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Bellydance for birth
by Maha Al Musa
'Bellydanceforbirth'
describes the movements of the bellydance in its role as a birthing
dance. It is a safe and effective dance expression that supports
women throughout pregnancy and labour providing a natural birthing
technique that encourages active birth.
Middle
Eastern Dance has evolved over time, transversed many lands and has
been labelled, restructured, extended, and fused with other dance
styles. A predominantly woman's dance it would have been passed from
mothers to daughters to preserve its sacredness and honour its
connections to birth and fertility.
'A Bedouin Arab girl learns a pelvic dance
during the puberty... and will belly dance, when she is in labour.
The belly dance represents the power of women to produce life.'
- Sheila Kitzinger1
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The smooth undulating movements of
'Bellydanceforbirth'
aid a woman's ability to deal with her labour in an opening
rather than restrictive fashion. The soothing rocking
motions of the circular and figure eight movements set the
scene for a birthing woman to flow with the natural rhythms
of her labouring body and become connected to Nature and the
Universe.
Emotionally the birth dance opens up a well of feelings that
cannot be easily locked away in pregnancy. A woman's
birthing heart centre resides within the pelvis and hip
area. This region is often fraught with locked up painful,
sexual memory. Many women find that they are very tight and
rigid here and when they begin to bellydance they may find
it difficult to loosen up the area or even to make
connection with this part of their body. It is as though the
dance beckons a woman to stand in the light of her truth and
feel her conscious presence within her birthing body. It is
a wonderfully relevant birth preparation because of this
dual acceptance of emotion and physicality. |
'Arab
women, Tahitians and Maoris knew instinctively that they would help
themselves if they kept moving through childbirth... they swayed
their bodies and swung their hips and pelvis in large circular
rotations' - Wendy Buonaventura2
In our twenty- first century world, many women
have become estranged from their primal birthing brain and the
knowledge that lies within it. An empowered birthing journey asks us
as women to get back to a sense of life basics where intuition and
instinct are normal. Women too often hand their power over to the
medical world long before they enter labour and have the idea that
someone else will do it for them. I strongly encourage women to take
birth into their own hands by becoming informed of their choices and
by finding out as much as they can about what will be happening to
their body and mind during the pregnancy and childbirth journey.
Bellydanceforbirth'
can act as purposeful tool to help a woman before she steps into the
gateway of birth. It can help bridge the gap between the primal
brain (which knows how to give birth) and the modern woman (who may
need to be reminded of her instinctual capacity) assisting her to
claim back her most basic and inherent right as the Deliverer of
Life.
It is not too late for any woman to take up
'bellydanceforbirth', if only for a
few months at the end of her pregnancy. Any understanding and
experience of the dance is advantageous. I have facilitated classes
where women have only come at the latter stages of their pregnancy.
They have recounted, after their birth experience, how pleased and
grateful they were to have had the opportunity to practise the
bellydance movements in a pre-natal setting. Being aware of the
moves enabled them to effectively flow into the sensations and thus
rhythm of labour with a strong sense of purpose rather than fear.
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You can help yourself towards a wonderful birth experience by
learning the movements of 'bellydanceforbirth',
described in the first time e-book 'Dance of the Womb' -
for more details click on the image to the left
References
1. Sheila Kitzinger, Rediscovering
Birth, Little, Brown and Company (UK) 2000
2. Bellydancing - The Serpent and The
Sphinx- Wendy Buonaventura 1983 |
Disclaimer
The
information contained on this website is of a general nature and is
designed for educational purposes only. The information is not meant
to replace the recommendations or advise of your midwife or doctor.
Please consult your midwife or doctor regarding your health care.
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