More classes at the Art Gallery in Perth Amboy!
Where: Perth Amboy Gallery Center for the Arts, 339 Read St. Perth Amboy, NJ.
When: Saturdays at 12:30, starting today (April 21)
How much: ABSOLUTELY FREE – but you must sign up through the Perth Amboy Recreation Department.
Sign up: Office of Recreation, 1 Olive Street, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861, (732) 826-1690 x 4325 OR LRamirez@perthamboynj.org, or just fill out a form when you get there.

That’s pretty much it.  If you are interested in what coming to the class will entail, feel free to visit my creatively named “Coming to a Class” page, or the “Shiva Videos” page for guidelines on what to bring, and an idea of what class will look like (though I don’t have a pink wig… yet).

Something interesting that I have come to find out about myself and Shiva Nata, is that I don’t like studying with the DVD.  I also am not so sure how I feel about being in classes, either (which is ironic).  I do enjoy working with Andrey’s DVD – sometimes – or with Havi’s iPhone app – sometimes – but I feel that I get the most out of it when I am working through it all on my own.

I got through Level 1 with the DVD and my own cheat sheet – all the positions written down in sequence.  I got through Level 2 with a cheat sheet of the starting positions (and do still use it as a reference from time to time).  I am preparing my Level 3 voyage by skipping the DVD and app entirely – all I’ve got is the pattern written out in beautiful muti-colored dry erase marker on my white board (I used a different color for each step so as to give myself one more visual clue to where I am in the cycle in case my brain gets too overloaded.. which it probably will).

There are two things I find very interesting about this.

First, I started the easiest of all the levels – level 1 – with the most help, and as I’ve gone on, I’ve relied less and less on the DVD and app (though I do revisit them), and more and more on my own brain.  For Level 1 and 2, I had cheat sheets to double check my work, to make sure I wasn’t really making any super big mistakes, and I worked with the DVD.  For Level 3, the only thing I have written down to “check my work” is.. nothing.  I just have the pattern written on my white board (and once I have that memorized, I won’t even need it).. and for some reason, I am just so not interested in using the DVD or app for this one.  I am interested in teaching myself by doing it.  I guess that makes me a learn by experience kind of person.

And secondly, that’s kind of also how I became the teacher I am today.  Yes, I picked up some pretty indispensable knowledge while in music school, but if I’m a good piano teacher, it pretty much has everything to do with following my own instincts (and, admittedly, a lot of advice from my mother over the years, who is an excellent and nurturing teacher), and very little to do with anything I read in college.  And I never really thought about that until today.

Being a teacher taught me more about being a teacher than anything in school did.  I expect more or less the same result from being a Shiva Nata teacher, and I am really excited to embark on this journey.

That being said, I am going to focus more over the next few weeks on really developing my own understanding of the dance and of the levels.   I have a little Shiva Nata section in my own personal journal, but I intend to really delve into the practice and write it all down for myself.  Yes, Andrey is an excellent teacher.  Yes, Havi is an amazing human being with a rubber ducky.  There are plenty of resources available to me elsewhere (the DVD, the app, shivanauts.com, the Shiva Nata teachers group, youtube videos, other various websites), but I have to make my own resource and reference for myself, as the process will only strengthen my own knowledge of the subject.  From time to time, I will probably post about it here, but interestingly, this also means I will be going back to Level 1 and exploring every nook and cranny like it is new again.

I’m excited about this journey.

All you have to do is sign up before hand.  This is a stipulation of the Perth Amboy Department of Recreation, not mine.  Not sure why, to be perfectly honest, but considering that this class is free (free!), it is the least you can do for me.  By reserving your space beforehand, it ensures the class actually happens.

DEETS!  (Otherwise known as details)
Where: Perth Amboy Gallery Center for the Arts, 339 Reade St. Perth Amboy, NJ.
When: Tuesdays at 8 PM (class is one hour), starting January 17.
How much: ABSOLUTELY FREE – but you must sign up through the Perth Amboy Recreation Department.
Sign up: Office of Recreation, 1 Olive Street, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861, (732) 826-1690 x 4325 OR LRamirez@perthamboynj.org

That’s pretty much it.  If you are interested in what coming to the class will entail, feel free to visit my creatively named “Coming to a Class” page, or the “Shiva Videos” page for guidelines on what to bring, and an idea of what class will look like (though I don’t have a pink wig… yet).

Some other time soon perhaps I will write about 2011 in review (Perhaps it won’t even be here, but will be on my music blog). But for now, I want to take a moment to look ahead to 2012. I’m almost certain that 2012 is going to be SUPER AMAZING, and Shiva Nata is going to be partly, if not wholly, to blame.

COMING SOON TO A LARGE ROOM WITH AMPLE ARM WAVING SPACE NEAR YOU! — ME!

That’s correct.  I am lining up not just one, but TWO different ways you may be able to study Shiva Nata with me.

One is at the music studio I teach at.  In fact, if you are a student (or a parent of a student) there, you are probably at this page right now because I’ve already told you about this opportunity.

The other is going to be closer to my home in Middlesex county.  And while I don’t have the final details yet, I did want to let you know, it’s a thing, and it’s going to be happening.  Because even if plan A doesn’t work out (but it should, but keep your fingers crossed for me), I’ve got a plan B and a plan C).  Which is why I’m really confident about publicizing it even before all the details are set in place.  There’s almost no way it can’t happen.

Why is this just so super exciting?  Because Shiva Nata helps you realize pretty awesome things about yourself, or about the things you are working on.  Have a creative project?  Or a bad habit?  Or are you already pretty awesome and you want to become superhuman??  Well, haha, Shiva Nata can’t give you immortality or the ability to fly, but it will help you be more focused.  You might fly through all your daily errands. … I have no fun commentary on pretending to be immortal.  Hah.  Moar coffeee pleez.

So be ready!  I will be bringing Shiva Nata to YOU sometime very, very soon.  I consider Dr. Seuss, “Oh the thinks you can think!”  Where might Shiva Nata take you this year?  It’s a missAdventure inwards, and the possibilities are endless.

Well, I guess I didn’t blog nearly as much as I thought I would.  But I definitely nata-ed.  And I definitely focused.. on a lot of things, but I focused a LOT on the practice of Shiva Nata, which is great for me, because I am gearing up to teach a class on it soon, and therefor, it is also great for lots of other people, too.

I wish I had blogged more.  Or at least journaled (something I don’t always do after a practice).  I try and avoid writing for long periods of time because of my carpel tunnel/arthritis/tendonitis in both of my hands.  I have not had a flare up in quite some time – years – because I work very hard at keeping it in check, and not overdoing it.  Oddly enough, typing away on the computer does not really affect me as much as it used to, so ideally I would like to get into the habit of blogging more online and writing more personally, but it is just a hard habit to get into, but one that I am working on.

But, at least I did it.  For 40 days.  And I definitely grew.  Or rather, more of a shift of my mental space, if that makes sense.  I’m still here, I’m still 5’6″, but I definitely feel as if my brain has done a bit of scrambling up and reorganizing for the better over the past few months.  More on that in another blog.  Haha.

The next time I try and partake in a 40 day expedition (or 30 day, or whatever), I am definitely going to make more of an effort to blog publicly/journal privately, though, as I definitely feel I would have gotten even more out of it.

It isn’t that I haven’t been nata-ing in the last week, it’s that I haven’t been able to practice it myself in a week.  I am still working on it in Shiva Bites (mm that sounds like a very delicious biscuit treat of some sort.  Shiva nata for puppies and/or small children with only half their teeth!) with my students, which is to say, just enough to scramble them and I suppose keep me alert in just five minutes once or twice a day (if at all, since I am not doing it with all my students, yet).

I have been trying to focus on myself in these 40 days, and I have in the last week, even though I don’t feel like I’ve devoted any practice time to myself at a level where I truly feel challenged.  As I mentioned in my last post, I spent some time at Havi’s blog and did some journaling.  I’ve also been attempting to develop my own inner personal assistant  (much in the same way that Havi has Barrington, which is basically a persona she made up to help her deal with traveling.  I realize this makes Havi, and also myself, sound like a crazy person, but it’s really more like she created an elaborate way of thinking “if my only job were to assist my boss in traveling, what would I be doing” and it’s kind of a way for her to make sure all the details get taken care of, in a really fun, Havi-kind of way).

My first step was to reorganize my white board.  Yes, I have a large white board in my bedroom.  I use it DAILY.  I originally got it for teaching, but then using it just turned out to be more trouble than it was worth, so it came home with me at the end of one school year and just never went back.

Most days I used to just scribble on it my to-do list for the day, or for the next da, and maybe a few other things, like maybe an important date coming up, or something else I needed to remember to do that did not fall into the daily chores column.  But last week I really sat down with it and said, look, how can I make this work better for me?  What are all the things that I need to keep track of and do on an almost regular basis?  And I figured it out.  There is still a large section for my to-do list, which I now regularly put together the night before, as part of my getting ready for bed ritual, but there is also a section for the various activities I can do that constitute exercising (yes, Shiva Nata is on that list), a section where I’ve listed areas around my apartment that need to generally be straightened up or cleaned.  There is also a home for all the ideas that I want to blog about over on my music blog, or videos that I want to record for my YouTube page.  And finally, there is still a large section in the middle left open for things I want to think about, like big projects/ideas that I want to always keep in the forefront of my mind.

Because I have found that I am definitely an easily distractable person.  I do eventually get back on track, but many things that I do generally take longer than they need to, if I don’t have a set deadline for it.  Examples: I only have 30 minutes to teach each private student.  I have to be at work by 3:00 on most days.  And sometimes I am so distracted that I while I may still make it to work on time, I’ve only accomplished half or 3/4 of the things that I wanted to.. which is better than nothing, but I am still distracted by things like Facebook, and so I definitely need more FOCUS.

And so far, this white board has helped.  Basically, when I think I am bored, or don’t really have anything to do, I can look at that board and say, oh, I really have a lot of things I can do.  I really have no excuse for every being bored or thinking that I don’t have anything to do.  I do still get distracted, but I can see so much more of what I need to do.  My personal assistant is more organized, and so I am more organized.  And by having all my stuff up there, I can interact with it much better.  Like the next  big question that I need to deal with, is why I procrastinate so so so much when it comes to my music blog and my YouTube page.  Seriously.  I can write.  I have the time.  I can play music.  I have the capabilities to easily record videos and put them online.  Why does this not happen? I will figure it out.  And get over it.

–

This morning, finally, I am happy to report that I spent time on flailing at my level, not at my students.  I went through all the 1′s of Level 2 (you know, 11, 21, 31, 41, 12, 13, 14) before my brain just got tired.  Interestingly, my brain got tired before my arms, which is a good sign, because it sometimes annoys me when my brain is still chugging along but my body has given up (Anna, we can’t practice anymore, sitting up straight/our fingers/our arms hurt! ).  For a change, my arms lasted as long as my brain did.  For anyone who is familiar with level 2, you know I only got a fraction of a way through it (though I am realizing now that all of that is almost halfway through, so I guess that is farther than I thought!).  But I did it on my own, without the DVD.  I still used a practice sheet to remember all the starting positions, but I am working on memorizing those, as well.

–

And an interesting development.  I’ve spent way too much time so far this week cutting some pretty awesome (if I do say so myself) paper snowflakes.  Really cool looking.  What better hobby to accompany my pattern re-purposing (upcycling?) mental yoga practice than a pattern creating arts and crafts project??

But Anna, the weekend is long gone.  It’s the middle of the week already. I know.  For those of you who don’t know, Saturday and Monday are pretty heavy duty teaching days for me, and Sunday is a day of, you know, a lot of music at church.  My weekends are always working weekends, that do extend into Monday, I feel, and this one was particularly busy.

But here’s what happened!  And a lot of neat shiva nata stuff did happen!

First of all, shiva nata is still making my arms sore.  I have just been doing that much of it.  So I tried to do shiva in other ways this weekend.  For example, I did a lot of writing it down.  a lot.  On the train ride back from Manhattan on Saturday, I wrote out all of level 2.  I did grab the starting positions from the practice sheet on Willie Hewes’ Shiva Nata site, but then I wrote all the patterns out.  The girl sitting next to me for the first stop or two must have thought I was one of those really insane people who is either a genius or an attack victim, thanks to movie and television stereotypes.  And you know what… I wouldn’t blame her.  I was writing long strings of numbers with no easily recognizable pattern, and I was, I’ll admit, trying to challenge myself to do it a quick pace.  There was lots of erasing and going back and doing over.  And by the time I was done, well, I had an entire side of loose leaf totally full of numbers.  My seat partner was long gone by then.  Oh well.

I am also writing sequences down for my students, but also teaching them the patterns so that they can stop using their practice sheet as soon as possible.  With my kids, I am going slowly – we are only doing Level 1, starting position 1-1 so far, and not even the mirror reflection.

So that covers the teaching portion of my weekend.  Monday morning I ran through level 1 quickly before teaching, which was awesome.  And then Monday turned into the worst day ever (just a long and strenuous teaching day), and I went to bed early.  Tuesday morning I woke up and did the main level 2 sequence, and then spent the next few hours reading Havi‘s blog and taking notes.  Seriously.  A few hours.  It was a cool exercise on my 40 Day theme of Focus.  The notes I took fueled some journaling I did later in the day, and will help me with my journaling (and also some personal activities – I like the idea of her Pineapple Upside Down Days) in the future.  She’s been a very inspirational person for me, and her blog has been helping me focus on myself.

Tuesday morning I also did something really important, though it wasn’t the coolest thing I could have done.  I said no to someone.  But I said no because saying yes would have meant running myself ragged and, in the end, probably not being the best help anyway.  Which is something I am not sure I would have done if I hadn’t already been spending so much time thinking about myself, my well being, and how to be the best “me” I can be,  both personally and professionally.

Today is Wednesday, and I am still feeling kind of awful (this has been going on since Monday), and to be honest, I’m not even sure if I’m going to get to nata today.  Like, I kind of want to throw up a little bit (tmi, I’m sorry), and also, curl up in bed.  I am happy to be writing, and will be doing some laundry in a bit.  If I can do one more thing on my list of things to clean this week, I will be a happy camper.  And if not, well, at least I got the laundry done.

Hopefully I will get back on the shiva nata track tomorrow.

Today’s blog is short and sweet.

I knew I wouldn’t have the time for a major shiva nata session this morning, but wanted to get it in anyway, so my fall back is level 1 horizontal and vertical arms.  I can whip through that crazy fast.

I barely made it through horizontal arms before my arms completely crapped out on me. Two straight days of level 2 has taken its toll. So perhaps on the train ride this afternoon I can spend some time writing out level 2 like I did with level 1 once, it was a great, non-physical exercise.

Wonder what bings I may get from that one!

This morning I started out with no real intention – just to get down to it.  I am still fairly new to shiva nata, compared to many other shivanauts that I talk to, and just getting into a regular daily practice is new to me, as is delving into the deeper levels.  And it all kind of goes into my theme of focusing.  So the past few days I have been focusing purely on the practice of nata.

Yesterday and today, I did the first part of level 2.  For those of you that don’t know, Level 1 basically introduces the horizontal and vertical arm movements separately, and level 2 mashes them together, so you are putting one arm through the horizontal motions while you are putting one arm through the vertical motions.  It reminds me of a musical mash up, where some engineer or DJ takes two songs that you wouldn’t think go together, but somehow, he makes it work.

That’s not to say that the arm movements don’t go together, but I feel like they each take different types of concentration, so when you are doing them together, you are concentrating two different ways!  At least, I feel like that’s how it is with me.

I have been doing level 2 so far with Andrey Lappa’s DVD, and I feel like this is not actually challenging me.  Sure, I am mis-flailing like a champion, but every time, I can catch myself and auto-correct (like a term I use with my piano students.  a silly mistake.  that mistake, which, when made, is immediately identified and self-corrected.  well, silly goose, if you knew it was a mistake, why did you do it in the first place?).  Usually these mistakes take the form of the right hand position but at the wrong level.  For example, a vertical 3 should be straight out in front of you, kind of even with your belly button.  Once I did it with my hand almost directly straight up in the air (which is pretty much not any of the positions, so I don’t know what I was thinking, haha!).

So while I’ve done this first portion of level 2 two days in a row, I am going to try and move quickly onto the next parts, to see how much that challenges me.  And once I can get through all of that, I will probably make a cheat sheet for myself so that I can practice at my own pace.  Usually, speeding up adds enough of a challenge for me, so that will be the first step.

An interesting physical aspect I notice is that this is great for my arms.  Well, I guess that is a bit of an obvious point.  But for me, it is specifically good because, being a pretty heavy guitar player, my right arm is actually a little more developed than my left arm, since the right arm is always doing all that strumming.  Shiva nata is a GREAT way for me to work out both my arms equally, and that is to say, unlike weight lifting, where they are working together to lift one thing (and therefor, the stronger arm can actually pick up the slack for the weaker arm), they are actually working independently, and developing independently.  Thanks to shiva nata, I feel that my left arm is as strong as my right arm now.

But interestingly, even though they are moving to the same eight basic positions, my arms actually feel more sore after level 2 than after level 1.  This makes sense on one hand, since level 2 is longer, but I feel like more of my arm hurts after level 2, which is something I can’t explain, at least not yet.

I don’t feel any major bings this morning, but I know that instant downloads of information don’t always follow a shiva nata session.  I have, however, been thinking about a few ideas for my music blogging and teaching and life in general, big ideas that I haven’t really thought of in awhile, long, overarching projects to start on.  So perhaps at some point in these 40 days I will focus more on those and make some real progress.

I am trying to start my day with Shiva Nata lately, to get it in before the rest of the world gets in.  Before text messages, and email, and the dreaded Facebook.  Today, hm, what did I do before I nata-ed?  … texts, emails, and a little bit of Facebook, too.  Partly it is because I am recovering from my financial upheaval from a few weeks ago.  Things are leveling out now and I can actually pay some of my bills!  HOORAY.  So there was a need to get to emails, and then I kind of wandered accidentally to Facebook.  Really!  I was just following a shiva nata link and then there was that familiar  blue header at the top of the page.

And I guess it is appropriate to bring up Facebook.  My theme for these 40 days is “focus,” and nothing distracts me more than Facebook does.  I feel a little guilty pulling away from it and…

BING!

Oh, here is an insight.  So I have a friend.  Well, technically, I have many friends.  MANY friends.  Twelve hundred friends, give or take, on Facebook.  And so many of them are spread out over the country (really, I would say that easily 500 of them are people that do not even live in my state, but they are assorted friends and family that, without Facebook, would be very hard to stay in touch with).  But anyway, this one friend always says, “so I’m surprised that you didn’t comment on my Facebook post.”  And every time I have to remind her, “dear, I have over 1000 friends.  If you want me to see something, why can’t you just tell me?”

So I feel guilty.  And hang out on Facebook.  And hit refresh on my newsfeed.  And two hours later, I wonder where all that time went, and then I am running late for the rest of my day.  My life doesn’t get accomplished, the really important things that I need to do for myself, just don’t happen, because I am too preoccupied with making sure I don’t miss anything important in anyone else’s life.

It’s not that I no longer want to care, but, well, if it’s that important, I will find out eventually.

So my first step towards a more focused self is going to be politely reminding all my friends that there are alternate means of communicating with me (which I do actually prefer instead of the internet), and I am going to pull away, as painful as it may be, from Facebook.

Not bad for 5 minutes of Level 1 nata!