I AM A GODDESS!!!!! (And so are all women).

Find a spot in the mirror where you can look yourself in the eye, put your hand up so that you’re accenting the apple of your cheek, don’t look away, look at yourself and shout, “I am a Goddess!” and that is how class at Bellydancing by Thia ends.
It’s sad that I needed to be reminded. After all for years, starting in college and continuing on, I’ve been Shondratasha, the Goddess of Chaos. Somewhere I forgot the power in being woman. Not the blatant power, (as Thia said in class, “It’s just plain rude to shake your breasts in someone’s face, a shoulder shimmy is different.”) but the power that comes from walking into a room and knowing that you can make someone in the area feel better than they did when they arrived. The power in seeing a child read when they’ve been struggling for so long because they finally found an interesting book on their reading level. Seeing another budding goddess discover that she doesn’t have to go along with the crowd and can create her own “in-crowd” from people just like her on the fringes of the ballroom. Needless to say, compared to how I was feeling, I left feeling empowered.
Beginning Bellydancing was not what I expected it to be. There was lots of stretching, an introduction to the syncopation of Egyptian music, and a real workout. Now if I can just remember how I was supposed to do the Doom – Tekka – doom – doom exercise that we learned. I had a great time! I was not the heaviest person in the room, nor the thinnest. I wasn’t the oldest or the youngest. I may have been the least coordinated but I wasn’t the shortest in the room (which is a miracle in most cases). I haven’t felt so good about getting sore in ages. I felt at home when the warm-up started with head rolls followed by rib cage isolations. That’s the starting warm-up I used to have in jazz class as a teenager. I was expecting to leave with sore abdominal muscles; instead it’s my glutes and upper thighs that are sore.
I loved all the hip scarves people were wearing and the jingling that they made when they moved. Thia has some lovely hip scarves for sale, I’m thinking that I can give up going out for lunch at work in order to get a purple one with either gold or silver coins on it, or the peacock blue with silver. I can’t wait to go to class next week! If I get enough Econ homework done maybe I’ll go in for the Saturday class. If not, I should be recovered enough by next Wednesday for class. This could keep me sane during the upcoming school year.
By the way, for a shoulder shimmy - - gently rock your shoulders back and forth, just enough that “the girls” come along for the ride. AND remember to start every morning by looking at yourself in the mirror and shouting loud enough to believe it - - I AM A GODDESS!!!