Spirituality and Dance

Doing what is right in your heart:

I want to talk about “doing what you know to be right in your heart”. I find that we all get “tested” in this area of our lives, and in this small world of Belly dancing we get tested a lot. And guess what’s tied in with being able to actually do what you know to be right in your heart. “Fear” in its many and varied forms, for the most part, is at the very foundation of not being able to do what you know to be right in your heart. If you think about it I’m sure you’ll agree.

For instance, how many of you have been caught up in the ego competitiveness that happens in classes when you first begin to learn anything, not just Belly Dancing. You compare yourself (bad idea) to those around you and get down on yourself. Then you pound to get “better” than anyone else (wasted energy) instead of enjoying where you’re at in growth and learning how to express your own beauty and talent. Everybody has “their own thing”, it’s finding it that seems to be difficult. I had a student once that was absolutely beautiful in fluid movement, strong, flexible and graceful. Her control and isolations were incredible, however, she didn’t know how to “entertain” in a cabaret situation. She didn’t dance with her heart or for the audience. She was there strictly for “herself”. She was in one word “boring”. She didn’t connect with the audience in any way. She was ascetically beautiful and belonged in a theater setting not in a restaurant or club. In a theater setting she wouldn’t have to relate to anyone and could just be involved with herself and her dance.

Three of us were dancing in a restaurant one night and she wanted to go on first. When she finished and the next dancer went on you could clearly hear from the audience’s reaction that they were enjoying this girl more than they had enjoyed her. She sat back and said, I don’t understand. I said, don’t understand what? I knew what she was thinking. She knew that technically she was a better dancer so why did they obviously enjoy the other girl more?

Because, the other girl was a warm dancer and performed for the audience not just herself. She knew how to interact with the audience and give of herself creating a nice energy exchange between herself and her audience and she had found her own way of expressing in a warm manner. She wasn’t trying to say she thought she was better than anyone else, she was just having fun and consequently so did the audience.

Now I’m not saying that there isn’t a healthy form of competition in life. There really are 2 sides to everything with a lot of ambiguity in between. That kind of ambiguity is called “smoke and mirrors” or “gray areas”. Healthy competition is what I learned about while I studied the Martial Arts. I don’t know if this is taught anymore in some of the Americanized Martial Arts Studios but if everyone held what I’m about to tell you in their hearts competitions would be what it’s supposed to be. I was taught by Oriental Masters and their spin on competitions is simple.

Competitions are not to just better your own skills but more importantly, to help better “the skills of your opponent”. The main objective is not to prove that you’re better than anyone else, it’s to help your opponent get better and if you “lose” you really won, according to the main objective of the match. The main objective was to help your opponent improve his/her skills and you did your job. If everyone’s unhealthy ego could be laid to rest the world would be a better place for sure. We all need to get out of the sandbox.

Those who are still in the sandbox run from anyone who gives constructive criticism in any way, even though that constructive criticism will probably help improve them. In fact, more often than not they will probably get insulted and bent out of shape. Not being able to face ourselves and where we’re at in life is not accepting truth. Being caught up in that kind of ego trap will stunt your growth and cause you to “not do what you know to be right in your heart”.

My personal opinion of this very beautiful art form is that it’s a “Barefoot Alchemy for Personal Transformation”. My web site states that and indeed I have been compiling a book with the same title to try and help dancers better understand themselves. Belly Dancing is a truly transformative art form. Not only do the unique movements associated with this dance move energies in the body they create and stimulate those very same energies as well. As the energies that are stimulated increase and move through the Chakras in the body they serve to “empower” the dancer. As you begin to feel empowered (more self confidence) any ego issues you might have will surely show themselves and for sure they’re always “fear based”. If you don’t pull back from that you’ll do some very nasty things, things you will surely regret. That’s the nature of fear, it will make you do things you know aren’t right in your heart and it all stems from insecurity. You’ll have to think on that for a while.

However, I can tell you that the only part of my life that has kept me from falling into that trap is consistent meditation and a desire to be fair with others. I won’t say that I haven’t been tempted to become vengeful as I’ve weaved myself in and out of confrontations with myself (via my students) knowing full well if I didn’t handle it in the proper manner it would come back around and bite me in the butt. I know from experience that when you don’t handle a situation from the heart it never works out right. When you stand your ground and are firm in your convictions it always works out right, eventually. It might seem at the time that it’s not working out to what we think is right for us but I’ve lived long enough in this lifetime to know that what we think we want at a particular point in time may not always be what’s right for us.

I always get surprised and actually amazed at “how” some things are brought about and…in its’ own, good time. It almost seems like the Forces that be get tickled when they can surprise us. There have been times in my life that I’ve strived for something really hard and for some reason it eluded me…at least at that point in time. Then, at some later time (sometimes much later) there it was and it came from a direction that I would never have consciously thought of. When it (whatever it might be) manifests in that manner it’s always good. What goes around comes around. I’ve lived long enough to observe that phenomenon over and over again, too. And that brings us full circle back to the subject of this article, “doing what we know to be right in our hearts”. If we observe that guideline in our dealings with others in both our personal and professional lives then that respect always comes back around. Pull up out of the 3^rd center personal ego sandbox politics. That’s the center where you can be manipulated by fear tactics and very effectively I might add.

I hope I’ve given you, the readers something good to think and ponder on. If I have then I’ve done my job. Sit quietly for 15 minutes a day and learn to separate from your emotions and your constant stream of thought. You’ll be rewarded 10 fold in the coming times for your efforts.

Til next time keep spiraling and undulating those energies ever upward.

Janeeda has studied and taught a multitude of Art Forms for close to 40 years. She’s a well known Middle Eastern performer, choreographer and dance & Yoga instructor in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia and is well respected by top professionals in the performing arts. She has for many years taught Belly Dancing as a wonderful method for “Self Discovery” and considers it to be one of the most empowering forms of movement there is.

Web Site: www.janeedas-isisrising.com Email: IsisRising1@aol.com