😳 Some will say "TMI"
My pregnancy, labor, and postpartum experience as a bellydancer
PRE-P.S. We’re opening enrollment to The ⭐️ NEW⭐️ Cohesion Collective in January!
➡️ Put your name on the waitlist to be the first to hear when we open the doors to the premier performer and teacher training program for current and aspiring professional bellydancers!
Hi Dancers,
As a professional bellydancer, I was worried what pregnancy, labor, and postpartum would do to my body, identity, and career. Despite some of my fears coming true, the experience of giving birth has actually helped me reach a new level of personal power and self love.
I am sharing the raw and real details of what I experienced and learned throughout the birth process, through a dancer’s lens.
My birth story is not just for birthing people.
This story is for anyone who
needs bravery and inspiration to do something scary
has a body that is requiring rehabilitation
finds themself in a new role and identity
I even share an effective exercise you can do TODAY for building self trust and bravery!
Listen to the podcast episode:
Here are some timestamps to help you find what you’re looking for:
[1:00]
I’m stepping back into dance life and ready to share some juicy insider tips on creating a satisfying life as a bellydancer! But it doesn’t feel right to gloss over the HUGE life and body transition that I have been through as a recent new mother.
I’ve received many messages from dancers asking me how my birth was. (You, too, can Ask Me Anything you’d like me to speak on).
[2:09]
If you’ve been waiting to work with me to become an absolutely brilliant (and booked) bellydancer, NOW is the time!
I’m opening enrollment to The ⭐️ NEW⭐️ Cohesion Collective in January!
The Cohesion Collective is my in-depth online program for current and aspiring professional bellydancers where you will learn everything you need to become an extremely skilled and successful bellydancer, finger cymbalist, and frame drummer.
➡️ Put your name on the waitlist to be the first to hear when we open the doors!
[4:08]
Before I get into my birth story I want to establish that everyone’s choices around childbirth are valid. Just because I did things a certain way does not mean I think other people should do things similarly. And just because some things happened for me does not necessarily mean they would happen for you. When bodies are involved we’re not always in control and bodies are highly specific to each individual person. Sometimes complications arise and you didn't do anything to deserve that or to make that happen.
Pregnancy
[6:20]
While I was pregnant I found bellydance to be so incredibly powerful and helpful for maintaining and preparing my body. The movement of the hips (circles, undulations, figure eights, vibrations) clearly relieves pressure from the pelvic floor. Early on, I could even move my baby into a more comfortable position by doing some hip circles and shimmies.
[7:00]
During my pregnancy I did SO. MUCH. RESEARCH. For anyone who is pregnant right now and feeling overwhelmed: listen to the podcast (or read the articles) by Evidence Based Birth
[7:47]
I had a “big baby” yet I chose to do an unmedicated vaginal birth in a birthing center with midwife-led care.
[9:00]
How the “Birthing From Within” approach and the story of Inanna’s descent into the underworld helped me spiritually fortify myself before labor.
Labor
[13:05]
The nitty-gritty “TMI” details of my labor, including:
the sounds I made to help energy move down and out my pelvis (“bellows from the depths of the universe”)
how I used my breath in the bathtub to delay (then activate) pushing
my birthing positions: the “rotisserie chicken” and the toilet (the “dilation station”)
how I was able to be present through the pain and release all thoughts of doubt and fear. (My repeated mantra: “I am doing this and it is going well.”)
how I asked for explicit encouragement and coaching during a moment of fear and perceived “stalling.”
how exactly I learned how to deliver a baby through embodied practice
my disappointment over not being able to “breath my baby out” and getting a 2nd degree perineal tear
I wasn’t ready to look at my baby immediately after he was placed on my chest.
our eventual golden hour
[27:20]
Try this powerful journal exercise if you are about to go into labor or if you are about do something scary:
Write down in detail a description of how the experience went using the past tense as if the experience has already happened! Tune into the positive feelings of connectedness, bravery, relief, and gratitude as you write.
Postpartum
[28:55]
I chose to put myself in a period of “confinement” (retreat) during the first fourty days, as recommended by Chinese medicine.
[31:30]
How I am healing my diastasis recti abdominal separation. (I was scared of this happening and it did but I am healing).
The body does heal with attention and care. Rehabilitation is possible. Bodies are impermanent and ever changing and they need a lot of support. I’m so glad I have bellydance to help me support my body.
[34:25]
My “Inanna emerging” moment! During pregnancy I removed unnecessary things from my day and my body. Once I emerged from the underworld of labor and the first fourty days I was ready to get my crown back!
The “coming back to self” gesture of putting new body jewelry in my face.
New Power
[36:30]
Take-aways:
You can do hard things that are extremely scary.
It is possible to surrender to circumstances over which you have little control.
Your body can heal.
[37:03]
Pregnancy, labor, postpartum, and nursing has given me a new relationship to my body and my personal strength.
My body is so much more than a sexual object and it is so much more than a dancer. It is a life-creating portal to the divine. I respect and love my body in a new way.
[38:59]
How I am making the transition from maiden to matriarch and accepting my new body by releasing my attachment to the external markers that I have been socially programmed to find value in within myself.
I don't need to be given a pat on the head for how attractive and sexy I am. I am wise. I am powerful. Come to me for advice. Fear me!
[41:10]
What it looks like to step into your power as a mature bellydancer who embodies their full skills and does not try to prove themselves or impress people (while still managing to bring tears to audience’s eyes and excitement to students’ training). (I gave the example of performing my improvised solo at Fusion Evolution).
[44:44]
I'm really excited to open the doors to the cohesion collective in January!
Inside The Cohesion Collective we teach you *everything* you need to grow a successful bellydance career fueled by a high level of technical skill, historical knowledge, rhythm, improvisation, choreographic composition, effective teaching, and entrepreneurial know-how.
The program includes all of three Stages of the Dance Cohesion courses and Teacher Trainings, a high level of support - plus soooo much more!
🔑 YOUR ALL ACCESS PASS TO EVERYTHING I KNOW
I am teaching you *everything I know* in The ALL NEW Cohesion Collective.
It’s everything I know: not only about how to become a super skilled bellydancer, finger cymbalist, and frame drummer but also about making it work as a professional bellydancer (gigging, touring, teaching, producing, directing) from 20+ years experience.
With everything in The ⭐️NEW⭐️ Cohesion Collective, you can build your bellydance career as simple or sophisticated as you like. These strategies are designed to grow and evolve with you, just like they have served me for my entire career.
Warmly,
April Rose 🌹
Read what dancers are saying about The Cohesion Collective...
Sana started with zero bellydance experience. She not only became an incredibly skilled dancer, she also found her personal power inside the program:
“I am so grateful for doing this course. It made me such a better dancer and also musician. It polished me on my artistic path and most important, it showed me that I CAN do things, as I have been labeled with so many things being younger, not being able to focus on school or to finish it. But now I know that I am capable and smart in my own ways and your platform helped tremendously to realize that. All the content in Dance Cohesion has helped me so much and I am getting more and more in touch with the creation of my own style. I really hope more people will study with you. Your platform is so rich and it gives a life long foundation.”
Become a Brilliant & Booked Bellydancer
Apply to join us inside The Cohesion Collective and get your free invite to my new private masterclass on what’s working for professional bellydancers now: