Shakira, Shakira

Belly-Dance is good for you

by Angelique
http://www.angeliqueandfriends.com/good.html

Many people are surprised to learn that Middle-Eastern Dance, commonly known as "belly-dance," involves much more than the belly! In fact, belly-dance can benefit many parts of the body. Here are some of the health benefits of Middle-Eastern Dance:

• Exercising the carrying muscles without impact. A belly-dancer uses her quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes to hold her steady as she performs hip movements or travels smoothly across the floor. However, even though she gets a great lower-body workout, the amount of impact to her knees and ankles is minimal. Impact is measured not only by how hard our feet strike the ground, but by how much stress is placed on our joints. Using this measure, most of Middle-Eastern dance is considered non-impact; some tribal and folk dances are low-impact.
• Building the back muscles evenly. Belly-dancers use their torsos a lot-much more than ballet, modern or tap dancers. Only jazz dancers come close to our use of rib movements and undulations. These movements, coupled with shoulder movements, exercise the back muscles, and they exercise the muscles evenly. Strong back muscles prevent back injuries, and they promote good posture as well.
• Exercising the arms. New belly-dance students are always surprised by much they have to use their arm muscles. Belly-dancers have to hold their arms up for long periods of time, and it actually takes quite a lot of strength to perform arm movements slowly and gracefully.
• Aiding digestion. It's true! Exercising the abdominal area, not just by rolling the belly, but also by swaying the torso, helps food move along the digestive system. Any form of exercise will have this effect to some degree, but belly-dance is especially good for this purpose.

(Source : Atlanta belly dancing)

Never thought that belly dancing is challenging as I have been dancing in school since I was 7 years old. I thought that it is just about shaking of hips for the fun of it. I wanted to try this class because I heard that it can relieve PMS. So for my boyfriend's sake, who always have to tolerate with my moodiness! I thought that why not give it a try, just shake hips and it would be beneficial to myself and also people around me, like who likes grumpy people?

But after going for classes, it is more than that. It works the abs, and arms. And when I say it works the abs, it(the burning) feels like you are doing crunches! My arms were totally tired of holding it up for one whole hour of the class. 

One class was all it takes for me to be addicted and come back for more fun-while-toning-my-whole-body class!