I felt drawn to belly dance when I saw its name on a big promotional transparent.
Instinctively I felt there is something special and deeply feminine in
it. A dance for seduction played in the night clubs today, in fact has
primitive religious roots. The nowadays version is just a form of subjugation
of the female. Still this dance ritual being kept alive and vital transfers
intuitively to its dancers the secrets it holds.
Not a dance of seduction for the glare of a male audience,
but a female communion with the Mother Goddess is the true nature of
Belly Dance.
Depicted 5,000 years ago in a tomb in Saqqara, Egypt,
Belly dance reveals its origins in the "the mystery of childbirth".
Even earlier it seems in the Ice 13,000 years ago, someone in Creswell
Crags, England, drew a picture of women dancing around. From the first
dance communities of women to the present day variation of this female
dance expression has traveled the world. It was no set rules and cannot
be bound in a limited number of movements. The variations are as infinite
as the women and the uniqueness with which their souls speak to them.
To me belly dance is a special spiritual path; followed
intuitively it can lead you to the Goddess within. Belly dance has a
rhythm, akin to the instinctive rhythms of creation and delivery, a
spiritual message which the body tells when you surrender to it.
Just relax and feel the rhythm within, slowly sway with
it from your heart and allow the vibration to run through your body
and mind and transfer you in a different stay of consciousness. No mind
dancing to the rhythm divine of the earth and female primitive nature
unleashes a special trance in which we can reconnect with our bodies
and the baby within.
Belly dance is a celebration of the growing womb. I feel
as supple as a snake, as strong as the Earth and as sure in my power
as a primitive force of creation.
I do belly dance at home and alone, where I can express
myself fully and investigate it. But it is a dance of a woman community
and if you have a chance to go in a group you might feel this very uplifting
and rewarding.
Following belly dance instructions is a good idea. It
is true we carry the movements within, but the instructor can greatly
help the refinement of these instinctive movements and enrich you with
new ones.
Belly dance movements are coordinated with breathing,
which brings oxygen and energy to every part of the body. The rib cage
rotation can stimulate lactation and release tension. The horizontal
pelvic rolls tone the pelvic floor muscles, which are essential and
childbirth. Strengthening the legs and whole body prepares you in the
best way for childbirth in an upright position which is reduces labor
immensely and uses gravity in the best way.
Morocco, one of the gurus of Belly Dance, witnessed an
original childbirth ritual of belly dance, where the woman squatted
above a specially prepared whole in the earth and had a painless easy
birth supported by the women community.
Childbirth is strenuous, though not painless, for a woman
who has learned to trust her body and has built the stamina to deliver.
The vertical movements of the pelvis, which have become second nature
in the dance, excite the pelvis, stimulate the uterus and usher the
baby through the birthing cannel with ease and grace. The circular movements
of the hips make a kind of massage to the baby through the waters while
in uterus, and during childbirth help it to rotate in the right position
in order to get out. No twisting from a birthing attendant is required;
since the synchronicity of birthing mother and baby are perfect and
natural the movements come from the depths of the vegetative mind, which
carries the memories of the thousands of millions of births the species
on earth have given in a natural way with the undulation motions of
the primitive brain. Guided from this sure source of intuitive knowledge
both mother and baby are in the prefect position at each stage of delivery,
in each second, and the most beautiful, painless, natural and ecstatic
birth results.
I have found belly dance to be for me a wonderful preparation
for birth, building stamina and agility, and at the same time giving
me a chance to express myself emotionally, spiritually and physically.
It is to me a celebration of womanhood, pregnancy and birth. A way to
learn to love my body and the female power within, to learn to trust
it, not to resent it and let it be. Belly dance can greatly help to
turn to you, accept yourself and learn the beauty of being yourself.
Let's allow our BEST Self to be. Let's not hide it within,
but take it out with pride. Let's learn to be ourselves, even though
there might be a clash with other people expectations. The woman is
still not allowed to be strong. Why? Because the female power is frightening,
mysterious, incomprehensible for men. They do not understand it, do
not know how to tame it and prefer to own it or let it not be. But the
time has come for us to be. This age is an age of rejuvenation of the
female power, of the revival of the Goddess. Allow yourself to be true
you. Following the guidance of your heart, you start healing the earth.
I have experienced this female power of the Mother Goddess which is
within each of us, calling it a super psyche of all women or the Woman
within, it does not matter. She has a message for each of us. Because
it is time to become prominent in the world, to reclaim our place, to
fully and fearlessly contribute to the change of consciousness, which
will heal the earth.
That is why Parvati Baker says that giving birth naturally
we heal the Earth. Because giving birth naturally is a sign that we
have got in contact with our deepest self, that we have reclaimed our
female power of fertility and creation. Childbirth is an eternal form
of spiritual initiation. It is a unique path for women which makes them
powerful and awakes them to the limitless possibility.
So let's celebrate our womanhood, our pregnancy and birth,
and heal the Earth, reclaiming our power.
What is the ideal childbirth for you? How do you imagine your childbirth to happen? Where are you giving birth, who is present, how is it going? Are there any sounds, how lit is the setting? How long is your childbirth? Share any action steps that are helping you to experience that childbirth?
What are all the things you have learned and done to have such a childbirth?
What is your next step to make this childbirth real?