Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

  • I teach Nia! FIVE group classes a week!

    Mon, Tues, and Wed 9 am

    Tues at 6 pm

    Thurs at 7 pm

    Zumba Fitness Classes too!

    Please see my website for details! I sub for the City of San Jose so check my subbing calendar!

    I am also available for private Nia and/or Personal Training!

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Posts Tagged ‘Nia in San Jose’

South Bay Nia Jam

Posted by terrepruitt on August 7, 2012

Well, Palo Alto seems to be as close to as to what I consider the South Bay as we have gotten since I have been attending Nia.  I really want to have a Nia Jam in San Jose.  I am going to work on that for 2013.  The Nia Jam for San Francisco Bay Area Nia Association in the South Bay in 2012 was at a Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto.  As I have described before, a Nia Jam is a Nia class only longer with multiple teachers.  It is like a Nia class on steroids.  A typical Nia class is 60 minutes, a Nia Jam is usually 90 minutes.  In a Nia Jam there is a group of teachers who take turns teaching.  As with all Nia classes the Nia Jam had a focus and an intent.  The focus of this Nia Jam was Yin & Ying of Creative Play, with the intent of providing both a high energy experience and a quieter, more reflective experience as Nia can support either or both.  I have to be honest, I didn’t get a quiet, reflective experience out of this jam.  We were on fire!  The energy was so high it was tangible.  It was amazing!

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia I am so glad that the energy is always so high because I had taught my Saturday morning class in San Jose.  Then I stayed at the studio and took a class, then I raced over to Palo Alto to teach at the Jam.  The energy energized me!

There were six teachers who taught.  It is so fun to dance and be led by a variety of teachers.  It is a wonderful thing to be able to experience a song, a kata, that you know, in a different way.  While usually the basics are there, there is often a little nuance that the teacher adds to the song.  It could be just a sound that is not normally made, a word not usually spoken, or it could be the addition of a different step or the removal of a step, it could just be their way of cueing that makes it different.  Whatever the difference it is so invigorating to do what you know a little differently.  I also love doing the unknown.  I don’t know all of the Nia routines and I love to get to dance katas I don’t know.

At the same time a Nia Jam is perfect for someone new to Nia because they get to dance with many different teachers and experience different styles.  They also can witness the warmth of the Nia community.  New participants can also enjoy the astronomical energy that is present at Nia Jams.  They can also confirm that Nia students and Nia teachers do sweat as Nia is a moving grooving cardio dance exercise.  They can corroborate what I have been sharing — a great workout does not have to be done extremely fast and hard it can be done with movements of the whole body.

Monday in class my students were still talking about the Nia Jam.  It was THAT fun!  It was THAT energizing.  It was great!  I know Nia is a great workout.  I invite you to go to a class, one of mine (click for schedule) or one you find near you (click for worldwide listings), but I implore you to go to a Nia Jam.  If there is one not far from you, go.  You will enjoy it for all the reasons I mentioned above, for reasons I have not mentioned, and for reasons of your own.  Nia Jams are always fun and the Nia Jam for the South Bay on the Peninsula did not disappoint!

For more pictures go to: http://www.helpyouwell.com/nia-jams.html

Posted in Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

I’ve Been Here Before

Posted by terrepruitt on September 14, 2010

Presently I live in San Jose and teach Nia Classes in San Jose.  I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area all my life.  When I was growing up I used to tell people I lived in Santa Clara and they had no idea where that was.  So I would say, “San Jose?” and if I still received that look then I would say “San Francisco?” and most of the time I would then see a spark of recognition.

When the dot com boom happened that kind of helped put “Silicon Valley” on the map and is comprised of a few places most notable cities are Cupertino, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Mountain View.  A lot more people had heard of Santa Clara and San Jose after that.  We weren’t known only in the shadow of San Francisco any longer.  It was nice to not have to go through the entire San Francisco Bay Area to explain where I lived.

Now I find myself in that same exact “place” with Nia.  I tell people I teach Nia and I get a look back.  Most have not hear of it.  So we go through the, “Is it like Zumba?”  and I want to say:

Yes, Nia is EXACTLY LIKE Zumba: we get a workout via dance,we exercise to music, we sweat, we have fun, we work out muscles, we shimmy, shake, and gyrate, oh, except we do it in bare feet, to a variety of music, participants are encouraged to do it as their bodies allow, and there is a body-mind connection.

But most often say:  It is sort of like a Zumba class and sort of like a Jazzercise class in that we move to music.  Nia is a cardio workout with no impact. It is fun and unique because Nia incorporates moves and concepts from nine different movement forms a few being Tai Chi, Jazz Dance, and Yoga.

When they hear that, then they ask, “So it is Yoga?”  :-)

I was just reminded of the explaining-where-I-lived portion of my childhood when I was with a group of Nia Teachers recently.  Made me laugh when I thought about the going through the same type of thing when talking about Nia.  Yay, at least I am in a familiar place.  :-o

Posted in Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Cooking For Days

Posted by terrepruitt on July 10, 2010

I like to cook.  I like to go into the kitchen, have some ingredients, put them together and have something to eat.  I like that.  I think it is cool.  But cooking is not like Nia in the sense that: Nia I like to do every day, cooking I do not.  When I cook, I like to cook in a way that leaves us with leftovers.  I know a lot of people that won’t eat leftovers and I kinda don’t understand that, but . . . to each their own.  I LOVE leftovers.  Some, like pasta, are even better the next day.

My husband doesn’t mind leftovers.  That makes him really easy to cook for.  But at the same time I don’t want him to have to eat the EXACT same thing a few nights in a row.  So one thing I do to allow me to cook once but not leave us eating the EXACT same thing for a few days is I cook chicken in foil packets.  Yup, just like those aluminum foil ladies on TV showed us.

This also enables me to get one more servings out our a “two serving” bag of chicken.  (From Costco the boneless, skinless Foster Farm Chicken Breasts are packaged in twos—-hmmmmm . . . . ? . . . )  I separate the chicken onto foil pieces then I just put whatever seasonings, spices, fruit, sauces, veggies I want in each package.  I have to label them because my husband is not a fan of teriyaki and I am.  Plus he likes spicy hot and I don’t.

So then I cook them up and we have chicken for a few days.  Even though it is chicken it is not that same flavor chicken every night.  Then each night I can cook up different veggies, and either rice or pasta.  Or we might throw the chicken in or on a tortilla, or maybe even on some bread.  Either way it makes making dinner that night much easier and faster.  I love it.

Come join me for a Nia class in San Jose and see why I like to do it every day.  And here, share with me your thoughts on cooking every day or leftovers.  Do you like leftovers?  Do you cook every day?

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments »

Apricots and Plums – Peaking

Posted by terrepruitt on June 22, 2010

Someone pointed me in the direction of this great map that indicates what fruits and vegetables are at the peak of the season in a particular state in a particular month.  I need assistance with that because I have never learned that.

This month it is June.  I’m in California.  Not only am I in California, I am in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay Area.  In the South Bay.  I have said before that we are very fortunate here in the San Jose Area because we have great weather.  The map does not give specific locations as to what grows where, but I was able to get some plums and apricots off of a friend’s tree(s) (They didn’t come off of the same tree).

I ate only one apricot.  I will save the rest for my hubby because he likes them more than I do.  It was very good.  Very sweet and rich.  The plums are in varying stages of ripeness.  But so far all of the ones I have had are sweet and delicious.  I had a couple for breakfast before my Nia class this morning.

I am thinking of different ways we can eat the plums.  Besides just popping the entire thing in our mouths.  Since even the ones that aren’t that ripe are sweet I was thinking I could cut some up and throw them in a green salad.  No matter the ripeness I could put them in an aluminum foil package of chicken or pork and cook that.  Mmmm.  I think that I am going to do a lot more cooking with fruit this summer, just to try new things.

Do you cook with fruit?  What fruits and vegetables are in peak season right now in your state?

Posted in Food, Fruit | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments »