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Archive for the ‘Misc’ Category

Let Love Be Your Ears

Posted by terrepruitt on November 17, 2011

A Nia student of mine reminded me of something after a Nia Class the other day. She said her daily meditation said to speak with love AND to listen with love. I have heard that before I believe, either someone posted it on Facebook or a friend posted about it on her blog. I can’t remember. The speaking with love is not always easy, but I think of it as a more common thought, a more common instruction. It can be compared to the old adage “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” A well-remembered saying. Somewhat similar. Speaking with love would be saying nice things. But the listening with love or the hearing with love, that is a little less common of an instruction. I have not heard that one for as long as I can remember as I have heard the other one. I also think it is more difficult to do than to speak with love. I mean, like the old saying says, don’t say anything if you can’t be nice. But it is difficult not to hear someone. If someone is talking you general listen and hear them, but it could be a challenge to do it with love.

We all take our experiences into situations. Our thoughts and actions are based upon our past and what we know. So I believe that we hear and listen the same way. If someone has been in relationships where their partner has lied to them, then they might hear a lie in everything. They might be listening with distrust and anger, not love. If someone is having a bad day and someone says, “Have a nice day.” they might hear it as sarcasm. Whatever it is that we are feeling, thinking, and experiencing at the moment it can definitely “cloud” how we hear things. If we are not conscious of how we are listening we can make something out of nothing. If we hear and listen in anger, we could respond accordingly and cause a fight or hurt feelings. It is not easy to always listen with love. We all have “stuff” going on in our lives. Some of this “stuff” can make us sensitive and this sensitivity can possible make us read into things. Listen with love is a practice.

I can’t remember if what I am talking about was the focus of my friend’s blog post, but I do remember my comment including the association between what she was saying and the four agreements. Listening/hearing with love reminds me of “not taking things personal”. “Things” as I mentioned. If there is something going on in my life that is making me upset, I might listen and hear things in a negative way. Or if someone else is having a bad day and I am not listening with love, I might not stop to think, “Hey, maybe this person is having a bad day and instead of snapping meanly back at them, I should remember that we all have bad days.”

Clearly there are different ways we can take “listen with love”. When I hear that, these are two ways that occur to me. What do you think of when you hear, “listen with love”?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: common sayings, Facebook post, Four Agreements, have a nice day, listen with love, meditation, Nia class, Nia student, old sayings, speak with love, well remembered sayings | 4 Comments »

Proprioception – Making Life Livable

Posted by terrepruitt on November 8, 2011

We exercise our proprioceptive sense in Nia in every workout. Generally proprioception is the sense of body parts in relation to the body. One’s own perception of one’s own body. You may have also heard kinesthesia which is very closely defined, both definitions debated, as the sense of movement. But for now I will tell it as I learned it and explain it as I know it. Proprioception is what we do by knowing where we are in space . . . not outer space, but in space. Knowing how far to reach for something. Our body knows or senses how far our arm has to reach. In our muscles we have proprioceptors that monitor, detect, and inform the rest of the body what needs to be done in order to achieve the goal of reaching the object. Proprioception makes life so much easier!

When you reach for your coffee/juice cup in the morning you probably look at the cup. You look, your brain makes a million calculations, your arm reaches out for it, and you grab it. Then do you look at the mirror to make certain you actually get the cup to your mouth? Probably not. You just know where your mouth is and you bring your cup up to you mouth for a sip of liquid. Yes, there have been times I am sure when we have all “missed our mouth” and poured something down our front, but more often than not we make it to our mouth. Same with eating and brushing our teeth. We know where our mouth is so we are able to get our hand to our face with the proper distance for the utensil.

Walking is the same. We have a sense of where the ground is so we don’t watch every step, we just allow our leg to go out to make contact with the ground and we step. I bet we have all missed a step or thought the ground was either farther away or closer than it actually was. So we might have jarred ourselves a bit. But again, more often than not walking is a smooth habitual action executed with ease.

What about touching your nose or scratching an itch? The same thing. We know where our body parts are so our muscles and our proprioceptors know what it will take to get our hand there to scratch.

This is part of the nervous system. This body function can be trained, it can be practiced, it can be improved. If you like sports such as golf or baseball, you are practicing with precision movements that allow you to use an object to make contact with a ball. You learn how and when to swing. You learn how hard or light to hit in order to get the ball to go not only the distance but where you want it to go. Practicing a choreography dance is training your muscles and your nervous system. Learning the steps and being able to place your feet correctly without looking is great practice. In Nia we use our entire body while dancing so we are able to keep our proprioceptors and our nervous system active. In many of our routines we actively look up while our feet perform specific moves. We encourage our students to allow their feet to dance what they know.

It is very important to practice with and train our proprioceptive sense. Learning new motor skills is a great way to get those muscles and nerves singing. As we age this sense seems to diminish and it could be just from lack of movement. I have seen many elder people stop moving and then become very afraid of the world around them. If we keep our proprioceptive sense then we are aware of where our body is and we are aware of the world around us, this helps us fear less. So keep moving. Keep practicing old skills. Keep learning. Learn new skills. Keep dancing. And keep living. Exercising our proprioception will help ensure a high quality of live and living!

Posted in Just stuff, Misc | Tagged: muscle training, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia exercise, Nia routine, Nia workout, Proprioception, proprioceptive training, sense of movement, sense of the body | 4 Comments »

The 5th of November – V for Vendetta

Posted by terrepruitt on November 5, 2011

I spent most of the day working on learning another Nia routine. Some songs, as I have shared before, are easier for me to learn than others. This time I am actually I am having some issues with a copule of the katas. Today is the 5th of November. Back in 1605 there was a plan to assassinate the King by blowing up the House of Lords during opening of Parliament. This plot is referred to as “The Gunpowder Plot of 1605” or “Gunpowder Treason Day”. There is a lot of history surrounding this day and it’s celebrations. For some it is somewhat of a “cult classic” type of day. With the movie V for Vendetta leading the way.

The first time I saw the movie I really didn’t get it. I was distracted by the main character and waiting for him to reveal his face. But, being that my husband is the type of person who watches a movie over and over and over, I was able to actually understand the movie. I think it is one of those movies that you need to see a few times to really understand all that is going on. Or you need to be paying close attention the first time you watch it and not be distracted by the mask. There is a lot going on in the movie. I took me several times to understand certain parts. Each time I watched it I understood more. I don’t want to say too much and give any parts away.

I will say that the guy who plays Mr. Smith in the Matrix movies is in it. It also has Natalie Portman and Stephen Fry it in.

There are some very good quotes from the movie, with the speech from the main character leading the way:

“Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. [laughs] Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honour to meet you and you may call me “V”.”

And there is:

“People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.”

“Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.”

“God is in the rain.”

“Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us, but within that inch, we are free.”

These quotes might give you an idea as to the type of movie it is. It is about a country that got off track due to its people allowing its one and only ruler, the Chancellor, to dictate everything. There is one guy (or Guy . . . ha, ha!) who thinks it should be different and is willing to take a stand. Although, I don’t agree with the WAY he is going about it, I understand why he thinks it is the only way. The movie takes you through the events that transpired to get the country where it is. The path it takes you on is not straight by any means and the way it is revealed is very cleaver. But as I said before, it took me several viewings to get it.

For some reason . . . maybe just because it includes a date in it, my husband and I have always wanted to have a party on the 5th of November. But of course, sometimes the 5th of November is a weekday and having people over is not an option because at the time of the talk of the party it has always included the fact that we have to do it at midnight because that has a significance in the movie too. But this year, the year the 5th falls on a Saturday we have been a bit side-lined. We have friends that are fans of the movie so we are going over there to watch it. Should be fun.

Have you seen the movie? What did you think? Ever thought of having a party on the 5th of November?

Posted in Entertainment, Misc | Tagged: "Gunpowder Treason Day, assassinate the King, God is in the rain, Mr. Smith in the Matrix movies, Natalie Portman, Nia, Nia katas, Nia routine, Parliament, Stephen Fry, The 5th of November, The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, the House of Lords, V for Vendetta | 11 Comments »

Grief Is a Very Personal Thing

Posted by terrepruitt on November 1, 2011

So how do you handle grief? Pub med says, “Grief is a reaction to a major loss.” But then it says, “It is most often an unhappy and painful emotion.” Wiki states, “While the terms are often used interchangeably, bereavement refers to the state of loss, and grief is the reaction to loss.” I guess they mean grief is an EMOTIONAL reaction to a major loss. In relation to death, I believe that everyone grieves in their own way. You have probably heard about the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I believe that these are emotions or feelings that people might go through when they are grieving. And just because someone identified these stages doesn’t mean everyone goes through each stage. If people do experience them they might not even be in this stated order. These were just created to help people understand, to cope, and to connect, knowing that you aren’t the only one who felt angry or were in a state of denial. Most important grief is very personal.

We all handle grief differently. We all handle our emotions differently. I believe that people can feel whatever they feel. We don’t always have control over what we feel. Emotions sometimes just pop up. Sometimes they might even surprise us if we look at them. Feelings are what they are. I think it is healthy to let yourself feel whatever comes up. I don’t think emotions should be pushed aside or ignored. I don’t think they should be stifled. Emotions just happen.

I do believe that our reaction to our own emotions or the action we take while experiencing feelings might need to be regulated or contained. For instance if you are grieving and angry it does not help the situation to lash out at those around you. Others are sad too, and maybe they are angry too, but allowing all that anger to come out in harsh words and temper tantrums does no good at all. When one is mean because they are angry at the situation, it does more harm than good. I can understand someone feeling so much pain the first reaction might be to lash out, but for most people saying mean words and forming hurtful sentences is not a habit so in order to be so unkind it takes more effort than just a spur of the moment reaction. Continuing to be cruel is something I deem unacceptable.

I also believe that as long as you are not harming anyone or causing harm to yourself you should be allowed to grieve in your own way for as long as you need to. If I were to not get dressed and do nothing for two weeks, I wouldn’t really be harming anyone. My circumstances would allow me to check out for a couple of weeks. As long as it didn’t last too long it could be good for me. But if I were in a situation where I was a caregiver, let’s say I had kids, it would not be acceptable for me to do nothing for two weeks. Doing nothing for two weeks would cause harm to the children. So how you act because of the grief really depends on the situation, but since it is so personal it is not easy to say that one’s way of acting is wrong.

I also think that there really is no time limit on sadness. I think the sorrow will last forever. I think there are moments of sadness. But I also think that there is joy, it is ok to be happy. It is ok to go on living. I think it is even ok to recall the deceased with happiness. I always marvel at instances where people’s behavior is deemed unacceptable. Again, if they are not causing harm, then they should be able to deal with their grief in their own way. I think it is healthy to allow yourself time and what you need in order to cope. There are definitely as many ways to deal with loss as there are people. Grief and the way one works through it is a very personal thing.

Posted in Just stuff, Misc | Tagged: death, death of a loved one, five stages of grief, grief, loss of a loved one | 6 Comments »

Posture Creates Attitude

Posted by terrepruitt on October 29, 2011

Who designed airline seats? Someone who knew the psychology of crowd control? Think about it. No better yet let’s do a little exercise. Sit in your chair. Sit tall. Allow your eyes – better yet, set your gaze forward. Reach the top of your head to the sky, allowing the energy from above to assist in the lengthening of your spine. Imagine space between each vertebrae. Establish distance between your shoulders and your ears, creating a long neck. Pull your shoulders back (shoulder blades in your pants pockets). Sense your posture. Sense the placement of your arm bones. Let your arm bones hang straight down from your shoulders. Now feel. How do you feel? Take a few moments to acknowledge and recognize what you feel and what you sense with your confident posture.

Now imagine you are on an airplane sitting in the typical (coach) airline seat. I know many of us probably vary in height. But just imagine for a moment that you are seated on a plane. Let your lower back round out toward the chair. What happens to the rest of your body? What do you sense? How do you feel? Do you feel subdued? Do you feel controllable? Maybe just in comparison to the other posture? When I push my lower back into the seat my postures becomes a slump, my shoulders round, my belly pushes out, and my head goes down. I have always wondered about airplane seats. I think they are very uncomfortable. I could never understand why they were designed to be the opposite of the human spine. I could never understand why they were designed to be so absolutely uncomfortable. I think they are very bad for the human body. I really think they are not designed at all for comfort. Now after having been on a few planes after not having been on them for a long time, I think I might understand why. I might actually sense why. If I am in a state of mind where I feel I need to just comply it is easy for me to just do what I am told. If my postures is “slumped” my head is already down and my shoulders are rounded, I can’t even take a full and proper breath, why not just sit there and be a blob. I don’t want to think, I just want to get my free drink and get the ride over with. I can see why people don’t want to make eye contact and be social. It is almost as if our will has been sucked out of us.

Airline seats make me feel like a blob. That is all I truly have room to be. It just occurred to me on this past trip that this could be the feeling and the mentality that airlines are going after. It is a lot easier to control 300+ people when they don’t feel very confident or very human for that matter. I would think that people will just do what they are told when they can’t even take a full breath. Since it is just for a short while and we “need” to be on the airplane we just put up with it. With the advent of all the portable electronics it makes it even easier for us to just sit there like blobs all slumped over and compliant.

It is amazing how posture can affect attitude. So the next time you aren’t feeling as chipper as you would like, check your posture. Or if you are in a situation where you know you might get a little down, try sitting up or walking taller. And when you are on a plane try to find a way to sit where your back can be straight, your posture good, and you can breathe fully. I put my jacket in the small of my back so that I can sit up and not slumped over. How about you?

Posted in Just stuff, Misc | Tagged: airline seats, airplane seats, crowd control, good posture, lengthening your spine, sense your body, uncomfortable sets | 8 Comments »

Human Body Fantastic

Posted by terrepruitt on October 25, 2011

Nia is a body centered practice. Nia came about partly because at that time, in the 80’s, popular exercise classes were very hard on the body and the industry in which the creators of Nia worked produced a lot of injuries. The couple that brought us Nia spent a lot of time examining many different forms of movement which in turn shaped Nia into a body-centered movement practice. Nia is a cardio dance workout that moves the body as it was designed to move. Debbie Rosas-Stewart, one of the creators of Nia, wanted to be a doctor, she has always been interested in the human body. Nia’s training material often refers to the science of the body. The body is fascinating and fantastic. I believe that Debbie’s love of medicine and the human body is evident in Nia. Here are some facts that I found interesting. They are facts easily found on the internet so they might not be new to you. Even if you have heard them before I hope you marvel at the human body as I do.

There are 10 human body parts having only three letters. (Can you name all 10 human body parts having only 3 letters?)
Food is moved through the digestive tract by muscular contractions.
The pressure created from the human heart can squirt blood 30 feet.
Hydrochloric acid found in the stomach can dissolve certain metals.
The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court.
Half of our taste buds are gone for most of us, by the time we are 60 years old.
The human brain is capable of storing everything it is exposed to, but it is the ability to recall the information that might be the challenge.
We are shorter at the end of the day due to cartilage being compressed throughout the day.
Kneecaps aren’t developed in a human until the child is between 2-6 years old.
The longer the finger the faster the nail grows.
Hair and nails do not continue to grow after death, but it appears as if they do since the skin shrinks and recedes as the moisture dries up.
The skin of a human body contains 45 miles of nerves.
The average human will breathe 23,040 times in a 24 hour period.
People with dark hair have less hair than blondes.
The stomach produces a new layer of mucus every 14 days in order to keep from digesting itself.
The “funny bone” is actually the ulnar nerve.
About 8% of the human body weight is blood.
A human snore can be a loud as a jack hammer.
Starvation takes a few weeks, but a total lack of sleep would cause death in roughly 10 days.
A human sneeze has been measured to exceed 100 miles per hour, whereas the average cough is only 60 miles per hour.
“Veins in the skin appear blue for a variety of reasons only weakly dependent on the color of the blood. Light scattering in the skin, and the visual processing of color play roles as well.” **

The 10 human body parts with only three letters: eye, ear, lip, gum, jaw, arm, rib, hip, leg, and toe.

Aside from what was **copied directly from Wiki, the above information was gleaned from the following sites:

The Nurse Nut, Yes, ICantSeeYou, Mawlana Faizani International, and ESZlinger. I have seen many sites contain the same information and more. I just found these ones particularly fascinating. I think the body is fantastic.

Posted in Just stuff, Misc | Tagged: body centered practice, cardio dance workout, Debbie Rosas, Debbie Rosas Stewart, facts about the body, how fast is a sneeze, human body, Nia, Nia cardio dance, Nia class, Nia creator, Nia Practice, Wiki | 4 Comments »

Ready to Receive – Natural Time

Posted by terrepruitt on October 22, 2011

I have learned a lot in my 43 years. I know there is a lot more I could learn, but one thing I have learned AND that I find fascinating is that I need to be ready to receive. Have you ever shared something with someone and they “pishawed” you? You had tried to tell them something you found fascinating/interesting/money-saving/yummy/good to do and they had acted as if you didn’t know what you were talking about. Then two weeks later they come to you to tell you the very thing you tried to share with them? I used to get offended, even upset, but I am starting to see it differently. I am starting to see that when I tell people things and I feel as if I have been “pishawed” it is not as I once perceived it . . . it is not their mind is snapping closed . . . but, maybe, just maybe it is the mind just saying, “What? I have never heard of that . . . let me deal with that later . . .” And then when it is heard again the mind has a space for it because they had heard it before, so their mind is more open to accepting and listening.

It is somewhat like Natural Time in a Nia workout. In Nia, in our workouts, we have natural time allowing individuals to move their bodies in their own time. Could be they are not ready to do the move the first time they see it, but after a few repetitions they are ready to receive. Their bodies are ready. — Funny. I didn’t start this post off as relating to Nia, but as I was sitting here typing it dawned on me that being ready to receive is Natural Time. And as you know, all of the Nia White Belt Principles can be applied to everyday life. Just as many principles from any practice; Yoga, Jujitsu, aikido, Ballet, etc. can be applied to life.

Sometimes we have so much on our minds that adding something new just isn’t gonna work. So maybe when we first hear something we just say, “NO!” Then our brains move on. But maybe the new “thing” left a spot, like rust . . . . but good, where it just stays and either it actually starts seeping into our brain or it just sits there until we hear it again. Then we are able to open to the idea. It is like the old idea of a seed. Sometimes it is not ready to be planted, but it is there in its own little space.

I can actually remember specific times when this has happened, especially with my hubby, but I am posting about it because I recognized awhile ago that I do this. Because I have heard something and pishawed it then later examined it. It fascinates me. It makes me wonder why I didn’t recognize good advice/information when I first heard it. I wonder why I am not smart enough to recognize beneficial information when I see it. So that is why I think that we have to be ready to receive. It really doesn’t have to do with being intelligent. Sometimes being ready is something of natural time. We have to be ready in our own time. In our own time is the best time in which to learn. Amazes me.

Have you ever learned or heard something and when you really thought about it realized that you had heard the same thing before but it didn’t sink in? Have you ever experienced the second time around as being the time you benefited from something?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: Aikido, ballet, Jujitsu, Natural Time, Nia, Nia Moves, Nia principles, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt Principles, Nia workout, ready to receive, Yoga | 4 Comments »

Dance Conditioning Tips — Not Just For Dance

Posted by terrepruitt on October 13, 2011

Almost a year ago one of my Nia students let me borrow a book, Conditioning for Dance. Even though I had it for a week I didn’t take time to look at it in-depth. But I like what I saw enough to buy the book. A year later and I still have not looked at it in-depth, but again, when I pick it up and thumb through it, pausing to read here and there I love what I see. Eric Franklin’s idea coincide a lot with Nia and many mind body practices. I touched upon this in my original post Dance Conditioning.

The ideas he has shared in this book are somewhat like the Nia White Belt Principles in that they can be applied to more than just the workout or the technique, they can be applied to life. In th beginning portion of the book Franklin talks about how sometimes when dancers are unable to perform a step, often the first thought is it is because the dancer is not strong enough. So the dancer then works to build strength in the muscles required to do the particular step. But it is not always because they are not strong enough, sometimes it is because they have other issues. So getting stronger to power through the move will not necessarily allow them to do the move correctly, but it allows the issues to be reinforced. If you are doing something incorrectly because of other issues continuing to do it without resolving those issues just enforces the issues.

His tips in regards to the above can be applied to life.

-When doing a task sense your body. Learn to recognize when it is out of alignment or what behavior causes it to be out of alignment then practice doing that same task in a different way that allows your body to stay in alignment.

I know so many people who are in physical pain, it is my belief that many of them are because we do things without thinking and we do things that actually cause our bodies to be out of alignment. When sitting at your desk at work do a body check. Are you sitting up or are you slouched over? Are your legs crossed? Is your mouse so far away from your hand that you have to lean forward and/or really extend your arm? These types of things that we do over and over and actually work our bodies into a state of misalignment. I remember walking into a friend’s cube while she was working and after watching for a second I asked her what she was doing? She responded that she didn’t know what I was talking about. I said she was having to practically get out of her chair as she leaned forward to use her mouse. She looked confused and then shrugged. I suggested she move her mouse pad closer to her and she shrugged and did. No, my friend is not stupid, she was just focused on working and never stopped to really think about her body and its alignment. She just “did” because that was the way it was. There are probably a lot of things — little things, just like that — we can do to help our body’s alignment. Just sense your body as you go through your daily tasks.

-Imagine yourself doing the task. Imagine all that it will require to complete the job then go through it mentally. While imagining, sense the muscles that are used.

This is an easy one to apply to everyday. Whatever it is that you want to do imagine doing it beforehand and it will help you be aware of your body before you even begin the task. And this could also allow you to think of things that might slow you down if you had not thought of it before had. It will allow you to be better prepared.

-Seek the help of experts.

People that have done what you want to do before are always a great resource in life.

-Think positive. If there are problems or issues think about them work to find solutions, but don’t dwell on them and allow them to affect your performance.

Thinking positive is a great tool and becoming so much more widely accepted as actually having benefit. Everyone has problems. Thinking positive doesn’t mean you don’t have problems it just means you don’t dwell on them.

-Work on flexibility making sure it the body is balanced.

In life it is good to be flexible, but you also need to have balance. Can’t be so flexible you become wishy-washy.

-Participate in strength training and do exercise that will help you reach your goal.

Strength training has so many benefits in everyday life, it is good for anyone at any age.

-Find ways to increase alignment without causing tension.

Everyone has different ideas on how to be aligned and in balance. But it should become a source of great stress in your life, so try to find ways to be balanced that will add to the ease and relaxation.

In his book Franklin goes into more detail and relates it specifically to dance. Here I was using my own words and trying to “vague it” up a bit so that it would be obvious how dance training tips could be applied directly to anyone’s life.

So amazing. I am always amazed how our Nia White Belt Principles that we use in our dance practice can be applied to life. But then, to me, that is what makes it a practice. So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised . . . and I really wasn’t, I was excited, that these tips for dance could be applied to more than just dance conditioning.

Posted in Exercise and Working Out, Helpful Hints | Tagged: Conditioning for Dance, dance conditioning tips, dance training, Eric Franklin, flexibility, Nia, Nia Dance, Nia Practice, Nia students, Nia White Belt Principles, strength training | 2 Comments »

Flashing Is a Great Course of Action

Posted by terrepruitt on October 11, 2011

I never wanted an iPod or a cell phone until I started teaching Nia. After I got it, I realized how great it is to be able to create playlists from Nia routine music and not have to burn a CD. Same thing with a cell phone, I have a business so I have a cell phone. I don’t really need a cell phone, but a business does. A business needs to have a number to use for business. Which brings me to . . . when I first met my husband he was a “Mac” man. Always had been, always would be . . . . . until, that is, we moved in next door to a guy who gave us a computer that was not a Mac. Then all of a sudden my hubby had something new to learn. He decided to learn how to put computer components together to make a personal computer. He realized that he could buy all the parts and put it together for a lot less than a Mac costs. PLUS the money spent would allow him a machine that would be faster and more powerful than the least expensive Mac. So we got rid of our Macs. Then the iPhone came out. At about that time I was thinking about getting a cell phone and I would need something to play music AND . . . . it was a new toy for hubby to have. So we got iPhones and they stoked the burning embers of love for Apple that had never actually gone out in my hubby’s heart. THEN he started working at a Mac company . . . you know one of those companies whose computers are Macs and not the “other” ones. Then there is the iPad. (eyes rolling). Whenever I have a problem with either of my “i-s”, my hubby says, “Well did you flash it?”

When we first got our iPhones, they had a few issues or kinks, whatever you call them it would often not work properly. My husband being familiar with Macs figured out how to “Flash” the phone. He said it resets the parameter random access memory. This is the memory that is stored which allows the for quick start-up. Since my iPhone frequently went squirrelly back then, I got really used to doing it. I would do it probably at least once a week without being prompted. Then with one of the updates it went away. It either went away and then came back with another update or it changed. I actually think it went away, then came back different. The way the device responded when flashed was different so it seemed as if it was not going to actually do it. Whatever the actual case was, I got out of the habit. Plus the phone stopped being so buggy. So not only did it change so I thought the option of Flashing wasn’t there, I didn’t need to do it that often. So I forget that I can do it and sometimes need to do it.

Have you ever worked for a company that has an IT department? When you have a computer issue what is the first thing the IT department asks you to do or ask you if you did it? “Turn it off then turn it back on.” Right? And then even once you do that, if they have to come to your work area to work on the computer that is the first thing they will do again. So we are all used to turning electronics off than on again, right? That is the FIRST thing we do. Well, flashing it is not quite turning it off and then turning it on. It resets the PRAM.

Yesterday I wanted to listen to the music for a Nia routine for class, I plugged my little iHome Speaker into my iPad and it didn’t work. I rolled my eyes and thought, “Well so much for that.” I got my iPhone to see if the speaker worked with that. It did. So I plugged my earbuds into the iPad to see if they worked. They didn’t. So I just figured I broke it somehow. I mentioned it to my hubby when he was on his way home from work and he said, “Did you flash it?” I felt so silly for not having done it that I said, “Well, of course I did because that is always the first thing you ask.” And then I went on to say that I didn’t and I hung my head like a scolded puppy.

I forgot about it until today and guess what? Of course. I flashed the iPad and my speaker works. I got so caught up in telling my story that I almost forgot the point of this post—to tell you how to flash your phone. Sometimes the rewritable section of memory get to full or a little messed up so it needs to be reset. For the iPhone and the iPad, you hold the On/Off button down at the same time as the Home button. Hold them both down until the screen goes blank AND the Apple logo appears. Then let go and let the device do its thing. Then it will be ready to wake up again shortly. See if that works for you the next time your iPhone or iPad is acting buggy. I don’t know if works for the other iProducts. But it has always worked for mine . . . . . when I remember to do it. 🙂

Posted in Helpful Hints, Misc | Tagged: apple, iHome, iHome Speaker, iPad, iphone, iPod, Mac, Nia, Nia business, Nia class, Nia playlists, Nia routines, Nia Teacher, parameter random access memory, PC, personal computer, PRAM | 7 Comments »

Changing Up my Turbo Jam

Posted by terrepruitt on October 8, 2011

I teach Nia. Nia is a cardio dance workout done in bare feet. It is no impact (or very low – I tend to hop a bit because I am having so much fun!) but allows for high intensity. Impact and intensity are different. I love Nia, but I also love other types of workouts. When I do other types of workouts they usually require shoes because often times the workouts get their intensity from impact. You might already know all of this because I have shared it before. You might also know — because I have shared this before — that I also love Turbo Jam. That is the exercise program designed for home use, as in DVDs, by the incredibly cute and bubbly Chalene Johnson. You have probably read me say before, “No matter how many times I do Chalene’s DVDs she makes me smile.” Her energy is infectious. Well, I’ve done the DVDs I have a lot over the years so today I decided to do them a little different. I decided to combine two things I love. I wore my MBTs while doing Turbo Jam.

Because of my toe/foot situation I had not been doing Turbo Jam a lot, but I am starting to do it again. I do it regular tennis shoes, just some cross trainers, and I sometimes have to think a lot to not move my foot in a toe position that hurts. When you do any type of workout in which you wear shoes you have to think about it a bit more when you are on carpet. Carpet tends to make it a little more difficult to twist on your toes and things, so sometimes it is better to not do that so much in order to 1) save the carpet and 2) save your knees. Even though I have always wanted to do a Turbo Jam workout in my MBTs I thought it would be more strenuous on my recovering foot. But it wasn’t really. It was fine. It was fun. MBTs really have the body using different muscles because the way the sole is engineered. So it was really fun to do a workout I have done at least a hundred times and have it feel different.

The MBTs really made me concentrate on what I was doing. When I do my Turbo Jam DVDs I have a tendency to think about other things. I just follow the moves and think or sing, I am not always concentrating on what I am doing. The Masai Barefoot Technology footwear really had me thinking about balancing properly and not just throwing my limb out. When I threw it out too far without being aware then I somewhat got off balance. Not just off balance in a way that the shoe is designed to make you be unbalanced, but my foot was positioned incorrectly in the MBT so I had to be aware of how I was extending. It was really nice. As I said it was nice to experience the workout in a very new way even though I have done it at least a hundred times. It was nice to have to really think about the muscles that enable balance. It was nice to have to think about balance in order to make certain my alignment was not off.

Now that my foot is so much better and I have confirmed that using my MBTs to do my cardio workouts that require shoes will not bother my foot, I plan to use them all the time. That is really one of the reasons I bought them. But I was not ready until now because I thought it would challenge my foot too much. It actually made toe movements easier because of the curve of the sole. The curve allows for easy almost automatic ball of foot or on the toe movements.

Yay! Newness in an old-but-beloved workout! Do you workout to DVDs? If you do, what is your favorite? Have you done them enough that you are ready to change ’em up a bit?

Posted in Exercise and Working Out, Just stuff | Tagged: bare foot workouts, cardio dance workout, Chalene Johnson, curved sole shoes, high intensity, high intensity workout, low impact workout, Masai Barefoot Technology, MBTs, Nia, Nia Teacher, no impact workout, Turbo Jam, workout DVDs | 8 Comments »

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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!

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