Ask a Shivanaut: Dance of Shiva before or after a yoga practice?

Okay, we have an Ask a Shivanaut question from Jan in Nebraska.

Nebraska! I think he might even be the first Nebraskan Shivanaut, so that’s pretty fantastic.

Anyway, on to the question:

Hi Havi,

I am just starting to get into doing beginning yoga in the last 2 months. I have some DVDs which I use at home 2-3 times a week and am going to an Iyengar class about 3 times a week.

I want to start the Shiva DVD but am wondering if I should do my regular yoga session first, or after the Shiva Nata practice. I will be doing the Shiva practice early, before I go to the yoga classes.

I also do some cardio, about 45 min. before the yoga class to warm up a bit.

Any advice or cautions for me as a newbie at yoga?

Where to start?!

Before everything else: yay that you’re doing so much yoga. That’s awesome. Love it.

You know what? I’m going to give you the benefits and challenges for doing your Shiva Nata practice before yoga (the more traditional approach), but also talk about the option of doing it after yoga.

And then a piece of advice!

Doing Dance of Shiva prior to your yoga practice.

The reason Dance of Shiva is traditionally done before a hatha (physical) yoga practice is this:

Working your brain in such an intense, all-consuming, powerfully focused way brings you into a seriously altered state. It quiets the mind like nothing else.

Sometimes you feel calm and powerful. But mostly you’re just empty.

So to take that energy into a yoga practice makes that practice that much more charged up. Because a. you’re super-focused, b. you notice more about how you are acting and reacting in the poses, and c. you don’t get distracted.

Another interesting thing that happens is that you’ve triggered all sorts of connective creative switches in your brain, so you start interacting with your asana practice differently.

Sometimes from a very intuitive and playful place. And sometimes from a very scientific and methodical place. But either way, what happens is that you start seeing possibilities. As in oh, I could loop this pose straight into that pose! I’ve never done that before.

Or oh, it actually makes no sense from a biomechanical sense that I would do that backbend without balancing it with a forward bend, even though that’s the way my teacher does it.

Sometimes you totally become half mad-scientist half-choreographer … and the results can be pretty cool. And sometimes you just go really, really deep into the practice.

Also, because Dance of Shiva is an aerobic practice, you can skip any warm-ups — sun salutations, etc — you normally do, and go straight into your main practice.

(Though Iyengar-ists tend to not warm up at all, and you said you were doing cardio first, so if you wanted you could use Shiva Nata as your cardio if you do it fast.)

The challenge with doing Dance of Shiva before yoga is that sometimes it can put you into such a deep state that you’re really ready to go straight to meditation and shavasana, and you don’t actually feel like practicing asana at all!

Which is why some people prefer to do it after, or separately.

Doing Dance of Shiva after your yoga practice.

So you already know the advantage: that yoga will for sure actually happen!

Other than that, I can’t think of any reason for doing it post-practice. And I’ve certainly never heard Andrey or anyone else recommend it. But I’m a big fan — as is Andrey — of experimentation.

And not just experimenting, but doing it in a conscious, scientific way. You try things, you examine the effect on your practice, your body and your state of mind. And you take notes.

You learn what’s best for you and you remember that what’s best for you isn’t necessarily always going to be what’s best for your students or for other practitioners. But you test enough so that you can at least give some percentages.

The best advice I could possibly give you.

The wonderful Paul Grilley — who, incidentally is also the star of my Non-sucky yoga month program — says all sorts of amazing things that are shockingly simple and beautifully true.

One of them is just this: “People vary.”

So simple. So true. So hard to remember.

And my other favorite Grilley-ism goes like this.

“Experience and experiment: that is your guide.”

Exactly. It’s up to you to play around with this. Obviously I’m giving you the “expert” take on this, which is that doing Shiva Nata before the yoga practice will probably yield better results.

But given that people vary and that being experimental is incredibly valuable, I would urge you to play around and see what happens. Note the effects of each practice on the other, as well as on your own consciousness. Pay attention to your mental and emotional state in each situation.

And then you’ll just know which one is best for you.

The most important thing I can recommend though is that you sit or stand quietly for at least a couple of minutes after Dance of Shiva to let the effects of the practice absorb and get sealed in.

You’re in a totally altered state of consciousness, so you might as well enjoy it!

It’s also a good time to release any “crap, I did it all wrong” stuff and bring your attention back to “oh right, I’m supposed to be doing it all wrong!”

But enough with the advice-giving.

Once you’ve played around with this a bit, I would love to hear what your own experience is, and how you would advise someone else who asked this question!

And if other Shivanauts want to chime in on this with opinions one way or the other, y’all are more than welcome. Because honestly, I’m pretty sure that as long as you’re challenging yourself, you can’t do it wrong.