Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

A writer takes a minute for a closer look

recent posts

  • Serendipity

    Day 22 of 52 Nia dance challenge

    Yesterday had me all judgmental and trying to figure out how to deal with internal negativity. Today teacher Dael Parsons led us in “Ride,” a routine I like for its combination of steps highlighting feminine energy punctuated by powerful punches and kicks. Today, I was struck by the lyrics in the opening song, Deep Dive Corp’s “Ride.” Singer Ingrid Chavez describes a yawning empty feeling that won’t go away. So, I settle in and just ride with it, she sings. The pulsing beat feels good to ride, and a few bars on Chavez sings Life’s a roller-coaster, the higher you go the harder you fall, so just ride with it.

    The song and the dance. Nia teachers call it movement medicine. Sometimes it’s physically healing. Sometimes it’s emotionally healing.

  • Really? That voice again?

    Trainer Britta von Tagen dancing Mystery, from Nia on Demand

    Day 21 of 52 Nia dance challenge

    Nia trainer Britta von Tagen is in town this week at Kellie Chamber’s Pleasant Hill studio and led Monday’s class, which was packed. Maybe 30 dancers.

    Group energy lifted everyone up thanks to Britta’s focussed and precise training style. I began to be aware of small things — the way I moved fingers and wrists, the way I held the sumo stance, the way the music’s rhythms seemed to link up with my heartbeat, thanks to her.

    So, I was surprised when the inner bitch voice showed up mid-routine to remind me of the many many ways I am inadequate to the dance.

    Really bitch voice? Today? I’m 21-days into this daily dance commitment. Shouldn’t there be a parade? Balloons? A standing ovation?

    Maybe she needs attention. Maybe she has a job in my psyche that hasn’t been sufficiently defined, so she just flails around in a really angry voice. Maybe she could be redeployed to some more useful task.

    Perhaps that’s what three weeks of daily dance has given me, a willingness to embrace and consider appropriate uses of the inner bitch. Maybe there’s a dance for that.

  • The groove is you

    Day 20 of 52 Nia dance challenge

    I danced Ignite with Nia on Demand, just 35 minutes, not the full hour.

    Lots to like, but for me the warm-up song Deep Dive Corp’s “The Groove is You,” was the best. Rhythmic, slow, almost meditative, and somewhat luscious with the line “You’ll never have to wonder where the groove went, the groove is you.”

    Great way to start a new week.