Shiva Nata: the Dance of ShivaKachow Boom!
At the last Rally (Rally!), we were getting ready for our first Shiva Nata class.
And I asked the group — some of whom were experienced shivanauts and some of whom had never done this ever — to make up words for the eight basic positions.
I often do this when I teach.
Do you know why?
Why would I do that?
Ahahahahaha.
There is, as always, a reason and intention behind everything I do. And in this particular case, there are several reasons. That I’m not going to tell you about today.
Guesses are welcome. :)
Anyway, I let the Rallygators choose the words and here’s what they came up with.
For the horizontal positions:
Clarity, Knowing, Love, Bad-assery.
And for the vertical positions:
Floop, Poink, Kachow, Boom.
So we ended up with lots of fantastic connections.
Love Kachow! Clarity Boom!
And sentences.
Like this one, during the Level 2 transquarters:
You have to know your poink in order to be a bad-ass about the boom.
Which starting position was that?
Yup. 2:6!
Or here’s another one:
Loving the floop makes it easier to clear your kachow.
If you know what I mean…
Which starting position was that?
You tell me…
Creative play is magical.
It whirls your brain around and melts patterns.
It changes your force field and shakes up your internal snow globe.
It makes you laugh.
Sparklepoints!
Sparklepoints to anyone who figured out the last starting position I was referring to is. And to anyone who wants to guess what the theory is behind making your students come up with the words to do Shiva Nata to.
And to anyone who needs some sparklepoints, of course.
p.s. We’ll be doing lots of inventing words and other unlikely ways to bend your brain during the Shiva Nata teacher training in September, if you want to play. And at the next Rally, which starts May 16, and is all about Shiva Nata. Fun.
Twitter: celestialrose
Hmm.. is that .. 3:5 to 1:7 ?? Maybe. I wish i’d learnt the Verticals as 5-8 from the beginning :P
I’m going to have to play around with words a bit. I did try colours but I couldn’t remember which i’d put in which place.. Maybe i should get one of those whiteboards to hang on my wall :)
Rose´s last blog ..Redefinition- a Child Becomes a Priestess
Twitter: havi
Rose! It’s good that you didn’t learn them as 5-8 from the beginning!
Whiteboards = yay
Twitter: elizabethhalt
3:5. Hahaha. I might have to try this. It is making me giggle just reading about it.
To your question. My guess: Picking a word is another way of setting an intention for them, or getting to what’s important/needed in the moment, even if they don’t realize what they’re doing. At least, that’s how I feel when I pick my own words.
Elizabeth´s last blog ..if there is such a thing as past lives
I am thinking that having words for the positions adds another layer of patterns to shake up – verbal processing. Since some people process verbally, visually, kinetically, it would help to have as many forms of processing involved as possible.
Since the words are chosen by the students, then they come from their patterns?
Twitter: spiralsongkat
Okay, yeah, 3:5 moving to 1:7. Transquarters!
Possible reasons for playing with words:
–What Elizabeth said!
–Adds challenge, especially if thinking about the numbers is getting too familiar or easy.
–Attaching words to the positions could inspire me to work them slightly differently — like, if 1=Love, then maybe I imagine myself tenderly cradling a baby animal in my upturned hand, and if 3=Kachow, then maybe, oh I don’t know, I might imagine sparks shooting from my fingertips (Kachow!) so that one of my arms might be moving softly while the other moves sharply. Something new! Which leads to new thoughts, new insights…new patterns.
–And yeah. Changing patterns. Exactly.
Kathleen Avins´s last blog ..Minimum daily requirements
Twitter: spiralsongkat
Oops, but 3=Love and 7=Kachow. Look at me, I’m flailing! Ha! Play me off, Keyboard Cat!
Kathleen Avins´s last blog ..Minimum daily requirements
Twitter: Qrystal
I’d guess that having the students pick the words does a bunch of interesting things:
* larger pool of creativity to dip into: more contributors, more amusing possibilities!
* more emphasis on the idea that patterns can be made between *anything* at all, and to encourage playing around with things! (I’m, personally, feeling encouraged to play with words today, thanks to this!)
* each of the students who contributed a word has a special connection to that word (even if it is just a random sound effect kind of word). Thus, there is a new emphasis within the practice: instead of eight random words, there’s seven random words and “my word!”, changing the feel of everything. This would call attention to the pattern that the one word travels through the motions.
* and it “teaches the teacher”: makes it more challenging for the person leading, so the students can see the glory of getting confused! :) And I suppose it would give a chance to showcase the kinds of tricks that can be used in trying to remember what words are associated with what positions.