Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

Stuff gets done here

recent posts

  • Mind and body

    Artist Patricio González, from Pixabay

    I’m a week out from finishing my personal commitment to dance Nia daily for 52 days and to write about it. On the last day, I wrote that I had no idea what I would do going forward.

    What did I do this past week? I danced six days. Not out of lingering obligation, but just because dancing feels good.

    In one of those fun serendipitous things, I stumbled upon the work of Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer, who has spent a lifetime understanding the body and the mind as a unit, not just as connected systems. I’ve appreciated her new memoir “The Mindful Body,” as it shares some of her ground-breaking research and her personal experience.

    She suggests that noticing what’s happening in the body in any given moment is a key to living healthfully. It so fits with my Nia experience of being in my “today body,” which may not be energetically the same as yesterday’s. She’s frank about her concept of mindfulness. It’s not about meditating, it’s about awareness, being present and especially noticing changes. She is a popular speaker and there are many articles and podcasts available, such as this one:

    https://news.uchicago.edu/why-secret-health-lies-mind-body-connection

  • Life-long curiosity

    Me and my beautiful mother Irene

    For the past few months, my mother, who is coming up on her 99th birthday, has been reading the Qu’ran, the holy book of Islam. Anyone who knows my mother recognizes her deep faith as a Christian, but also knows how interested she is in the world. She decided this summer that reading this book would help her in her understanding of the beliefs of others.

    Today she confessed to me it isn’t the easiest reading but she appreciates the very common set of values she has found in this holy text, which has many similarities to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

    She’s such an inspiration, so engaged, so wanting to learn. Those of us who get to be in her orbit find ourselves learning too.

  • The daily groove

    Nia trainer Debbie-Lee van Ginkel leading an 8-minute dance break.

    Day 52 of 52 Nia dance

    Well, this has been a thing. It feels good to have done what I committed to do — dance every day for seven weeks and three days, 52 days of dancing in recognition of the 52 moves of Nia. Besides the feelings of improved aerobic fitness and strength, I also have a boost of optimism from having done the thing I said I’d do, despite some challenges along the way.

    I’m not sure what it means for me going forward. Will I continue to dance every day? My today body does not know.

    Today I chose a sampler of routines, bits from Ignite and others. Tomorrow is a mystery.

    I have been so grateful for friends and family and for the dance community, both locally and globally, who have followed this blog of my progress. As of today 597 readers have stopped by here. They’ve visited from 16 countries, and I especially want to send a virtual wave to a reader in Ireland, who has been a regular visitor. Thank you! It’s amazing to feel connection to dancers in Sweden, the UK, Cambodia, Israel, India, Bermuda and France, among many others. The dancers I get to be with in the studio helped me keep my enthusiasm up when it flagged.

    Here’s some data about my 52 days:

    • 23 — The number of distinct routines danced (including a rogue Led Zeppelin routine choreographed by me.
    • 30 — Number of times I danced at home with online routines
    • 22 — Number of times I danced in the studio
    • 17 — Number of instructors whose routines I danced
    • 43 — Number of days I danced a full 60-minute routine
    • 9 — Number of days I danced 5- to-30 minute routines

    Thanks for following this dance journey.

    Can’t sign off without leaving this link to one of my all-time favorite songs to dance to. Its lyrics knock me out every time, especially these two lines:

    “Tune in, log out, be here, go on,” and

    “You never have to wonder where the groove went, the groove is you.”