TOUCHED BY HEART

​I traveled to Pune (pronounced Punay) to join CanSupport’s work—to go out with their Home Care Teams for several days

Soon after arrival, I led a rousing afternoon session with the Pune counselors from most of the teams. We explored the subject of self-care through my TAKE A MINUTE® resiliency practices, and how if you take some time for yourself, you can bring more good energy to your patients. Everyone felt the shift from tiredness into feeling great.

When I write about these things, I generally think that people who are reading would want to know the background of the story, and that takes time to write about. I don’t get to the part about why I am doing this, however, I will brave that and jump in.

When I teach people here about the work I have developed, TAKE A MINUTE® for Palliative Care, I often talk about the way we connect with patients and families. Inside of the calming movement practices are what I call ‘flavors of connection.’ And along with the practice itself, it is the ‘way’ we bring the practice to each person—the connection from my heart to the heart of a human being who is suffering, and with the inclusion of the family and all the people in the room. Sometimes there are children, sometimes elderly, sometimes friends or neighbors are visiting.

Early on, I remember walking into a very tiny house where an elderly woman was in bed with cancer, in the last part of her life. For some reason, on that day when I went with the team, all of her sisters and daughters and their daughters were around her bed. They were dressed in such beautiful colors and headscarves that I have never forgotten them. They were all were very sad. I was moved to sit on the bed, and with the patient did a gentle kind of movement. I looked around and invited everyone to join in. The whole room became so quiet and filled with a peaceful feeling. After that moment, all the women around the bedside were looking at each other and it seemed to me the atmosphere erupted into everyone at once asking about their weight! This has happened before, when the women especially feel more comfortable after the practice, they show their stomach. So around 10 of us jammed into a very tiny room, where I led a mini exercises program. The atmosphere in the tiny room quickly transformed from sadness into bubbling laughter. A kind of community of heart was formed. It happens over and over again, in different ways, with different patients and families. It makes one feel a shared part of humanity—a beautiful experience of heart connections. As it turns out, this type of care in the palliative setting is not a cure, but it does have healing properties. It is also a tool that can create a way for conversation and connection to happen.

In my life of movement and dance, and this work of service, I find myself referring to the nervous system as the lining of our body suit. And when the lining is crumpled and wrinkled inside, it is difficult to navigate through life. This is one reason people meditate, or practice yoga or tai chi, and other popular forms of mindfulness of the day. I like the example of doing the dishes—when the sponge or dishrag gets waterlogged, what do we do? We wring it out. These positive self-care interventions are what we need. Not once a day, or 3 times a week, but whenever needed. And specifically, the palliative resiliency practices bring calmness into the body, mind, and heart of our very being.

Here in Delhi, many of the counselors who are being trained to use this work refer to this as the ‘relaxation therapy’ inside of TAKE A MINUTE® for Palliative Care. And they are always assuring me that they do these practices themselves, sometimes with their families, and they feel better.

It is a moving experience, and an honor to go inside of someone’s life, and be touched by heart.

©Zuleikha, Feb. 1, 2026