Shiva Rea’s Yoga Trance Dance Teacher’s Training
I participated in Shiva Rea’s Yoga Trance Dance Teacher’s Training in Venice, California over the weekend. I am not a yoga instructor - but the class was advertised to both yoga teachers and “yogadventurers” so I thought I’d give it a shot.
I’m not even sure where to begin to review the workshop. It was, in many respects, spectacular and transformative. Shiva is a powerhouse of positive energy, and it’s clear, upon meeting her, why she is the leader she is in the yoga community. She is brilliant, mercurial, and absolutely magnetic. It was no surprise to me to hear a young participant rush up to Shiva after the workshop and gush to her, saying, “You are my idol and have been for many, many years.” The young woman was practically in tears.
As such, with such a magnetic personality leading the show, it is hard not to make the experience all about Shiva, as guru. Given that I am not a fan of blind guru worship, I caution anyone who is a Shiva fan to also remember that she is, in fact, just a human being like the rest of us and not perfect. In fact, I don’t think Shiva takes herself half as seriously as maybe her fans do. This seemed evident in her wry sense of humor. (At one point, when she took some gulps of water that echoed around the room due to her mic being on, she commented comedically something like: “And this, now, is the sound of water being fully consumed.”)
That said, it is Shiva’s tremendous energy and the ability to create a warm, sacred environment in her workshops that truly make the experience something special and memorable. To me, the benefit of this workshop was less about the content and more about the experience. Shiva was an immersive teacher more than anything.
As such, we spent about three days in a row dancing and doing yoga. We chanted frequently, and honored ourselves and the world around us, as we participated in sacred rituals that left many of the participants in tears. It was an emotional weekend. I received a tremendous healing benefit from the first day alone, where, after Friday night’s Yoga Trance Dance, I felt like I finally broke through a lot of frustration and defeat I had been feeling recently.
On Saturday night, we drove up to Malibu where we danced to the beat of African drums under the stars on a patio overlooking the ocean. It was cold, in the mid-50s, but we had a fire pit and the warmth of supportive people around us.
The group itself was anywhere between 40 and 50 people, all women save for one brave and lucky guy. (Note to the men reading this: Why on earth aren’t you participating in more events like this? Not only would it be great to have your energy there, but helllloooooo…there are tons of attractive, in shape, available women, many of whom are just dying to meet a conscious yogi like yourself.) Most of the participants were from out of state, and there were even a few international yoginis who joined us. Everyone was terrific, and I found a wide variety of accomplished women who had many exciting projects going on within and outside of yoga.
If there was one weakness with the entire weekend, it was that I personally would have liked a bit more concrete instruction in the Yoga Trance Dance. On the one hand, it’s not brain surgery to perform, but I still felt myself hoping for a bit more solid information. On Saturday afternoon, Shiva lectured us for an hour or two on yogic philosophy in relation to dance, but it was very esoteric and went completely over my head as well as the heads of a few other participants I spoke with afterwards. Shiva utilizes a lot of yogic terminology that may or may not be familiar depending on your background in yogic teachings.
For example, she kept talking about the “Nataraj” the entire weekend and I wasn’t entirely sure what she was referring to until afterwards, when I looked it up and realized it means “Dancing Shiva.” The outline for transition from yoga to dance included a lot of terminology like “namaskar” that really didn’t mean much to me as someone who has not gone through a full yoga teacher’s training. Actually, I’m not entirely certain that I’d even know this after a yoga teacher’s training, because terminology often depends upon on the school. Even some of the yoga instructors taking the workshop seemed a bit confused.
I was also disappointed that some of the information advertised was not included in the weekend, such as explaining the talas or primary rhythms. Since I create music, I was really looking forward to hearing about this myself. Oh well.
That said, this was still a wonderful, amazing weekend. If you choose to take the training, go knowing that you’ll be getting an immersive, fluid experience, rather than a dry, left-brain, information-packed weekend. For some, this may be one of the best weekends of your life. But if you are strictly into practical yoga and find the Hindu and California woo-woo aspects to be a turn-off, you might find this workshop not to your tastes.
As for me, I really enjoyed it. I was incredibly lucky that this training was only a few miles from my home. The next one is going to be in Germany. I believe there may also be one coming up at Kripalu (on the East Coast) in the fall. Since some of our experience was predicated on our location (dancing in Malibu, making an offering to the ocean), I’m sure the nature of the training will evolve and change depending on where it is.
Finally…will I be leading a Yoga Trance Dance myself sometime soon? Probably not anytime soon. I’m looking to incorporate the Trance Dance ideas into other workshops I may be leading on creativity and spirit. And besides, it’s a little more challenging to independently market a Yoga Trance Dance when the queen and inventor of the Trance Dance is in your neighborhood! But since I do happen to be lucky enough to live near Shiva’s studio, I’ll be sure to hit up her next Trance Dance evening…because it rocks!