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            The Tantra of belly dance
 
 The objective of Tantra and spiritual belly dance are similar...
 
Tantricism and belly dance both can connect women with the power of feminine deities.  Like Tantricism belly dance uses the physical form to touch the spiritual.
Many creation myths see the universe as being danced into being. The Roman second century poet Lucian, sees dance as the beginning of creation ‘with dance the creation of the universe  came into being, which signifies the union of the elements’. 

The whole of existence is woven into the cycle of becoming, stretching from birth to death. Sex and dance can be a  surrender,a giving up of ones self to the divine power. Spritual dance and sex  help us to  emulate the creator , when we are in touch with that energy we are allowing the force of the universe to flow through us. We attempt to metamorphose into the deity to become the adored, a goddess or god. 

 
The basic principle ofTantricism is that women possess more spiritual energy than men. Men needed to have sexual and emotional union with women to achieve divinity. A fundamental rite was controlled sexual intercourse. The ideas and concepts behind Tantricism have been evident in a variety of different religions. Often there are conflicting ideas of asceticism and sexually union. Buddhist cults have frequently combined an idea of avoidance of women to preserve their soul’s vitality and erotic ritual.  Buddhism spread to encompass puritanical to spiritual sexual practice. Buddhist saints are often shown in the yab/yum (mother/ father) position, representing permanent orgasmic bliss.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 
Like Tantra Belly dance works on the Kundalini energy, these movements feed the physical and subtle bodies. Gracefully and sensually we can express divine inner beauty and truth. In sacred belly dance movement and prayer become one, and the  
 
body learns through inner experience to create movement and to heal its emotional and spiritual wounds. Belly dance is an ancient sacred art; it is a great method of personal healing, energy stimulation and connecting mind body spirit with God/Goddess.
      
Unlike most traditional western dance. Belly dance focuses on movements of the pelvis and abdomen. Stimulating the serpent power that resides in the sacrum and strengthening  the area generally. If. The sacrum is weak or crooked; the rest of the body will be unstable and debilitated. The pelvis contains the muladhar. It is important to keep this area of the body flexible.
 
In Japanese shiatsu, the sacrum is gently manipulated to realign the body. Like the foundation of a house. In Polynesian dance and in belly dance the pelvis is kept flexible and supple through dancing, which is practiced by both men and women from early childhood. For the most part, however, western culture socially demotes dance forms that would appear to be “suggestive”.
 
Instead of dance being a healthy and natural expression of pro-creation, we have been told for centuries that certain movements are acceptable, and certain movements are prohibited. Movements of the pelvis are regarded with particular disdain .These movements have been eliminated from most western dance forms.
 
 Practiced as a sacred dance, belly dance helps us invoke and express our sense of union with our creator. As in other sacred dances of the world, focus on the inner deity as a key to universal connection. The physical form of the individual is the garment that dresses the spirit. Sacred  dance is a unification of the spirit, a point where the physical and ethereal coalesce. We can feel out into the universal web. We can heal and understand what we are and what we .can become.
 
Belly dance is a vocabulary of movements where it is possible to express divine erotic spirituality. This element is undoubtedly linked to the spirit of the ancient Tantric traditions expressing the wisdom that our bodies and sexuality are all sacred. In these traditions, the body is not seen as an encumbrance, but may be used to enhance our spiritual understanding and evolution.  Belly dancing may be artistically choreographed and technically impressive, or it may be improvised; - Spontaneous movement that is also considered. Ideally a disciplined interplay of restraint and abandonment. An expression  of the pattern of waves and particles in the subatomic world .that form creation, from the soup of infinite possibility. Improvised dance trusts divine inspiration will  flow through the body and express the power of the moment.
Belly dance prayer to the divine feminine
Dance is one of the arts mentioned in the Karma Sutra, the classical Indian book on the Art of Love. It is suggested that men and women alike should be well versed in these arts. Tantric ritual involves a weaving together of these arts into an expansive, ecstatic experience.
 
Erotic forms of Tantric Buddhism appeared all over Asia although parochial sects opposed them and denied their historical significance. The same denial was executed through Islam to the Sufi sects who regarded the fairy (peri) consort as a way to spiritual Fana (rapture).
 
Early Gnostic Christians sometimes called their religion syneisaktism, the way of Shakti another name for Tantricism. Christians like the Ophites and Monetarists apparently practiced sexual adoration of the feminine life force under the name of Sophia is the female aspect of god or Shakti .
 
While Tantric Christians were condemned as heretics Islamic leaders were attacking Sufi cults who practiced Tantricism. The themes of sexual divinity of the Sufis influenced European troubadours who founded cults of courtly love. The church classed themes devil worshipers because of their ‘sinful’ love of women and not god.
 
Unlike in India where dance still has religious function dances of the Middle East are no longer generally as a form of prayer or religious ritual. (Although this may happen on an unconscious level.)
 Some movements in belly dance move sexual energy through the body and have the potential to stimulate ecstatic states. Modern people are generally afraid of ecstatic states. These types of consciousness are not generally encouraged in western society.
          
Sexuality often upsets people yet without that force they would not exist. Many refuse to see art and sexuality as being connected. (Picasso said he could not separate the two). Sacred dance of all descriptions attempts to discover in an abstract fashion, the deep mysteries and process of life. 
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