TAKE A MINUTE® SELF-CARE FOR NURSES
Care for The Caregiver Sessions for
Nurses in Medical Centers, US
Nurses in palliative care training in Nursing Colleges, India

What if effective self-care only took a minute? What if a caregiver could feel better in a short time with a minimal yet powerful set of exercises they could do at work, with no special equipment or clothing necessary? The answer, TAKE A MINUTE® SELF-CARE, created and developed by Zuleikha, Founder/Director of The Storydancer Project

2025 INDIA

Zuleikha/The Storydancer Project in partnership with CanSupport/India offered Kailish Institute of Nursing and Para-Medical Science, sessions for hundreds of  nursing students in TAKE A MINUTE® Care for The Caregiver. Zuleikha took their students on exploration into movement and self-care exercise, resulting in their eager participation with great enthusiasm. Their relief from stress and contagious laughter from the sessions was jubilant.

2025 – US
TAKE A MINUTE® Care for the Caregiver offers a new way nurses and health care professionals can deal with burnout – physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion accompanied by cynicism and disengagement. Many health care professionals postpone or neglect self-care because they cannot imagine adding more hours onto their already overwhelming day to exercise, release accumulated tension, and rejuvenate. The 2025 sessions were led by Cynda Rushton, Professor of Clinical Ethics in partnership with Zuleikha, Founder/Director of The Storydancer Project, under the MEPRA program…where nurses were invited to experience the TAKE A MINUTE® Self-Care that was easy-to-learn, fun, and effective.

MEPRA Program led by Cynda Rushton, Professor of Clinical Ethics
in partnership with Zuleikha, Founder/Director of The Storydancer Project
MEPRA is under auspices of the Anne and George L. Bunting,
Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing. 

TAKE A MINUTE® is being used alongside of other practices to help nurses in this country and beyond, to reduce stress and replenish individual physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. If you are interested in the ways we use TAKE A MINUTE® for nurses, please reach out to us. zuleikha@storydancer.com

Photo Credit: © Swan Lake Publishing LLC

I am writing these notes while sitting in the Delhi traffic trying to get to the meeting places of the teams I am working with today.

Why is this taking place in India? Delhi, India with CanSupport, India’s largest free home-care team organization and one of our longtime partnerships, is a place where requests for trainings have opened their doors. There was a need, and it now has become a real work in the art of human caring. The Home Care Teams are made up of a doctor, nurse, and counseling psychologist. The counseling psychologists are those who are being trained in these simple and effective practices. The training touches into deep caring for humanity, as well as the application and approach to the connection with those who are in need. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.

A research project on this relaxation and therapeutic work that I have developed and trademarked is near completion. I call it TAKE A MINUTE® for Palliative Care.

Some people ask, “Can’t you train online?” “Yes and No.”

The way it best works, live with real people, is an important part of the training. The rest is preparation. The training practice focuses on bringing peace of mind to the patients and families, along with the relaxation and therapeutic work.

Please consider helping us to see that the work will continue to be passed into caring hands, and be useful for a long time to come.

If you are interested to know about this valuable work, and to speak with one of our team members or myself, please let us know. zuleikha@storydancer.com or projectdirector@storydancer.com

Wishing everyone the very best,

Zuleikha, February 2025

©Swan Lake Publishing

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Photo Credit: © Swan Lake Publishing LLC

ANGANWADI PROGRAM REACHES THOUSANDS
This program is inspiring and wonderful. A nurse and a coordinator from CanSupport train the women leaders and their assistants to understand the signs of breast and ovarian cancer. Once the training has taken place, the leaders return to their respective communities and teach the women in their communities how to use this information. Then CanSupport is available for consultations and free cancer screenings. What a great system. And now TSP Self-Care is being added to the trainings. I can’t describe the laughter and relief that took place!

©Zuleikha

~ SUPPORT THIS GROWING WORK TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

~ TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

Photo Credit: © Swan Lake Publishing LLC

TSP/HOPE PROJECT AND TSP/CANSUPPORT

To have started all of this with a giant inspiration and see it become an actual part of people’s lives is, beyond overwhelming. A little taste of the heart becoming an ocean, and seeing the shining sea itself, reflected in the eyes of those we meet in the land of transformational self-care!

©Zuleikha

~ SUPPORT THIS GROWING WORK TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

~ TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

Photo Credit: © Swan Lake Publishing LLC

QUOTES FROM WHAT’S IN A STORY TEACHERS

“With my students, I was also engaged in the story and enjoyed the exercises…”
“Loved the implementation of Navajo words and sign language…”
“The stories read aloud develop their love for reading…”
“Gave the students a positive feeling about themselves…”
“Please impact the native children with WIS all over the Nation… Loved it!”

WHAT’S IN A STORY
OVER THE RAINBOW INITIATIVE PROGRAM
SERVING NEW MEXICO NAVAJO NATION
SCHOOLS, STUDENTS & EDUCATORS
FOR OVER 10 YEARS

ADAPTIVE AND HOLISTIC TRANSFORMATIVE SELF-CARE
ADDRESSING LITERACY, SELF-CARE, AND HISTORICAL TRAUMA

OUR 2025 GOAL IS TO REACH MORE SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS IN
OUTLYING COMMUNITIES AND TRAIN ADDITIONAL NAVAJO FACILITATORS

~ SUPPORT THIS WONDERFUL WORK TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

~ TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

Photo Credit: © Swan Lake Publishing LLC

STRENGTHENING HEARTS & MINDS
A Rainbow Bridge Initiative
WAYS TO CULTIVATE WHOLENESS IN THE MIDDLE OF EVERYDAY LIFE THROUGH TRADITIONAL HEALING PRACTICES, HOLISTIC SELF-CARE, AND COMMUNICATION BUILDING.

The Storydancer Project’s (TSP) program Strengthening Hearts & Minds Initiative, is a multilingual program for Navajo and rural mothers facing depression and historical trauma. We are reaching more mothers through our non-profit partners in New Mexico who want this program.

SOME QUOTES FROM A SESSION

“It’s okay to be vulnerable.” “I loved it.” “I appreciate everyone.”|
“I found new ways to deal with my stress and with all the burdens I carry.”
“I Learned how breath and body movement can release tension and how to center my spirit.”

These mothers need your help! Won’t you support this wonderful work?
Tell your friends!

Photo Credit: © Swan Lake Publishing LLC

ZULEIKHA AT ZUNI WELLNESS CENTER
The Zuni Wellness Center was set up with different groups who offered activities and information that gave families a chance to think about ways to bring wellness into their lives. We were invited to join the fair by our friend and acupuncturist, Kathelin Panteah, from the Zuni Recovery Center, and were partnered at their table. I engaged with families upon their arrival, and we did the fun and simple exercises which gave smiles all around, and good energy.

LEAVING ZUNI FOR GALLUP
As we drove out of beautiful Zuni, it was raining, and there was a huge rainbow. Always a blessing sign!

Then we met with our Mothers Strengthening Hearts and Minds Program collaborators, Kelly Dinéyazhe-Hunter and Sheila Goldtooth, and had a planning session over dinner. We had not all been together since the beginning of Covid, and worked online all this time! It was wonderful to be together, and gather our ideas for the coming times. —Zuleikha & TSP

OVER THE RAINBOW
The Storydancer Project’s Over The Rainbow initiatives are in collaboration with New Mexico Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo to help meet the needs of children, women, families and community leaders through our programs in self-care.

To give a donation, use the button on the right

When you help The Storydancer Project, you are helping to share the gift of transformative movement medicine to engage an open heart and inspire the life of well being for so many. Thank you.

Photo Credit: © Swan Lake Publishing LLC

TAKE A MINUTE® SELF-CARE FOR NURSES
MEPRA Program led by Cynda Rushton, Professor of Clinical Ethics
in partnership with Zuleikha, Founder/Director of The Storydancer Project
MEPRA is under auspices of the Anne and George L. Bunting,
Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the School of Nursing. 

The Annual/Semi-Annual Program
We honor the work with nurse leaders and nurses on the frontline for several days. This is a specially designed program that features self-care, nurturing the core inspiration connecting to service, and practicing letting go of what doesn’t serve. We all learn so much, together!  Finding out how much is on each person’s plate, in terms of work and home life, is overwhelming for most everyone. After deep discussion and small group activities, the letting go through the body is visibly obvious. Participants report feeling lighter, with a renewed sense of purpose.

TAKE A MINUTE® is being used alongside of other practices to help nurses in this country and beyond, to reduce stress and replenish individual physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. If you are interested in the ways we use TAKE A MINUTE® for nurses, please reach out to us. zuleikha@storydancer.com

Photo Credit: © Swan Lake Publishing LLC

In early March, 2024, the Indian Association of Palliative Care invited Zuleikha to write an article about her work with Movement Medicine and Integrative Palliative Care© in India, and her evolutionary journey for over 15 years to bring calmness, relaxation and relief to those living with long-term illness. As well, she has been training others in this method. On March 27, 2024, this article was published in the IAPC’s e-newsletter.

Read more about this fascinating and touching work…

Photo Credit: © Swan Lake Publishing LLC