Most of the things that we can practice with the dance of shiva can be applied to anything we do. They include:

• learning to break complex tasks into simpler ones,
• sensing and choosing options,
• knowing what we are doing before we do it.

One of the advantages of the Dance of Shiva is that it provides a good way of practicing any of these skills. Plus you don’t have to figure out how to practice them, you can simply get on with practicing them.

Warps
and
Clear Ideas

One of the things we can practice is “leading with the mind” or “leading with a clear idea”.
In the more advanced practices (I call them “Warps”) we can memorize a sequence of moves. An example would be “CF-T, CF-CF, CF-B, F-CF.
(CF=CHANGE FORWARDS, T=TRANSQUARTER, B=BACKWARDS, F=FORWARDS.)

This is a “generic” formula that can be used to start from any of the 64 different positions of the dance of shiva. Repeating this formula 4 times returns the arms to the position from which they started. So that we use each of these moves from each of the 64 positions we need to practice this formula from 16 different positions.
When practicing this sequence or any other sequence, before we “do” each move we can first see it with our mind.

As an example, starting from position 1-1 the first move is a CF-T which takes the arms to b-3. With enough practice we know the positions so that they are easy to see with our minds eye. As a result we can see our hands in position b-3 before we actually move them there.

From our new positions we can then see what the result of the next move is before we do it. From b-3 we can “see” that the CF-CF move will take our arms to 3-d. Having seen with our mind we can then move our arms there.

Rather than moving automatically and then checking where we are once we get there, we use our mind first and then follow with our body.

Move Mind
then Body

If we move first (automatically) and we move correctly, our hand position shows us where we went. That is not a “bad” thing. However, if we think first then we have to use our mind to draw up the memory of where our hands should go. Rather than relying on our body to give us the answer we use our mind and then we use our body.

We can learn to use our mind quite quickly in this fashion. Rather than waiting for our body to give us the answer so that we can check it, we use our mind and then check that our body has done the move correctly.

This is exactly like the kung fu movies where the adverseries see the fight and what they do in it before the fight actually begins.

Inner
Skill

Another term for gong fu is inner skill. I like to take this as meaning seeing with the mind first and then doing with the body. Practicing “inner skill” with the dance of shiva we develop our ability to think fast.

Thinking fast, we can do quick movements knowing that we are doing the movement correctly, or we are able to correct ourselves while we are doing the movement if we spot that we have made a mistake.

This “leading” with the mind lends itself immediately to what we do outside of the dance of shiva.

Do we know what it is that we are trying to do? If not what is it that we are trying to do. We can then spend time figuring it out rather than wasting time by doing something we don’t need to do. Then once we are doing something we can do it quickly, efficiently and like a martial arts master.

Practicing Warps, if we use our mind to know where we are going before we get there we can then lend additional brain power to monitoring our arms as they do the movement (since we already know where they are going.) We can make our movements more precis, more exact.

We then not only train our brain, we also train its ability to control the body while training the body at the same time.

To try out a warp (don’t worry this is for free) click here.

Sincerely

Neil Keleher

Dancing
with Change

When an actor memorizes his or her lines they are then free to interact with the other actors in the scene. Rather than “saying” their lines when necessary they can allow their lines to come out organically based on the situation they are in. The action then becomes more like real life… or it becomes what real life can be like if we are present.

To learn to ride a motorcycle we have to memorize or learn how do do certain things. We learn how to steer, how to use the brakes, the accelerator and how to change gears. Ideally we learn these things in a controlled environment where we don’t have to worry about things like other traffic. Once we’ve learned these skills so that we can do them “without thinking” we then can test ourselves on a windy road… or one curve at a time. We can then test ourselves further on a road with traffic. If we’ve learned to ride the bike well then we can handle the changes in the road and we can handle other traffic on the road all while staying on the bike. We can dance with change.

If we are really in our element we can sense change as it happens and respond to that change instantaneously. Rather than ourselves, the bike, the road and the traffic on the road being separate entities, we can move as one, still separate entities but all tuned in to the same source.

Knowing what
You are Doing

That might be a bit far fetched to imagine and perhaps it doesn’t suit the motorcycle riding analogy. Another setting might be two people who’ve learned to dance together so well that they move as one. What get’s them to that stage? Learning their moves and their partners moves. We might not think of this as memorization but the result is the same, they know what they have to do and so they can focus on doing it.

Inputs and
Outputs

The brain is like a computer. It receives inputs, processes them and then sends out an output based on the program that is active at the time.

Memorizing a set series of moves we download a program into our brain. We can then sense inputs from the world around us or from within ourselves and respond to those changes according to the program that we’ve downloaded and made a part of our selves. We can then train our brain by noticing the changes that are happening now and responding to those changes.

In the dance of shiva we create the changes that we observe by moving according to a set sequence of moves. The challenge is to do the moves correctly according to the algorithm but also to sense our body so that the parts of our body are also doing the movements as good as possible.

If we sense errors, we correct ourselves.

As I mentioned in my previous article, you don’t need to do the Dance of Shiva to practice this. If you understand that in anything you do the better you know what you are trying to do the better you can handle change while creating the change that you desire, then you can train your brain.

Doing the Dance of Shiva is simply a good way to practice this so that it is easier to apply in other aspects of your life. The nice thing about the dance of shiva (apart from the fact that it leaves you feeling energized or awake) is that you can practice it in fifteen minutes each day. You can also do it in five minute stints and all you need is room to swing your arms.

Sincerely

Neil Keleher

What if you could develop your ability to sense potential, the ways to do things rather than the reasons to stop, and balance the sides of your upper body. You can even learn to think from right to left as well as from left to right and learn how to think from “another point of view.”
The Dance of Shiva offers all of these advantages, while exercising the brain and the body at the same time.

Training
The Brain

In the Dance of Shiva a small part of training the brain involves remembering. Is that enough to turn you off of training your brain? What if memorizing was made simple. Rather than focusing on the idea that you have lots to remember, why not focus on learning little bits at a time. Make memorization bearable or even enjoyable by doing it a little bit at a time and not worrying about what you still have to do.

It’s not a big stretch to remember bits at a time. So while comfortable and doable, how does this train the brain? In a way it’s like learning to ride a bicycle. Initially you have training wheels so that you can focus on steering and using the pedals. Training wheels don’t really help you with balance but they do help you to get comfortable with the “idea” of riding a bike. Then when the training wheels come of you can practice looking ahead and finding that thin line of force that helps to keep you upright when the wheels are turning.

Once you’ve learned to ride a bike without training wheels using training wheels is an encumberance. With the training wheels off you have so much more freedom to ride the bike. You can handle corners quickly. Likewise in the dance of shiva. Once you’ve done something simple like learning the basic positions so that you don’t have to think about them you gain a bit more freedom. Then you learn the next stage-how to move between those positions.

Freedom
To Act

Here again is a little bit more memorization, but again with memorization comes the freedom to use your brain in other ways. Instead of trying to remember what the positions and the moves are you can focus on doing the positions and the moves. You can focus on sensing your body at the same time and based on the ideas that you have memorized, you correct the positions of your body as necessary. The faster you do the movements (the faster you are able to do the movements because you’ve memorized them) the faster you have to use your brain to check and correct your positions if necessary.

Computers and books aren’t a bad thing. Obviously I am sitting here writing to you on my macbook pro. But over reliance on computers and books at the expense of not-memorizing or learning, we miss a chance to help our brain (and body) grow. It doesn’t matter if there is “too much to learn or memorize” the point is you just have to start now. And if you focus on learning little bits at a time, not only do you train your brain and your body, you can have fun and enjoy life at the same time simply because you are practicing being present in what you are trying to do.

Knowing
instead of
Thinking

In “Train Your Brain” the goal was to answer simple math equations as quickly as possible. I did these practices daily noticing each time the number of errors and also the time it took me to finish.

In order to answer the questions quickly I had to write continuously non-stop and in order to do that I didn’t have time to think. Instead I had to trust that I knew the answer deep in my sub conscious because I’d practiced these simply math equations so many times in my youth. If I trusted my ability to “know” the answer I could simply look ahead one question at a time so that I could see what was coming up while allowing my hand to write the answer to the question I had just looked at.

Handling
Change

It’s a little like driving in a rally and being the pilot and navigator at the same time. The navigator looks at the map to see what is coming up next-tells the driver so that the driver can handle it, and then looks at the driving notes to see what is coming up next. If the driver and navigator are tuned in to each other they can work together well as a team. Together they can sense changes in the road ahead and handle those changes. At one level we can look at the car, the driver, the navigator and the road all as separate ideas that are connected to each other. The navigator senses changes in the road ahead, conveys those changes to the driver so that he or she can handle those changes and meanwhile the car stays on the road despite all that is happening. Together the driver, navigator and car handle changes in the road so that they can stay connected to the road.

The better they stay connected to the road and each other, the faster they can drive on the road and the more likely they are to get the best time possible.

Training my brain, the questions, one after the other, are like curves in the road ahead. My ability to answer those questions equal my ability to handle the curves in the road and stay connected to the road in general. By looking ahead one question at a time my navigator senses what change is coming up and transmits that change to the driver, the part of me that answers the question. Together we answer the questions as quickly as we can getting the best time we possibly can and feeling good in the process.

Practice Knowing
Before Doing

How can we apply this when practicing the Dance of Shiva? Practice seeing the position we are moving to before we do it. As an example, moving both hands forwards from 1-1 to 2-2 before we actually move our arms, we “see” the position 2-2. Then we do the move. Then we practice seeing the next position after that. We can practice this in other things as well. We can practice “knowing” what we are going to do before we do it.