Nope haven't heard of a formal program...

However, I do know that the acceptance and encouragement of being comfortable in your body in order to move your body... is healthy and great and healing.

I'm sure you could blend it and address the 'bully in the mirror" in many ways through belly dance.... How to you round the angular lines of the anorexic? How do you show them pride in the softness....?

Try posting to some of the belly dance tribes and see if you get a bite there... I'm postive there are dancers around TRIBE that have backgrounds in those illnesses....

namaste

Try writing Lorraine Lafata in Mass.

from her site;

Lorraine Lafata (La Reina)
Lorraine Lafata (La Reina) has been a popular performer in the Boston area for many years. She is well known for her ability to infuse her dance performance with love, joy, playfulness and a powerful honesty and sincerity.
Lorraine is an inspiring belly dance instructor, who began her career as a founding member of The Goddess Dancing. She is currently a collaborator in Sacred Source Belly Dance and creator of the Belly Dance As Healing Dance Series. She has published articles on the interconnectedness of belly dance and women's healing. She is nationally known for her collaboration with Delilah of Seattle, as well as, for being one of instructors and organizers of the first North American Spiritual Belly Dance Conference.

Lorraine has been a practicing feminist psychotherapist for over twenty years. Her practice in Body Centered Psychotherapy for Women combines movement and body awareness with psychological and spiritual healing practices.

Body Centered Psychotherapy For Women

Lorraine Lafata, LICSW, is an experienced feminist therapist and licensed social worker. She specializes in working with women who are survivors of violence, sexual trauma, childbearing loss, body image issues and women who are undergoing relationship transition.


Her therapeutic approach utilizes the best of talking therapy with movement awareness, pyschosynthesis, EMDR, storytelling and visualization. In addition to her years as a clinician, she draws on her experience as a founding member of The Goddess Dancing and Sacred Source Belly Dance.


www.sacredsourcebellydance.com


All the best!

Lisa

I've been bellydancing for years and recall once hearing on the med-dance e-mail list about someone who was teaching a belly dance class for women who had experienced sexual abuse. A psychologist was present during class as well, so if anyone re-experienced something then they could be supported professionally. I don't know who, what, where or anything more detailed than that.

Lorianne

Hello, SOng.

I'm currently doi9mng some research for an article, and I found somethign that mught be of interest to you. It's called Growing into her Body: Dance Movement/Therapy for Women with Eating Disorders, by Anne M. Krantz, published in the American Journal of Dance Therapy, vol 21 num. 2 Fall/Winter 1999. This copy was lent to me by my dance therapist, but I can ask how to get a hold of it, or maybe even scan it and send iy to you.

Keep Moving.

k

Here is a link that might be helpful

www.worldbellydance.com/therapy.html

I've been pondering the healing power of bellydance myself, as it helps me and other to effectively manage chronic pain and illness.

There is a documentary called "Belly" by Filmmakers Library that talks about how belly dance helped a young woman with bulimia in the healing process. Now, the young woman in question was definitely getting real therapy too, but she found that belly dancing helped her come to terms with some of the ideas her therapist was helping her work on.


I wrote a couple of articles for my web site on the subject "Healing Through Belly Dance." The articles are anecdotal rather than scientific research, but they do address how it has helped some people. One of them focuses on physical healing, the other on psychological. Here are the links:

Physical: www.shira.net/heal-phys1.htm
Emotional: www.shira.net/heal-emo1.htm

At the bottom of both articles are a whole bunch of links on related articles elsewhere on the web.

Gabrielle Roth's book "Sweating your Prayers" touches on body issues I think. Might be another place to check?