HINDUJA HOSPITAL, MAHIM, MUMBAI
DR. PHALAKSHI MANJREKAR, DIRECTOR OF NURSING
—From Zuleikha: “Accompanied by Professor Dawn Lobo, Professor of Nursing, I taught an exercise module I developed called Energy Gems (under my trademarked TAKE A MINUTE®) in a class of about 20 nurses. Each exercise brought up discussions about stress in the workplace. Taking a gentle breath is always a curious thing—people just don’t do it, and it brings a lot of wonder and laughter at the simplicity of the exercise. Also the locked knees moving into what we call ‘soft knees’ brought a lot of laughter, as I used the example of holding our cell phones and postures. Shoulders are filled with tension, and this idea to ‘gently drop your shoulders’ was very effective. Everyone had a lot of laughter and stress relief for the time we were together.”

AMBEDKAR HOSPITAL, ROHINI, DELHI
DR. RAVINDER MOHAN, SR. MEDICAL CONSULTANT, CANSUPPORT
SAVITA LUKA MASIH, DIRECTOR, CANSUPPORT PALLIATIVE NURSING
— From Zuleikha: “Dr, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital is a government hospital, where the poor population goes. We met in the hospital auditorium. There were around 55 nurses, men and women. I sat through the interesting presentations, and learned a lot, as I always do. When it was my turn, I had to ‘adapt’ to the space. I gave a talk about self-care while getting everyone to stretch in their big and comfy red chairs. Then I did a part of my ‘What Are You Really Waiting For?’ movement theater piece, and they were really laughing and applauded me. I was showing what happens when we don’t ‘take the minute.’ It was a really effective half hour, and I went through all 5 Energy Gems, which I want to send them, on uScreen, and text pdf. Then I put on great music, and we moved in place. It was so enlivening. And when we finished, everyone was grinning.”

SANT PARAMAND SCHOOL OF NURSE, BURARI, DELHI
COURSE IN PALLIATIVE CARE FOR NURSES
—From Zuleikha: “There were around 150 nurses for the special 2-day course. The space is generally challenging in these situations; sometimes we have a big space, and sometimes not. In this case, I started with everyone in chairs. I too sat in a chair in front of all present, and got people to stretch in chairs, which continued to bring eruptions of laughter and actually I would say, always, allows people to feel better. The permission to take a complete stretch when needed is still a major subject in the fast-paced world. No one ‘has time.’ After talking about self-care for the body, mind and feeling, we were able to move the chairs to the side and back, and then since space was still limited, I invited the professors in their beautiful saris to stand on the raised platform with me, if they wanted. They all wanted to join! So as we began to do the TAKE A MINUTE® exercises, I faced the large group of nurses, and together we started moving to music. Laughter resounded from the nurses, as they moved back and forth on the floor. The professors imitated them in the opposite direction in back of me. I turned around to see all the professors laughing and enjoying themselves as well.”

IMPACT PARAMEDICAL AND HEALTH INSTITUTE
COLLEGE OF NURSING, NANGLOI, DELHI
—From Zuleikha: “Together with Dr. Savita and Dr. Mohan and myself, traveled together to make presentations at Impact College of Nursing. I was inspired by the presentations to give a talk first, rather than starting with the exercises. I started, as in the course before, in a chair, spoke and stretched with everyone. I mimed ways people hold their phones, or how we lock our knees and it sends our nervous system into high alert, or how we hold our breath. It was one of the funnier presentations, and everyone had a good time. At the end, I put music on and we bounced around in place, which was hilarious and really fun, and we used our arms in different bouncy ways. A few of the professors didn’t really do it, you could see they were embarrassed, and I would look over and smile, some then came along and some not. At the end of the session, I had everyone close their eyes and we ‘painted with colored light’ while we moved. I offered the idea of thinking about patients while doing this. For the last exercise we did the ‘Gratitude Circle’ from TAM. I told them how much I had enjoyed the session with them, and showed them how to ‘take a minute’ any time. A rousing round of applause, with a lot of laughter. That was the outcome—shiny laughing faces filled with energy.”