Opening strokes on one's belly? (9)

I believe the answer is:

ventrally

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'belly?' is the definition.

'opening strokes on one's' is the wordplay.
'opening' becomes 'vent' (a vent is an opening or outlet).
'strokes on one' becomes 'rally' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'vent'+'rally'='VENTRALLY'

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