Oh, G-d, where's my liver?

[ysobelle]

Well. Busy day my ass, apparently.

I got nothing done. I have at least three, possibly up to five patterns to draft, and none of them got done. Nor did I get downtown to buy my fabric. Oh, and I didn't get to the post office, nor to Target to get a DVD or wrapping for Mom's present.

I did, however, get down to the house to let their dog out. Too late. So after I cleaned up after her, I booked back here in time to meet [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], who'd been patiently waiting for me at the door, and was kind enough to help me hook up my VCR again. Bless you, Sean. I also took an hysterical digital clip of him...er...playing with Clue. If you're very nice, I might not post it somewhere. But I do have to send it to Tia, I'm afraid. I laughed so hard I all but cried, and I have to share that joy. You understand.

Okay, I did do one other thing today. On my way to the folks', I made an infuriatingly impeded drive to Garland of Letters, just moments before they closed, and picked up Veena and Neena's "Beginning Bellydance: Basic Moves and Fat Burning." I'm feeling like an absolute sausage, and it occured to me several days ago that I've lost any sense of grace I may have had over my life. This, aha! I thought, would surely help. But I'm afraid, in the main, it's left me with several perplexing questions.

Who took out their bones? Did it hurt?

I've only tried it once, and I'll keep going, but good G-d, how can you do a hip shimmy and maintain a sincere looking smile? How can I do a shoulder shimmy and keep my breasts from either suffocating me or sliding off my ribcage? How do I do a hip twist-- or whatever I'll learn to call it-- without wringing my kidneys out through my spine? And how is this nice, er, well-rounded little Jewish girl ever going to keep up her self-confidence in the face of this perfectly matched set of long, lithe, dark Indian swans?

I still want my Hob Nobs, dammit.

Comments

[hederaivy.livejournal.com]

Heh.
One thing to remember with belly-dance is that you're teaching your body to do things it's never done before and do movements our elders told us were "naughty" all our lives.
The book Grandmother's Secrets: The Ancient Rituals and Healing Power of Bellydance (http://www.jjsbooks.net/cgi-bin/am/feed2.pl?input_item=1566563267&input_search_type=AsinSearch) is a wonderful introduction to how dance is used within the culture, as opposed to an entertainment method or excercise routine.
I just like the clothes, myself. My potato-figure doesn't show that well in them, though.

[ladyleo.livejournal.com]

The videos are good. It takes time for your body to get used to the movement. Best wishes!

[theresa-grant.livejournal.com]

I do those tapes, have for over a year. It takes coordination and a lot more internal muscle strength than you'd think to do that stuff.... But if you keep at it, it pays off in spades. :)

[ysobelle.livejournal.com]

Does it help with weight loss?

[theresa-grant.livejournal.com]

For me, no. Then again, I admittedly don't weigh much and my goal is also to go sleek instead of dropping weight in huge chunks. It helped my body tone and my overall stamina level though. Combine it with Curves and it's been fairly powerful for me.

[ysobelle.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I'm looking for-- some extra cardio to go with Curves. Which means, of course, I have to get my ass to Curves again....

[emalia.livejournal.com]

OMG!!! The Video is snarfelous!!!!
Any man that dances with a dog, is someone I would bring home to the Kitties.

[mauser.livejournal.com]

Yanno, my mom used to TEACH belly dancing in the '70's. She also used to run the annual competition they had at the Middle East restaurant.

I kinda miss all of the middle eastern music she used to play all the time. I also got completely jaded about belly dancing, and I just sneer at the terrible examples of it you usually see on TV shows.

Which is also why I'm incredibly impressed by Shakira. She's GOOD.

[kaige-of-ct.livejournal.com]

I tried using videos a while back. I was just totally confused. I couldn't get my body to contort into the graceful sinuous movements they could do so naturally and got frustrated. It wasn't until I went and took lessons from a woman a couple towns away that I started to really enjoy it. I learned a lot more face to face with my instructor. You do work up a sweat depending on if you're doing fast or slow movements and you most certainly tone your muscles. I had great arms but good lord were they ever sore in the beginning. Just keep at it and remember it becomes fluid from practice. You're body is trying to learn how to move in ways it hasn't moved in before. That doesn't happen over night.

[delynfirebrand.livejournal.com]

I've got that one, too, and found some of the instructions to be a bit hard to figure out. (I have really a poor sense of kinesthetics.) However, have you tried getting their "Discover Bellydance" DVD? If you watch that one a couple times, then try the Basic Moves video, the instructions make more sense. There's a lot of the same moves, they're just explained in a different way.
If you figure out that head slide thingy, tell me how you did it? It baffles me.