Posted by terrepruitt on April 5, 2014
As you may know, I have some things on my mind. The longer it goes on the more difficult it is to function normally. We still receive a small box of organic produce every other week. Here is what we received in our box this week. I looked at it and thought, “Oh nice.” But not my normal “Ooooooo, what can I do with this and that? I can do this . . . . . I can do that . . . . ” So I was thinking that perhaps you can help me. I know many of you are good cooks so I was thinking you could give me some ideas on what to with all these lovely fruits and veggies.
Rainbow chard
radishes
grapefruit
carrots
kiwis
white spring onions
apples
There is some rainbow chard. What do you do with that? I usually saute it with a little olive oil, garlic, and onions. More like than not I add it to some ground turkey and then we eat it like that or it can be put on top of rice or put inside a tortilla. Can chard be roasted/baked like kale? Making chard chips?
What about radishes? Are there anything to do with them, but put them in salads? That is what I do with them, put them in salads.
What about grapefruit? Doesn’t seem like my husband or I like them? What do you do with it?
The asparagus is gone. I roasted it. It was really thick so I peeled the bottom. I was actually cooking four other things in the oven so I had to use a smaller pan than normal to cook the asparagus so I cut it in half. The bottom portion I also sliced in half. It was yummy. I love asparagus. I am certain I will receive more, so maybe I should get your ideas on how to cook that now.
What about carrots? Again I put them in salads, raw. What about you? I don’t like them candied, so that is a recipe I can skip.
How about kiwis? Do you just eat them? My husband just eat them. They are another thing I would put on salads. Do you have others ideas on how to use them?
Ooooooo and the new-to-me white spring onions. Should they be cooked whole and eaten that way or used as I would a regular onion?
What about apples? Seems as if we get them in every box? Sometimes they just stack up. I like really CRISP sweet apples and some times the apples we get are not crisp – they are the mushy kind – so I don’t like to just eat them. Last night I used one I had from the last box to make my hubby a “Porky-Pork Chop”. What do you do with hem? I guess I could just bake ’em, huh?
I also know that I can use the carrot greens in a smoothie but I have never done that. Can the radish greens be used too?
So help me out. Think for me because with this whole process dragging on I am starting to get a little worn out and the everyday things are not so everyday.
Posted in Food | Tagged: apples, carrots, cooking ideas, help with cooking, kiwis, radishes grapefruit, rainbow chard, small box of organic produce, white spring onions | 11 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 3, 2014
Well, I didn’t want to turn this into a blog about death, but I have so many wonderful people asking me what is going on it is just so much more efficient for me to write it out. It saves time and heartache . . . I can just give one update and then point people to this. I don’t have to keep repeating myself. This is turning out not at all how we were told it would turn out. Which is really starting to annoy me because with everything that is now happening the medical staff is saying, “Oh that happens, sometimes.” Really? Well, no one told us that all this stuff might happen.
My mom has cancer. The size of her trachea has been reduced due to the cancer. The thought was that it would be reduced and damaged even further by the tube’s insertion and extubation. She had a tube in her throat for 10 days. The tube was connected to a ventilator but it was rarely breathing for her. For most of the 10 days she was breathing on her own, but the medical professionals felt that she would not be able to breathe without the tube. So when they told her she needed to pick a day on which they removed it the feelings were that not long after that she would die. But that has not been the case. The tube was removed at 2:28 pm on Monday, March 31, 2014 and she is still breathing on her own, today is Thursday, April 3, 2014.
Some of the “stuff” we were not aware of that could happen, the stuff my dad keeps being told sometimes happens is she is waking up. She wakes up and talks to him. One time it was for two hours (I think that was Wednesday). The nurses say she talks to them. She responds to inquiries about specific meds. She says thank you when then rearrange her. Her brain is not damaged nor is she in a coma, so she wakes up.
She is not hooked up to anything, but an IV for fluids. She gets fluids and meds. But she is wasting away . . . as happens to a body that does not get food after six days. A slow drawn out death.
I didn’t know that she would wake up and have moments of lucid consciousness. I thought the drugs they administer would keep her unconscious. So I am kind of annoyed that I am missing it. But at the same time I was happy that it was a couple of hours that my dad was able to spend with her. Alone. She was sad that they didn’t make it to their 50th wedding anniversary. That would have been 2015. There are many other things she was sad about but that was one thing she shared. I came home because I was under the impression that it would not go on this long. I was also under the impression that she would just sleep until the end.
Everyone copes differently . . . some of us continue on with our lives while other shut down. Shutting themselves away to wallow in sorrow. How people cope is a personal thing. Neither is right or wrong . . . it is just how we deal. I have been lifted up by teaching my classes and moving. My Nia students care and are supporting me. One of my yoga classes, the students don’t know. In one class where I was just subbing they didn’t know, but the peace and serenity in which they practiced REALLY helped me. It was so lovely to see their faces while they held their poses.
If it is not too much trouble, please keep your prayers and positive thoughts coming. They really are a source of strength to me.
Feel free to comment.
Posted in Diane Bacho | Tagged: brain damaged, breathing tube, cancer, coma, death, extubation, positive thoughts, prayers, trachea cancer | 20 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 1, 2014
HOLY MOLY!!!! Sigh. Ok, I feel that since I started it, I need to continue with it. Right? I mean, it is not my intention to make my blog all about death, but since I asked for love and support, I think it is only fair that I give you all an update. I sat with my mother in her hospital room for roughly seven days. During that time she was presented with an option that would have been extremely painful and risky. The surgeon gave three scenarios that could occur and two of them pretty much ended with immediate death, so she opted to skip the procedure and just spend her last days with a tube down her throat, unable to speak and unable to cry. She entertained visitors. Not many because it was exhausting to her. She also was asked to pick the day on which she would have the tube removed. The thoughts were that her trachea is so encroached with cancer and would be so traumatized by the tube that when they pulled it out she would not have much time before she died.
Regarding the procedure mentioned — for those that are curious — it was a stent. A stent was to be placed in the trachea. The idea was that it would hold open the collapsing trachea so that she could breathe. But, it would only be for a few days. The stent is not a permanent or even semi-permanent solution. It is also metal and rigid, it would not have flexed and moved. It would have been very uncomfortable/painful, because the trachea moves.
She did not want to go. She had a lot left she wanted to do. Knowing she couldn’t do ALL that she wanted to do before she died, she thought she could at least do SOMETHINGS. So she decided to have the tube removed on Monday. She made that decision on a Wednesday. It is MY belief that if she knew all that she would have to go through between Wednesday, March 26th, and Monday, March 31st she would not have picked that day. But she wanted to at least get her Easter cards written out. She also wanted to advise me of who gets what in the stack of Christmas gifts she already bought. She also wanted to spend as much time with her family as she could — who wouldn’t, right? But in order to do so she suffered a lot. The medical professionals taking care of her were always there to administer the drugs she needed so she wouldn’t be in pain, but those drugs made her groggy and unable to think clearly so sometimes I think she held off a bit. Plus the procedures that need to be done to allow someone to breath through a tube are not comfortable. So anyway . . .
We got to visit for several days. As I have said several times, she was unable to talk with the tube in her throat. She also was unable to cry because the contractions that happen when one cries caused too much pain. Normally I would not tell someone not to cry because crying is such a great release. I believe crying is good for the BMES – ha, yes, that is a Nia acronym. It helps clear the tear ducts and allows for a physical release. Crying helps clear the mind also. It is an emotional release as well as a spirit helper so to me, it is a good thing. So if you want to cry, cry — except while you are driving or you have tube down your throat and it hurts too much.
I was there until Friday night. I got home around midnight on Friday. I came home to do some laundry, teach a yoga class, do some paper work, and pick up my husband. We went back up Saturday night. We visited all day Sunday and waited around for 1:00 pm on Monday. We all were under the impression that at 1:00 pm it would happen. But we all forgot that “hospital time” is not exact. They do things — even scheduled things — around other things. So our 1:00 pm scheduled extubation turned into 2:28 pm. I trusted the medical staff (although it turned out not to be who we were told it would be) would see that she was not in pain, but we still didn’t know if there would be any gasping and gagging and who knows. I was confident that it would not be a long time after. I saw the MRI of the trachea/esophagus area. Nurses and doctors helped convince me that it would be quick. Well it was not. We are going into our 29th hour. While my mom is so medicated she doesn’t know what is going on and she feels no pain . . . this is NOT what she would have wanted. Lingering on. In fact every visitor that came to visit her while I was there, her answer to their comment of “I’m praying for you.” was “Pray that I don’t linger.” Again, I am at a loss.
Yes, we all have ideas as to why she has not died . . . . she is not ready . . . . she is doing it in her own time (something we call Natural Time in Nia) . . . ALL TYPES of ideas . . . but really we don’t know. All that I know is that this is really hard on my dad. This is not a case where she might revive and be ok. This is not a hopeful, “Oh, I’ll sit by your bedside until you are awake.” This is a grueling death watch. Judge me anyway you want, I left last night. I didn’t want to see her as I know she would not want to be. I didn’t want to hear the “death rattle”. Ugh! Since it is hard on my dad, if it drags on until the weekend I will go back up.
Well, this post is way longer than I like to have my post, but I really wanted to let you know what the status is. Also . . . I guess it helps to write it out. One more thing . . . I believe that I would not have been able to handle this if it weren’t for all of you. So many people have “come out of the wood work” to share and support and deliver sparkles. So thank you all for sharing and caring and giving. I have not been told I am loved or said, “I love you” this much in as many days before in my life.
Please keep up with those thoughts, prayers, stories, sparkles, and all that jazz. It REALLY helps!
Posted in Diane Bacho | Tagged: BMES, breathing tube, cancer, death, esophagus, extubation, hanging on, lingering, love and support, Natural Time, Nia, stent, trachea | 24 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 29, 2014
I had started a post telling the story of my mom’s last few years but then I had to go be with her. It was the first half of Deciding On Death. I was trying to finish it today, but I have to go. I have to get to her.
I realized as I was typing the title Deciding On Death that it might make people think my mom decided to die instead of stay alive. But that really was not the case earlier this week. She was told by the doctors that she had to pick the day. So a more accurate title would have been Deciding Which Day To Die.
Anyway . . . you might be wondering how I can be thinking about a Goodie Jar when faced with this awful thing. Well, I will tell you. First of all everyone deals with death differently. I’ve know this, but I very much experienced when my mother-in-law died. We all have our own way.
The way we are having to go through this is really awful and hard, but death is a part of life. We all die. Period. There is no getting around that.
For me, I have faith. I have faith in a plan, I have faith in an after life, I have faith in God. My mom, is really strong and is just being amazing . . . . she is helping us through this. I am also keeping really busy. I have also turned to my social network. I have an idea that when a loved one dies most people want to shout it out, most people want the world to know their pain — for whatever reason —- and I wanted to shout it out, so I did. And let me tell you, best thing I did! BEST. THING.
At one moment I was peaceful. Then someone shared an issue with me and wanted me to deal with it — even though it was not MY issue it was theirs and someone else’s — and that raised my stress level. Then I looked at my phone and saw an unfamiliar number. I thought it was a sales call but decided to listen to it anyway. And — SNAP! — Right then and there two seconds after I heard the voice and Jill announced her name, I was calmed. I was FILLED to the brim with joy. She has a beautiful voice and I had NEVER HEARD IT BEFORE. Her voice calmed me. Her words filled me. I am loved. I am supported. I said to myself, “HECK YEAH!” Because I had hesitated before I posted and then — BAM! — right away, the return was fabulous. I was transported into a good place.
And it is continuing to come. I am getting love, support, all the sparkles I asked for. I am getting stories about my mom. Stuff I didn’t know that is really cool to know. I just commented on my blog post to someone, “I guess they don’t call it support for nothing! ;-)”
So, remember all this time I have been telling you that the Goodie Jar is to remind us to take a moment to look at the good even though there is “other stuff”. Yeah, I wasn’t just blowing smoke people. There is ALWAYS good. And — for me, I am not saying that anyone else has to do this, this is ME, for me, myself and I — I HAVE to look at the good. I have to focus on the positive otherwise you would need a huge SHAM-WOW to mop up a huge Terre-size puddle that was on the floor!
So everyone of you that has taken time to share a story, send uber goodness at me and my family — YOU are all going in my Goodie Jar! I am ready to transfer to a bigger container now. Thank you.
(Monday, March 31, 2014, 1:00 pm)
What are YOU putting in your Goodie Jar?
PS – I reserve the right to become a puddle. 🙂
Posted in Diane Bacho, Good Things in the Goodie Jar, Misc | Tagged: death, Deciding on Death, faith, God, good things jar, Goodie Jar, mom, Monday March 31 2014 | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 27, 2014
So, I am experiencing one of the oddest situations we have created for ourselves in the world of modern medicine and technology. I am sitting with my mother waiting for her scheduled time to die. I am starting this story for you a little bit backwards, because Tuesday I didn’t have a chance to post. My mother has been sick for a bit and I have been wanting to write about it. I wanted to share plus I am surprised to find it is a bit therapeutic. But I always thought I should ask her before I posted something, but now I feel it is past that point. I came up to be with her on Monday for the day for what we thought would be a procedure that would get her back out in the world and home. But it turned out that the doctors decided that the procedure would be too risky AND it wouldn’t really give us much more time. So they advised us to decide when they should remove the breathing tube that is keeping her breathing.
My mother is fully conscious. She has cancer that has affected her throat so she has not been able to eat for probably about a year and a half. She has not been able to swallow well for about eleven months. She’s been spitting into a cup and used a feeding tube. As I said I am telling this story a bit backwards, I will do another post regarding how this all started. I thought I would have time on Tuesday after my Nia class and Yoga Class to type up the beginning of the story so you could get a glimpse of how much she has been through and to end up here is just — I have no words. I started to type it but I didn’t finish and ended up not posting on Tuesday.
The cancer has spread to a point that is has basically mangled her trachea. She was in Reno on Friday and in the hospital with a tube in her throat Sunday morning. The tube is a small one they use on pediatric patients. That is the only size they could get down there and it was a struggle at that. One is not meant to live like that. The body will keep fighting it and trying to reject it. And with her body it is really going to try to fight it because her body has already had a severely compromised immune system. So a breathing tube — especially one meant for children — is not a long term solution.
When the tube was placed in her throat the idea was that it was going to be temporary — she was in the emergency room on Saturday and the tube was placed in during the wee hours of Sunday morning. The hope was they could put in a stent on Monday. Then, the thought was things could proceed a bit more. There was talk of additional chemotherapy and maybe even more radiation. But the team of doctors met and they were not optimistic. The doctor that would be performing the surgery was very frank and honest in talking to us about the procedure and the miracle that he would have to perform. He said he would do it if my mom said yes. But with the facts in front of her she decided not to have it done.
So then her next decision was when to have the doctors remove the breathing tube, the one that is keeping her alive. What kind of decision is that to have to make? I am still just having the most difficult time with someone having to be faced with that decision. Living with a breathing tube that is so small you can hardly get any air and that has to be cleaned out all the time is not for the weak. She can’t talk, she can’t laugh, she can’t cough, and she can’t cry. That is probably the worst part. She can’t cry. The pain is too horrible. She has much to grieve for and she can’t cry.
This is just crazy. I am at a loss. I am putting it down because I have to get it out. I am not ready to cry yet because I am pretty sure I won’t stop or maybe I am still just in shock. I had an entirely different picture of what was going on.
We are visiting as much as we can. Friends and family are visiting. She is communicating by writing. Sometimes she uses a little white board and sometimes she uses paper. We are not so great at guessing what she is trying to say, so she patiently writes it down for us. She also still has her sense of humor. She is funny.
I have found that the outpouring of love from people is really up lifting and very helpful. I have vaguely mentioned on Facebook that my mom was ill and many people have responded with positive thoughts and mentions of prayers. It really is helpful — all of it. To know that people are out there doing what they do when they want to support someone in need is amazing. So I am posting this to help shed some light on my vagueness and to give some of the people who are supporting me (and my family) some idea of what is going on.
Now the big thing. The big bad. The ugly. The most important thing . . . . the hardest thing . . . the thing I am typing blindly (I can’t see through tears). . . . can you take a moment out of your day (I know I am asking a lot) on Monday, March 31, 2014 at 1:00 pm to help her on her way? She is a strong, strong woman. A woman who has a lot to live for so letting go might be really difficult for her to do. If there were thoughts and prayers and vibes and ju-ju and love and songs and dances and lights and sparkly stuff to help her let go . . . to help her on the path to the next journey–that would be awesome. The angels will be there too, but I am sure she would love the additional stuff — she always loves a party. Would you do that?
Thanks.
Posted in Diane Bacho | Tagged: 2014, angels, breathing tube, cancer, collapsed trachea, dance, death decision, Diane Bacho - 1948 to March 11, emergency room, immune system, ju-ju, March 31, modern technology, mondern medicine, Nia, outpouring of love, pediactric breathing tube, positive thoughts, prayers, scheduled time of death, vibes | 48 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 22, 2014
Sometimes I just can’t think of anything to write about. Sometimes it could be that I want or need a break. So today — I am just going to post some pictures. We have been having really beautiful weather in the San Francisco South Bay Area and beyond. I love it, but I wish we would have rain because we need it. But . . . it is Spring now . . . so I will enjoy it.
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The first few pictures are from a trip to Natural Bridges — a state park in the Santa Cruz area of California. Whenever we go to Santa Cruz for a Nia class we like to stop by the ocean. Santa Cruz is not that far from San Jose, but I just don’t get over there often. When I make the drive over I like to at least set my eyes on the ocean. I remembered my phone has panorama. The bridge that was natural actually collapsed a while ago, but it is still a very pretty spot.
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Then, the next week, I was “over the hill” again. I was visiting a friend who is moving. She wanted to get the kids out of the house on such a gorgeous day. This is a slide at one of the parks. WOW!
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And, of course, I take a million pictures of my cat, so I thought I would share.
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She likes to be in her outside house but with the door open. She loves the sun, but doesn’t like to get too hot.
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Then there are our roses. They are in bloom. They are beautiful. And, yes, they smell fantastic.
I like to bring the beauty inside. They make the house smell great!
Thanks for taking this little Spring Break with me!
Are you enjoying the season?
Posted in Flowers, Misc | Tagged: Natural Bridges, Nia class, Nia San Jose, Nia South Bay Area, ocean, Roses, San Francisco Area Nia, San Jose Nia, Santa Cruz, Spring 2014 | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 20, 2014
In Nia we do something we call “wag your tail”. Now there are various ways one can “wag” their tail. This move is not one of Nia’s 52 Moves, but we do it A LOT. One might think that wagging one’s tail just means to shake your butt. But shaking your butt is really just shaking your backside. While that has a purpose in dance when I say “wag your tail” I don’t mean shake your tush. There is a difference. Just like there is a difference between shaking your chest/breast and a shimmy. A shimmy is not just shaking your chest or what you have on it. A shimmy is using the muscles in your upper back and shoulders to push and pull your shoulders. While the front might shake as you shimmy, the sensation is entirely different from just shaking what’s on the front. For more info you can read my post Shimmy From The Back. With the tail wag it is somewhat the same thing — in the sense that you are not shaking your butt you are wagging your tail.
The focus is the very bottom portion of your bony spine, the coccyx — your tail. When you wag your tail the outer portion of your body, your glutes/your butt is going to move and shake, just like when you shimmy your chest/breast will shake, but that is not the focus. And believe me, I have ample of both to know the sensation is entirely different. 🙂
For many this is not something they sense right away. It is one of those things you practice. I know many belly dancers who hold classes just on shimmying . . . So by comparison shaking top and/or bottom is different from a shimmy and/or a wag of the tail.
One way I describe it to my students is to just relax the spine. Let the hips hang and then wag the tail. Some understand this and are able to do it. While it might take practice, when they focus they can do it, hips hanging tail wagging. If you can do this the sensation is amazing. It is a HUGE release to the spine. It is very relaxing. Wagging the tail is one of my favorite moves. Ask anyone on my Nia classes and they will tell you, “Yeah, she says that all the time.”
I recently posted about how my students are my teachers and one thing they taught me was to come up with a different way of explaining “letting your hips hang”. The looks I received recently while having my students practice wagging their tail was, “I am not getting what you are saying!!!” So I had to think about it and I came up with something.
Sit down on the ground with your legs out in front of you. Then use your hands to push yourself off the ground. Your lower legs and feet can still be touching but you want your tush to be off the ground. Now relax your spine. Do you sense that hanging sensation? THAT is what you are going for while standing. That is what will enable you to wag your tail.
So try it. Can you sense your hips hanging? Can you sense the difference between wagging your tail and shaking your bum?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Belly Dance, coccyx, glutes, Nia, Nia Dance, Nia Practice, Nia's 52 Moves, sensation, shake your butt, shimmy, Shimmy From The Back, spine release, wag your tail | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 18, 2014
Maybe Jack practiced Nia. We do a lot of agility movements in a Nia class. From Wiki’s definition of agility:
“Agility or nimbleness is the ability to change the body’s position efficiently, and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance.”
When thinking of agility I tend to think of my entire body starting then stopping. My entire body moving one direction then changing quickly, like the definition states. But agility can be just in the fingers, in the hands, in the arms, or just in the legs. Our entire body does not have to move for it to be an agility movement—or at least that is how we call it in Nia. We do a lot of movements that require agility.
I just posted about Creeper Crawlers. That is an agility movement of the fingers. They are starting and stopping and going one direction then the other.
Drumming is a great example of agility. Your arms and/or hands are starting and stopping and changing direction. We drum in Nia. There are certain routines where it is part of the choreography. There are times when we do it in FreeDance. The music often calls for drumming. Sometimes we listen. Drumming is a fun way to connect to the sensation of agility. Without actual drums we can drum all around our space; up in the air above our heads . . . in one of our Nia routines they call this sky drumming. We can drum below our bodies, to the sides, behind our bodies, around in a circle, all over. Sometimes I invite the class to imagine they are in the middle of a HUGE drum set with drums all around them. They can’t even move without hitting a drum. That is some wild drumming.
Looking around and allowing the head to change direction is a form of agility. Look! Look! Look! As if you are watching a bug fly around. Hip bumps . . . keeping those hips juicy with that left right action. If you are really playful, hip bumps back and forth . . . it’s all about being agile.
Another great show of an agility move is kicking. Kicking like a swimmer’s kick. Fast feet, fast action action. One direction then the other. Back and forth. Of course this can be done with the action from the knee or even the hip. Whatever joint does the action, kicking is another great example of a movement that requires agility.
A number of Nia’s 52 Moves of the The Upper Extremities can be tied to agility. Blocks and punches can be done with a quick change of direction, along with webbed spaces and palm directions.
Agility is one of Nia’s Five Sensations that we practice and play with in our Nia classes. The other sensations are Flexibility, Mobility, Strength, and Stability. Like many groups and professions we have many acronyms, the one for Nia’s Five Sensations is FAMSS. The A is for Agility.
What do you do that can be considered an agility move?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: agility, Creeper Crawlers, drumming, FAMSS, Nia, Nia class, Nia routines, Nia's 5 Sensations, Nia's 52 Moves, Wiki | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 15, 2014
Sometimes after a Nia Class or even a yoga class a student will come up to me to explain why they weren’t doing something I said to do. This is a HUGE education for me because some times what they say they can’t do is not what I intended for them to do. When my students share with me it helps me teach them better. Their understanding of what I am instructing them to do helps me hone my teaching skills and at times has me finding different ways to say things. Could be an entirely different way of saying something or it could just be a matter of me explaining it a little better. Either way, I am always learning from my students.
As an example, one day after one of my yoga classes a students explained to me that she has a very high arch so she cannot use her whole foot. Many standing poses in yoga require you to stand on the entire foot and in Nia we also use our whole foot at times. Whole foot meaning your weight is distributed over the entire foot. Not standing on the toes or leaning back on the heals, or even to either side of the foot, but to use the “whole foot”. Since I say whole foot all the time it didn’t even dawn on me that someone could take it as the WHOLE foot. To be fair, she is correct. When I say whole foot, I actually mean your whole foot PRINT. I don’t mean to include the arch of the foot which would actually be covered in the term “WHOLE foot”. I am not certain if this was ever a thought for any of my Nia students, but just to be clear, I throw whole foot PRINT out there every once in a while in all of my classes so people understand when I say whole foot, I mean the foot PRINT. Not the arch. Flash! I learned something.
There was another time when we were on our hands and knees doing the cat pose. In this pose I have my students look “down” into their lap. If the individual’s neck allows and they are comfortable with that, I go for the big stretch all the way down the spine. So when we arch down with belly towards the earth, I tell them to look up since I consider looking into the lap looking “down”. After class one day, one student told me she can’t look up because of a neck issue and when she said it we were standing and she looked up at the sky. At that moment, I just said, “Ok. Good for you for recognizing a position your body cannot do and not doing it.” I wasn’t exactly certain what she was talking about because I hadn’t instructed anyone to look up at the sky, but if her neck can’t do that, is great that she not do it. The next time I was doing the combination, I thought “look up” and – FLASH! (the light bulb again) – I understood what she was talking about. When I said look UP, she thought I meant UP at the SKY and not just up from the “down”. So, again, I learned something. I can still say look up, but I clarify that I mean up from your lap (or the other options I give).
It always amazes me and make me happy that I learn so much AS I TEACH. I think I have shared before in a post that there comes a time in my process of learning a Nia Routine where I just have to take it to the class. No matter how much time I spend at home by myself learning it, I always learn more in that hour of teaching it than all of that before time. Awesome. I might have even posted something similar to this before. It just goes to show that I am always learning something from my students! Ta-da! Students are teachers too.
Do you ever talk to your teacher about stuff? Did you ever thing that you could be teaching them something?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: cat pose, foot print, Nia, Nia class, Nia routine, Nia students, Nia Teacher, whole foot, Yoga, Yoga class | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 13, 2014
There is a move I do often at the end of my Nia Classes. I learned it as the Ragdoll Pose in yoga. Some say it is just a variation on the Uttanasana or the Forward Fold. Since it is a standing pose where you bend over I can see that. But the Forward Fold is a very active pose. You are using other muscles, you are actively lengthening your spine. Whereas in my classes, the move we do as the Ragdoll pose is just a hang. The idea is to hang, ya know, like a rag doll.
After all the movement we do in a cardio dance exercise class where moving your entire body is the key, it is nice to just hang around for a bit. This pose made my list of favorite yoga poses but is not one of my sixteen favorites. Kinda surprised me.
With the Ragdoll, as I said the idea is to hang like a rag doll folded over at the hips. Your body goes limp. Your arms can hang. Your shoulders and hang. Everything just hangs. Legs can be straight or bent at the knee. It is a relaxation pose so doing it to your optimum comfort is advised. Let the weight of your head help lengthen and stretch your back and spine. So you are not actively lengthening or straightening, it all comes from the weight of the head. Even if you are resting you forearms on your thighs you are hanging.
One way that people do this pose is with the arms hanging overhead, but bent at the elbows. The forearms are folded together allowing the hands to hold the opposite elbow. This variation is just like the bent knees and/or the arms — or even hands — on the thighs, it is up to the individual at the time of the pose.
Bending over or doing an inverted pose is good for the systems in your body. Such as the circulatory system, turning upside down helps blood flow which helps the respiratory system. The lymphatic system is assisted by inversions which stimulates the body’s immune system.
It seems as if the body enjoys the break from the normal pull of gravity and it likes to be upside down every once in a while. Calms the nerves, heightens the sense, and brings a little peace. Only when done reasonably comfortable. Poses should not be held if they cause pain or dizziness. So when you are in any pose especially and inversion stay only as long as it is comfortable.
To me, the Ragdoll is one of those comfortable poses. Usually just fold over and hanging. But I do remember at least once when my neck was not aligned properly so the full on hang did not feel good, but bending my knees and resting on my thighs was the ticket. Always remember that you do a pose for the moment you are in at the moment you are doing it. So yesterday all the way down might have been the way, but maybe today it is not. Do what your body wants in the moment.
Enjoy the weight of the head and the arms. Let it stretch your spine and bring space into your back. Hang as a rag doll would.
Do you like the Ragdoll pose? Do you like inversions? Which ones are your favorite?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: active pose, cardio dance, circulatory system, dance class, dance exercise, Forward Fold, hanging pose, inversion poses, lymphatic system, Nia, Nia Classes, Ragdoll pose, relaxed pose, standing pose, Uttanasana, yoga poses | Leave a Comment »
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