So today (July 31, 2010) was the Nia Jam and it was the third one that I have taught in. Cool. It was awesome. I just have to say, “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” I know many of you feel this way because I see you post it in blogs, on Facebook, and in tweets. Just “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” When you are with people doing what you love and they are doing it too! The Nia Jam was so beautiful and awesome. There were teachers from all over and we just danced—-and our students let us and they followed along. It was magical.
One of the creators of Nia is retiring at the end of this year. I must admit that I don’t really believe it (yes, probably denial). I mean, I believe he is leaving and I understand that, but I don’t believe that he will not be pulled back—by his own heart—into being involved somehow. I can understand that he is ready to move away from the day-to-day and all that it must involve, but I have hope that he will be doing it somehow. I picture him teaching in the city to which he is moving. I guess I will see.
The focus of the Nia Jam today was a celebration of Carlos AyaRosas. We did a jam using katas from his routines. Our intent was a thank you and a gathering of “Carlos” energy. I felt that we did a great job. I felt that our hearts were alive with gratitude for the dances he has created for us and for Nia. I felt there was a lot of “Carlos” energy! I have a feeling that he would have been honored and he would have been proud of us for sharing our love of Nia using his katas.
A Nia Jam is a great way to experience Nia. Teachers gather to co-teach. Once the music starts we just go. There is a trick sometimes to doing the microphone handoff, but it all works out in the end. Today is was joy, it was magic, it was fun, it was Nia. It was exactly what a jam should be. I like to think it is what Carlos had in mind when he created the katas we danced today.
Thank you, my Fabulous Nia Teachers. And thank you, Carlos for all that you have given to Nia.
Here is one song, this is not an example of Carlos’ choeography, because it is a Free Dance. I didn’t want to miss one minute of his dances. I could only bring myself to record a Free Dance. 🙂
I often find myself defending Twitter when I meet new people. In this world of multiple social media networks, the subject of FaceBook, Twitter, and Yelp often come up. We start talking then usually someone says, “I’ve never gotten into Twitter. I mean, really (!?!?) who wants to know what I had for lunch? And I certainly don’t care about what others had for lunch?!?!” That is not the only thing Twitter is about.
First of all, that is a Twitter stereo-type. Not ALL tweeple tweet about what they had for lunch. But those that do often get a lot of responses. If you are in a circle of people that are foodies they LOVE tweets about food! ANY MEAL AT ALL. My hubby (@JohnPruitt) used to tweet and Facebook pictures of his lunch every day. Now he actually takes lunch from home and people miss his pictures. They ask him if he is on a diet, if he is sick, they miss it. EVERYONE eats. Not everyone has the opportunity to eat what is available to us in San Jose and the Bay Area and they enjoy seeing all the different things. Food really brings people together.
What I was thinking about the other day was when someone tweets me out of the blue and says, “I thought about you . . . .” WOW! People I know only through Twitter THINK about ME! How cool is that? I love that someone out there is thinking about me. I love it when it is silly, “I was thinking about you because I was wearing blue.” I love it when it is related to healthy eating, “I was thinking about you as I ate my salad.” I love when it is about kitties, “I saw a cat and thought about you and your cat.” I love when it is about Nia, “I went to a Nia class today and I thought about you.”
Yes, I started using Twitter to promote Nia and my business. I have made business connections and friends. I have actually made some connections. Funny enough, with this post half written (up to this very point – no lie!) I had a DM* conversation with a friend today. She was asking if I thought it were possible to have “real” friends on Twitter. Ones that you only knew through Twitter. My thinking on that is “you betcha!”
Maybe the definition of “real” is different, I don’t know. But I know that I know more about a lot of my friends on Twitter than I know about my friends I have in person. I talk more to some of my Twitter friends than I do my “in person friends”. So . . . . . to me, as I always say . . . Twitter is what you make it. Connections are out there to be made. Either you know because you are on it, or you will see when you get there. It is soooooo AWESOME (inspiring, and humbling) to have someone tweet, “I was thinking about you today!” Gives me the warm fuzzies.
*DM = Direct Message
(Oh, and puleeeaase! You think I am going to write a post about Twitter warm fuzzies and not put this most excellent tweet that I received one day in my post. Ha! That would be unacceptable. Thanks, Dani!)
The 10th Principle of the Nia White Belt is X-Ray Anatomy. When I first heard this I thought, “What? Do the people that do Nia think they have X-Ray Vision?” But that is not the case at all. (Whew!) To put it in its simplest form it is a way to see the body.
In Nia we study anatomy. We do not study it to the extent of doctors, but we read books and use tools to help us learn how the bones act as the frame and support of the body; how the bones protect organs, and how the bones connect. We examine the joints and how they move. Each type of joint: the hinged joints, the ball and sockets, etc. moves differently We notice how they move and how they allow movement. We also look at how the muscles move the bones, with contractions. In addition, we think about the connective tissue, believing that in order for it to be healthy it must move and be supple.
Focusing on how the body was designed to move and appear allows us to “x-ray” beneath the skin using our intuition, our knowledge, and our eyes to possibly see areas that could use attention. For example shoulders in general should be level. Rounded shoulders could be weak muscles in the back not holding the back up and shoulders back, or tightness in the muscles in the front. Level hips is the original design, barring injury, hips off kilter could be a matter of weak leg muscles on one side. See how that can work?
Looking at our bodies using our X-ray Anatomy can assist us in seeing and learning what our bodies need. Seeing what our bodies need give us the opportunity to give them what they need. When we have an idea of what our bodies need it enables us to practice Nia in the way that best suits our needs. Working out in a way that our bodies actually need makes working out enjoyable and makes you feel great.
On the way home from a little Nia class / meeting in Danville I starting craving a salad. All the way home to San Jose (its about an hour) I kept thinking of what ingredients I would need. I didn’t have the recipe with me, but since it is so easy I remembered the few things I needed to get. Recently I went to a little party where the hostess had made a bean salad. It had two things in it I REALLY don’t like, one thing I don’t like, one thing I love in teeny tiny pieces, and one thing I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (not including the spices). So on my quest to learn how to like bean and get some legumes in my diet I decided to make my friend’s TWO bean salad recipe.
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 large red pepper – chopped (big or small, you decide)
½ large sweet onion – cut small square sizes
¼ to ½ bunch cilantro – cut ½ inch size
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon fine ground black pepper
1 ½ teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
3 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
Drain the beans, mix everything together. Like most salads it is better when the flavors have mixed so wait an hour or so, then eat. Yum!
I adjusted the recipe to have MORE bell pepper (can you tell which ingredient I love, love, love?), I used a little more salt because I bought these really low sodium beans. I mean compared to the other two brands I looked at these had about one third of the sodium. I like that idea, but I also know that if it doesn’t have a good enough flavor for me I won’t eat it, so I actually put in 1 teaspoon plus two sprinkles. I didn’t have granulated garlic so I used garlic powder and I probably put in more than 2 teaspoons. I cannot tolerate pepper, but I loved her salad and she said she put in a lot of pepper so I sprinkled pepper in. I also used 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar.
I am sure this is an easy thing for people to make, but I have NEVER, EVER, EVER liked a bean salad before so this recipe just thrilled me. Ya see, I REALLY don’t like cilantro either, but I think the kidney beans and the cilantro work to “cancel” each other out. Ha! I don’t know, but I like this salad. I hope you do too.
Since I am on a quest to learn to eat (and like) beans, do you have a recipe that you would like to share to help me out?
Beans are so good for you. I don’t like beans. Well, I like green beans. I like hummus. I can sometimes tolerate garbanzo beans in a green salad, but if there are too many, I push them off to the side. I don’t like legumes.
According to all the information I have seen in my fact finding mission for this post: beans help lower “bad cholesterol” by helping it out of the body. Beans have an excellent amount of fiber (really excellent amount fiber). Beans have a lot of protein. The ratio of fat to proteis is awesome. These are some of the reasons I think I need to learn like beans.
Let’s look at two examples the kidney bean and the garbanzo bean (also known as chickpeas)
Kidney beans – 1 cup has
Calories: 225
Protein: 15.3g
Carbohydrate: 40.4g
Total Fat: 0.88g
Fiber: 11.3g
Iron: 5.2 mg
Magnesium: 80 my
Folate: 229 mcg*
So you might think this post is about chocolate and bacon–that is what the title might lead you to believe. That is because I could not bring myself to state the truth; chocolate COVERED bacon. Just the thought of it makes my stomach kind of contract. I will be honest, I LOVE bacon. I really do. One time I was making something for a party that required bacon and I was jumping up and down saying to my husband, “Do you know what this means? It means we have bacon!” Ya see I don’t eat bacon that often because it is just not something I consider needed to be a part of a healthy diet. So I was very excited to have to cook it for a recipe which would mean there would be at least a piece left. After I cooked it and gave him some my husband realized why I was so excited. It is yummy, but we don’t eat it often.
Chocolate, I am ok with. I am not a chocoholic and I can live without it. And some chocolate is DEFINITELY better than others.
I was talking with my friend about chocolate covered bacon and I was saying how disgusting I thought the thought of it was. So, being an evil person disguised as a great person (ha, ha!) she bought me a piece. She was walking down the street and was overwhelmed by the smell of bacon and realized it was coming from a candy shop. So she bought me one.
She gave it to me and I just couldn’t eat it. Just the THOUGHT of it grossed me out. I put it away and forgot about it. When I remembered it, my stomach did a cramping like flip-flop. Ewwww. Just the thought of it grosses me out. What a horrendously unhealthy combination.
No, yes, however you say that, I am NOT the epitome of healthy eating, but I try to avoid the things I feel are the really glaringly obvious unhealthy stuff. So my tummy was NOT wanting to try it.
As I was taking it out of the bag to take picture I noticed a piece broken off. I tasted it. It really doesn’t taste like anything but salty chocolate. After I took the pictures I ate the small piece and let hubby have the other one. This chocolate happens to be one of the ones I think it better than others. But I couldn’t really taste the bacon as bacon.
To me, if I am going to eat bacon and have those calories and fat I want to eat the bacon and taste the bacon and enjoy the bacon. Eating it covered in chocolate is a waste to me . . . but that is just me. Everyone eats how they want and this is not how I choose to eat. So chocolate covered bacon will not be one of the foods I have as a treat.
What about you? Have you tried it? Do you like it? What chocolate covered salty food (or?) have you tried as a treat?
While I was doing Nia today, I was thinking of that yummy mango-cucumber salad (have you tried it yet?). I had a thought about the lemon leftovers. If you have seen a few of my posts you might have noticed that I really try not to be wasteful. I think that as a society we are pretty wasteful so I know I do my share, but when I can come up with ways that allow me to re-use something I like it. Guess what, you can do a few of things with the lemons that have been used for the salad.
You can zest the lemons. The outside colored part of the lemons can be used for many things. (Hmm, I think I see another blog post at of just that.) I would think it would be easier to zest before you squeeze all the juice out of the lemon, but that is just me.
You can use what is left of the lemon to try to “bleach” stuff. For me I use it to lighten any darkness that might be on my kitchen grout. It doesn’t always work on a dark-dark stain, but on anything light it usually does. Often times I leave it for a few hours, but remember it is an acid so it might eat through some of the grout . . . so like most things you are trying for the first time test it in a small unseen area to make certain you can live with the results.
Or just take the lemon portion that has been squeeze and run it over your counters or your sink—-provided the surfaces can tolerate something like that. Then wipe it down with a damp towel you might have the fresh sent of lemon in the kitchen. I have tile on which I do that, but I do not do it on my granite.
Then when you are all done using as much as you can out of that little lemon put it in your garbage disposal. As long as your garbage disposal works well at grinding rinds that helps clean it and leaves a fresh sent in the kitchen. Especially if you run the disposal at the same time you run some warm/hot water–it fills the kitchen with lemony scent.
In Nia our sixth principle for the White Belt is the base. #6 The Base; Feet and legs. I sat down to write and as I was searching for something to post about it dawned on me that base came up yesterday and today. It is a different type of base yet a base is a base so there can be a connection, but in this post I am just going to share the things that came up and later write more on the Nia White Belt Principle #6 in another post.
Yesterday I was out with a friend and we were eating something that she just found divine. She is one of those creative-in-the-kitchen-people and also trained in the kitchen. She was breaking down this item. She was tasting it and eating and trying to discover what it was. She came up with what she thought it was and then we both lit up when we realized that once she had that—the base, we could do whatever we want with it. We could make any flavor we want. It could become the condiment to end all condiments. It was awesome. Something you know but when you come across it and see how it can blossom into something or so many other things it is fun to be reminded that things start with a base.
Today, I joined a small group of Nia White Belts to learn some music and work on a routine. There are not as many Nia teachers down in my part of the Bay, the South Bay as there are in the North Bay and the East Bay so whenever I get to meet with them I get very excited. We went through the steps that we were taught to go through when learning a routine. We did the first step in the process. Then after a couple of times of dancing the song it was clear we pretty much had the base down. The person leading the group started to say, “Or you could . . . .” “Have the class do this . . . . ” so there is was again . . . the base. In this case we had the base steps down and once we had that we are free to play a little more. We can play with speed, levels, or even changing the moves.
I just think it is so interesting that I have had two very strong reminders of the importance of the base. It is important to have a strong base. It give your strength and security which will allow you room to grow. Cool. Fun. I love it.
That was my day. How about you? Any “base” examples you can thing of? Anything else you want to share? Do you have any stories of a “base”? Maybe a weak base story to help support the idea of how important a strong one is?
Typically when I think of salad I think of a GREEN salad, a salad with lettuce. Salad, however can be made up of a variety of things. I am in the habit of saying “salad” for green salad and vegetables then saying “pasta salad”, “fruit salad”, “potato salad”, etc. for other salads. We have a salad every night when we eat at home. If we dinner at home 25 nights out of the month 20 of them will be with salad.
But sometimes I don’t have lettuce. So I do on occasion just make a veggie salad. Basically the same things I would put in a green salad but without the green of the lettuce. Here in this picture, there are cucumbers, red and green bell peppers, onions, and it looks like a little feta cheese. Maybe it could be considered a Greek Salad. I didn’t think to put olives in it. But it was good anyway.
Do you eat salad? What kind? What is your favorite? What do you like to put in your Green Salad?
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?
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