Thread: holding your breath when dancing

I cannot stop doing this!! When I shimmy I nearly pass out and when I do camels or anything to do with tummy movements I also cant breath.

Im really trying to belly roll but when I do I nearly pass out and to move my tummy i need to breath in and out whcih im assuming is wrong but how do i stop doing stupid breathing when Im trying to contract stomach muscles...or do anything for that matter because I do it when I shimmy too!!

I have the same problem when I do undulations

It's a concentration thing... happens all the time when people are learning something new.

I always remind my students to breathe out. The breathing in takes care of itself, I find, but when they're concentrating on something, the breathing out gets sort of forgotten! I call out reminders to them, particularly with shimmies- this is a move that requires constancy of movement, and consequently constancy of replenishment of oxygen to the muscles.

As for the undulations, it depends on the way your teacher teaches it, but the way I teach it the breathing is kind of obvious- as your body weight is forward and relaxed, you are breathing IN; as your body weight is pulling back, with the abdominal pull in, you are breathing OUT.

Remind yourself as an active part of learning any move how to breathe with it. And ask your teacher to remind you to breathe out when she sees you turning purple and about to keel over!

I was a breath-holder myself. I would concentrate so hard on whateever movement I was practicing that I would "forget" to breathe.

I think I solved the problem by constantly telling myself to relax and breathe. And telling my dance teacher about the problem, and then she would reminde me to relax and breathe. It took a while, but now I can breathe and layer movements at the same time.

When I first started that -holding the breathe- I totally had to reteach myself the undulations and place my breathing- like
"breath in-lift chest out, up, and exhale bring chest back and down, breath in...." repeat.

I'm still working on breathing and shimmying! I usually just put everything on a count -inhale for 4, out for 4, while the legs are double timing (1-i-&-a-2-&-a-3) for the shimmy...it's a slow process, but i'm getting there!

anything that compresses the abs and stomach is usually an exhale, anything else, try inhaling or breathing normally....the belly roll was tricky because I kept stopping mid roll to see if i could breath and that point!

yoga has helped A LOT!!! oooommmmm (we need a yogi smiley..g.: )

and it helps that I was a marching band geek....if you didn't breathe while you moved, well...ya know...,r:;

long story short- I totally sympathize!

When you are practicing at home sing or hum along with the music. You can't sing and hold your breath!

Souzan

I second the singing suggestion. It's fun, too!

Originally Posted by Souzan

When you are practicing at home sing or hum along with the music. You can't sing and hold your breath!

Souzan

Elisa Gamal teaches a fabulous workshop on using your breath in the dance, and this is one of the things she recommends. Also, if you can sing the song, you will know it very well, which is always a good thing. Maybe she will post here. She uses the rising and falling of the melody as cues to breath in or breath out. It's really magical how it works and enhances the dancing. Breathing out can really help you get some "oomph" into certain moves, like sharp abdominal accents. Like anything, it takes practice.

our instructor made us do that once, it totally helps!

also, dancing and breathing are both a natural part of your body's rythm. Or, at least I like to think they are...that helps with being able to breathe and undulate at the same time :-)

Its pretty cheesy to say this but It will come. Its good that you are aware of it because that is the first step to overcoming these things. It is probably about the most common problem that any of us have when learning something new and, as you know, it is important to overcome it in order to get the right bits of you to relax while the other bits work hard.

I don't think its something that ever goes away entirely. I am beginning to be able to do some much more complex layers (on a good day) and sure enough, if I think about it, I'm holding the old breath. My teacher also caught herself at it the other day and had a good laugh with us about it. She was trying to choreograph a sophisticated routine at the time.

My best tip is to learn some simple breathing exercises such as those in yoga and have a go with them every day. These are great for everyday life and de-stressing anyway and they will make you a little more away of your own breathing and ability to control it. I'm not expert enough to explain one here but one good thing to do is to try and focus on breathing through your nose and as you inhale air, imagine it sucking up your nostrils and hitting the spot between your eyes.

Lauren might have some good tips on this as she's a yoga teacher...

When I teach a shimmy workhsop, I tell my class about 100 times "breathe!"

I also do a lot of talking when I explain certaing movements - simply to prove that they are independent of how you breathe.

I like the suggestion of singing. You could also count or tell me what you had for lunch

MEISSOUN

I had/have this problem too sometimes. Not just with dancing...I hold my breath sometimes for any exercise. Then I realize I can't breathe and do! I tend to say, 'breathe!' in classes so my students can avoid this problem. I wonder where that comes from.

Thanks girls I shall certainly try all the yoga tips. I actually did yoga for about 6 months so I know a few breathing techniques. I think its when I concentrate too hard and I think I am trying to make my shimmys too powerful. I think because I could kind of shimmy my thighs from copying black hip hops videos from years ago I just started from shimmying like crazy but its totally different to shimmying in the belly dance style so I think I need to go back to basics and do slow soft shimmys because I can breath when I do this. I just need to work on building up speed without fainting instead of going into a proper shimmy but going purple haha!

Most people starting out think that shimmy = as fast as possible. My teachers have never said this, I had to get it from dvds. shimmy in time with the beat, then go double time. That's fast enough and musical. It will help to even out your shimmy. instead of going as fast as you can, then losing it, then speeding up again. may I recommend Turbo Shimmy by Celeste for shimmy beginners as a workout. she will have you shimmying for 10 mins at a time so you will have to breathe or die!!!

Thanks girls I shall certainly try all the yoga tips. I actually did yoga for about 6 months so I know a few breathing techniques. I think its when I concentrate too hard and I think I am trying to make my shimmys too powerful. I think because I could kind of shimmy my thighs from copying black hip hops videos from years ago I just started from shimmying like crazy but its totally different to shimmying in the belly dance style so I think I need to go back to basics and do slow soft shimmys because I can breath when I do this. I just need to work on building up speed without fainting instead of going into a proper shimmy but going purple haha!

Don't forget that doing good shimmies where you have effortless control over the size and quality of the moment as well as being able to layer the movement is pretty advanced stuff.

Many people succeed fairly quickly with managing a shimmy and a layer on one move but it takes years of practice to be able to produce it at will, to travel with it and to have a full repertoire of shimmy movements. Also I think that shimmies are something which our uptight bodies tend to rebel against the most so don't expect too much of yourself.

I'd recommend Layla Jouvana's 21 Shimmies and 1001 variations DVD. I also suggest you attend a workshop with her if you get the chance. She comes over to the UK quite a bit and will, if nothing else, give you a good workout as well as a more in depth perspective on the subtleties of shimmying.

dunya, you are so sweet. thanks for the props. :)

I started reading this thread, with my eyebrows up, shaking my head, muttering "BREATHE, girl! just BREATHE!" you absolutely have to breathe (other than for the obvious reason of passing out if you don't) so your movement can be relaxed, flowing, natural, graceful and strong. holding your breath or restricting a natural air flow will kill it. breath adds life, emotion, fluidity, beauty and musicality to your dancing. and it's not rocket science to get there - all you have to do is JUST BREATHE.

a really simple exercise to see how your body *wants* to breathe as it moves is to do this: stand relaxed. breathe very softly. sweep your arms wide and up high over your head, and what happens? you inhale. try the movement again, only inhale first while your arms are down, and try exhaling strongly as you sweep up your arms. note how HARD it is, and how icky it feels. to feel the reverse, stand tall and reach your arms up high. now, collapse your body down, with your arms in, knees bent. all the air naturally left your lungs. now, try it again, only take a deep breath, and hold it while you crumple down. ick, huh?

to practice breathing while dancing, as stated above, sing/hum along with the melody. you can also try:

walk around the studio to music with an 8-count beat, breathing naturally. on 7-8, inhale. on 1, begin to exhale. don't force the exhale, just let it leave your body at the pace it wants to. as I do it I think "AND, 123456 AND, 123456" with the AND being my inhale. notice how you're moving on time and in tune with the music. yes?

stationary movement: standing still, sweep your arms out and up and naturally inhale to 1234, lower them and naturally exhale to 5678. do that a few times to get the flow of it, and then add a shimmy. you CAN shimmy and breathe.

for the record, I just tried to shimmy while holding my breath, and it just felt wrong and crunchy. it got tense and tight, I felt stressed out, the movement got smaller and smaller. I can fake a good shimmy while holding my breath, but why? why work that hard and fight my body? I want to spend my physical and emotional energy dancing! same thing with an undulation. the torso expands and contracts during the movement - the air is *crying* to flow in and out! let it!

I could go on for hours on the subject. :) final tips:
allow your jaw to be soft and your mouth slightly open while you're dancing to help the air flow in and out.
every so often while you're dancing, imagine breathing in a really yummy fragrance (warm cookies? gorgeous roses?) and sigh out the pleasure.
don't be afraid to gasp, sigh, moan or even grunt while you're dancing. the music will be loud - nobody can hear you. :) and it looks very, very beautiful and natural and will help you immerse yourself in the music and the dance experience.

don't be afraid to gasp, sigh, moan or even grunt while you're dancing. the music will be loud - nobody can hear you. :)

on the other hand the very first time I danced in public the front row heard me say "SH>T" or lip read when I lost the choreo....

On a more positive note. I get out of breath awlking but sing out loud when exercising to music and necver get out of breath. Sometimes the aerobics teacher makes us talk to her. It makes you breathe and appparently helps to make exercise work better by getting oxygen to your muscles. so sing out loud, or recite the alphabet. This would even help to make your muscles go onto autopilot, which is what you want

I find that a helpful exercise is to practice belly rolls while seated, and to be very conscious about breathing with the movement--as Elisa points out--to breathe in as the belly swells and to exhale as you contract. You can do this while seated at a computer typing on bhuz...after a while it becomes second nature and you can roll while walking, going down stairs...even while (gasp!)dancing.

I also have a teacher who uses a lot of breathwork technique from the start in her classes, and I really second the advice about keeping the jaw soft and the mouth slightly open. Breathing through the mouth is so important!

That was very difficult for me at first. I was accustomed to the kind of breathing you do in running and lifting weights - fast expulsions of breath through pursed lips. Which of course looks oh, so lovely when one is dancing, right? It took a few years to get the soft open mouth breath while dancing, and keep it going, but boy, does it help. May I also add (again, something I learned from my teacher): keep the pelvic floor engaged. I realize that this doesn't sound like it would be connected, but what I have discovered is that when the pelvic floor is engaged, you have to breathe through your mouth, or the air will all get stuck in the chest, making movements stiff. At least, that's what happened to me...maybe others are different. I'd be curious to know, actually.

Another good reason to breathe through your mouth is that your body needs that oxygen while you're dancing - and your nostrils are kinda too small for the job. Save the nasal breathing for yoga.

You can try playing around with patterns of inhaling and exhaling, as in yoga, like others have said. Like, try inhaling in the forward part of an undulation, and exhaling as you go back. Then try reversing it, and see what you like better. Try that on turns, try it with hip movements. Good luck and don't breathe too hard!

- Leela