Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

[MustLose80]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

Ok, this is one thing I have always wanted to do. When i was small, in size, I never took the time, and now....not on your life. Sooooooooo, this is one of the rewards I want to give myself when I reach about 2/3 of my goal.

I finally decided today what I would reward myself and I thought of three things. I dropped this one, because I thought that is too much reward, but why not?? I deserve it! Besides...it is in my heritage. If you want to see an amazing site (costume-wise) google images for a Yemenite Bride

[LisaAC]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

Ok, this is one thing I have always wanted to do. When i was small, in size, I never took the time, and now....not on your life. Sooooooooo, this is one of the rewards I want to give myself when I reach about 2/3 of my goal.

I finally decided today what I would reward myself and I thought of three things. I dropped this one, because I thought that is too much reward, but why not?? I deserve it! Besides...it is in my heritage. If you want to see an amazing site (costume-wise) google images for a Yemenite Bride

Wow, what a wonderful picture. I saw a woman dressed in wedding clothes. I scanned through most of the site and all I saw the rest of the time were men. Usually they were praying. That was the only woman I saw.

Don't worry about size and dancing. In my troupe we had quite a few rather large sized women, and they did just fine. Think about it, if you get a DVD or tape and start learning now, think of all those inches and pounds you can help whittle away. You can watch the video in private.

[floydgirl]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

Ok, this is one thing I have always wanted to do. When i was small, in size, I never took the time, and now....not on your life. Sooooooooo, this is one of the rewards I want to give myself when I reach about 2/3 of my goal.

I finally decided today what I would reward myself and I thought of three things. I dropped this one, because I thought that is too much reward, but why not?? I deserve it! Besides...it is in my heritage. If you want to see an amazing site (costume-wise) google images for a Yemenite Bride

Don't wait to reward yourself. Celebrate the little things! It keeps you going and focused.

Believe me, when I try to shoulder shimmy (I don't have that move down yet), most of body jiggles right along with me. Any tips on how to do that correctly?

The costume I wear is very forgiving. Plus I also use a veil, which hides everything, if you want it to.

My teacher says the most important thing is to smile and have fun with it. She said size doesn't matter.

[kjmorgan]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

hey for someone that would like to try out some videos just to see how I might like it. Can you recommend any??

[LisaAC]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

I started out with one I'd bought from a catalog called "Things You Never Knew Existed"
It was called "The Art Of Oriental Dance" and in my opinion, well done.

The few I've seen today seemed dull to me, but might get you going. Just do a search on Amazon.com for Belly Dancing in the video section. As for titles, I really don't know any of the new ones. I am still going by my old VCR tapes. I found some online videos online, as well as a video on the history as well. There should be other selections there too. http://www.veoh.com/videoDetails.html?v=e142591BZxzghyE

Here's another video that shows a troupe of women of many different sizes and shapes. If you ever had a doubt that a big person could belly dance and get away with it, well...this should help dissolve that doubt...the answer to it is YES we can. And you don't have to show your middle either, you can be fully dressed. It's called a Beladi Dress. And a lot of women do use it. Or some dance with an ethinic style tunic or shirt. There are many different costumes and not everyone who dances is a stick model.
http://www.veoh.com/videoDetails.html?v=e141968XjNQZh6S

[vmckelvie]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

Believe me, when I try to shoulder shimmy (I don't have that move down yet), most of body jiggles right along with me. Any tips on how to do that correctly?

Hey FG

When I started teaching my students to shoulder shimmy, what I would get them to do was stand with their back against the wall. Move one shoulder forward, whilst the other keeps flat on the wall - and then alternate Also makes you keep the rest of your body still - and the best thing is... having that wall behind you, you can actually feel what other parts of your body move, allowing you to focus on controlling them

You can even do it whilst driving

I have a great bumper sticker on my car;

"Bellydancer on board, beware vehicle may shimmy without notice!"

[vmckelvie]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

Ok, this is one thing I have always wanted to do. When i was small, in size, I never took the time, and now....not on your life. Sooooooooo, this is one of the rewards I want to give myself when I reach about 2/3 of my goal.

Dont worry about your size!!! Seriously!

Grab a dvd and start learning. You will have so much fun, and belly dancing really is a joy because I believe that it makes you feel more feminine too!

I feel really sensual when dancing and when you let go, your really able to express your emotions. I find that your able to reach inside to the inner you and just enjoy

Its amazing at how good belly dancing looks on bigger woman too! Our hips are more rounded, we are more shapely, and it looks a darn site better in my opinion, than stick figures trying to jiggy it (no offense to all the skinny people!)

[LisaAC]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

Yep, in this case size doesn't matter. lol.
What matters is that you're learning, moving about, and having fun.

[floydgirl]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

Hey FG

When I started teaching my students to shoulder shimmy, what I would get them to do was stand with their back against the wall. Move one shoulder forward, whilst the other keeps flat on the wall - and then alternate Also makes you keep the rest of your body still - and the best thing is... having that wall behind you, you can actually feel what other parts of your body move, allowing you to focus on controlling them

You can even do it whilst driving

I have a great bumper sticker on my car;

"Bellydancer on board, beware vehicle may shimmy without notice!"

Hey Veronica!

Thanks for the tip. My teacher just keeps saying "keep practicing, it will come." She didn't offer the cool tip of doing it with my back against the wall. I'll definitely try this!


She also says the belly rolls and the undulations will come with practice. Do you have any suggestions on that? I am getting better at the belly rolls, although it is more of a jerky movement at this point than a flowing movement.

[LisaAC]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

Hey Veronica!

Thanks for the tip. My teacher just keeps saying "keep practicing, it will come." She didn't offer the cool tip of doing it with my back against the wall. I'll definitely try this!


She also says the belly rolls and the undulations will come with practice. Do you have any suggestions on that? I am getting better at the belly rolls, although it is more of a jerky movement at this point than a flowing movement.

I never really did the shoulder shimmy. Hip shimmy, yes, but not shoulder. Never really learned it. But undulations, theres something I might can help with. My first belly dance video tape broke it down into steps. So, here are the steps.

1) suck in gut (yeah, we've all done it for pictures or to try and fit into those danged pair of pants there just wouldn't budge.

2)push your stomach muscles up gently as you slowly release the suck in

3) let the stomach out as regular

4) suck in gut again, but this try to suck in a little lower. If you can't just do a normal suck in, lift, and out. The rest you can smooth out with some practice. You'll get it, just keep trying.

5) repeat steps.

[vmckelvie]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

She also says the belly rolls and the undulations will come with practice. Do you have any suggestions on that? I am getting better at the belly rolls, although it is more of a jerky movement at this point than a flowing movement.

Bellyrolls and undulations are often the most troublesome to learn You need isolate your diaphram from your pelvic muscles - which is really easy to write about but not that easy to do *grins*

When starting with undulations and rolls I always get my students to lay flat on the ground. You need to feel the difference of the two muscle groups first, before you understand how it actually works.

So you lay flat on the ground, one hand placed on your pelvic muscles the other on your diaphram, concentrate on the area just above your navel, and suck in... whilst keeping your pelvic muscles relaxed... The key is to keep your pelvic muscles relaxed, whilst sucking it in..

I generally get my students to do reps of these and build them up, just to become more aware of isolating the two muscles. You can even do this standing up, driving your car, or hunched over your pc desk whatever works for you!

You can actually reverse this exercise as well! suck in the diaphram, relax the pelvic muscles, relax diaphram, suck in the pelvic muscles. This is why I like getting everyone to lay down for it, with their hands on the muscle groups - you can actually feel whats working down there!

I then generally use a (for lack of better word here) a puppet visualization..

Very simple - nice relaxed bellydance posture (remember dont lock your knees)... visualize a string from your belly button, going right out the back of you, breathe in... and try and make your belly button touch your spine. Hold it for as long as you can (it should be comfortable ok!)

Then relax, and relax thoroughly - Dont push your tummy out, but just let your muscles become loose, dont PUSH.. no pushing involved! Sometimes I have trouble here, because everyone seems to have the art of sucking it in all the time and they find it really hard to relax

Just try and repeat the exercises as much as you can. We do about 5 or 6 reps where you hold it in for as long as you can, and then let it all hang out for an equal time length.

Then try and do another 10 reps, but this time pulling in for only 2 - 3 secs, relaxing for 2-3 secs.. Remember to breathe normally!

It does get easier over time - I promise! The 10 reps, where you pull in and relax for 2-3 secs, will make your rolls look less jerky.

Hope these give you some ideas

Ooops one more thing! to help your bellyrolls and undulations - its great to build up your abs.. crunches or situps.. Ive basically found that the stronger your abs are, the better the belly roll looks

[MustLose80]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

oooooooo I didn't know there were videos to teach belly dancing, but why not, there are videos for everything. I have to look around over Christmas break. I would love to do it at home. If you know a really good one for learning, please let me know.
I have clothes from when I did Hebrew/Israeli dances, maybe some can be modified. I used to have a lot of the jewelry, but no more. I am one of those persons that loan and give away everything and never see it again! LOL
Thanks, Pamela

[LisaAC]

Re: Belly Dancing For Exercise And Toning?

You need isolate your diaphram from your pelvic muscles - which is really easy to write about but not that easy to do *grins*

The video broke it down the way I typed it, BUT it's easier to know what to do from a video, than for writing. lol.

Actually, the belly roll was the easiest for me to learn, oddly enough. I never thought of laying down on the floor to learn it. What a great idea. I'll have to remember that one. I did a siminar once and wish I'd known that.