March 6
A couple of realisations
The question of fatigue
I recently made public a post from back in December about feeling tired after practicing Shiva Nata. I even wrote to Havi a while back asking about whether this was normal.
Well, it seems to have percolated away in the back of my mind for a while and has now re-appeared, along with a structure (cause I *love* building those) to help me explain it to myself.
I’ve written about it over at my other blog, but the applicable bit for here is that I’ve maxed out my current energy and I need to improve that before I’ll be able to do more regular and intensive Shiva Nata practice.
Why do I want to do a more regular and intensive Shiva Nata practice? I’m so glad you asked…
Another ongoing issue
I like Shiva Nata. I like it because it has noticably made a difference to my awareness of my thoughts since I started it, but I also like it because I’m naturally good at it – ego love!
Of course, anyone who’s spent some time reading Havi’s writings on the subject knows that the latter isn’t necessarily such a good thing. It’s been a great way to get into a practice with the intention of going wrong, and thus work on my perfectionist streak, but I haven’t had any epiphanies really since cracking Level 3.
The very clever Duff sparked thoughts about this a while back (thank you!) and it has also been percolating in my brain as I start to realise what it is I’m getting out of the practice, or not as the case may be.
Now, I don’t intend to stop, not yet anyway, but it ties in to what I wrote above in that I think the practice would require much more energy from me to make it complex enough to get the magic flowing. At the moment, I don’t think I have what it takes to make epiphanies this way.
So what now
As I said, I’m not giving up. I’ve got the instructions for Levels 4 and 5 from Havi and I’m going to go through a similar process as I did with Level 3 for those, which should pass some time. Whilst I’m doing that, and going at a pace slower than I would like, I will work on the stuff that I need to help me push further: my diet, my sleep and my friends.
Wish me luck.
As far as fatigue goes, the best book I’ve seen on the subject is Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome. As someone who’s suffered from fatigue, I found lots of helpful tips for sleep, diet, herbs, and general stress relief, as well as just feeling normal!
I also recommend an out of print book called The Energy Break by Bradford Keeney. It’s about a method of spontaneous movement called “autokinetics,” but really it’s about living a healthy and vibrant life full of energy by ceasing to resist life and playing more. Masterful stuff.
Be well!
~Duff
Duff’s last blog post..Transformation by Donation
@Duff – Thanks for the recommendation. I hadn’t thought of it as stress or fatigue in the medical sense, but now you mention it I’m not sure what I would say is the difference, except for the seriousness with which I treat it.
Hmm, flippancy around health is not a great pattern to have…
Hey James, the reason I was starting level 3 from a 11 positon was because I wanted to develop an algorithm that was more or less true to the original level 3 algorithm but which could be used in all four types of hand positons, whether mixed or with both hands in the same plane. By the way I’ve fixed the advanced level 3 pdf and included a level 3 pdf. Download them both and hopefully you’ll have a better clue as to what I did.
http://danceofshiva.zeroparallax.com/2008/05/level-3-advanced.html
If you have any questions about more advanced stuff please give me a shout.
Neil Keleher’s last blog post..The Coffee Grinder
@Neil – excellent, thanks for coming over and letting me know. I like your idea of having it work from all 4 starting positions. It’s another variation for me to try out and have a play with.