“In the animal kingdom, we are the only creatures that don't shake our trauma off.” When I heard these words I was reminded of the Belly dance shimmy.
Belly Dance is woven throughout my life, well the last 15 years at least. I picked it up back when I’d moved home after a relationship ended; I put it down when my parent’s marriage came apart in 2007. I picked it back up in 2017 when I became pregnant with my daughter and then put it down again with the rest of my self-care to focus on being a new mom.
One day, my then 18-month-old, discovered my bag of hip scarves buried in the closet, and belly dance was once again in my life. Maya is now three and at least once a week she pulls out the scarves and tells me it’s time to dance.
I love how my body remembers the movements even after a ten-year break. I’ve tried yoga, working out in the gym, hoola hooping, other forms of dance but nothing compares to the sweaty glow that belly dance gives me. Maya loves to be wrapped up in hip scarves shaking her little body reminding me of the pure joy created by the simple shimmy.
Here is a picture of a 40-year-old woman shaking everything off of her. I’ve threaded belly dance into my daily ritual, it’s a promise I keep to start my day with joy. It’s a great way to get grounded before meditation, gets my creativity flowing, and a shimmy here and there throughout the day does wonders for my emotional & mental health.
In the immortal words of Taylor Swift, “Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake I shake it off, I shake it off.”
Always
Juniper