beth