Dance Stretch

ATTRACT YOUR IDEAL BODY with SENSUALITY and DANCE!

Your ideal body needs sensuality. You need to feel, imagine and get to know your "ideal self" in a physically satisfying body, so moving towards your goal becomes a pleasurable experience. So how do you "flesh" out and sensually make real your ideal self?

 

Whenever you can, take time to make a little luxury fantasy time of your ideal life. Maybe when you are just waking up from sleep and dreams or daydreaming. This is the perfect time before your conscious mind has taken control. Fantasy and imagination are an important part of childhood that allows our brain to look for creative and positive ways to make things happen. As an adult, fantasy and imagination can be used to allow your mind to create new ways to allow your body to explore your environment.

Decide which parts of your body you really enjoy and focus on the pleasure you can create with different parts of your body. Get specific about qualities, shapes and the feel of your body. It can be as simple as the curve of your neck, the curl of your hair, the way your thigh shape looks and feels when it is stretched or touched. If you are looking at the rolls of your belly, think of ways to make them more sensuous. Fat is a necessary part of the body metabolism. Stored fat is energy waiting to be used. Fat also acts as or a protective layer of energy to allow your nerves to transmit all those wonderful sensations between the brain and body.

 

Excess fat is just waiting to be given some shape, comfort you or to be put to use, just like the muscles of the body. (Fat just responds slower!) As a teacher of belly dance – I am still amazed how my body shape changes when I teach or dance. As soon as I bring my imagination to my body – my muscles and fat actually align differently – they curve, bend, roll and stretch to the music or the instructions I am giving to the students and my body. The shapes of belly dance are a creative way to play with the muscles, organs and fat and give your mind different ways of appreciating the shapes of your body. Many types of dance are asking the mind to move the body with the intention of play! Play creates a chemistry in the body that allows your ideal self to play in your life.

 

Using the mind and imagination to inspire beauty in the body is extremely important to create pleasure, happiness and joy in the body. I want to emphasize the importance of actually using sensuality, the five senses, the sense of touch and the imagination to create a freedom in the body. Once you create the feeling of freedom in the body, the neurotransmitters of the mind reinforce in the body and mind what is positive, life enhancing and in alignment with your ideal self.

 

As you dance, you connect creative and emotional centers of the brain with different parts of the entire body. Improvised dance is one of the most powerful ways to connect your mind and body as you are using motor co-ordination skills that require you to create motion where there is no "need" for the muscles to respond. When you improvise in dance you are really asking the body to make something up.

 

Imagine a whole body doodling exercise that allows your imagination to go places you would wish to go.  As you imagine this unexplored space with your mind – so you can imagine this space with your body. In a practice of improvised dance you can allow your ideal sense of self, your ideal body to start to move within you. As you dance, you imagine how your ideal body would move. There are no limits to your identity in your imagination. The ideal self needs this sense of no limits – in order for your ideal to meet your flesh.

 

Even if you feel totally unable to move, dancing with the intention to simply feel good about yourself allows a whole different "thinking" and "feeling" to ripple through the body. Dance is the simplest way to allow your body to move at a pace it feels comfortable with and let the mind float. Improvised dance allows a whole field of possibility that is directed simply by the music you choose, you and your body.

 

If you enjoy your body, you will have a good time enjoying yourself no matter how "perfect" or "imperfect" you are. Sensuality is connected to an inner happiness and satisfaction of your cells. It is breathing in the air and savoring the sensations your body feels that are different every day. It is letting the body really feel the pleasure of a racing heart and sweat. Dance is one of the simplest ways to increase pleasure in your body and exercise how you truly wish yourself to be. Your ideal self is always sensually satisfied physically. Listening to what sensual satisfaction feels like for your body is the most important path to manifest your ideal into your reality.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Angela Badolato is dance teacher, performer, movement therapist and workshop facilitator based in New York, Canada and Australia. As a performer she discovered dance and belly dance as a vital way to connect to the joy of life and the power of pleasure. Her movement practice connects women AND men to the healing pleasure of sensuality as well as enhance communication of love with yourself and in your relationships. She offers private sessions, workshops and seminars for men and women to enjoy the freedom of their body, connect to your authentic self and LOVE your body! Go to http://www.DancewithAngela.com to receive monthly newsletter and offerings.

Dance with Angela is part of an international healing network of therapists and advisors who work with body, mind and spirit, in the USA, Australia and Canada.

How often should I stretch each day to increase my flexibility for dance? Any stretching suggestions?

Thanks.. i need help =)

It is important to mobilise every joint as often as you can. Notice I say move the joints, not stretch, because if done correctly, pnf stretches (see below) are very hard work and unless you're an elite athlete you're body won't cope. By mobilising the joints you're moving synovial fluid (in your joints) and this will eliviate that feeling of stiffness.

The hold resist increase method mentioned above is called proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (pnf stretching) and is definitely the only way to INCREASE flexibility for LONG TERM improvement. (Basic stretching will only increase flexibility temporarily)

Basic passive stretching is good for warming up the muscles directly prior to demand (as it encourages blood to the muslce fibres), but ballistic stretching (bouncing or throwing limbs) is never a good idea and is rarely safe.

For dance, I would start at the top and work your way down. Ie- begin with your neck, shoulders, spine, stomach, pelvis, hip joints, and then focus on all the major muscles groups in your legs.

Try to stretch muscle groups in pairs, ie when stretching your quads (front upper leg), follow by stretching your hamstrings (back upper leg) etc. as all muscles work in pairs- eg. to raise your leg to the front, your quads (and others) work to lift the weight, but your hamstrings actively stretch to allow the movement. So by stretching them in pairs helps to train them to work better together.

Most importantly, make sure you keep doing it every day! flexibility is something that if you have even one day off, you will begin to detrain- that is even one day off and your muscle fibres will begin returning to their preferred state! And especially remember to work you core equally (that means crunches!) because once you've got your lovely extensions, you'll need extra stability to support them!

Good luck!

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