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.
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.”
Pineapple sage (salvia elegans) is a perennial (in Oregon) and part of the mint family. It doesn’t start blooming in my garden until mid September. Then it kind of loses its mind with these spikes of brilliant red. The neighborhood hummingbirds love it.
I do too. It will keep blossoming like this until we get some freezing weather and that could be well into December. Enjoying it this morning right before I started Nia, I decided that salvia elegans is my spirit flower, blooming spectacularly but late in the season when many other flowering plants have wrapped up the show.
Today I did a repeat of the moving to heal routine “Selfless,” which I tried for the first time on Sunday and found quite emotionally cathartic. Today’s experience was less fraught, more just enjoying the routines and the music.
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 