Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

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  • Mindful contagion

    Ann Christianson dancing “Ignite”

    A lively camping weekend will mean no dancing, so I grabbed a 20-minute routine this morning — “Ignite” — that focused on the upper body and was just right.

    I’m still thinking about Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer’s book “Mindful Body.” Some of her experiments focused on whether mindful people just being mindful can positively influence others. These experiments are small and, I have to say, a little weird so I wouldn’t call them conclusive.

    But my experience dancing with Nia instructors is that their mindfulness and reminders to be aware of what’s happening with my body while dancing has had a great positive influence on me.

    Lately I feel less triggered by other people’s anger and outrage, and there is plenty of it all around in these final days before the election.

  • 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.