Posts Tagged ‘arm undulations’

Beautiful Arms – Strong Heart

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

I recently read an interesting article by Dr. Susan Lark. She talked about how orchestra conductors live longer and healthier lives than other musicians – because of the ‘wing flapping’ motions that they do with their arms while they’re conducting music! According to Dr. Lark, research has shown that upper body movements provide better cardiovascular effects than lower body movements like running and walking.

Using the arms and upper body engages the muscles that control the chest and lungs. When these muscles and the lungs are energetically worked, you breath deeper and oxygen courses through your body. This in turn causes your heart to pump stronger, giving you cardiovascular benefits.

In bellydancing, hip and torso moves  are predominant, but the arms are very important too. They are used to either frame the dancer’s body with beautiful arm poses or are moved in graceful patterns. Of course, in bellydancing we don’t ‘flap’ our arms like orchestra conductors. Nonetheless, belly dance arm circles, arm waves (snake arms), and shoulder techniques are great for getting the heart rate going. The aerobic effect is even stronger if the arm poses or movements are used at waist level or at higher positions.

For additional aerobic effects from your bellydancing, you can also dance to faster tempos with energetic moves like shimmies, staccato moves, level changes, and traveling steps. Rolling, undulating and vibrating motions of the torso help drive your increased oxygen intake to every part of the body, fueling your cells even more efficiently.

By practicing strong and graceful arm work, you’ll add a beautiful finishing touch to your dance and get more cardiovascular benefits too. Whether you’re bellydancing or just working out, let your arms take flight to a strong and healthy heart♥

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Like Learning to Drive

Friday, August 21st, 2009

I often tell my belly dance students that if they can drive a car, they can learn how to bellydance. I usually mention this when they’re struggling to learn a basic belly dancing move like a torso undulation and are feeling frustrated that they’ll never master it. Since most of my belly dance students drive a car, they soon discover the analogy between driving and dancing.

Anyone who has a driver’s license remembers what it’s like learning how to drive. The first time you get behind the wheel, it seems overwhelming trying to remember all the things you have to do: control the steering wheel, work the gas and brakes pedals (add the clutch if you have a stick shift), and keep your eyes on the road, the traffic signs, and rear view mirrors, plus so much more. The first time you actually drive a car, the ride is jerky and uncoordinated and you have to practice in an empty parking lot or some other safe place. It takes lots of time and repetition to be able to drive smoothly and competently enough to drive in real traffic, but your safety depends on doing it right.

After plenty of practice, drivers can coordinate all these actions so well, that they can drive on busy highways and freeways without even consciously thinking about how they’re handling the steering wheel, brakes, turn signals, etc. By this point, the mechanics of driving have become automatic and drivers think nothing about doing all of this at the same time that they’re talking on their cell phones, singing to the radio, or looking at the scenery going by – even though driving is a potentially life threatening activity!

When you learn how to bellydance, you follow a similar learning curve. First you learn the basic moves and techniques and then you practice to simple songs. In the beginning it can seem overwhelming to coordinate all the different parts of the body, but over time the mechanics of the moves become automatic. At that point you can concentrate less on how the moves are done and more on the enjoyment of just dancing to your music. Like driving a car, each dance is a journey, but without the potential for harm. With bellydancing, you don’t have to worry about having an accident and you always feel great when you reach your destination. Fortunately, almost every student can master that.

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Warming Up to Bellydance

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

It’s accepted wisdom that it’s important to ‘warm-up’ your body before doing prolonged physical activity. It’s especially important if that activity is strenuous and engages a lot of different parts of your body.

There’re many techniques that can be used in warming up, including stretching and other moves that increase your circulation, breathing, and heart rate. I’m with the school of thought that believes in not over-doing a warm-up, especially with stretching that is too extreme for cold muscles and joints. I like to save the deep stretches for the cool-down at the end of a workout, when the body is already warmed up.

My favorite warm-ups for any activity are (surprise, surprise) simple belly dance moves. Rolling hip and ribcage circles, undulations of the arms and torso, and traveling steps, all serve the requirements needed to circulate energy to every part of the body and to get the pulse rate up.

Circular belly dance moves are really effective because they engage the muscles and joints in a full range of motion, and fast staccato moves increase respiration. Using my favorite music also helps me relax and focus on my warm-up more fully.

When I teach a belly dance class, I don’t have to lose valuable class time by using warm-up moves that have no relation to bellydancing. Unless it’s a class for absolute beginners, I can start the class by going right into basic belly dance techniques. That way the students get both a fun warm-up and at the same time, a review of the all important core foundation belly dance moves.

So, no matter what physical activity I want to do, a few minutes of basic bellydancing gets me unkinked and ready to safely push myself harder and further with my workouts. I’m not alone – millions of women have also warmed up to the idea that bellydance moves are a hot addition to their fitness routines.

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