I have loved to dance since I was a little girl. Something about the freedom of moving my body always brought me great joy and offered a place of solace. I often did much better in situations that weren’t choreographed, but instead came from my own inner rhythm, a place where I could freely express myself. In the past many years I have studied a type of dance that helped me change the way I looked at dance. Under the guidance of Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythm™ teachers I found that dance was just another name for movement. That moving my body in the way it wanted to move gave me a sense of freedom and discovery. I discovered that when I moved my body my inner world unfolded. When I gave permission to my feet, to my shoulders, to my head to move…something unlocked inside of me that gave me permission to be more of who I am. It was a journey of surrendering.
When I was introduced to the idea of “Dancing for Birth” ™ I thought how perfect this would be for me. I had heard that they would use Belly dance moves, African dance moves and other cultural dance practices to assist a mom in labor. As a labor doula and a life time lover of dance I was excited to take this class. I have to say it was eye opening.
Much like the hours spent on dance floors discovering the language of my body I found that Dancing For Birth was also a language. The movements, whether based in Belly dance, African dance, Caribbean or Latin were all unfolding a language to pregnant women on how to use their bodies to connect to their babies and to help them to open their bodies in preparation for birth. To open their hips, yes, but to also open their hearts. (more…)