What I realised today was that maybe the reason the DVD has years of material is because it takes time to really let it sink in. I can master the patterns and the mathematics and the movement, but to go from learnt movement to really incorporating it and letting it become a mindful practice may take more time.

Not sure what this means right now, but was thinking about this in bed this morning, as I thought about dancing (contemporary) mindfully rather than going into the trance-like performance state I usually disappear into.

Want to see more? Visit some of the most popular posts:

• And we’re off…
• Video: Level 1 arms as colours
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Why would you write about this?

My handle is the Dancing Geek.  The geek part is not just for show – I have a degree in this stuff, and sometimes I actually enjoy solving unnecessary puzzles just for fun.

The theory behind Level 3 as a mathematics puzzle

I’ve made up some notation to keep this shorthand.  H is horizontal, V is vertical and the number relates to the position.  So H1:V1 is left arm in Horizontal 1 position, right arm in vertical 1 position.  Clear?

1 complete round (i.e. you get back to the starting position and are ready to go on the opposite side) is 16 moves at Level 3.  It breaks down into 4 repetitions of the same 4 moves (i.e. the instructions are the same).  Looking at where your arms are after each of these 4-move combos for the first starting position gives us the pattern:

H1:V1 to V1:H3 to H3:V3 to V3:H1 to H1:V1

This can be generalised (using algebra – yippee!) to:

Hx -> Vx

Vy -> Hy+2

In words:

A horizontal starting position will end with that arm in the same position on the vertical plane.

A vertical starting position will end with the arm in the transquartered position on the horizontal plane.  (Hy+2 uses modulo 4 arithmetic, in case you weren’t clear).

How does it work?

Another way of looking at it would be to say that the movement swaps the positions of the arms, moves the right arm 2 positions on, and swaps the planes of the arms.

Either way, the most important aspect of the pattern is that it has symmetry 4.  That is after 4 repeats it returns to where it started.  Simple example of this would be a rectangle with a dot in the corner being turned 90 degrees clockwise:

Example of 4 symmetry

A brand new level 3 pattern!

Yes, I have created a new pattern which I am calling Level 3 because it works in a similar fashion.  Since I don’t know about anything higher except for a bit of Level 4, I could be talking complete and utter bull.  Blame @Sari_O for getting the idea stuck in my head.

It goes:

• Transquarters
• Mirror reflection
• One forward, one back
• Mirror reflection

Or, you could do:

• One forward, one back
• Transquarters
• One back, one forward
• Both forward

Not sure if I’ll try these or not.

Want to see more? Try one of these posts:

• It’s so pretty!
• Intentions, visions and epiphanies
• Day 2: Nope you didn’t miss the first one

Still, I got through Level 3 with basic legs without too much hassle (hurrah, and yet, oh no!) so after whizzing through Level 2 for fun (ha, it sounds crazy still but the pattern’s in my arms and legs now, not much for me to do) I decided to have a bash at Level 4 arms!  (Thanks to @Sari_O for saving me from bugging @havi as to the details).

So I’m working through (what I understand to be) the Level 4 arms and it strikes me that it’s so pretty!  I’m not talking about watching the movements either, though if I do another video we can all judge that for ourselves, but the patterns that came up in my mind as I worked through the positions.  Now I love patterns, it’s part of why I get on so well with mathematics, so I could start rambling on about oscillations and standing waves, but even that isn’t quite what I was at.

Whilst standing there moving my arms around with one of our bunnies by my feet (so cute!) I could feel the loops and swirls and colours and cycles that it formed and it was really quite awe inspiring.  If you’ve tried even just Level 1 arms then go from starting position 3:1 and tell me you don’t find it just the most beautiful movement to do.

Want to see more? Try one of these posts:

• The mathematics of Level 3
• Intentions, visions and epiphanies
• A couple of realisations

I haven’t had much to write about the last couple of weeks because I’ve had an extended break from Shiva Nata for a fortnight [Edit: actually, it's more like 3 weeks!].  It wasn’t just Dance of Shiva I was stopping either, it was a number of activities, because I’ve been feeling low on energy and tired and, frankly, Shiva Nata is very tiring as a regular practice!

Resting up

I will admit to totally underestimating how much work it would be.  It’s not the physical effort, since that takes just a few hours physical rest to recover, nor the mental effort of working it all out, since that too requires just a short rest in order for me to feel alert and ready again.  It seems that the brain building work involved however was having an intense effect.

Now my slump co-incides with Winter really kicking in here as well, so I’m not about to attribute it all to Shiva Nata, but I have found that it was one of the first things to go as it is so energy intensive to practice.

Building up slowly

Today was the first day that I felt like doing some again after having decided last Thursday to give myself permission to really cut back and recover from this funk I’ve been in for a few weeks.  This time, I’m planning to go a little slower, just to see if I can be aware of the impact it has on my energy levels.

What are your experiences?

I’m wondering if this feeling of energy drain is something that others have experienced with Shiva Nata, and whether this means that others have reduced their practice or stopped altogether.  What do you think?

Want to see more? Try one of these posts:

• Intentions, visions and epiphanies
• Spinning my wheels
• How to respond to getting it wrong?

I said before that never finished that post about how my mind wandering was one sign that I’m not challenging myself enough (and I will admit that I kept it at the same difficulty level so as to give myself the boon of getting all the way through the sequence) but it made me realise that when it’s not too easy I’m being singly focussed on my practice to the exclusion of all else.

Shiva Nata has helped me practice mindfullness!  I totally wasn’t expecting that one (though now I think about it I’m pretty sure Havi’s mentioned something like that before) but still, it wasn’t what I was aiming for (I got into this for the epiphanies, man) but it’s excellent when you’re doing a practice for a certain reason and you start to see other related and equally desirable benefits pop-up and go, here you are, a free bonus for you!

Want to see more? Visit some of the most popular posts:

• And we’re off…
• Video: Level 1 arms as colours
• You know you’ve had an epiphany when…

I thought I’d do another, slightly longer (5 minutes) video since I enjoyed doing the last one so much and you guys seemed to like it!

This one is of me doing the level 1 horizontal arms, but with a twist!  Totally unedited, so you get to watch me struggle and gurn and even jump when I get interrupted (Warning: British guy swearing at 2:55)!

Feel free to laugh and/or comment.  Thanks.

Want to see more? Try one of these posts:

• The mathematics of Level 3
• It’s so pretty!
• Video: Level 2 arms

To start with we’re running cheap knock off versions of professional productions.  Though I’m calling it a homage to Havi’s video avoid complicated copyrighting issues!

So without further ado, I give you my demonstration of some of the Level 2 arms…

I said I would post a vid, so here it is.  No editing except for fades in and out (the music is just what was playing on my laptop at 4am when I recorded this!)

Note my very serious face – I’m thinking!

And yes, I realised after that I had forgotten to do it starting with the right side for the video.  And yes, I’m wearing orange in front of an orange wall (I like orange, ok) it’s not the image going crazy.  And yes, the lighting and quality sucks.

Well, I thought I’d save you the trouble of pointing out its many flaws

Want to see more? Try one of these posts:

• Video: Level 1 arms as colours
• Masochism FTW!