Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

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Archive for April, 2015

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Crystal Breath

Posted by terrepruitt on April 7, 2015

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, PiYoThe Special Nia Events that I held at the end of March were held at a dance studio in Campbell called Range of Motion.  Well, the owner of the dance studio opened a store next door called Range of Wellness.  It sells supplements in the form of vitamins, minerals, and protein powders.  It  has a few lotions and shampoos.  It even has a few things for pets (treats, supplements, shampoos).  When I was there completing business with the owner I noticed there was some essential oils on her desk.  She just got them in.  I picked up Crystal Breath and loved the way it smelled.

I didn’t even know what it claimed to do but I loved the way it smelled so I wanted it.  I use my oils as aroma therapy.  The “therapy” part can be loosely defined.  I usually just go by the smell I feel like smelling at the moment.  That is why I purchased the Crystal Breath without knowing its intent.  It smells so good.

It is manufactured by a company new to me called Nature’s Fusion.  The blend contains eucalyptus dives, laurel leaf, peppermint, ravensara, eucalyptus radiata, lemon, rosemary, tarragon, tea tree.  The bottle does say is is a respiratory blend, which means nothing to me.  It is somewhat “mentholatum-y”, so I thought it might help with clearing sinuses.  The company’s website says:

“This blend opens pathways and increases clarity.

Clear breathing, odor control

Usage Methods: Apply to hands and breathe deeply, diffuse, rub in a 5% dilution on chest or upper lip

Research & Fun Facts

  • Filling a room with Crystal Breath can be a great way to eliminate other odors.
  • Apply to hands and breathe during intense activity or respiratory stress for open thoughts and increased clarity.
  • Some people suffer from asthma, or exercise-induced asthma. During an asthma attack, the airways tighten and close, restricting air supply to the lungs. Drinking plenty of fluids, slowly warming up to physical activity, practicing active relaxation techniques, and breathing moist, warm air can help reduce dangerous attacks.
  • In a pinch, Crystal Breath works as a topical deodorant. Dilute in water or alcohol and apply sparingly.”

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, PiYoI’d like to point out, the website does NOT say this essential oil blend is good for people with asthma.  The website just has facts:  “Some people suffer from asthma, or exercise-induced asthma. During an asthma attack, the airways tighten and close, restricting air supply to the lungs.”  And then states what probably most asthma sites, doctors, and asthma suffers would recommend.  This is an important thing to notice . . . this site is not making a claim regarding asthma, although it is claiming that applying it to hands will open thoughts and increase clarity.

I just like the way it smells.  I have put it on my wrists to allow me to smell it as I breathe.  I cannot attest to it opening my thoughts or increasing clarity, but I can say it makes me smile because l like the fragrance.

Since it is one of the few oils I have actually applied to my skin, I have bothered to add it to a candle to burn.  I just dab some on my wrists.  The other oils I don’t “wear”, I put drops in my candles.  So I don’t know what the effect is in a burning candle.

So, there you have it, a new to me oil blend.  What about you?  Are you using essential oils?  What blends do you like? 

Posted in Essential Oils | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Cancelling A Tradition

Posted by terrepruitt on April 4, 2015

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, PiYoWell, I just had to do it. And it is making me kind of sad.  But apparently it has been a long time coming.  I wrote about it in 2011.  So, it has been five years.  It is an end of an era.  As I typed the letter I remembered a time when I waited to open the package until my husband got home.  It was an exciting moment for me.  It was like a big reveal.  He did not care as much as I did, but it was exciting to me.  Every year I would get excited to see what pretty design they used for the snowflake.  What color the “gems” would be.  But the last two years I opened it with trepidation.  Was I going to have to go through the trouble of sending it back?  Well, this year, I didn’t have to go through the trouble of sending it back because when I called and said it was not acceptable they just said to discard it.  And they sent me a new one.  Yeah, I dreaded opening it too.  And for good reason.  The “gems” are all crooked and not quite where they should be.  My Lenox ornaments are something I collected.  They were something I treasured.  Well, this was it.  I am cancelling my annual snowflake subscription.  I really don’t see the point in paying for something of which the quality continues to get worse and worse.  So I am sending off a letter of cancellation.

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, PiYoSilly, I know.  But, to me it is always a little sad when a well loved tradition must be stopped.  There are many reasons traditions and customs must change.  Some of those reasons are good.  But when something has to stop because it just isn’t worth it any longer, that is sad.  I could continue to receive them and have that feeling of dread when I do.  I think the package actually sat on my counter for a few days before I even bothered to open it this year.  See?  Not that same.  Not the same as being so excited to open it you want to share the experience with your loved one.  Not.  The.  Same.

I know this is silly, but . . . . since I brought it up a few years ago, I thought I might as well do a follow up.  Plus, if you have seen any of my pictures at Christmastime you have seen my Lenox ornaments.  They are so pretty and sparkly I always take photos of them and I always share.  So, you are familiar with my love of them.  Sigh.

Handcrafted really is not a good selling point unless the quality of it is good.  And, the boxes say, “American By Design”.  Means nothing, especially when the quality is bad.

When I think about cancelling, I don’t want to.  I still want to receive my pretty ornament each year.  But then when I think about the dread and the quality I have been receiving . . . I just gotta do it.

Perhaps there is another collector type of ornament I can collect?  Do you have anything you collect?

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

Dancing, Learning, Posting, Editing

Posted by terrepruitt on April 2, 2015

Nia has been a cardio-dance workout since 1983.  It is not as well known as some other cardio dance exercises.  So when we have events, such as Nia Jams, Playshops, Plearns, Workshops, Intensives, Master Classes in addition to attending and enjoying these events I ALWAYS think of those things as opportunities to take pictures and videos.  I always think that the pictures and videos can be posted on social media so that we can “get Nia out there” so it becomes more well known.  The videos and pictures are meant to show people how fun it is.  The pictures and videos are to show that it is a workout.  The videos and pictures are meant to show people how anyone can do Nia.  I was so caught up in getting people signed in and getting things ready to go for the Nia Class that I recently produced, I neglected to ask permission to take and post pictures and videos.  But . . . I also had it in my head that it is well known that while we do our Nia events we want to have pictures of them to promote our Nia events.  Well . . . . this is the result of me not doing due diligence and gaining permission BEFORE taking the pictures and the videos.  These are some of the pictures and videos from the Nia Class on Friday, March 27, 2015.  I have posted other pictures where I had to block someone out, but never videos.  It takes a long time, so this is the end result of a non-professional video editor (me).

As I stated in my post, What Did Frankie Say?, on Saturday after the Nia Class, Jason Alan Griffin, a First Degree Nia Black Belt is travel the United States presenting his Nia routine he calls Frankie Say Nia.  I didn’t do well, at all, with the dressing in the 80’s style, but I did think the animal print would work.  My little head top pony-tail was supposed to be a tribute to the “BIG HAIR” of the 80’s.  I didn’t bother actually doing my hair up in that BIG way because after the first song it would have just been flat.

Nia IS a cardio-dance WORKOUT and the routine followed the classic Nia style with all seven cycles of a Nia workout.  And in keeping with the seven cycles this routine has a focus and an intent.  The focus being the Creative Hand and Arm Expressions.  The intent is to allow us to relax into personal power.

The routine is full of fun and familiar songs, except the last three.  There were three songs in the Floorplay section and the first one just struck me as odd.  I don’t mind dancing to odd music.  Dancing to odd music is fun.  And, in fact, part of the Nia White Belt Training gets us to dance to music that might be considered undanceable by many.  I have yet to come across music that is undanceable, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think some of it is odd.  And it wasn’t so much that it was odd, it was that I couldn’t remember ever hearing it before.  Jason, kindly reminded me again (because I asked him at least three times and couldn’t remember still) that it was Ghost Town by the Specials.  I was also trying to follow the moves and allow myself to dance, so I didn’t even listen to all the words.  It is a very varied song.  I am listening to it now as I type and it is making me laugh!

Regardless of my error in not getting permission beforehand and regardless of the less-than-professional job of “editing”, I believe it is still obvious that fun was had by all.  It was a great time.  I still have the Playshop to post about.  I will get to that eventually.  So stay tuned!  We can’t wait to have Jason back for more Nia.  I will keep you posted so next time you can join us!

EnJoy!

Posted in Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

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