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Every
Woman was born to be a Dancer When I first read this phrase from Karen Andes book, A Women's Book of Power, I thought that she was wrong because she looked graceful, tall and slim, just like the image of what I perceived a dancer to be. This book was highly recommended to me by my first belly dancing teacher. What a life changing experience this became! I am a Registered Massage Therapist and have been for 16 years and I am also certified in other therapies such as, Reflexology, Aromatherapy, Cranial Sacral, Therapeutic Touch, Reki, Manual Lymph Drainage, Ultrasound and various other therapies including Shamanism. I realized that I always had a desire to help others to help themselves by being a helping hand in a persons discovery of their body communicating to them through various means i.e. aches, pains, stress etc, but I came to realize after awhile that the person that was being neglected the most was me. I had become lethargic, overweight and joyless. I knew I had accomplished many good ideals in my life such as mother, wife, sister, co-worker, caregiver etc. but there was still something missing (the playful, wide-eyed, child-like, sensual, feminine me). I realized that I did not enjoy exercise much, as it was boring and tedious and I found most exercise to be masculine in nature. |
| I
happened upon a brochure for belly dancing and thought why not! Looks
like fun and anybody of any shape size or age can try. So I did. Oh
my! It was a whole new/old world that opened up. I pursued belly dancing
with vigour and over the years have taken many workshops and classes
with professional belly dancers from around the world and found it
to be a truly feminine and creative dance form. Not only did I find that many dancers are short like me but, they all wanted to share so much of what they have with other women. I found that belly dancing became an extension of my clinic work when I added the roll of teacher along with the renewal of myself as a goal to pursue. I also discovered a huge need in other women, wanting a part of them selves to be reawakened in playfulness and joy. The areas of our bodies that we loathe and try to tame the most (hips, thighs, buttocks, and bellies) are ironically the root and area of our greatest power. The pelvis is the passageway between spirit and flesh and is the divine receiver of life energy. |
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