The abdominal muscles in your
midsection control belly rolls. These are generally divided between your upper
abs, which are just below the rib cage, your middle abs that are behind the
navel, and your lower abs which are below the navel, near the pubic bone. The
first thing you need to do is build a relationship with these muscles, teaching
your mind to instruct them.
Put some lyrical mood music on
your stereo system and try doing these exercises:
Exercise
#1: Teach Your Abdomen To Respond To You, And Learn To Relax!
This is a simple exercise that
everyone can do, that will help you get in touch with your inner self -- or at
least with your belly roll muscles!
Stand comfortably, in good belly
dance posture. That means your feet should be directly below your shoulders,
your knees relaxed, and your rib cage held high -- imagine a puppet string
attached to your breastbone that is pulling it up and separating it from the
rest of your body. Put your hands anywhere comfortable where they can relax --
I always demonstrate with my hands on my hips, but their exact placement isn't
important.
Now, suck in your gut as far as
you can possibly suck it in. Got it as far as it'll go? Now try to pull it in
just a little farther! When I teach this to my students, I tell them to
visualize pulling their belly button all the way back to touch the spine. Hold
it as long as you comfortably can. Next, relax it thoroughly. Relax it
so much that your stomach area protrudes as far forward as it could possibly
want to. We're so conditioned by Western society to keep a flat stomach, that
we often find relaxing the stomach area to be more difficult than
sucking it in! Notice that I'm not telling you to forcibly push your stomach
out -- just relax it and let it all droop forward.
Repeat this exercise several times
each day. Try to do about 4 repetitions where you hold it in as long as you
possibly can, then let it out for an equal length of time. Then try to do 8-12
(or more) repetitions where you repetitively pull it in for a second or two,
then relax it for a second or two, and keep going. Be sure to breathe normally while doing this
exercise!
Exercise
#2: Build Strength In Those Muscles!
You already know how to do either
sit-ups or crunches. (Modern fitness thought is that sit-ups are not good for
you, crunches are much better.) Do as many sit-ups or crunches each day as your
abdominal muscles will tolerate. Try to do a minimum of 10 or 15 at first, and
try to work up to 25 or 30 -- or more! The stronger your abdominal muscles, the
better your belly rolls will be!
Exercise
#3: Build A Relationship With Your Diaphragm
The abdominal muscles, not the
diaphragm, control most belly dance abdominal work. However, the diaphragm has
its role to play, and it's wise to include it in your exercise program.
We all instinctively know how to
use our diaphragms -- every breath you take is controlled by your diaphragm,
and if you find yourself breathing hard after exerting yourself, your diaphragm
will be working hard on your behalf. Musicians (vocalists and those who play
wind instruments such as trumpets) have learned to control their diaphragms
more consciously, to inhale larger breaths and put more support behind the sound
they produce.
When learning to do belly rolls,
make your diaphragm your best friend. Consciously think about it. Breathe
deeply and see if you can isolate the sensation of that muscle between your
navel and rib cage.
An excellent time to do this
exercise is while you are behind the wheel of your car or sitting at a computer
keyboard. Hunch your shoulders forward over the steering wheel or keyboard, so
that your abdominal area is somewhat compressed by the posture. If you never
drive a car and never sit at a computer keyboard, then just sit in a normal
chair and lean forward with your elbows on your thighs and your shoulders
hunched as described.
Now, tug inward ever so slightly
just below the rib cage, above the navel. You won't be able to pull it in very
far in this posture, but the point here is to discover where that muscle is,
and how to isolate control over it. You should feel a muscle rubbing gently
against the bottom edge of your rib cage. That is your diaphragm. If you can
tug it in even a small amount, you've accomplished the point of this exercise.
Now, rhythmically pull that muscle in, then let it relax, then pull it in
again.
Do this exercise as often as you
can discipline yourself to do it--once you build a close friendship with your
diaphragm, you'll be able to do not only belly rolls, but also beautiful
stomach flutters! Breathe normally while you do this.
Exercise
#4: Isolate Your Pelvic Muscles From Your Diaphragm
This is the advanced version of
Exercise #1. Warm up using Exercise #1, then transition to this one. Suck in
the upper abdominal muscles and the diaphragm while letting the pelvic muscles
relax. Then relax the diaphragm while sucking in the pelvic muscles. Repeat,
over and over and over. Don't forget to breathe normally! If you have trouble
with this one, see "The Sphinx" below under "Having Trouble? Try
One of These!"
Exercise
#5: 1/2 Roll
This is the advanced version of
Exercise #3. Hunch over a desk or car steering wheel as described for Exercise
#3. Pull in your diaphragm as described for Exercise #3. Holding it in, now
pull in your navel, then your upper pelvic muscles. That is half of a
top-to-bottom roll, which means that the movement originates at the top, at the
diaphragm. Now, to get out of this position, let your pelvic muscles out first,
then your navel, then your diaphragm. That is half of a different roll, the
bottom to top, which means that the movement originates with the pelvic muscles
at the base of the abdomen. Do this exercise 8 times per sitting to develop
control over each of the two half rolls.
Once the above exercises have
helped you learn where your abdominal muscles are and how to control them, the
next step is to turn the movement into a roll. The roll is the natural
extension of Exercise #4 once you've become proficient with it. Just keep doing
the exercise, but think about doing it gracefully with an undulating spirit.
Flow from one position to the other. Listening to slow, sinuous music will help
a great deal. When I teach this to my students, I suggest they visualize
performing a circle with their navel or placing their navel on a Ferris wheel:
either up / forward / down / in, or the reverse down / forward / up / in.
You may find that circling one
direction is easier for you than circling the other. Both are correct - if you
can master one, the general public will think you know what you're doing. If
you can master both, you'll impress even your hard-to-impress fellow dancers.
Having Trouble? Try One Of These Ideas!
Having trouble? Most likely, it's
because you either 1) Haven't learned to isolate the diaphragm from the pelvic
muscles, or 2) Haven't learned yet to relax the muscles in turn.
Different things work for different people. If the
above wasn't enough to get your stomach rolling, maybe you need to vary the
technique or do the exercises in a different location from where you normally
practice. Try some of these ideas:
The primary trick to learning how
to do stomach rolls is to just keep trying, over and over. The more you work on
those muscles with the exercises recommended above, the easier it'll be to take
control of them and make them roll. It's partly a matter of connecting your
brain to those muscles, and partly a matter of strengthening them.
If you've faithfully done all of
the above and still can't roll your abdomen, maybe you've got a problem with
self-fulfilling prophecy: "I don't think I can, therefore I can't."
In that case, try doing something that will lower your inhibitions--try doing
belly rolls after you've had some wine or beer to drink, stimulate your friends
into joining you for an explosion of silly giggles, get yourself thoroughly
drowsy through taking a nap, or do some kind of work that makes you so tired
your brain can barely function any more. Also, before going to sleep at night,
lie quietly in bed and visualize yourself dressed up in a pretty costume doing
beautiful belly rolls effortlessly.
midsection control belly rolls. These are generally divided between your upper
abs, which are just below the rib cage, your middle abs that are behind the
navel, and your lower abs which are below the navel, near the pubic bone. The
first thing you need to do is build a relationship with these muscles, teaching
your mind to instruct them.
Put some lyrical mood music on
your stereo system and try doing these exercises:
Exercise
#1: Teach Your Abdomen To Respond To You, And Learn To Relax!
This is a simple exercise that
everyone can do, that will help you get in touch with your inner self -- or at
least with your belly roll muscles!
Stand comfortably, in good belly
dance posture. That means your feet should be directly below your shoulders,
your knees relaxed, and your rib cage held high -- imagine a puppet string
attached to your breastbone that is pulling it up and separating it from the
rest of your body. Put your hands anywhere comfortable where they can relax --
I always demonstrate with my hands on my hips, but their exact placement isn't
important.
Now, suck in your gut as far as
you can possibly suck it in. Got it as far as it'll go? Now try to pull it in
just a little farther! When I teach this to my students, I tell them to
visualize pulling their belly button all the way back to touch the spine. Hold
it as long as you comfortably can. Next, relax it thoroughly. Relax it
so much that your stomach area protrudes as far forward as it could possibly
want to. We're so conditioned by Western society to keep a flat stomach, that
we often find relaxing the stomach area to be more difficult than
sucking it in! Notice that I'm not telling you to forcibly push your stomach
out -- just relax it and let it all droop forward.
Repeat this exercise several times
each day. Try to do about 4 repetitions where you hold it in as long as you
possibly can, then let it out for an equal length of time. Then try to do 8-12
(or more) repetitions where you repetitively pull it in for a second or two,
then relax it for a second or two, and keep going. Be sure to breathe normally while doing this
exercise!
Exercise
#2: Build Strength In Those Muscles!
You already know how to do either
sit-ups or crunches. (Modern fitness thought is that sit-ups are not good for
you, crunches are much better.) Do as many sit-ups or crunches each day as your
abdominal muscles will tolerate. Try to do a minimum of 10 or 15 at first, and
try to work up to 25 or 30 -- or more! The stronger your abdominal muscles, the
better your belly rolls will be!
Exercise
#3: Build A Relationship With Your Diaphragm
The abdominal muscles, not the
diaphragm, control most belly dance abdominal work. However, the diaphragm has
its role to play, and it's wise to include it in your exercise program.
We all instinctively know how to
use our diaphragms -- every breath you take is controlled by your diaphragm,
and if you find yourself breathing hard after exerting yourself, your diaphragm
will be working hard on your behalf. Musicians (vocalists and those who play
wind instruments such as trumpets) have learned to control their diaphragms
more consciously, to inhale larger breaths and put more support behind the sound
they produce.
When learning to do belly rolls,
make your diaphragm your best friend. Consciously think about it. Breathe
deeply and see if you can isolate the sensation of that muscle between your
navel and rib cage.
An excellent time to do this
exercise is while you are behind the wheel of your car or sitting at a computer
keyboard. Hunch your shoulders forward over the steering wheel or keyboard, so
that your abdominal area is somewhat compressed by the posture. If you never
drive a car and never sit at a computer keyboard, then just sit in a normal
chair and lean forward with your elbows on your thighs and your shoulders
hunched as described.
Now, tug inward ever so slightly
just below the rib cage, above the navel. You won't be able to pull it in very
far in this posture, but the point here is to discover where that muscle is,
and how to isolate control over it. You should feel a muscle rubbing gently
against the bottom edge of your rib cage. That is your diaphragm. If you can
tug it in even a small amount, you've accomplished the point of this exercise.
Now, rhythmically pull that muscle in, then let it relax, then pull it in
again.
Do this exercise as often as you
can discipline yourself to do it--once you build a close friendship with your
diaphragm, you'll be able to do not only belly rolls, but also beautiful
stomach flutters! Breathe normally while you do this.
Exercise
#4: Isolate Your Pelvic Muscles From Your Diaphragm
This is the advanced version of
Exercise #1. Warm up using Exercise #1, then transition to this one. Suck in
the upper abdominal muscles and the diaphragm while letting the pelvic muscles
relax. Then relax the diaphragm while sucking in the pelvic muscles. Repeat,
over and over and over. Don't forget to breathe normally! If you have trouble
with this one, see "The Sphinx" below under "Having Trouble? Try
One of These!"
Exercise
#5: 1/2 Roll
This is the advanced version of
Exercise #3. Hunch over a desk or car steering wheel as described for Exercise
#3. Pull in your diaphragm as described for Exercise #3. Holding it in, now
pull in your navel, then your upper pelvic muscles. That is half of a
top-to-bottom roll, which means that the movement originates at the top, at the
diaphragm. Now, to get out of this position, let your pelvic muscles out first,
then your navel, then your diaphragm. That is half of a different roll, the
bottom to top, which means that the movement originates with the pelvic muscles
at the base of the abdomen. Do this exercise 8 times per sitting to develop
control over each of the two half rolls.
Once the above exercises have
helped you learn where your abdominal muscles are and how to control them, the
next step is to turn the movement into a roll. The roll is the natural
extension of Exercise #4 once you've become proficient with it. Just keep doing
the exercise, but think about doing it gracefully with an undulating spirit.
Flow from one position to the other. Listening to slow, sinuous music will help
a great deal. When I teach this to my students, I suggest they visualize
performing a circle with their navel or placing their navel on a Ferris wheel:
either up / forward / down / in, or the reverse down / forward / up / in.
You may find that circling one
direction is easier for you than circling the other. Both are correct - if you
can master one, the general public will think you know what you're doing. If
you can master both, you'll impress even your hard-to-impress fellow dancers.
Having Trouble? Try One Of These Ideas!
Having trouble? Most likely, it's
because you either 1) Haven't learned to isolate the diaphragm from the pelvic
muscles, or 2) Haven't learned yet to relax the muscles in turn.
Different things work for different people. If the
above wasn't enough to get your stomach rolling, maybe you need to vary the
technique or do the exercises in a different location from where you normally
practice. Try some of these ideas:
- The
Bathtub Trick. Put about 3-4 inches of water into your bathtub
and lie down on your back. Now try it. Start with Exercise #1. Progress to
Exercise #4. Then try to roll. The response of the water to your abdominal
movements may help the movement come more naturally. Also, the warm bath
water will encourage the muscles to relax when they need to. As a final
bonus, lying flat on your back will help you discipline yourself to not
involve spine movement in your undulation--it'll help you keep it isolated
to the abdominal muscles. - Anatomy
Lesson. Look at a health textbook that shows the musculature
structure of the abdomen. Look for the diaphragm, the abdominal muscles,
and the transverse abdominal muscles. Envision that structure occurring
inside of you. Now, do Exercise #1. Envision the muscles you see in that
diagram contracting as you suck them all in. Envision them expanding as
you let them relax. Now, move to Exercise #4 and repeat the
visualization--can you isolate them? Can you relax them? - Sauna
or Steam Room. Try doing Exercise #3 while sitting in a dry
sauna or steam bath at the gym. - Jacuzzi. Try
doing Exercises #1, #3, and #4 while sitting in a jacuzzi at your health
club or standing in a swimming pool where the water comes to chest height.
(The jacuzzi is better because the heat will help with the relaxation
phase of the cycle.) - Laying
on of Hands, Part 1. While standing in the posture described for
Exercise #1, physically place both hands on your abdomen--one at the
diaphragm level, and the other at the pelvic muscle level. Now, do
Exercise #1 while your hands try to sense what your abdominal muscles are
doing. Shift to Exercise #4. Feel your hand come outward as the muscle
below it relaxes, and feel it drawn inward as the muscle below it sucks
in. At first, try not to use your hands to push or pull--they are there
merely to observe. If you find that you just can't get the isolation needed
for Exercise #4, try pushing in with your hand when its muscle is supposed
to suck in, but don't do that any longer than necessary--you need to learn
how to use the muscles inside to do the work. - Laying
on of Hands, Part 2. Ask a friend or your teacher who can do belly
rolls to let you place your hands on her abdomen while she rolls. Place
one above the navel; the other just below. Pay attention to how her
muscles are moving. Now place your hands on the corresponding parts of
your own body, close your eyes, and try to reproduce what you felt the
other person doing. - Belly
Beads. Fasten a string of inexpensive plastic beads around
your abdomen. Stand in front of a mirror. Watch the beads rise and fall as
you attempt to move your abdominal muscles. It will exaggerate the
movements of your muscles and encourage you. - Mesh
Midriff. Put a mesh body stocking in a color that contrasts
with your skin color over your abdomen, and watch yourself in a
full-length mirror as you do the movements. The play of light across the
mesh of the body stocking should give you good visual reinforcement as you
try to control your abdomen. - The
Sphinx. I find that having a weight on your abdomen gives
feedback to your muscles, helping you feel when you're doing the move
right. Lie on your bed, on your back. Place your pet cat on your stomach.
Cuddle it to make it lie down on its stomach, sphinx-like. It doesn't
matter which end (the head or the tail) is pointing toward your face. If
you don't have a pet cat (or a small dog about the same size), try
substituting an object such as a brick of similar size, weight (8-14
pounds), and shape. Now, using only your abdominal muscles, push the cat's
head as high as possible into the air at the same time you bring its tail
end down lower. Hold this position a few seconds, until your cat relaxes.
Now reverse it, making his tail go up higher and his head lower. Again,
hold it until the cat relaxes. Repeat until your cat becomes highly
offended with the abuse and stalks away in disgust. If you keep cuddling
him with your hands while you do this, you may persuade him to stay
longer. Once you're able to alternate comfortably with the cat on your
stomach, try it standing up. From there, the rolling motion should be easy
to accomplish.
The primary trick to learning how
to do stomach rolls is to just keep trying, over and over. The more you work on
those muscles with the exercises recommended above, the easier it'll be to take
control of them and make them roll. It's partly a matter of connecting your
brain to those muscles, and partly a matter of strengthening them.
If you've faithfully done all of
the above and still can't roll your abdomen, maybe you've got a problem with
self-fulfilling prophecy: "I don't think I can, therefore I can't."
In that case, try doing something that will lower your inhibitions--try doing
belly rolls after you've had some wine or beer to drink, stimulate your friends
into joining you for an explosion of silly giggles, get yourself thoroughly
drowsy through taking a nap, or do some kind of work that makes you so tired
your brain can barely function any more. Also, before going to sleep at night,
lie quietly in bed and visualize yourself dressed up in a pretty costume doing
beautiful belly rolls effortlessly.