I sent this card off to a friend. It was too pretty to not take a picture to save it. It was gorgeous. So sparkly! The photo doesn’t really do it justice, but it at least it will help me remember it.
Archive for January, 2020
Sparkly Fairy
Posted by terrepruitt on January 31, 2020
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Friday Photo, glitter card, pretty card, sparkling fairy, sparkly card | Leave a Comment »
Miss You, Lady
Posted by terrepruitt on January 29, 2020
I wrote a post and as I was editing the pictures that I was going to use when I realized I should just stop and say that today is my mom’s birthday. It is a drag she is not here to get the wishes and the love everyone would have to give her. She is missed.
Posted in Diane Bacho | Tagged: birthday, death 2014, missed loved one, mom | 4 Comments »
#AYogaPoseADay
Posted by terrepruitt on January 27, 2020
Last week I asked my Tuesday yoga class if anyone would be interested in trying a yoga pose a day. I clarified that the idea was for me to just text or e-mail a pose a day. There wouldn’t be any instructions or anything. I asked them to either text or e-mail me if they wanted to participate and that I would send the pose the way they requested. A few of them were interested. So the following day I sent out a pose. Then I realized that I had written a post on a few poses and I thought that I could include that in the text and e-mail just to get us started. I would send the link with the first few. I hadn’t looked up all of the posts that I had written regarding asana but I found a back bend post that had links to posts about back bends so I could include those links with the text/e-mail. I haven’t posted about a lot of poses, but tonight I did look through to see what I had done. We will have a few more poses that can have posts attached to them, but the idea was just to send out a quick idea, “Hey, today do xxxx.” I also extended the invitation to my Thursday yoga class. It has been fun so far.
We haven’t even been doing it a week. I am e-mailing some people and texting some people. Some of us are communicating about it. I just thought it would be fun and it is turning out that way.
So far we have done:
01.22.20 – Bound Angle
01.23.20 – Upward Salute (Urdhva Hastasana)
01.24.20 – Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
01.25.20 – Sphinx Pose (Salamba Bhujangasana)
01.26.20 – Cobra (Bhujangasana)
01.27.20 – Upward dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)
01.28.20 – Stork (oh, this is a spoiler 🙂 )
I had been tweeting it, but not all posts have a picture so my gravatar of me and Nessa was being posted so I stopped tweeting because I hadn’t noticed the way to keep that from posting. I was using #AYogaPoseADay. Tweeting could be something I keep up with now that I see I CAN keep the picture from posting by deleting the preview. I mean Nessa is a cutie, but I understand it gets annoying when every tweet has a picture of her and I. And, as I said, not every #AYogaPoseADay will have a post so that will be good.
I love finding simple ways outside of the class to connect with my students (or others, if you want to join us please do. You can follow me on twitter or asked to have the #AYogaPoseADay e-mailed to you).
The idea is just for me to suggest a pose a day . . . perhaps it is all you do or perhaps it gets adding into the practice you have. The instruction we decided upon was 30 seconds or four breaths. I actually suggested that the students time their breaths just to have an idea of how many breaths they do in 30 seconds or how long four breaths is for them. Then you can play with it from there.
Is there something that you do daily? A daily practice that you have?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: asana, Bound Angle, cobra, Cypress Community Center, locust pose, Pose, Sphinx, Stork, Twitter, Upward dog, Upward Salute, Willow Glen Community Center, Yoga class, yoga poses | 2 Comments »
Big Dog Winery View
Posted by terrepruitt on January 24, 2020
Today’s Friday Photo is a shot from the Big Dog Winery. Great view, wine, and company (both the people pouring and the guests).
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Big Dog Winery, Friday Photo, Milpitas Hills, wine | 4 Comments »
Answers To A Few Questions About Nia
Posted by terrepruitt on January 22, 2020
I think it is time to revisit some things. A compilation of re-visitation. How does that sound? This is in regards to Nia. I have all of this information spread out in various posts on my blog and in various places on my website but I thought I could revisit some information for a post. This will help to get the information out there. I will answer some questions that I have received recently as a new group of people are going to be treated to a Nia class.
How is Nia different than Zumba?
Well, based off of my Zumba and Nia training and based off of the Zumba and Nia classes I have attended the main difference is movement, both speed and type. Zumba is regularly faster. Nia can be fast, but in general is slower than Zumba. Zumba’s movements tend to be more Latin; focusing on movement of the hips and feet, whereas Nia is more of an entire body movement type of dance class. Nia incorporates three art forms into the dance (martial arts, dance arts, and healing arts – more about all of that can be found in the “The Nine Basic Movements Forms Of Nia” post.)
Is it sweaty?
Well, that is based entirely on you, the individual. Some people dance Nia and don’t sweat, it could be that they just aren’t the type of body that sweats or it could be that they really didn’t move enough to sweat. I remember teaching one class years ago and a student came up to me as I was toweling off and said, “You really don’t sweat much in Nia, do you?” As I said, I was toweling off, my hair was wet, I was blind from sweat, and my glasses were fogged up. And I said, “No, no YOU don’t.” Because this person had stood behind me the entire class. I never saw this student’s arms or legs or head. So, in other words, this person didn’t move a lot, this person never lifted their arms up or out, nor did they kick out, so there wasn’t a lot of movement on their part so they didn’t sweat. And that is fine, if that is what your goal is. If you want to go to a cardio dance class and not sweat don’t move a lot. If you are the type of person that sweats when you move and you decide to move in the class, then you will sweat. It really is all about what you want for your body that day, during that class.
What do I wear?
Anything you want in order to feel comfortable. Something you can move in and that you don’t mind being on the floor in.
Is Nia done barefoot?
Yes. Nia is designed to be done barefoot. Again, we do not jump – sometimes a trainer might get fancy and excited and include a little jump or two when s/he created the routine, but for the most part we do not jump. We don’t typically twist on our feet, we pick up our feet. There is a lot of foot work in Nia designed to stretch and strengthen the foot. Nia believes that – while shoes can be lovely – they restrict the movement of the foot, so moving in bare feet allows the foot to move as it was designed.
What type of music is played in a Nia class?
All types of music. Some routines run the gamut of tunes from rock to classical, some routines contain only one genre or one artist but the music for Nia as a whole varies. You can click here and click around if you would like to hear some samples of the actual music in some of our routines.
As a note, people constantly confuse IMPACT with INTENSITY. We had been trained to think we have to move fast with high jumps up and down (impact) in order to get a “good” workout and in order to sweat. But if you stand with your feet in A stance (slightly wider than your shoulders) and do squats for three minutes, you might get a little sweaty. You will have done an INTENSE exercise, but not one that is high impact. Nia is not high impact, yet it can be intense. People who do the moves in their bodies way, always come up to me and say what a great workout they just had in Nia. The routines are created from movements that the body was designed to do, but Nia knows that not everyone’s body can move that way so dancers are encouraged to move in their own body’s way. And with that in mind individuals get the workout they need.
Above I mentioned sweating in a Nia class, well, it could be you do sweat when you workout, but it could be that you are taking a Nia class in the middle of your work day or you are meeting friends for lunch after class so you don’t CHOOSE to move a lot and you want to take it easy – that is perfectly acceptable. It is perfect to dance how you want to/how you are able to at that time.
So, these are the questions that I have received of late. I can go on for pages talking about Nia . . . and I have if you look here on my blog you will find plenty of posts about Nia. Or you can check out my website, here are some pages that might interest you:
Nia Information / Nia Class Cycles / Main Benefits of Nia / Tips for a Pleasurable Nia Experience / Principles of the Body’s Way / Nia Tips for Moving with Nia / Sounding Tips / Nia’s 52 Moves / Nia Belt Levels and Focuses
Also, feel free to contact me if you any other questions or want more information. Yay to new Nia dancers!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Answers to Questions, barefoot, classical music, dance arts, dance class, entire body movement, Healing Arts, high intensity, latin moves, Latin music, low impact, martial arts, Nia, Nia class, Nia Class Experience, Nia dancers, Nine Movement Forms, rock music, sweaty workout, www.HelpYouWell.com, Zumba | Leave a Comment »
Stressing Not Stretching
Posted by terrepruitt on January 20, 2020
I teach a stretch class. In that class we do static stretches that are meant to stretch our muscles. Sometimes to get people into the stretch I use the name of a yoga pose, but because we are stretching our intent is different. If we were actually in yoga doing the pose we would be including breathing and strengthening, but in the stretch class I try to just make it about stretching the muscles. I may have mentioned before, when I started learning Yin Yoga I was frustrated because the names of the poses were different. I kept saying, “Why are the names different? They are the same poses?” Then I realized that the intent of the pose is different. So it really does serve the student better to call it something different. If I were to instruct students to move into Bound Angle, then people that know this pose would pull their feet in as close as they could pressing their knees towards the earth and lengthening the spine, but in Yin calling it butterfly lets them know that they are not doing the same thing as they would be in a yang class. There is no need to pull the feet in as close to the middle as you can get them and press the knees down, the idea is to soften and round, the head and knees hang resting where they are to help the connective tissue stress (FKA stretch). So the names are different to help remind us that the intent is different. We are not working (stretching, strengthening, moving) muscles; we are relaxing muscles and letting our bodies hang into a pose. In Yin Yoga we are not stretching we are stressing.
I often use the same description – stretch – when I am teaching Yin yoga, although that is not the intent. First of all we are focusing on connective tissue and not the muscles, but we still are not trying to STRETCH the tissue. That is what we say, but that it not really what we are doing. Saying we are stretching it does sound better than what we are doing. We are actually stressing it. It seems as if we have been programmed to think that stretching and lengthening are good so that is usually how we describe it. Even when someone goes to the gym they say they are going to “build muscles,” people don’t say they are going to the gym to “break down their muscles” – even though that is actually what they are doing. It is the breaking down of the fibers and the stressing of the fibers that we are actually doing. Then when we rest they build up again or in the case of fascia, return to its normal state stronger and changed for the better.
It is such a habit to say “stretch”. “In Yin Yoga we stretch our connective tissue.” I think I say it because it sounds a little better than stressing. I also keep saying lengthen because it sounds like a goal people want to hear. I think that for many of the people I have encountered stretching and lengthening are goals. Connective tissues doesn’t really stretch out, it gets stressed which helps hydrate it and strengthen it and allow it to move and support us better.
I also feel like some of this is in part due to the fact that many people think of Yin Yoga as Restorative Yoga. Restorative Yoga is more of a relaxing muscle stretching type of yoga. It can help heal the body. There are many props used to allow the participant to lie there in comfort. Yin Yoga is not about comfort. It about stressing that connective tissue which can make the part of the body feel like it aged years over the few minutes you were in the pose. But as long as it is not PAIN or tingling or numbing that is being felt it sounds as if you are doing it right.
In order for the yin pose to be effective it needs to be done for a long time. I was taught that it has to be AT LEAST one minute. But I see some information say it must be longer, but I have also been taught that for many people and for many poses we need to start at one minute because even that is going to feel like an eternity. As the body becomes accustomed to long holds then the time spent in each pose can be longer. I believe the ideal time is from three to five minutes . . . but it also depends on the pose.
Just like with all yoga it is important to listen to the body and not try to compete, the idea is to play the edge yet know when you must stop. Again, we are STRESSING the tissue but we don’t want to stress it past its breaking point. We still must be mindful.
Posted in Yin Yoga, Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: connective tissue, Formaly Know As, mindful, stressing tissue, stretch class, stretching muscles, yang yoga, Yin Yoga, Yoga class | Leave a Comment »
Lion’s Strength
Posted by terrepruitt on January 17, 2020
Sometimes you need the strength of a lion.
Here is another Willow Glen Watercolor for today’s Friday Photo.
And there is this.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Friday Photo, lion, strength, watercolor, Willow Glen Community Cetner, Yoga | 4 Comments »
Marmalade Chicken
Posted by terrepruitt on January 15, 2020
I received some yummy sounding marmalade for Christmas. It was Meyer lemon and ginger marmalade. Immediately I thought of chicken. Would most people think toast? I thought of chicken. Like when I put persimmons on chicken or pork. That is what I thought of. It was perfect because I had been wondering what to cook for dinner that day and when I opened the gift I knew. I went to the store and bought some chicken breasts and had a dinner plan.
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Marmalade Chicken
dry sherry
two chicken breast
marmalade
lavender salt
Preheat the oven to 375° F. Pour a little sherry in your cooking dish – enough so there is about 1/4 of an inch in the dish. Place the chicken in the dish salt the chicken. Flip the chicken over salt the chicken. Spread the marmalade on the chicken. Place dish in the oven.
Now, as you know how, long you cook the chicken really depends on how big the breasts are. I check it after 15 or 20 minutes. Sometimes it needs more time sometimes it doesn’t. But that is it. Just cook the chicken until it is thoroughly cooked and you have some flavorful chicken!
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I had purchased HUGE pieces of chicken so I cut them up. They cook better when they are a little smaller and we don’t need to eat those HUGE pieces all at once.
This was delicious! Thanks again, Lynn for the marmalade!
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: chicken dinner, easy dinner, ginger, Happy Girl Kitchen Co., marmalade, meyer lemon | Leave a Comment »
New Stuff Is Learned, By Experts (And Me) – Part 2
Posted by terrepruitt on January 13, 2020
Oh, thank you for coming back. If you don’t know what I mean, perhaps you want to read part one first. I realize that to some of you this may not be new, but I get excited when I learn something new. I think that is why I love to teach. I want to help people learn stuff and perhaps feel excitement. Here is the rest of what I learned in the latest CPR/AED class that I was required to take.
We were told that through a little survey it was discovered that as high as 65% of first responders didn’t time the chest compressions right. This made me feel very, very, very good. The optimal is 110 compressions per minute. Getting the timing correct is very challenging to me – as I explained – so to hear that even first responders found it challenging was encouraging. To help with this issue in 2019 the 911 system has started using metronomes. There are metronome applications for phones. Download one and set it to 110 beats per minute and there you go. Compress when it ticks. Now there is no having to think about if you are doing it too fast or too slow, just make sure you can hear the metronome and press down when you do!
It has also been discovered that decompression is just as important as compression. There might be a tendency to lean on the chest or not come up enough to allow the chest to decompress and the heart fill with blood. Compressing the chest pushes the blood from the heart to the body and brain. Allowing the chest to decompress lets the heart fill back up with blood so as to not starve it. It is a muscle, it needs blood. So not only we were shown how far to press down we taught to make sure we came up enough. I have never heard that in previous trainings.
Now, for those of you that have taken CPR training you know this, but for those of you that have not one of the things that they emphasize (because it is so important) is to get 911 on its way. So once it has been determined that YES, in fact the person needs medical attention someone is assigned to call 911. And, if you are in a place that has an AED someone is assigned to go get it. That is as much team work as I have ever been instructed upon. One person takes charge and shouts assignments to specific people of calling 911 and getting the AED. Well, two things new to me . . . assign TWO people to go meet the first responders. Fire is going to get there first, so someone needs to bring them to the scene, but then the ambulance arrives, if no one is there to guide them they will not get to the person as quickly as they could then if someone is leading them to the victim. So . . . I would imagine the person calling 911 could be one of the guides.
Then the second thing was make CPR a team effort. If there are other people there that have taken training great! But if not, you can ask someone if they would like to help. Then while you are doing compressions you can instruct them on how to do it, so you can switch when you need a break. Compressions are not easy. They are very tiring. Even if you have your hips over your knees, your arms are straight, your heart is over their heart and you are using your larger muscles (and not your arms) to do the compressions it can get tiring. They say (again with the experts) that after 2 minutes the quality of the compressions starts to degrade. So after 2 minutes – which is 5 sets of 30 chest compressions and 2 ventilations) it is a great idea if you can switch to another person. We practiced working in teams in class. One of us did a set then we switched. The previous classes I took we worked in teams, but only to share a dummy. We didn’t switch off as you would when you need a break. Knowing that I can recruit people to help and not be the ONLY person trying to save someone makes the whole idea of CPR on a non-responsive person less overwhelming. I appreciated that.
In a well populated area it takes roughly 3 to 5 minutes for the first responders to arrive at a location, but it could take them an additional 3 to many minutes to arrive at the scene where the victim is. That could be 6 (at the least) when the person is not getting the blood/oxygen the body needs. So really, if you are doing chest compressions YOU are saving that person’s life.
So, it turns out the class was not as bad as I had thought it would be. I feel I learned stuff. Thanks, Lionheart Safety Training.
Well, are any of those things new to you? What do you think? Are any of these things interesting to you? Have you ever taken a CPR class?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: American Red Cross, chest compressions, CPR certification, hands-only CPR, LionHeart Safety Training, metronome, online training, rescue breaths, ventilations | Leave a Comment »
Faux Friday Photo
Posted by terrepruitt on January 11, 2020
I was busy taking down our Christmas tree and trying to un-decorate yesterday. I got involved and forgot out posting a Friday Photo. It is past the time we normally like to take down Christmas so I as on a mission to get the tree out of the house. When my husband came home from work he jumped right in to help and we were able to get the tree out of the house. Normally I would just skip my Friday Photo, I mean, I didn’t post on Friday so technically it is not a “Friday Photo’. But as I continued to pack up the Christmas decorations I saw this card and it is way too pretty to put away never to be seen again. So I wanted to post it on my blog so I could see it.
I will title this “Faux Friday Photo” so I will know how to find it.
Happy New Year!
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Christmas 2019, Christmas card, Christmas decorations, Christmas Tree, Faux Friday Photo, Friday Photo, sparkle | Leave a Comment »
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