Category: guest posts

Dance of Shiva on the brain

Oh, it goes so slowly, and I suspect I don’t fail enough (ah, perfectionism, you’re so cute. Even when the goal is getting things wrong you think you’ve got to do it better), but my brain wants its fix! A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

And once my brain was crying out for some Dance of Shiva and I just had to be sitting at my desk. So I pulled out a pad of paper and started writing out the numbers.

Warning! This was so much tougher than I expected it to be. But I did start noticing patterns I had no idea were in there before.

Truth elixir, nude dreams, realizations, just being.

And for the finale, I was carrying around a ton of baggage (think roller suitcase, carry-on, big tupperware thingy, and purse). Carrying this stuff through places it shouldn’t and couldn’t be carried – up and down stairs, through deep sand, down streets and through neighborhoods.

And finally I got really tired of the burden, and just put it down. And yes, this worried me a little. But when I came back later, it was right where I left it, and I knew I could pick it back up if I really wanted to.

Is there a more embarrassingly obvious metaphor for my own stuff than heavy, cumbersome, baggage?

And then it happened.

The Flailing.

And then I stop and get that look: This isn’t how it’s supposed to go.

Something is clearly happening after my practices, during shavasana. There’s the swirly, buzzy, crunchy-peanut-buttery sensation. The weirdly addictive mental fatigue. I love it. The thing is, it’s hard for me to put up with it.

It only took a year

Dance of Shiva, on the other hand, is a foreign language.

It is all new — I’m starting from scratch. Andrey suggests looking at the basic movements like the alphabet — that you can arrange them all kinds of ways and they are somewhat arbitrary at first — but they’ll make sense after a while.

Another epiphany here — I can learn a new way of communicating with myself.

Brain mush, patterns of fear, and writing guest posts

I start to write. It’s really hard.

I spewed out a bunch of stuff, none of which I wanted to send.

Stuff about how this practice centers me, but more than that — it brings me a tangible feeling of being in control of my immediate space when I start to get overwhelmed (that cool vortex thing, no doubt).

About how I am all about making crazy connections … as I try to do with my own blog, in which I see shiatsu lessons as life lessons … and Shiva Nata just enhances awareness of those connections by like 300%.

And about how I come right smack face-to-face with that thing my brain does when it’s challenged by things like spreadsheets, or foreign accents, or driving directions dictated by my husband.

Slowly, but surely.

Today’s post is from Danielle Cornelius: fellow Portlander, Somaphile, one of my wonderful students and all around amazing person.
Super interesting piece. Yay, Danielle! And thank you!
– Havi

I don’t know about you …
… but I have a bit of a tortured past with exercise videos.
It always begins with the best of intentions … but [...]

Dance of Shiva and a healing epiphany.

Total time spent healing: approximately 25 minutes.
Total time spent avoiding healing: 28 years.

This all seems pretty pat and obvious to me now that I can tie it up in this little package like so, but it’s something that I spent years hating myself for.

Shiva Nata literally scrambled my brain and allowed me to make these deep and hidden connections.

In fact, I truly believe this healing process would have taken way longer if I had not been working with Dance of Shiva (if it would have happened at all, which I kind of doubt).

Dance of Shiva, neuroplasticity and the brain.

This knowledge brings all sides of me into harmonious alignment.

Now during Shiva Nata when my leg spazzes forward when I meant for it to go back, and I experience that delicious brain-scramble feeling, my internal dialogue goes something like this:

Airy-fairy-side: Ooh fun!

Intellectual-side:
Aha yes, neuroplasticity at work.