Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

A writer takes a minute for a closer look

recent posts

  • In praise of daydreaming

    …or why I love the beach.

    1. Watching the endless variety and shape of crashing waves.
    2. Pondering how the ocean hurls massive tree trunks well beyond the highwater mark.
    3. Discovering the strange gray rock shot through with thin white in the shape of a heart.
    4. Oh, wait is that a whale spouting?
    5. Finding just the right spot to doze in the rare January sun.
    6. Wondering if the water touching Oregon also touched Japan.
    7. Discovering the perfect sand dollar.
    8. Considering how the dunes have changed in the last 40 years.
    9. Thinking how everything dances, trees in the wind, sanderlings scuttling ahead of the water, the seaweed tossing and waving, pelicans rising and diving, dogs free and prancing.
    10. Wondering if it’s water that makes sand out of rocks.

  • The dragon surveys January

    Nia trainer dancing in black and white with red belt and dancers in black.
    Nia trainer Britta von Tagen dancing “Dragon”

    I had the pleasure of dancing last summer with Nia instructor Britta von Tagen. She co-taught a white belt training in Pleasant Hill with Kellie Chambers and dropped in to the Just Move Studio for some community dance sessions. Her energy, precision and a kind of fierceness were exciting and maybe a tad scary for me.

    But in overcoming the lethargy of January, I wanted some of that von Tagen energy. I got it in spades dancing with the online version of “Dragon” for the first time. This routine toggles between subtlety of movement and controlled power. I love how the narrative that accompanies the music and the movement brings a mental shift. The story in the dance engages the imagination. Suddenly there’s a beast in the room, and it’s me…emerging dragon.

    As I was dancing, I flashed on “Ted Lasso” actress Hannah Waddingham, who plays a soccer club owner in the UK, a lone woman in an industry dominated by men. There’s a scene where she describes psyching herself up for meetings where she’ll be the only woman. Do watch it if you haven’t seen it — one minute and 25 seconds of video that I feel deeply no matter how many times I click on it.

    That’s what dancing “Dragon” made me feel like. When I woke up the next day, I wanted to do it all over again. So I did.

  • Delicious new

    Dancer in red and black in a bow stance dancing Butterfly
    Nia trainer Orit Weichselbaum dancing Butterfly

    My 10 days of road-trip visit to my mom, lacked sufficient dancing. There were five days of no-dancing at all, which, checking my got-done calendar, revealed that the last time I went that long without some Nia was back in July. Addicted? Possibly.

    Getting back to routine now, I’m using the 30-minute sessions Nia on Demand offers.

    This morning the routine “Butterfly” gave me that great combination of newness and familiarity, providing a fine brain-chemistry pleasure hit.

    Taking a break may be good. Getting back into it? Also good.