My
Philosophy of Bellydance
“Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she
is a woman. A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.
Imagine a woman who honors the face of the Goddess in her changing
face. A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and
her wisdom. Who refuses to use precious energy disguising the
changes in her body and life.” ///*
To me, bellydance is playful and fun, rich and deep. To me,
what bellydance means is very serious.
Much of what it means to me can not be verbalized. It is a
soul experience, a visceral knowing for which our culture sadly
lacks words.
Some of the best expressions
of my philosophy are on the Inspirations
page. And the blurb for one of my classes sums it up pretty
thoroughly:
Revel
in the Belly
Reconnect
with the Goddess by honouring the Divine Feminine within.
We would all like to be immune to the propaganda telling us to
lose our bellies: the most female part of us! Our bellies are
‘not ok,’ our breasts are ‘not ok’...
they should be bigger/smaller/flashier/harder/softer/perkier/rounder
etcetera ad nauseum.
Come and spend a few hours enjoying your body just as it is!!
All of our bodies are unique, all move in special ways, all have
their own unique beauty. Through bellydance we can appreciate
this in other women and practice accepting our own true beauty!
We can love our bodies and our bellies through the sacred art
of Bellydance.
We can celebrate our own and each other’s courage, strength,
and power.
Rediscover your joy in movement, in your belly, in being a woman
through this ancient, powerful, beautiful dance form.
Sacrilize the sensual, reclaim the essence of your body, and heal
your sexuality.
The more belly, the better!
Bellydance at the Blackberry
Faire
Denman Island, BC, Canada
If you want more detail, I can tell you
why I bellydance:
I bellydance for the energy
it brings me, for the strength and flexibility, for the stress-relief.
For the social connections, community, support. For connection
to the long tradition of women’s power.
I dance for self-care: listening and responding to my body’s
needs, emotions. For growth, pushing through limitations, confronting
unproductive beliefs and replacing them with love, compassion,
and courage.
To reclaim myself as a woman, as beautiful, as powerful. To reclaim
gentleness, fluidity, and softness as powerful.
I bellydance because it feels
good, on more levels than I have words for.
I bellydance to enhance acceptance of my body-shape and validation
of my unique beauties and talents, and to increase my love and
validation of other women.
To give recognition to the
Shining Spirit within.
I bellydance to make sacred the sensual, to reclaim the essence
of my body.
I bellydance because the world is dying for lack of honouring
the feminine, for the cycles and spirals of life that women embody,
for celebration and joy.
I bellydance because only bellydance has the motto “The more
belly, the better!”
I bellydance to bring Goddess energy, joy, and beauty into the
world. To sanctify the feminine, the physical, the pleasurable.
To bring healing and respect to all those who participate. To
embrace our bodies and release our creative spirit.
To bring honour to the name of bellydancing.
I bellydance to foster sisterhood: cooperation, honour, compassion,
and encouragement among women and among dancers.
I bellydance because we reconnect with the Goddess by reconnecting
with ourselves as women, as human, as spirit, as beauty, as light,
as Earth, as power, as life.
I bellydance because:
We are all meant to shine,
as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory
of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission
to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.//**
*
Patricia Lynn Reilly (see Poems
for full version)/
/**
Marianne Williamson
