Doing things in the best way possible is doing in such a way that all parts of the relationship (all the ideas) benefit. Doing something with our body, its doing things in such way that all the parts of our body benefit. Doing something as part of a group it is doing things in such a way that the whole group (including ourselves) benefit.
But here’s the thing, we won’t know the best way possible till we’ve tried a lot of ways of doing something. Sometimes we have to do things wrong to know what right is. But that is part of the process, and that too is a part of life. Learning to sense possibilities and try them out so that we can choose from among them.

In the dance of shiva we learn about seeing possibilities so that we can “Dance” among them.
By sensing the “limits” we become free to move within them.
By knowing the limits we can then change them.
The Dance of Shiva starts with a simple movement, keeping the hands horizontal while moving them along a spiral path. How do we increase the possibilities? By dividing this path into four stopping points. We then add the intention of learning how to join each of these four points to each of the others. We do the same thing for both hands. Because we do the same thing for both hands we can add even more possibilities. What if each hand can be in the same position or a different one from the other. We then have 4×4 possible positions that use both hands.

How do we apply this to doing things or living life? If we know what we are trying to do and it is something big and complex we can divide this big thing into smaller ideas. The only constraint is that each of these smaller ideas has a well defined meaning. In the dance of shiva position 1 is just above the head with the fingers out to the side and the palm horizontal. If we can break big ideas down into small ideas that have some meaning then we can either work at understanding the big idea by understanding the small parts that make it up or we can do the small ideas one at a time that make up the big task of what we are trying to do.
Doing a yoga pose we can break the pose and the body down into the parts that make it up. Starting a business we can break down the big idea of starting a business into the small well defined steps that make it up.
Not only that we can look for the different ways of breaking the body down into small parts or the different ways of breaking down the starting up of a business into ideas that are easy to do or easier to do.
Knowing that we can join position 1 to position 2 by going backwards 3 times or going forwards once (or doing a transquarter followed by a backwards move) we can pick the way we want to do it. Likewise sensing the options for not only doing something but the way we break it down (or build it up) we can pick the one that is best or that we like the most.
Thus we can get things done, or do things well or simply enjoy living life… or all three at once. And at the same time we can enjoy what is around us, noticing life and all things that make it up.

In the dance of shiva we learn about seeing possibilities so that we can “Dance” among them.
By sensing the “limits” we become free to move within them.
By knowing the limits we can then change them.
The Dance of Shiva starts with a simple movement, keeping the hands horizontal while moving them along a spiral path. How do we increase the possibilities? By dividing this path into four stopping points. We then add the intention of learning how to join each of these four points to each of the others. We do the same thing for both hands. Because we do the same thing for both hands we can add even more possibilities. What if each hand can be in the same position or a different one from the other. We then have 4×4 possible positions that use both hands.

How do we apply this to doing things or living life? If we know what we are trying to do and it is something big and complex we can divide this big thing into smaller ideas. The only constraint is that each of these smaller ideas has a well defined meaning. In the Dance of Shiva position 1 is just above the head with the fingers out to the side and the palm horizontal. It is a well defined position. If we can break big ideas down into small ideas that have some meaning then we can either work at understanding the big idea by understanding the small parts that make it up or we can do the small ideas one at a time that make up the big task of what we are trying to do.
Doing a yoga pose we can break the pose and the body down into the parts that make it up. Starting a business we can break down the big idea of starting a business into the small well defined steps that make it up.
Not only that we can look for the different ways of breaking the body down into small parts or the different ways of breaking down the starting up of a business into ideas that are easy to do or easier to do.
Knowing that we can join position 1 to position 2 by going backwards 3 times or going forwards once (or doing a transquarter followed by a backwards move) we can pick the way we want to do it. Likewise sensing the options for not only doing something but the way we break it down (or build it up) we can pick the one that is best or that we like the most.
Thus we can get things done, or do things well or simply enjoy living life… or all three at once. And at the same time we can enjoy what is around us, noticing life and all things that make it up.

this is a book of ideas and basic principles for
leading
learning
doing and
enjoying life

In the book:
learn to sense change
learn to handle change
learn to respond to change
learn to balance
learn to create the change you desire
learn to get things done
learn to do things well
learn how to sense possibilities
learn how to realize them
learn how to unify the parts of your life
learn how to integrate the parts of your life
learn how to break complex ideas down into ideas that make sense
learn how to lead both your self and others with a clear idea of what you are trying to do

When I teach yoga I don’t just teach people yoga poses. I teach them to feel the parts of their body and for each pose I give them directions to move in. Teaching them to sense their body and then giving them a clear idea of what they are trying to do they can then unite their mind and their body in what they are trying to do.
Teaching people how to feel their body and operate it has benefits outside of just doing yoga. They can apply that same awareness and sensitivity to anything that they want to do.
Teaching someone how to feel their pelvis and giving them a frame of reference for how they can move their pelvis they can then learn what it means to roll the pelvis forwards and backwards. They can then also notice the affect this has on the hips and the lower back. Feeling this in themselves as they move their pelvis or as they simply notice the position their pelvis is in they can then apply that same awareness to looking at someone else to see what position that person’s pelvis is in. They can then copy that person if they are learning from them or they can comment to that person if they are teaching them “your pelvis is rolled forwards, see if you can roll it back…”
Once they’ve learned to feel my body, it’s like they’ve learned to play all the notes on a musical instrument. While they still have to learn songs, the songs are easier to learn because they already know how to read the notes and how to play them. Each new song they learn is simply a reordering of how they play those notes. Likewise with learning the body, once it is learned, they can get on with learning things that they can do with my body.

As well as teaching people to feel their body I also teach them to lead it with their mind. Leading a yoga class and reaching upwards I tell my students to constantly focus on reaching upwards, even if they think they are at their limit. As a result some people do reach higher but in all cases the pose becomes alive. Why? Because they are doing something, they are leading their body with a clear idea.

In a twist they can use their eyes to help by looking in the direction they are going in. Add body awareness to this, having them feel their neck and ribcage they can they look for the room to twist further. Likewise with reaching upwards. Scanning their body they can look for the room to reach up further. They can look for and find the space within their body so that they can reach upwards more.
The result, they are doing yoga, their mind and their body are unified, they are unified in the idea of what they are trying to do.

An aspect of basic principles is being conscious and understanding that consciousness has two main modes of operation, thinking and doing. (I liken thinking to consciousness being expanded in time and doing to consciousness being expanded in space.)
When we are thinking are awareness is pulled in from space. We are inside our heads or inside of our minds in imaginary space. This is the “time” when we sense possible ideas we’d like to make real and we choose from among them. This is also the space where we look back at the things we have done so that we learn from the experiences.
We can also break down big ideas into the small components that make them up. Why? So we that when we are doing, we can focus on doing those components one at a time.
While doing our consciousness is expanded in space and that is when we use our awareness to sense both ourselves and what is around us so that we can respond to what we sense.

Another aspect of basic principles is working on an idea and then resting from it. That can mean resting completely but it can also mean resting by doing something else. Why rest? So that we can make an experience a part of ourselves, so we can do other things, so we can do the same thing again and so that we can continue to do it.
Resting has the added benefit of bringing balance to our lives. Rather than focusing on one thing to the exclusion of everything else we can focus on one thing at a time but switch tasks after a certain period of time. Resting from an idea and doing something else not only do we get to enjoy variety, it is often in the doing of something else that answers to problems suddenly become apparent. It is as if by letting go of a problem, even if for only a little while, we access a consciousness beyond our own and we download (or ftp) the necessary info.
Another aspect of resting is that when we are doing we are putting out energy. Resting is a chance to take it back in.

I am a yoga teacher but prior to that I’ve been an
engineer, a dishwasher, a cook, an artist and I was also in the British
army for five years where I learned to fix guns and make instant
coffee.

I practice Chinese calligraphy and Tai Ji andI like to dabble with
spreadsheets, and I once used to love being a Speedskater. Those things hardly seem
related but part of what I try to do is distill the
essence of all of these activities, the basics that underlay learning
to do them as well as learning to do them well and I try to apply those same basics to everything I do.

For myself the reason
I’ve done this is to make my life more efficient. Instead of figuring
out how to learn or what to learn it’s more about getting on with
learning. And instead of figuring out what to do or how to go about
doing it, seeing what needs to be done in the shortest time possible so
that I can get on with doing.

Life isn’t just about doing. The
same mindset that goes into doing and learning can also be used to
enjoy the life that goes on around us. I believe it is the same mindset
that helps artists to see clearly so that they can paint what they see
or what they would like us to see. It is the same thing that allows
engineers and designers to create and design new things. It is the same
thing that breathes life into all that is around us. It is the same
things that can be used to solve problems and understand them.

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