Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

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Archive for October, 2014

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Worst Part Of My Job

Posted by terrepruitt on October 7, 2014

I often tell my students at the end of class that making them get up is the worst part of my job.  I have posted blog posts about savasana.  The restful period of time at the end of a yoga class where you take time to relax letting the body and mind absorb the benefits to be had from the asanas that were just practiced.  Let the body remember the stability and strength.  Give the body time to become accustom the space that was created.  Allow the mind to reflect on the stillness.  Well, in Nia we often end the routine in Floorplay.  Floorplay is either playing with gravity to experience the muscles or stretching or . . . it can be a combination of both.  There are a lot of ways to play on the floor.  There are a lot of ways to end the class.  Our Nia training DVDs have floorplay and ending movements, but they are not choreographed.  So there is a lot of freedom in the last songs.  Nia teachers can either duplicate what the trainer does on the DVD or they can create their own movements to the songs and end the class in their own way.  I know I sometimes do what I sense the class needs so sometimes I lead the class through movements and sometimes I instruct them to do their own free dance.  Often times we end by lying on the floor in a restful pose.  Just like in my yoga classes I don’t like to have to make my students get up.

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 workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesIn the studio I rent, I think that I should rent an extra 30 minutes so we can just lie there.  Sometimes I sense the class could easily just stay there for an extra 30 minutes beyond the one hour Nia class.  In the classes I teach for the San Jose Park and Recs Department, I sense they could do that too, but we need to end on time.  Sometimes there is a class right after us so our restful period is interrupted.  But when it is not, it is a challenge to know when to interrupt the peace.

Recently I taught a class and I really didn’t want to tell them to get up.  The clock in the room was not working so I snuck up to check my phone and as I was returning to the circle I saw such peace and relaxation I didn’t want to bother them.  I toyed with the idea of just letting them stay an extra 5 or 10 minutes.  But without having planned that in advance, I didn’t want someone lying there past the hour and not knowing it.  Many people workout on their breaks so they need to get back to work.  Or they just need to get on with their day.  So as much as I don’t like interrupting their peace and as much as I would like to just let them relax, I need to keep to our schedule.  But it really is the worst part of my job when I feel they would love to just stay.

But, on the other hand, it really is a great part of my job when I can be in the presence of those that can just relax and let go.  After dancing and getting all sweaty it is so nice that they can just take a deep breath and melt into the earth and relax.  I get a huge sense of peace when I am in the presence of their stillness . . . . that is why it is so hard to disturb them.

Do you take moments out of your day to just relax and experience peace?

Posted in Nia, Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Art Of Letting Go

Posted by terrepruitt on October 4, 2014

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 workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesPaint Nite.  Have you heard of it?  I have wanted to do it for a long time.  But it was not in my budget.  It is about $50 for two hours of painting.  But the idea is to have a glass of wine or something and a little snack while painting so it would be . . . . like I said . . . not in my budget.  I kept seeing friends post pictures of their paintings and I kept wanting to go.  I have a friend or two who have done it multiple times.  Then I received an e-mail from Groupon.  The Groupon deal is for $25.00.  Much more affordable . . . but I still hadn’t done it.  Then along comes my birthday.  I have a group of friends who always get together for each other’s birthdays.  We have been doing it since we were eighteen years old.  Well, one of the group moved too far away so not all four of us always make it, but sometimes we do if she is in town.  But anyway . . . . the remaining three of us are always trying to find stuff to do and I thought a Paint Nite would be fun.  But one problem is, it is Paint NITE as in NIGHT.  And one of us three, lives too far to be out that late on a school night.  But one of my friends still decided to give me a Groupon for Paint Nite for my birthday.  I was so excited.  I finally got to go to a Paint Nite.

Upon first hearing about Paint Nite I didn’t realize you can pick the night you go based on the painting that is going to be done that night.  I don’t know if it was different when it first started, but I know when I first heard about it, I was told that you just paint whatever . . . could be there was some miscommunication.  So when I actually looked into it and saw you could pick via painting I was excited.  You can also pick based on artist, date, or location.  So it is really nice.

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 workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesI, of course, picked a blue painting.  It had pink it in, but I would suffer the pink . . . because it was blue with FLOWERS.  Now one reason I wanted to do it is because I wanted to paint.  But another reason I wanted to do it is because there are things that I won’t do unless I can do them a certain way.  But sometimes I do things that I consider practice at letting go and just embracing whatever it is I am doing.  This was my plan for painting.  I had faith in the process, but I didn’t think I would paint all that good.  And I didn’t.  My painting is not one that they would put on the website or even their Facebook page to advertise Paint Nite.  But it is partially on purpose and partially not.

The painting is done in steps so at one point it was close to what the final project is supposed to look like.  But I decided that I didn’t care for the pink and I wanted more blue so I covered most of the pink.  So THAT is one aspect of it that was purposeful.  The fact that my flowers are not white was semi-purposeful . . . but not really.  I purposefully painted my bottom layers thick because I like the texture of thick paint in paintings.  But with only two hours to paint you have to paint thin so the paint can dry and you can paint the other layers.  So — ding, ding, ding!  I learned something.  So, in order to try to cover the bottom layer I used a lot of white . . . .which also translated to thick lines (petals) and so my flowers are more like star fish.  But I learned.  And my painting is blue and that is pretty much all I wanted.  I let go any idea that it was going to be perfect or even good.

I had a great time.  It was not so much about the painting as it was about the company and doing something together.  Now I am on the lookout for another “blue painting”.  The thing is, is they have to be on a night I am available and in my area.  So . . . I am still looking.

I am booked to do a painting with a friend in the future, but the painting was her pick and is not blue.  And with that one . . . I really have to let go of the idea of my painting looking anything like that painting.  Ha!  I am going for the company.  It is going to be super fun!

Have you heard of Paint Nite?  Have you done a Paint Nite?  Will you share a photo of you painting with us?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

More Street Dancing

Posted by terrepruitt on October 2, 2014

Nia is a dance exercise . . . dare I say it?  It is much more if you want it to be.  Otherwise you can keep it just as that, an exercise class that you attend where you dance.  That is fine.  When you attend regularly you will more-than-likely experience more, but you do not have to take it any farther than that.  But . . . since I love dance and I teach a dance exercise class, I am going to post AGAIN about dancing.  I am not writing about dancing in an exercise class at the gym, community center, or dance studio, I am talking about dancing ON THE STREET!  My last post was about dancing on the street.  It was the fun idea of dancing while you are waiting for the crosswalk signal to change.  You can check it out HERE!  This post is highlighting yet another video about dancing on the street.  This time it is about dancing WHILE you are crossing the street.

Now it did cross my mind that some of these people looked almost as if they were doing Free Dance in Nia as they were very absorbed in their dance.  Some looked as if it might actually not be a safe thing to do.  But then I remembered that many people don’t pay attention when they cross the street as it is.  Many people have their face down and they are looking at their phone.  So I don’t feel that dancing while crossing the street is any more dangerous than the “phone-walk”.

This looks just as fun as dancing while waiting.  I think they should come up with a crosswalk sign that is ALL dance.  Dance while you wait, then dance across the street.

I do love how so many people seemed to dance while crossing the street.  So many people seemed to get into the moment and just go for it.  So fun.  I love the girl at the end.  She was completely surprised.  I was thinking that some of these people were “planted” and were dancing as part of the people filming the video.  And that could be true, but that girl’s shoe flying off her foot was not planned.  She was surprised.

Not everyone is into dancing or be what you might call a dancer.  That is one great thing about Nia you don’t have to be experienced in dance you just have to be willing to move.  Could be that you don’t have to dance while waiting for the crosswalk sign to change or you don’t have to dance while crossing the street, but you still could take a moment during your day to enjoy life.  That really is what all of this dancing is about.  The people who like to dance get enjoyment from it so they do so while waiting or crossing.  If dancing is not your “thing” that is fine, take a moment to do something that is.  Do something — if just for a moment — that brings you joy.

I love all this dancing!  Thanks, SoulPancake!  A friend of mine post this one on Facebook.  Have you seen this video yet?

(click the pic to watch the video)

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 workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes

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