Since you’re doing a belly roll, you’ll need to be able to see your belly. Wear a midriff-bearing shirt or just a bra, and comfortable yoga pants, a skirt or shorts that sit below your belly button.
If you have trouble isolating your abdominal muscles without moving your hips and spine, practice your belly exercise while seated on the floor, lying flat on your back or perched on the edge of the chair. Lean back in the chair and rest on your hands, both legs extended straight in front of you. Hold your torso in a straight line as you practice.
Practice flexing and unflexing your upper abdominal muscles. Pull them in, then push them out. Keep doing so until you can easily locate and engage them. It might help to keep your hand on your abdomen above your belly button so you can feel your muscles tighten and loosen. After trying this for a while, practice without using your hand.
Practice flexing and unflexing your lower abdominal muscles. Pull them in, then push them out. Keep doing so until you can easily locate and engage them. Keep your hand on your abdomen above your belly button so you can feel them tighten and loosen. After a while, do it without using your hand.
If you have trouble flexing your upper and lower abdominal muscles in isolation, doing ab exercises can help. Try crunches, sit ups, and other belly workouts to gain greater control over your abdominal muscles.
Look in the mirror to see whether your belly looks like it’s starting to roll. If you can’t tell, try to make your flexes more pronounced and stick out the muscles that aren’t being engaged. When you suck in your upper abdominal muscles, really push out your lower belly, and vice versa.
Practice both this and the top-to-bottom roll; you might find that moving in one direction or the other comes more naturally to you.
It helps to move to music. Turn on some music with a good, steady beat and practice rolling your belly with it, just as you’d tap your foot or clap your hands.
