belly dance?

Body: 

Would anyone like to comment on whether belly dance is beneficial to women's pelvic continence and strength? I've been tempted to try a little class near me. It seems so feminine, sensual.

queenbee

Queenbee,

I quote from Christine's book (1st ed. p. 131):

"Belly rolls, an integral part of Middle Eastern dance, are exquisite pelvic floor exercises to perform while having intercourse. Men love them, they feel extraordinarily good to do, and are invaluable for strengthening the entire pelvic area."

There is then a brief description of how to do belly rolls.

Sign up for that class!
Jean

I AM a bellydancer. I've been dancing for 14 years. I have been recently diagnosed with a rectocele and a cystocele. I am trying to slowly go through all my bellydance moves to see how they affect my 'celes'. I have changed my posture during dancing so far to be the wholewoman posture. Much like ballet, I have always been instructed to tuck my tailbone under during bellydancing, so I have been focusing on doing all my bellydancing with the "new" posture. So far I feel alright...but I am still getting used to "living well" with prolapse, and I am nervous about incorporating any repetitive dance or exercise that might make the condition worse.

For me personally, I just can't imagine no longer bellydancing and I am desperate to find a way to keep my prolapse under control without having to give up bellydancing.

Does anyone out there have any experience with bellydance or specific bellydance moves that are GOOD or specifically BAD for prolapse?

Denny

Hi Denny,

I think you can continue to belly dance with no problem. The principles we are working with here are definitely gaining validity and from my perspective, the more you can incorporate them into your dance the stronger, more stable, flexible and graceful your style will become. Belly dancing encourages a naturally held belly, which is a key piece of the whole woman posture.

A major factor will be whether you are helping your spine and pelvis assume their natural positions when you are not dancing. As well as stopping all straining on the loo…yada..yada..yada.

Once we develop prolapse it seems we are most comfortable in positions that support the prone portion of our spine, which is our sacrum. Sucking in the belly, tucking the tailbone under, and bending our hips backward create a certain instability that we can sense. When we do the opposite by shifting our weight and our pelvic organs over the pubic bone we feel much more supported in that area. I think moves such as bending back, tucking and shaking your hips should be okay as long as you recover to natural posture. I bet older Middle Eastern women moderate their dance styles by moving in more supportive ways.

The human body is the only animal body that has stood up permanently from the prone position. It did this by incorporating extreme spinal curvature. Asking the spine to bend backward at the hips is asking A LOT!! Just think of the utter impossibility of a cat, dog, or horse doing a backbend and you will understand.

The marvel of the human organism is that it can act almost as a perfect wheel when we are young, but as we age we all tend to once again assume the limitations of our naturally pronated spine.

These are just a few thoughts and I hope they help to both stabilize your prolapse and enhance your dancing.

Wishing you well,

Christine

Thanks for your response and support Christine. I will continue to bellydance, of course, paying attention to incorporating the proper posture to support prolapse. I am encouraged to hear that you don't think it should be too damaging to do some moves that may not be the best of posture, as long as I immediately recover to a more "natural" posture. I'm going to put alot of thought into this. I will share with the forum what I learn about bellydance and how it affect my "celes" as time goes on. Hopefully, we will be able to add Bellydancing (a.k.a. Middle Eastern Dance, Raks Sharqi, Oriental Dance, etc.) to our list of good exercies to do when you have some form of prolapse.

Denny