Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

Stuff gets done here

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  • Imagination

    Artist Patricio González, from Pixabay

    Day 29 of 52 Nia dance

    The use of narrative with choreography sets Nia apart (in my experience) from other exercise practices. Today, for example, instructor Dael Parsons led us in Levity, which uses a marionette metaphor as a guide. What is it like to move as though strings are attached? It’s less flowy than yesterday’s Deep Dive, but giving agility/mobility energies more of a workout.

    Dael also gave us this lovely notion of being attached to a star, and the idea stayed with me as we were doing a longish balancing-on-one-foot movement. It seemed to help me stay centered longer.

    So far, daily dance practice has not been a challenge for me. I haven’t struggled to drag myself to the studio or the computer. There’s anticipation, then the pleasure of dancing, then the follow-up good feelings of having danced.

    Writing daily about the practice is the greater challenge that has required more self discipline. I included writing as part of my commitment because I thought it would help me reach my 52 days of dance goal. It might be the other way around. Daily dancing has enabled me to complete a daily writing practice.

  • Tuned by the music

    Day 28 of 52 Nia dance

    I’ve been thinking the last several weeks that my various Nia trainers have instinctively chosen a routine that was (somehow miraculously) meant to meet my specific needs on any given day. Today, while dancing Deep Dive with Kellie Chambers, I realized instead that I am embodying the RAW guidance: Relaxed, Alert, Waiting. It’s a way to be open and meet the dance at the beginning of class.

    Dancing Deep Dive is like swimming in a warm ocean. It’s all about the flow. And with the first sounds of the first song “Happiness” by Vargo, I knew what was coming, as I’ve danced Deep Dive many times. Today the dance was fluid, the moves all smooth and connected and buoyed by the music each step of the way. At first I thought it was the perfect follow-up to yesterday’s wild and energetic dance experience and wondered how Kellie managed to nail it again. Then I understood that I’m doing this. Me. Relaxed, alert and waiting to embrace whatever comes. It seems a little embarrassing to share this thought process, but there it is.

    Dancing Deep Dive is a good way to understand what trainers mean when they say “dynamic ease.” It’s not ease in the sense of being inactive, it’s ease in the sense of the muscles moving in a supple way, without extreme effort, simply moving the way I move when I get up from a chair and cross the room.

    I imagined the instructors serendipitously designing the class around me. What is more true is that I’m emotionally available to go where ever the music leads.

  • Whoa, kiddo!

    Day 27 of 52 Nia dance

    I just never know which me will show up for dance. Today, dancing at our local YMCA with Kellie Chambers, my six-year-old self ran the show. What a party!

    There was leaping, skipping, laughing, off the beat, on the beat. I barely kept her from bumping into other dancers. Also, there is this side hip bump thing in Nia that I’ve never really mastered. The six year old didn’t care. We (six-year-old me and sixty-nine-year-old me) just flung ourselves happily around.

    What a joy.