Tara Star Dancer Weavings   •   February 14, 2020

Iremember my first bellydance class. My body was both exhilarated and in shock. I couldn’t believe it! What was I doing? Shaking my hips and my tits! Aaaagh!

Mostly it was fun and I’d be laughing and giggling. Other times my knees would shake and it felt terrifying! This was perfect for the move called a shimmy that would move my fear into pleasure! So much was happening. So many feelings buried in my own body came bubbling out. Sometimes it felt so unbearably embarrassing I thought I’d die and sometimes I felt so much pleasure, I thought I’d die!

I quickly realized that the shame and disgust that was bubbling up wasn’t because I was doing something wrong.

I was doing something right.

In a culture that disrespects women’s bodies, women’s wisdom, women’s sexuality and the sacred feminine principle, my bellydancing was an act of power!

Why?

Because I could feel joy and ecstasy pouring in when the habits of hating myself and my womanly body released their hold on my being.

I could feel my mother’s, her mother’s and my great-grandmother’s oppression shaking off of my shoulders and pride fill my chest.

I could feel heavy shackles of who I was taught to be breaking free while bliss woke up my hips after years of protecting and squishing my sexy and powerful side.

I could feel my voice, my truth and my story vibrate in my throat.

I learnt how true growth will rub up against all our hidden limiting beliefs in ways that may feel terrible, but yet sooooo good at the same time.

The woman I was meant to be was being born.

One daring wiggle at a time.

It was an ecstatic re-birth!

That first class, led to a wild magic carpet career as a international bellydancer living like a rockstar in Maui, India, Thailand and Malaysia. And now I’m still living my dreams, as a Witchy Coach empowering women to live the lives they truly desire.

Bellydance was the catalyst for my own rebirth and there’s a fascinating history to this dance as a literal birthing ritual. Among the Amazigh people of Morocco (also known as Berber), a woman would literally dance her baby into the world, like bellydance Lamaze during labor, with the support of her tribe holding her. Female relatives of the pregnant woman and the pregnant woman herself, would gather and dance a very simple, but trance inducing, bellydance. The mom-to-be would give birth with very little pain as her body and energy would be flowing. Here is an amazing first hand experience of this profound birthing tradition from my dear friend and dance peer Aunt Rocky. Bellydance is the world’s oldest dance with roots in ritual, celebration, birthing and women’s health.

And in my own experience, bellydance woke up something bigger. When I started bellydancing, I had mystical illuminations and inspirations too numerous to count. It felt like secret inner doors were being opened and in those secret rooms, I found lost heart, power, soul and love right there waiting for me. Always there, but only hidden behind a veil of limiting beliefs.. This blessed dance was a path to birth my true self and is delightful part of what I offer.

In my work with women, I often include bellydance as a sensual embodied awakening path to access this bigger something, what is often called the Divine Feminine. This mystical force is the spirit behind the physical, the animating force of life and the pulse of infinite love. She has many names, Chi, Kundalini Shakti, Quintessence, N’um and Holy Spirit. She is intuition and the flow state and She lives in our deepest desires. She led me to create this sexy, sacred, witchy, fun path!

Anchoring as this Divine Feminine gives you resilience for all the ups and downs of life and keeps you sensual and not bitter. In this path, we don’t avoid life to be “spiritual”; we stay in our bodies and like the good Earth, we turn shit into healthy compost through transformational practices, like SEA Bellydance.

SEA Bellydance is my style of bellydance that’s a very simple, sexy and fun healing path. Many of us know that Yoga frees up energy in areas of the body called chakras. You could call SEA Bellydance a sexy wriggly yoga! SEA stands for Sensual Embodied Awakening, as well fills this practice with ocean metaphors and symbolism. The Ocean is the beginning of the world!

What I offer is not a regular bellydance class. It is a way to use dance as women’s empowerment and spiritual awakening to rebirth yourself into who you truly are.

Check out this excerpt from my teaching video Awakening the Lovers for a taste of SEA Bellydance.