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Archive for August, 2020

Nia White Belt P9 – Upper Extremities – 2020

Posted by terrepruitt on August 31, 2020

Sometimes I laugh when I start to write up my share for the Nia White Belt training. It is so rich there is absolutely no way I can share it all . . . and that is good because it is fun to get more information when you take the training. And with Nia and the Nia 52 Moves there is always more to be had. This week we went over Nia White Belt P9 – Upper Extremities.

The picture shows you Principle 9 as Upper Extremities with the tagline of Creative Expressions. And the definition being Sensory Study of Expression. The triad consists of the fingers, hands, and shoulder girdle. Then we have the spine in the middle because it helps and/or is a part of these movements along with the base and the core. We use our fingers and our hands to express ourselves and communicate, yes? Think about it, many of us “talk with” our hands, we reach out with our hands to comfort and be comforted, we can tell someone to come, go, stop, hurry up with our fingers and/or our hands, things like that. They also can be moved in ways that open and close joints and direct energy. Finger and/or hands can be moved to activate muscles. They can be used as the vehicles to help move our arms. Energy flow or lack thereof can affect our base. The spine can provide stability or enable us to move our fingers, hands, and shoulder girdle. The same with the core, it can provide stability or help us with the engagement of our upper extremities.

There is so much that can be said about each of the Nia 52 Moves individually, it is one of the things that is really fun to experience in a training (as I mentioned and will continue to mention). We review the anatomy (because, remember Nia White Belt is about the BODY) and how the moves move the joints and muscles in the body. I can always revisit any movement and according to my current list of posts I still need to post about a few of the Nia 52 Move that are upper extremities, but for now I will just post the list and links. I also want to state a reminder that the Nia 52 Moves instructions are done int THE BODY’S WAY. It could be that your body will not move that way but after practicing the moves your body starts to move that way OR it could be that your body will never move in the exact way the Nia 52 Moves are laid out. We all have different bodies and sometimes there are injuries or trauma we are dealing with. And sometimes we are just not made to move that way. That is why it is very important to keep BOTH THE BODY’S WAY and YOUR BODY’S WAY in mind when practicing Nia (or any movement for that matter).

The Upper Extremities

Arm Moves (3)
35. Blocks
36. Punches
37. Elbow Strikes

Hand Moves (7)
38. Touching
39. Fist
40. Pumps
41. Strikes
42. Chop Cut
43. Webbed Spaces
44. Palm Directions

Finger Moves (8)
45. Finger Extensions
46. Finger Flicks
47. Creepy Crawlers
48. Spear Fingers
49. Catching Flies
50. Claw Hand
51. Power Finger Crossover
52. Balance Finger

I invite you to click on the links to see how you can do each move. Then practice and play and let me know what you think. Which is your favorite? Which ones do you do throughout your day (Dancing Through Life)? Which ones do you do in YOUR workout?

Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: Nia 52 moves, Nia WB P9, online Nia White Belt Training, Principle #9, Upper Extremities. Nia Technique | Leave a Comment »

Green-Eyed Girl

Posted by terrepruitt on August 28, 2020

This one hates the camera . . . especially when I have it up in her face like that. It probably wouldn’t surprise you that I took about 20 picture and most of them were blurry and her trying to move away from me. Poor girl. I really wanted to get her gorgeous eyes and share them with you for today’s Friday Photo.

Posted in Friday Photo, Teagan and Nessa | Tagged: black cat, Friday Photo, green eyes, sweet girl, Teagan | 8 Comments »

Nia White Belt P8 – Core – 2020

Posted by terrepruitt on August 26, 2020

Nia describes the core as three body weights, pelvis, chest, and head. In the training we are currently studying Nia White Belt P8 – Core | Three Body Weights. Again – at least I think I have mentioned it – since Nia is so rich and it is easy to spend a lot of time on one thing, I somewhat feel our two hours are a little rushed, even though Debbie skillfully got through the entire lesson. It would be easy to spend more time. Not only does Nia study the bone structure of the core (the pelvis, chest, and head) but it incorporates the energies associated with each. So the description of the principle is “sensory study of energy centers.”

First we discussed the Nia 52 Moves associated with the core. There are seven.

PELVIS MOVES (2)
Pelvic Circles
Hip Bumps

CHEST MOVES (2)
Chest Isolations
Shimmy

SPINE MOVES (2)
Undulation
Spinal Roll

HEAD MOVE (1)
Head and Eye Movements

Then we discussed the physical body as is represented by the three points of the triad for Principle 8, pelvis, chest, and head. We reviewed the bones in the pelvis and then moved through the two pelvis move. Since Nia is based on how the body moves we spend a lot of time on how the body is put together. When you understand how the bones move in relation to each other is helps you understand how the body is supposed to move AND, if you pay attention, it can help you understand how your body moves. For many people, when bones are likened to objects it helps with understanding how they function, say the pelvis is a bowl or a container that is meant to hold and contain and ribs are like a cage made to protect. Remembering that the hip joint is a ball and socket and NOT a hinged joint could lead to a smooth gait when picturing the movement as a rolling movement and not a back and forth. So, in Nia, we examine the structures, learn how they are supposed to move according to the way they were designed, and then we move in different ways to allow us to sense our own body’s way.

We spend a bit of time reviewing the Nia Moves and how they can be adjusted in regards to the planes, the intensity levels, and different body’s needs.

Then she spent time connecting the areas of the spine and body with the energy bodies or the chakras.

CHAKRA 1 | Base or Root– Association to Core: Pelvis
It is located at the base of the spine, near the coccyx, in the pelvic area between the perineum and the anus. It’s energy is associated with your legs, coccyx, rectum, and sex organs.

CHAKRA 2 | The Sensual Center (Sacral) – Association to Core: Pelvis
Sacral chakra is located in the lumbar region, just above the sexual organs, and about 2 to 3 inches below the navel. It is above the root chakra. It’s energy is associated with male and female sexuality, survival, and creativity.

CHAKRA 3 | Solar Plexus – Association to Core: Chest
It is located at the mid-thoracic area near your solar plexus. It’s energy is associated with your will, self-confidence, and personal power.

CHAKRA 4 | The Heart – Association to Core: Chest
It is located in the center of your chest, at the first, second, and third thoracic vertebrae. It’s energy is associated with love, compassion, joy, and sorrow.

CHAKRA 5 | The Throat – Association to Core: Head
It is located in your throat at the third cervical vertebra. It’s energy is associated with ability to be expressive, to speak up and stand for yourself and for what you believe to be true and real.

CHAKRA 6 | Brow or Third Eye – Association to Core: Head
It is located at the first cervical vertebra. It’s energy is associated with your connection to your intuition.

CHAKRA 7 | Crown – Association to Core: Head
It is located at the point of your pineal gland. It’s energy is associated with your connection to divine spirit, and soul energy.

She also covered the vowel sounds associated with each chakra, as have I in a previous post.

So along with studying what makes up the physical body, how it is put together, and how it was designed to move, we also studying the energy body. We move in ways to keep the energy flowing and balanced and we can add sounds to help with that. Nia is based on Western science as well as ancient beliefs. Nia White Belt Principle 8 – Core / The Three Body Weights is a very deep principle indeed.

Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: Chakra, chakra energy, chakra vowel sounds, crown chakra, dance class, dance exercise, heart chakra, mind-body workout, Nia, Nia class, Nia Moves, Nia White Belt Principle 8 - 2020, P8, P8 - Core, pelvic chakra, root chakra, solar plexus chakra, The Nia Technique book, third eye chakra, three body weights, throat chakra, Zoom online training | Leave a Comment »

Nia White Belt P7 – Planes + Intensity Levels – 2020

Posted by terrepruitt on August 24, 2020

Ahhhh, Nia White Belt Principle 7, here is where we can really get into YOUR BODY’S WAY. The body was made to move in a certain way – THE BODY’S WAY, but for various reasons not all of us can move as perfectly as the body was designed, so we move in our own way, so we call it Your Body’s Way. Nia White Belt P7 – Planes + Intensity Levels allows us to individualize ALL movement – from everyday getting dressed and doing the dishes (Dancing Through Life) to our Nia practice.

There are three triads for this principle. The main triad has Range of Motion, Speed, and Optimization as the three points with CPT in the middle and movement and measure as wings. The CPT is the Conscious Personal Trainer, this is your body telling you what to do, just like you can hire a Certified Personal Trainer (a CPT) to tell you want to do, you can listen to your body which can tell you want you need. You have movement and the measure of it where you are always observing and adjusting according to what you need. Your range of motion and the speed of the movements are done to optimize your sensations and workout.

Triad one is used to illustrate the Nia Planes. It’s points are High, Middle, and Low, with gravity in the center and sink and rise as wings. Most any movement can be done high, middle, and low. Your whole body can be high, middle, low – standing, sitting, being on the floor. Or you can be on the floor and experience high, middle, low there too. The current Nia White Belt Training book refers to the Hara or body center as a way to measure high, middle, and low.

In Nia there is the smile line. It is up on the ends and down in the middle, like a smile. I think in a routine recently I experienced a FROWN but she called it a smile line, but we were down then went up and down again, like an upside down smile line (frown). You can achieve the smile line by stepping forward – let’s say – and softening at the knees through the step then ending up. Neither the start nor the end need to be in the HIGH plane, but they are higher than the dip of the smile. You can “smile” in an A Stance . . . soft knees and let hips move up on one side, with a little dip in the middle, then up on the other side. So a smile line CAN help you practice both planes and intensity levels.

Intensity levels are additional guides to YOUR BODY’S WAY, this is the third triad with the levels at each corner. In Nia we label the levels, 1, 2, and 3, going from least intense to most. The middle of the triad is YOUR BODY’S WAY with choices and CPT as the wings. You control the intensity of a movement depending upon what you need. It could be that the intensity level is linked with the plane . . . perhaps it is really intense for you to reach really high, but not as intense when you are in the middle and really easy for you to go down or that could be reversed. So intensity is not always tied to planes. Intensity can be applied to in and out It could be that having your arms in and closer to the body is a level 1 intensity, and a little further ways is a level 2, and out far is a level 3. Typically the further away more intense but that also depends on what you are doing. It could be thought of in respect to energy whatever requires less energy would be a level 1 and so on.

With Nia the idea is NOT to always be at a level 3, that is really no way to do a workout or live, in Nia we want to experience ALL the planes and levels. Also, the understanding is there that your high may not be the same every day. Your level 1 can change. Your level 3 may be your level 2 some days. We like to encourage our students to play with all the planes and levels and we understand that everyBODY’s planes and levels are different and that they can be different every time we dance.

Do your workout vary planes and intensity levels?

Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: certified personal trainer, Conscious Personal Trainer, CPT, Nia CPT, Nia Intensity levels, Nia Planes, Nia White Belt Principle #7, smile line, the body's way, your body's way | Leave a Comment »

August 2020 Nessa And Teagan

Posted by terrepruitt on August 21, 2020

Just a sweet pictures of my girls. We have been pretty hot here, the temps are high and the air quality is low. We keep the windows shut. This was a hot evening.

Nessa is in the box and Teagan is next to her for this Friday Photo.

Posted in Friday Photo, Teagan and Nessa | Tagged: Friday Photo, hot cats, Nessa, SCU Lightning Complex Fire air quality, Teagan, wine box | 14 Comments »

Snack For Lunch

Posted by terrepruitt on August 17, 2020

I had pizza dough delivered in our organic produce delivery last week and it shouldn’t sit around too long so regardless of the sweltering temperatures we have been having I have to turn on the oven to cook the pizza. And I like it with mushrooms and lately sausage so I also have to turn on the stove to cook both. With that in mind there was no way I was even using a toaster today for lunch. Sometimes the simple things are good for lunch. Normally I would think of this as a snack, but then again . . . I knew I was having pizza tonight AND I was eating rather late due to the Nia White Belt Training that ends at 2:00 pm PDT. So I just had a snack for lunch.

I had an apple with peanut butter and cheese. Wait, I didn’t combine the peanut butter WITH the cheese and normally I would have one or the other apple with peanut butter OR apple with cheese, but I wanted some cheese and I wanted some peanut butter. So I had a few slices with cheese and the rest with peanut butter.

My husband likes to have peanut butter and banana as a snack. I should say he LOVES to have that. I can’t say that I like it. I will have to try it next time he has it.

What about you? What snacks do you sometimes have as a meal? What do you like to have with your peanut butter? What do you like to have with your cheese? What do you like to have with your apple?

Posted in Food | Tagged: apple and cheese, cool snack, heatwave, Nia White Belt Training Online, peanut butter and apple, pizza | 4 Comments »

Green Beetle

Posted by terrepruitt on August 14, 2020

I forgot to post last Friday. I thought about it as I was sitting down to dinner then completely forgot. And today it is so hot I cannot sit at my computer to find a picture but I am lucky I have two more (one after this one) watercolor photos to post. I am assuming the community centers aren’t open to have watercolor classes and I am not there to see any new ones. But I will enjoy the ones that I was able to see. I hope you enjoy them. Even though I don’t like bugs here is a green beetle for today’s Friday Photo.

Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: beetle, community center classes, community centers, Friday Photo, watercolor | Leave a Comment »

Muscle Clocks And Things

Posted by terrepruitt on August 12, 2020

Often times certifications require continued education. I am reading an interesting book for some of my continued education units. I am rather excited about this book and the information because it is CURRENT! So fabulous! So often the materiel used for continued education is YEARS old. I remember the last CEUs I took that were required by one place I taught . . . the material was so old that it was no longer correct! So we were being taught and tested on information that was out of date. One of the reason continued education is required for many certifications is because things change. With new information being learned about the body all the time the way people exercise and train changes. So it is really helpful when the material we are using has current information. This book is from . . . . wait for it . . . 2020! I can barely believe it. Another reason WHY it is so important to have current material is most of the time the studies that the materials reference are already years old. Research and study takes a long time so it can take a long time for information to be published. Another reason I am so excited about this information is that it is pretty interesting. It is about muscle clocks.

You may have heard of an internal body clock, but did you know our muscles have clocks? You may have because it is not really a new idea, but there is just more things proving it. More studies are being done on how it works. It is fascinating . . . at least to me.

Muscle clocks are described as “transcription factors or genes inside each muscle that regulate physiological cycles according to environmental changes and physical activity.”

With the knowledge and understanding of muscle clocks people can plan training to get the most out of it. The idea is that muscles are on a 24 hour clock and if an athlete trains at the same time every day of training then muscles can anticipate the training is coming and perform and reform better. That is the gist, although the book explains there is a lot more to aid in getting muscles to do their best.

Again, this is not a totally new concept it is just that it is being understood better.

Some other things I thought I would share:

—-Skeletal muscles make up about 40-45% of the body’s total mass

—-Muscle is the single more abundant tissue in the body

—-Muscle communicate with other muscles and systems in the body

—-Cardio Training that was done before resistance training showed blood lactate and cortisol levels elevated (these levels should be low)

—-HIIT has been shown to interfere with sleep

—-Muscle clocks can learn to prepare muscles and best results will be achieved from consistently (time of day) scheduled training

—-Sleep quality is very important

The data is showing that muscles are smart. They have their own clocks and can learn when they get resistance training happening at the same time of day. It is like they KNOW they are going to a party and they start getting ready!

I find this pretty interesting. And, as I said, it is not new, so you may have already known about muscle clocks. The new part (and it isn’t even that new because things take a long time for studies to be done and documents) is that they are really beginning to understand them more.

This book is really great, I think. Amy Ashmore lays out what each chapter is about and explains what you will learn in the next chapters. To me that is very helpful. Some books will say something like “well what we are talking about is all based on the blah, blah, blah theory” and they either expect you to know what it is or don’t tell you that they will explain it in subsequent chapter so you might find yourself clicking away to go look for information on the “blah, blah, blah theory” but Amy explains everything. She lets you know when it will be explained and doesn’t leave you hanging. And she also repeats information so it all melds together.

So, have you ever heard of muscle clocks? Does the idea that your muscle can anticipate resistance training intrigue you?

Posted in Muscles | Tagged: CEU, continuted education, interesting theories, muscle clocks, resistance training, strength training | 2 Comments »

Nia White Belt P6 – Base – 2020

Posted by terrepruitt on August 10, 2020

Wow. We are already on Principle 6 of the Nia White Belt Principles in the first ever Nia White Belt Training Online. Remember this is somatic training so it is about the body. For people that have not taken any type of anatomy training or exercise training the information might be new, but since Nia is based on the body a lot of it is not new because we pretty much have had the same number of bones in our feet since they have been able to count all the bones in the feet (26 in each foot). Nia is based on science but the way Debbie relates it to your everyday life is what makes it fun and amazing. Nia White Belt P6 Base. It is about the base, our foundation, from our feet to our hip joint. The triad consists of feet, legs, hip joints.

I love to remind my students that feet need to be flexible in order to provide the shock absorption we need with each step. Also, in order to help with the entire health of the body they need to be strong, and also allow the energy to flow through. Nia refers to the feet as the Hands that touch the Earth. Feet like hands relay a lot of information to the body. In Nia we dance barefoot to not only receive that information through the hundreds of thousands of nerve endings in each foot, but to help with the health of our feet. Nia has 52 Moves the routines focus on. Twenty seven of them are associated with the base and each move can help keep feet flexible, strong, and allow energy to flow up to the body.

There are four categories associated with the base. The “Feet” category has 8 moves, the “Stances” category has 6 moves, the “Steps” category 9 moves, and the “Kicks” category has 4 moves. Below is the list of “base” moves and links to my posts about them, except the Cha-Cha-Cha.

Foot Moves (8)
1. Heel Lead
2. Whole Foot
3. Ball of the Foot
4. Rele vé
5. Rock Around the Clock
6. Squish Walk
7. Duck Walk
8. Toes In, Out, Parallel

Stances (6)
9. Closed Stance
10. Open Stance
11. “A” Stance
12. Riding (Sumo) Stance
13. Bow Stance
14. Cat Stance

Steps (9)
15. Sink and Pivot Table Wipe
16. Stepping Back onto the Ball of Your Foot
17. Cross Front
18. Cross Behind
19. Traveling in Directions
20. Lateral Traveling
21. Cha-Cha-Cha
22. Slow Clock
23. Fast Clock

Kicks (4)
24. Front Kick
25. Side Kick
26. Back Kick
27. Knee Sweep

If you have never been to a Nia class you might be amazed at how many ways you can do each of these moves. There are many ways . . . you could shift your intention, you could shift your energy, you could shift your focus, you could shift your weight . . . . all of these things would allow you to sense the move differently. And the great thing about them is you don’t even have to be in a dance class to practice them.

Can you spot one you might call a favorite?

Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: 52 Moves of Nia, Base Moves, dance class, Debbie Rosas, Heel lead, Knee Sweep, Nia Practice, Nia training online, Nia White Belt Principles, Nia White Belt Training, stances, whole foot, www.HelpYouWell.com | Leave a Comment »

Nia White Belt P5 – Awareness – 2020

Posted by terrepruitt on August 5, 2020

First of all, to clarify, Nia uses triads in their training and they are continually updating them, they may change the language or possibly rearrange the order, but they have used and are still using triads. This week our lesson was on Nia White Belt Principle 5. It has four triads, one for the main principle and three more to help with understanding the principle and being able to have it. The Nia White Belt Principle 5 is Awareness. White Belt is all about the body so Nia White Belt P5 – Awareness is about body sensory awareness.

The main triad’s three points are: Body, Message, Response. There is the body and we get messages and there is our response to the messages. We have a relationship with our physical body and our energy body which are shown on the “wings” of the triad. Your nose could have a tickle and your body sends you that message. You have a relationship with that sensation in your body and with the energy/feelings it generates. And your response could be to scratch your nose. That is a very simple example.

The idea goes much deeper than that and it has three additional triads. The first one is about skin, joints, and connective tissue and our perception of pain and pleasure. The second one is about awareness, stimulation, and self-healing with a temperature gauge for pain and wings of logic and mystery. And the third is about Dancing Through Life, Living Meditation, and Life as Art with the sacred athlete at the center and body and life as wings. Dancing Through Life is the “doing” and Living Meditation is the “Non-Doing”.

There is so much that I can say about each triad but I always want to leave a little mystery so that when you get the book or take the training and dive deeper into it yourself you will have somethings still new to you. I just want to say a few things about some of the points, self-healing in Nia is not telling you that you can heal yourself without medical assistance, it is more to the effect of moving to heal or in a way that allows your body to heal and not cause injury. If in your dance you step really wide into a sumo stance and you feel pain in your knees, you could “self-heal” by adjusting to a smaller sumo stance. This is a simple example, but it is about having awareness and moving to stimulate self-healing.

Also, I wanted to get a little more detailed about Dancing Through Life . . . one of my favorite sayings and ideas of Nia. A part of the idea is to — literally, DANCE THROUGH LIFE. Again, remember that Nia has a broad definition of “dance”, so this doesn’t mean do the waltz or plies though life, it is more like noticing everything you do is your dance. Brushing your teeth is your dance, making your dinner is your dance – the DOING of life is your dance, The non-doing is living meditation. Stop and notice things. Then allow Life to be Art.

Remember there is The Nia Technique Book that covers all of this. As I have been saying the language now in 2020, is a bit different, but the core of the information is the same. So even though The Nia Technique Book was published in 2004, you would still get a lot out of it. Also, this training is available to anyone, you don’t have to want to teach Nia, you just have to want to maybe look at things – things that are not new to you – a little differently, from a body centered outlook. Currently there are many trainings happening (about to happen) online.

What here sparks your interest about Nia White Belt P5 – Awareness? Are you living in a body that is always in pain? Do you think of yourself as Dancing Through Life? Are you living in a body that is always in pain?

Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: Awareness, Dancing Through Life, Nia Teacher, Nia Technique, Nia Technique Book, Nia training, Nia Triads, Nia White Belt P5 | 2 Comments »

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Terre Pruitt's Blog

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I teach yoga, Nia, and stretch online!

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