Philosophical wonder woman

this can more commonly be referred to as the "Tuck and Push" - a tip I gleaned from Jeela (aka Annette Mason) , a lovely dancer from Arizona. Just like a tennis player has a "ready" stance, so they can easily reach the ball in any position, also a bellydancer has a neutral ready position to easily enable their body to get back to a stance for the next move. Here's how to do get the tuck and push working for you (from Jeela's website): What is this Tuck & Push?? It is the balancing of the front and back of the torso creating a foundation for good posture and power in your dance. It also makes you look great in pictures! How To: 1. Stand with feet hip distance apart, knees soft, weight centered over the arches of your feet. 2. Roll shoulders up, back and down. 3. Use your lower abdominal muscles to pull your belly button in towards your spine: this is your Tuck 4. Use your upper back muscles to draw shoulder blades together and Push rib cage straight for...

some days i just can't express in concrete thought the abstract flow of my mind, so i let a poet like e.e. cummings do it for me: since feeling is first who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you; wholly to be a fool while Spring is in the world my blood approves, and kisses are a better fate than wisdom lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry --the best gesture of my brain is less than your eyelids' flutter which says we are for each other: then laugh, leaning back in my arms for life's not a paragraph And death i think is no parenthesis ~ e.e. cummings

In short, because it makes us feel beautiful! I asked a lot of fellow shimmy sisters to chime in on why they love bellydance and here are some answers I got... "it makes me feel fantastically beautiful and great about myself! :-)" "I am not a dowdy female." "it helped me discover a part of myself that was dormant!" "it empowers women to be more self accepting and celebrates joy of femininity, as we meditate with movement." The truth is, we all need to accept ourselves and feel comfortable in our skin and bellydance helps us do just that. It's a fact that someone is more attractive when they are confident and also when they let their inner inspiration and beauty shine through (see Owning Your Sexiness ). Bellydance teaches you to isolate and control every muscle in your body and with that comes an enormous sense of empowerment and freedom. Once the muscle memory takes over and the movements begin to click for you, I promise it will be in you...