Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

  • I teach yoga, Nia, and stretch online!

    ALL CLASSES ARE ON ZOOM AT 10:00 AM PDT

    Tuesday Gentle Yoga 

    Wednesday Nia

    Thursday Stretch

    Please see my website for details!

    I am also available for private Nia / yoga / Personal Training all virtual, of course!

  • Unknown's avatar

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

  • My Bloggey Past

  • ******

    Chose a month above to visit archives, or click below to visit a page.

Archive for February, 2015

Next Entries »

Exciting New Old Practice

Posted by terrepruitt on February 5, 2015

I have been teaching Nia since 2009.  Just now, this year, this month, I decided to send a monthly e-mail.  I HAVE sent e-mails in the past, but I have never done it on a schedule.  I have never sent an e-mail on a MONTHLY basis.  In the past I have sent e-mails when I had an announcement or when I wanted to wish my students a happy holiday or when I felt I needed to remind them of something.  But I just decided in the middle of last month that I was going to send a monthly e-mail.  It somewhat came about when I wanted to promote the Nia Class and Playshop I am producing in March.  It also came about when a group of us were talking about people that we have not seen in a long time.  I was asking the group of Nia participants if they saw so-and-so.  Because sometimes the people could stop coming to the Nia classes but still attend other classes.  The people I was asking about, I was told, had not been seen at other classes either.  So then we started talking about being able to contact them.  It has been suggested in the past that the venues should give me people’s information.  I am not comfortable with third party hand-offs.  Of course, no one is under any type of obligation whatsoever to tell me where they are and what they are doing when they stop coming to a class.  But I – we, the other students and I  would like to let people know that they are missed.  So I decided to ask for people’s e-mail address so I could have a way to contact them.  The classes for which I rent the studio, I have always requested a e-mail addresses.  But requesting them in this type of setting is new for me.

There are a lot of reasons someone might stop attending a class.  And honestly, it is not necessarily my business, I don’t need to know why you stopped coming.  But I really do have a desire to let you know that we noticed and we miss you.  When someone lets me know they are thinking about me, it makes me happy.  So I think it would be nice to let someone know that we are still holding class and we miss their energy or style they used to bring.

I asked my students what they wanted to received:  monthly e-mails, special e-mails, love notes.  They all said, “What are love notes?”  And I replied, “E-mails tell you I love you.”  Some of them had quizzical looks in response.  Some were completely ok with that.  I did explain that sometimes I just wanted to say thank you or let them know I was thinking about them.  Or sometimes I might inquire as to their status.  And I mentioned some of our fellow participants that are no longer here and they nodded. The monthly e-mails are going to consist of announcements, tidbits, and links to my blog posts.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoThis monthly e-mail format is flexible, it might change.  I might not have anything to announce one month so I might use that space as a reminder.  The tidbits will be little bits about Nia, exercising, nutrition, a quote, etc.  It will be a short e-mail and it will be skimmable. Recipients will be able to skim it quickly.  There will be links to information in case you want more.

I am so blessed to have such great students.  We have fun.

I am excited about this new thing.  I know that many people send out monthly e-mails, I get them.  I know this is something I probably should have been doing since the beginning, but I didn’t, I am doing it NOW.

Would you like to receive the monthly e-mail?  If so indicate that in the comment.  You enter your e-mail address when leaving a comment.  So that is the one I will use if you ask to be added.  No one else sees that information.  Do you receive any e-mails monthly?

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

Finger Flicks – A Nia 52 Moves

Posted by terrepruitt on February 3, 2015

I did not intend to write a blog post on all of the 52 Moves in Nia.  My intent was to post a few and entice you into buying The Nia Technique Book.  It seems as if I just might get to all of Nia’s 52 Moves on my blog.  It so happens that sometimes I am at a loss as to what to post, so I turn to a move on the list of 52 Moves.  Or sometimes I am intrigued by one the moves because it is in a routine that I am currently dancing with my students.  Or I am intrigued by of the moves that it is in a Nia Routine that I danced with another Nia teacher.  OR I am intrigued by of the moves even though it is NOT in a Nia Routine – as in, it is not part of the original choreography, but we do it anyway.  That is the fun thing about Nia Routines and the 52 Moves.  You can kind of put them in anywhere.  And, I will say it again, because I think it is important to state that the moves that Nia includes on their list are not unique to Nia.  Nia is not claiming to have created them.  Also, it is nice to know that you will experience moves in Nia that you have experienced before.  The moves are on the lists and included in Nia Routines because there are benefits to doing them.  Some of them are so simple the benefits could be overlooked.  Some of them might seem odd to have included on a list of moves done in a dance exercise class.  But they have benefits.  One move that is simple and might seem random to have in an exercise class is Finger Flicks.

Yeah, you read that right, Finger Flicks.  Flicking your fingers.  This move can be done so many different ways.  Fast, slow, high, low, fingers up, fingers down, with an emotion, without an emotion, with the music, against the music, so many possibilities.  The benefits of this move include conditioning the muscles of the forearms and hands.  If you really use your thumb to resist the fingers the move contracts the forearm muscles and makes your fingers work!  The Nia Technique Book states that this move helps rid the hands of tension.

The how-to is simple enough.  I bet you know it already.  You form a loose fist with your hand, keeping the thumb on the outside of the fingers.  Then push with all four fingers against the thumb.  Allow your thumb to resist.  Then let your fingers push through.  Practice this move with your hand at different levels-as in high above your shoulders, at the same level as your shoulder, below your shoulders.  Let your arms hang, hold them out . . . in other words flick your fingers all over.  Use one hand, then the other, then both.  Just flick, flick, flick, flick.  Try doing it how I mentioned, fast, slow, high, low, fingers up, fingers down, with an emotion, without an emotion, with the music, against the music,  play with the possibilities.

You can practice this move while dancing around your home.  You probably do this move without even thinking about it after washing your hands.  You could probably check the mirrors above the sink to verify it.

Are you familiar with finger flicks?

 

Posted in 52 Moves (of Nia), Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Next Entries »