No matter what you've got going on, it's always a good idea to dip into Jalaja Bonheim's book The Serpent and the Wave for anti-authoritarian movement inspiration. In case you don't have the book, here's one of my favorite excerpts:
“Whenever you move with pleasure, you stop comparing yourself with others. The questions is no longer, “How good do I look? How well am I performing? How will I be perceived?; rather it is, “How good does this movement feel?”
Because true pleasure is rooted in your individual uniqueness, it is by its nature anti-authoritarian and a good indicator of whether a movement is appropriate for you.” -Jalaja Bonheim, The Serpent and the Wave: A Guide to Movement Meditation.
This talk of pleasure can also bring up its opposite - it surfaces the struggles I sometimes see students grappling with in class as they practice both the segmented isolations & fluid pathways of belly dance movements. A new way of moving doesn't always feel great in the body right away - and why would it? That's okay at the beginning. Anything unfamiliar feels strange at first. The real issue is - how do you deal with the rub? Can you soften your relationship with the internal micro-challenges that arise, trusting that learning a new way of moving will bring subtle shifts that, in the end, are quite powerful and have the potential to broaden and deepen movement pleasure? I propose...softening into breath, tuning to inner smile frequency, and taking your time to initiate movements from your center line -- all this will make everything feel so much better.
When you are first learning to move through new energetic pathways in belly dance (and in life), there can be initial discomfort and frustration - even resistance. You may be used to trying to force things to happen in your body, or applying too much external energy, or think that a shape has to look and feel bold and big. That doesn't always work with the path of the serpent. A relationship with the internal, learning to feel into your central channel & harmonizing with subtle dynamics -- all this needs time to develop. Be patient and loving with yourself when resistance of any sort comes up - either from the brain or body - and relax into the process. This more yielding yin energy increases the likelihood you will even notice the micro pleasure moments when they do arise.
If you trust the process, if you patiently strengthen new muscles that support the expansion of your movement potential from the inside out - and are you are willing to diligently practice ... a shift always occurs. The body knows when she is being honored. She likes to move a bit slower than fast-paced minds. She will more pleasurably respond to your requests if her natural timelines are being heeded.
