CANSUPPORT / INDIA
TSP at CANSUPPORT
Trained counselor/therapists on palliative and cancer
home care teams of doctors, nurses and counselors,
patients, families, nursing college and foundation
course trainings, out-patient clinics and daycare centers
Trained counselor/therapists on palliative and cancer
home care teams of doctors, nurses and counselors,
patients, families, nursing college and foundation
course trainings, out-patient clinics and daycare centers
In partnership with CanSupport, Zuleikha/TSP has developed an extensive training program for the counselors who are part of the Home Care Teams. This is a three-part training which takes several years. The counselors first learn the TAKE A MINUTE® for Integrative Palliative Care Movement Practice. Then the counselors individually accompany Zuleikha with the Home Care teams. In the first rounds, they observe the ways that Zuleikha adapts the practices as needed by the patients, caregivers, and families. After meetings and practice sessions, the counselors go out again with Zuleikha and teams, this time, doing the work. Zuleikha also gives TAKE A MINUTE® Self-Care and Resiliency trainings for all of the Home Care Teams, patient daycare sessions—sessions for parents of children living with cancer, and trainings for nursing colleges.
Since this program started, over 50 counselor/therapists have gone through this training. Zuleikha, as well, gives resiliency sessions for all caregivers, teams and
administration of CanSupport.
SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
TSP’s partnership with CanSupport achieved the completion of the long and involved TAKE A MINUTE® for Integrative Palliative Care Research Project, overseen by the doctors leading the Home Care Teams. The research project was conducted by a special group of TSP-trained counselors at CanSupport. With the field work now accomplished and data gathered, the the written report, publication and presentation of the Research Project, TAKE A MINUTE® for Integrative Palliative Care Combining Movement Therapy and Empathy in Action©, is being brought to fruition under the authorship of The Storydancer Project in partnership with CanSupport India.
This year, 2025/26, Zuleikha began the TSP/CanSupport Master Training Program with the assistance of a trained program coordinator. The counselors will TAKE A MINUTE® for Integrative Palliative Care Combining Movement Therapy and Empathy in Action©.
STORIES / Empathy in Action
NOTES FROM ZULEIKHA
When I teach TAKE A MINUTE® for Integrative Palliative Care, I like to emphasize the way we connect with patients and their families. Woven into these calming movement practices are what I call Empathy in Action©, a modality of deep listening and awareness for the purpose of connecting with the patient, family in their living space. It is not just about the physical practices, it is about the way we bring the practice to a person. It is a direct, heart-to-heart bridge to a human being who is suffering.
I will never forget walking into a tiny house years ago. An elderly woman was in bed, in the final stages of cancer. Her sisters, daughters, and granddaughters had gathered around her bedside. They were dressed in such stunning, vibrant colors and headscarves, yet the room was heavy with a profound sadness. Moved by the moment, I sat on the bed next to the patient and began one of the gentle, rhythmic movement practices. Looking around, I quietly invited the family to join us. Slowly, the entire room became perfectly still, filled with a deep, peaceful feeling. Then, the atmosphere completely transformed. Once the practice ended and the women felt comfortable, the heavy sorrow erupted into sudden laughter as everyone at once began asking about their weight!
A phenomenon I have seen before—when women open up through movement, they often proudly show me their stomachs and ask what they can do to ‘reduce’!Moments later, ten of us were jammed into tiny side room in a swirl of living colors, moving through a mini exercise program filled with pure joy. —ZULEIKHA
