Ask A Shivanaut: mixing practices

The question …

Yet another question. And may I just say? Ooh, this is a good one.

Also, what an awesome email:

It’s from Bill Randall (quoted with permission):

How’s Shiva Nata on mixing practices?  I do a qi gong style now; my teacher might say something opaque about energetic confusion, but he moved to Alaska and never answers the phone.

Best regards,
Bill Randall

P.S. I ultimately was convinced of your chops by the “Recoding Your Mind” sample on your Fluent Self website not long ago.  

And, for synergy, I just read Proust Was a Neuroscientist, specifically where he argues that Whitman intuited later neurological research that verifies the body as a reflection & container of mental states.  So when you talk about mind-body & neural pathways, I’m all like “Yeah.”

Me too, Bill. Awesome.

And I totally know what it’s like with the absent teacher thing. Andrey is away in some monastery in the Himalayas half the year … always when I have some especially pressing question, it seems!

The short answer …

The short answer is that they go very well together and are related energy practices. Many of my students do both.

For a somewhat more in-depth answer, I think we have to take a look at some of the similarities and differences between the two practices, as well as answer a Complicated Philosophical Question.

Actually, because I’m Jewish, I don’t believe in answering Complicated Philosophical Questions so much as pulling at them and seeing where they take us. So that’s probably what’s going to happen.

Similarities between Shiva Nata and Qi Gong (also Tai Chi, etc.)

They both teach you to be more aware of “energy” and its effect within and outside of the body.

They teach you about flow and how it works and how to wait for the next wave and jump back into it when it feels like you’ve become disconnected.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, think about that crazy sensation you get when you pause from your Shiva Nata routine and stand there with your eyes closed.

The air around your body feels thick and heavy and powerful. You can move it with your hands. Sometimes you can even see patterns and colors inside your head.

You’re interacting both with the space around you and with the internal space that exists inside of you.You’re stimulating the neurons in your brain to make and strengthen connections, so that you can recognize patterns and make changes.*

*If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, go get the Starter Kit!

Also, both practices can be calming and grounding, and also extremely powerful and uplifting.

And both practices are a great way to stay in shape while training body and mind to be the best they can be.

Differences between Shiva Nata and Qi Gong, Tai Chi, etc.

Shiva Nata is a system. A sequential, mathematic fully self-contained system. The way it’s training your brain is … well, yes, systematically.

First you make one series of connections, linking up four points in every way possible. Then you make a second series of connections. Then you make all possible connections between those points.

Then you systematically break all the patterns you’ve learned up to this point by systematically deconstructing them to their most basic elements and then recombining the elements in a new order.

It’s like liquid math. Only you don’t have to understand it to have it work for you.

So … it’s just a different practice. You could do Qi Gong or Tai Chi or even other forms of Dance of Shiva like Tandava or Natya Yoga and they would all be amazing (because they are), and you won’t get the same effects on the brain.

Yes, you’re training your body and working with energy patterns, and building conscious awareness. It’s good for you physically. It’s good for you energetically. It’s good for you emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

But you still won’t be getting the systematic step-by-step brain training that Shiva Nata gives you.

The philosophical question.

This is where things get complicated. You can ask a lot of people about the benefits/dangers of mixing practices and get a lot of different answers.

On the one hand, you can take the philosophical stand that holds that mixing only leads to trouble.

As Andrey Lappa himself has said:

“It is true that all paths lead to the top of the mountain. But if you try to go up the mountain with one foot on each path, you won’t get very far.”

On the other hand, there’s also this.

Sometimes one practice holds a missing piece that helps you better understand another practice. In fact, combining one practice with another can sometimes have the effect of them powering each other up.

For example, doing pilates has helped me with my yoga practice (actually, from an intellectual standpoint I would say that pilates is technically a subset of yoga, but that’s not really the point).

Working with acupressure has helped me with my meditation practice.

The powerful experiences I’ve had (and continue to have) chanting kirtan (Hindu names of god) turned out, ironically, to be the thing that brought me back to Judaism and a deep Jewish spiritual practice.

And Andrey has also practiced Qi Gong and gone very, very deep into the practice of different forms of Korean and Chinese martial arts.

So what does it all mean?

For me it’s all about intention. Intention and awareness. Being in “right relationship” to your practice.

Moving away from trying to achieve “power” and “results” and moving towards a conscious, loving, compassionate relationship with yourself.

Because it’s all about what you can learn about who you are and how you interact with yourself. It’s about what you can learn about who you are in the world and what your mission is and all that crazy stuff.

Which means that whichever practice — or combination of practices — you choose to work with, the most important thing is being mindful with these practices.

And being scientific in your approach.

Writing down when you practice and what you’re working on. Tracing the effects. Journaling. Comparing. Contrasting. Experimenting (gently and intelligently) with yourself and with your students.

I personally see nothing wrong with using other practices in addition to Shiva Nata. I would still do one after the other, rather than combining elements into a new thing. But it’s your practice.

So practice. There’s only one caveat — and it’s a big one: do what you like as long as you’re paying attention to what the effects are on your own consciousness.

I told you it was a big one.

Anyway, as Paul Grilley says:

“Experience and experiment: that is your guide.”

That’s probably as good a place to start as any.