"...performing such movements sets a series of alternating active and passive fragments of the energy flow. These energy impulses purify energy channels and balance the circulation of energy inside them." - Andrey Lappa, the man who systematized Shiva NataI began teaching classes because I want my patients to practice Shiva Nata. We are always working with the meridians of our bodies. These landmark pathways are also known as channels or vessels, and they are the primary means by which acupuncture affects the body.
In acupuncture, we place needles at a location and depth which is indicated to promote the balance of hormones, endorphins, immunoglobulins and circulation. A point's indication depends on three main qualities: its immediate location, the meridian pathway, and its category (a combination of depth and connectivity to other meridians and branches).
The meridian pathway is essential to any acupuncture point's function. The best resource to explore while learning about how Shiva Nata affects the meridians would be to learn the meridian pathways. Instead of seeing meridians as energy channels that float on the surface of the body, we could see them as embedded in all our tissues to the deepest level. Once you are familiar with the pathways of the primary organ systems, you can foster an understanding of how these movements activate and strengthen their relationship.When we practice, our focus is on twisting, flailing, and ultimately balancing those meridians. We rotate the arm channels on all axes. Shiva Nata powerfully supports this balance because it addresses all of the meridians - as opposed to most of our activities, which focus all our energy into one, two, or a handful of positions and movements. Balance can be achieved because no channel is left unused, unstretched, or unrotated. The meridians are activated either by a relative emphasis on the energetic meridians or the physical structures that they involve.
The path learning Shiva Nata combines all possible movements of all the meridians in a balanced and coordinated way. Horizontal arms 4 is a strong position for the heart and lung channels - meaning there's effort and tension in those systems when it is held. Moving from 4 to 3 horizontal is a rotation that integrates the large intestine and small intestine channels. According to Chinese Medicine, the heart and small intestine, and the lung and large intestine are intricately related to one another, and they work "as a husband and wife." Moving from horizontal 4 to 3 strengthens this relationship, and practicing this movement and its derivations could repair a damaged relationship between organ systems to restore balance.I am not so far as to diagnose a complex syndrome based on level-related struggles or prescribe certain movements to harmonize dissonant organ system patterns. We have barely begun.
