Benefits of Prenatal and Postnatal Bellydance&Yoga!

Benefits of Prenatal Bellydance&Yoga:

Bellydancing originated as a fertility rite thousands of years ago - the movements celebrated and birth process in the form of mimicry, the circular hip moves and its main focus on the belly and hips make perfect sense, and today Bellydance is linked to birthing and used as a pre-natal exercise. Let’s see some of its benefits:

The rolling movements not only feel natural, but assist with the normal pelvic relaxing process to prepare for birth and at the same time.
It helps firm the pelvic muscles for labour and post-pregnancy recovery.
Bellydance connects you with your unborn child through a series of movements which focus your attention on your belly.
It helps you Learn ways to soften and activate specific muscles the body naturally uses for labour/delivery.
Pregnant women socialize with other pregnant women and new mothers

, creating a circle of support and community.

Women gain awareness of respiratory and pelvic/abdominal muscles used during childbirth.
Women learn visualization techniques and practice positive declarations which promote healthy physical and mental state for mom to be, and baby.
Women learn to consciously activate specific muscle groups while simultaneously turning off muscles in preparation for labour, which is especially empowering to first time mothers to be.
Women learn to quiet the mind, to facilitate inner peace, joy, and serenity, reducing the effects of negative stress and emotions.
Belly dance movements are nurturing for baby.
Babies at 20 weeks and beyond enjoy the relaxing and uplifting music played during class, which has been found to calm and relax new-borns when hearing the same song from when in utero.
Belly dance movements and yoga postures promote optimal position of baby in uterus/pelvis during pregnancy.
When mom is happy, baby is happy, so dance-yoga exercise all promote optimal health for baby with benefits to last a lifetime for baby

Benefits of Bellydance&Yoga Postnatal:

Beyond helping your body return to its pre-natal shape, Bellydancing in the postnatal period has many more benefits. Some of them are:

Regain strength and tone in the abdomen and pelvic floor as well as being a great way of honouring the curves of the new mother.
Promote a healthy back & functioning of abdominal-pelvic organs, and joint integrity of spine and pelvis.
Increase breathing capacity, rib cage mobility, and space for stomach to function optimally.
Prevent gas & constipation.
Feel energized.
Reduces symptoms of fatigue.
Women learn to breathe diaphragmatically which is natural and promotes a calmer state of being.
In combination with yoga asanas, promotes increased self-acceptance of changes in body from pregnancy & childbirth, reduces depressive symptoms & stabilizes mood. Excellent form of therapy in conjunction with other traditional treatments for postpartum depression, anxiety.
Condition the mind to focus on moment to moment awareness (mindfulness) which deepens self-awareness. This is a great tool for motherhood.
Women train mind to recognize tense muscles and to consciously relax them throughout their daily life.