Archive for February, 2009

Accessing Imagination Through Bellydancing

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

When I practice bellydancing, I can enter a completely free flowing state of mind. This happens when I tune out the outside world and am only aware of the music and my improvised movements to it (which, through repetitive practice, have become automatic – I don’t have to think about how the movements are done). It’s a form of meditation that comes from the alpha and theta brainwaves that this kind of dancing can create.

My mind is not turned off while I’m dancing like this. It is simply aware, ‘in the moment’, and open to receiving inspiration, thoughts, and images. In this state, mental images and creative ideas appear on my mind’s radar. I’ve imagined some of my best creative ideas while dancing (I keep a notebook handy when I practice like this!)

When you think about this connection between bellydancing and imagination, it makes sense. When we do something we enjoy, we focus on it without stress and tension. If we’ve practiced our enjoyable activity a lot, the mind doesn’t have to think about ‘how to do it’, but is relaxed and receptive to our inner thoughts, intuition, feelings, and subconscious. We can effortlessly connect with our inner self and our higher self, unimpeded by the usual chatter of the conscious mind.

Bellydance has the added benefit of being a naturally healthy form of physical exercise that greatly increases the flow of energy through the body. As they understand in yoga and other Eastern disciplines, enhanced energy flow helps everything work better. Flowing motion and a meditative mind are a magical combination. Imagine that!

“Imagination is more important than knowledge” – Albert Einstein

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Good Health is a Dancer’s Best Move

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

No matter what style of dance you prefer, if you love it, you probably want to be good at it. So, we take lessons, attend performances, study videos and DVDs, and practice, practice, practice.

If we’re really serious, we seek out the best instructors – dancers whose style, technique, and methods we really admire and aspire to. We may travel long distances to take workshops, and spend boatloads of cash on costumes and dance accessories. And of course, there’s no substitute for practice, practice, practice.

With all the time, energy, and expense we put into being an accomplished dancer, there is one element that’s crucial and so many dancers pay little attention to it. I think the crucial element is optimal health – in mind, body, and spirit. Without a holistic approach to good health, all the studying, money spent, and practicing is not being maximized in achieving our goal of being a great dancer. You simply can’t be at your best in the physical expression of dance if you’re not healthy on every level.

Good dancing depends on a strong, flexible body, a sense of balance, stamina, and the ability to be truly present ‘in the moment’ so that you can really hear and respond to your music. If you don’t get proper nutrition and enough rest, or have mental stress or emotional problems, it will be reflected in your dance. Expensive costuming, meticulously applied make-up, endless practicing, and the finest choreographies will not hide the fact that you’re not at your best.

I’ve seen dancers with little dance training do wonderful dances simply because they have good energy, are happy, and are mentally and emotionally balanced. Conversely, I’ve seen well-trained dancers who are lacking energy and are filled with stress and tension. Personally, I’d rather be the former, but at times I’ve been the latter!

There’s no doubt that holistic health can be challenging to achieve and maintain. Our environment – the air, water, and soil – is increasingly polluted and it’s hard to escape the effects of it. Our economic system is stressful, popular media is filled with violent and toxic images, and much of our food supply is over processed and filled with chemicals and empty calories.

It takes real diligence these days to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit. But if you love to dance, practicing good health is your first step and your most important move.

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Good Vibrations – Shimmy On!

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

Recent scientific research has discovered the health benefits of vibrating the body. Whole body vibration improves bone strength, circulation, muscle strength, bone density, sense of balance, and more.

Some companies have developed whole body vibration exercise machines. When viewing a video demonstrating one of these machines, I couldn’t help but notice that the affect looked exactly like a couple of popular belly dance movements – the up & down (vertical) hip shimmy and the knee vibration shimmy. Of course, in bellydance, we also have other shimmies, such as the hip twist (horizontal) hip shimmy, the shoulder shimmy, bounce shimmy, and stomach flutter, to name a few. I’m sure the various belly dance shimmies have similar health benefits to those attributed to the whole body vibration machine.

So, if you’re interested in the benefits of vibration exercise and you can’t locate a facility that has these body vibration machines, try bellydancing. It’s a low-tech, but highly enjoyable, alternative.

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Enhancing Your Intuition With Bellydance

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Intuition is “the direct knowing of something without the conscious use of reasoning” (Webster’s New World Dictionary). Most of us have experienced intuition and many of us value it and rely on it.

In a world that’s becoming increasingly complex and confusing, it’s often hard to know who, or what, to believe in. Using our intuition along with our reasoning mind may be our best way of sorting through the turbulence and deception around us. We know how to use our reasoning mind, but how do we develop and utilize our intuition?

Scientists now know that we have a complex of neurotransmitters in our abdomen, a 2nd brain, that communicate to us through feelings (gut feelings) and intuition. By becoming more aware of this part of our bodies, and paying attention to our ‘gut feelings’ we can enhance our ability to use this ‘2nd brain’.

I believe that bellydancing can strengthen our ability to benefit from our ‘intuitive’ brain. Many bellydance movements are centered in our abdomen, greatly enhancing the flow of energy and our focus of attention there. It may be interesting for bellydancers to note whether their intuition has improved since they’ve taken up the dance. I think it has for me, and given today’s challenging world, I’ll take all the help I can get in knowing what’s true and what’s not.

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein

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The Belly Brain ‘Talks’

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Since I’ve been thinking a lot about the belly brain lately, I decided to do a little survey. Because researchers say that we have a type of brain, a neurotransmitter complex in the abdomen that is associated with feelings, intuition, and a sense of ‘knowing’, I’ve been asking my friends and family about their ‘gut feelings’. Specifically, I want to know if people’s gut feelings and intuitions are accurate. When you get a ‘gut feeling’ or intuitive hunch about someone or something, does it usually turn out to be true?

So far, most everyone I’ve talked to said “yes”, their gut feelings usually turn out to be true. In fact, many expressed regrets for the occasions they didn’t listen to these feelings and then suffered some negative consequence because of it.

Our belly brain, as a neurotransmitter complex, receives information (energy/vibration) from our environment, and in turn, transmits messages to the rest of our body. It may also store our past experiences in some form of ‘memory’ (gut instinct) just like our head brain stores past experiences as memories (in the form of thoughts and pictures).

It’s going to be exciting to see what new discoveries will be made regarding our belly brain and its’ importance to our  mind/body/spiritual health. In the meantime, when our belly brain talks, it’s probably a good idea to listen.

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Hating Your Workouts

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

How many times have we all heard people complaining about working out? In fact, a lot of times we are those people! The truth is that for many of us, the only good thing about working out is when it’s over. Of course, if people didn’t get results from working out, they wouldn’t do it at all. So, most people who do workouts they dislike feel that the results are worth it – just barely.

The trouble is that science is learning more about brain chemistry and the indications are that hating our workouts has unintended consequences. If we’re doing exercise we hate, we may be getting the mechanical exercise our muscles and cardiovascular system needs, but we’re flooding our bodies with stress hormones! Too many stress hormones can depress our immune system and cause other negative effects for our mind and body.

We’re all better off doing workouts we can enjoy. Enjoyable exercise releases ‘feel good’ chemicals in the body, strengthening our immune system and increasing our quality of life. Fortunately, there’re lots of fitness options available and people can keep trying different ones until they find those they enjoy. I’m lucky – when I discovered bellydancing, I found the perfect one for me and it’s served me beautifully ever since.

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Your Belly Brain

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Recently scientists have discovered that we have another brain located in our belly. Because I’m a bellydancer, this information interests me greatly.

This ‘belly brain’ contains neurotransmitters, just as the brain in our head does. Neurotransmitters are specialized nerves that send messages to the body via the release of a variety of chemicals. We interpret these chemical messages from our head brain as ‘thought’. We interpret the chemical messages from the ‘belly’ brain as ‘intuition’, feelings’, and ‘knowing’.

We’ve all experienced having a ‘gut feeling’ or ‘gut reaction’. Science is now saying that these reactions, feelings, and intuitions are a real phenomena based on the neurotransmitters in our abdomen – as real and valid a way of perceiving reality as the thoughts in our head.

I love exploring the connections between the art of bellydance and mind/body/spirit fitness. We know that bellydance is great exercise for the body. With its’ movement vocabulary centered in a dancer’s abdomen, maybe bellydance is also healthy for our feelings, intuition, and higher knowledge. My ‘belly brain’ says, “yes!” to that idea.

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