“Belly dance is an excellent form of prenatal conditioning.”
Was I hearing correctly? Was my OB/GYN telling me that one of the most beneficial exercises I could do for my pregnancy was belly dance– an exercise done barefoot wearing shimmering silks and velvets; an exercise that is fun, sensual, toning, and inherently celebrates fertility and pregnancy? No sneakers, no scary metal equipment…sign me up!
It was a wild messy gorgeous terrifying journey, the journey of a new life heading into the world over 24 primal hours…
Humor me if you will, and picture this: 1) a chicken trying to fly; 2) a dog doing a full body shake after a bath; 3) and an oompa loompa doing jumping jacks. Now, meld those three images together. Got it? If so, you have a pretty good idea of what I looked like at a samba class the other night.
I saw many incredible things in Cairo, like the glittering gold and jewels from King Tut’s tomb, 3,000 year old mummies staring out at me from their bandages, peacocks swishing their tails through lush gardens, and curling glass perfume bottles that resembled a genie’s lamp.
Walking around Cairo was like walking through a Cave of Wonders–around every bend was another treasure.
And now, after all the tremendous loss I’ve experienced the past few years, when I felt so crushed with heartbreak and loss, and so far away from that girl I used to be, the girl spinning with her golden wings, that girl with the jewels on her hips; now I feel like Isis was standing vigil next to me all this time, her wings spread, silently fanning me back to life. It has taken me a long long time to stand back up, but I’m still here, and my wings are spread, and every time I dance, and share my story with others, I am fanning them with my own shimmering gold.
It’s a magnificent time when our girls start to blossom into women, but it can also be a jarring time, as their hormones begin to swirl and their bodies start to change. Creating a ritual to honor their journey, set intentions for their path, and
And now, I have a marvelous treasure safely stored in a rainbow silk scarf, some fragile fragments of a certain palace, a palace so beautiful you can still see its reflections in the sky over Mt. Kilimanjaro when the light is just right.
All the years I belly danced, people always asked me, a girl from Utah, how I became a belly dancer. These questions were usually asked after a gig, with me drenched in sweat, huffing and puffing and loud music playing. I wanted a quick exotic
