Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

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Posts Tagged ‘barefoot exercise’

My Husband Laced My Shoes

Posted by terrepruitt on February 6, 2019

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDThis interesting picture was posted on my Facebook feed a long time ago. I have always been meaning to post about it. I don’t know who posted it or who created it. I just thought it was so interesting because years ago I complained to my husband about how the tops of my tennis shoes hurt my feet. His solution was to take my shoes and lace the laces in a different way. He took both shoes and laced them in different ways. He told me to figure out which one didn’t hurt my foot and he would lace the other shoe that way. Well, I am embarrassed to admit that I left my shoes like that for a long time. Years, probably. I didn’t wear my tennis shoes that often so I would forget that they were laced like that. And one was so much more difficult than the other to put my foot in and take it out once it was tied well. In fact, that was one of the reasons I didn’t wear them that often because it was so difficult to get my foot in and out of and/or to tie it. It was years. Then when I started to wear them more (because my boots “died”), I realized that it was really just ONE shoe that was annoying and painful so it finally occurred to me to fix the shoe lace. I just needed to make one shoe match the other.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDOne of the ways my husband laced my shoe was so comfortable AND easy to tighten. The other way was not comfortable and tightening it was a pain in the rear. It wasn’t worth tying the shoe comfortably. And now, often, I don’t even tie my shoes. I teach Nia and yoga – both are done barefoot, so I am really just wearing my shoe from my house to my car, from my car to my class and back again. So I don’t normally bother with tying the shoes laces.

When I need to run errands after class then I tie the shoe properly otherwise it flops around on my foot and that is not comfortable. But when I am just going to class I just loop the lace around my heel and that keeps it from dragging on the ground and being a “trip-threat”.

The way my husband laced my shoe does not match any or these. Had he not successfully laced my shoe I might have gone for the “Heel Slipping” because that is usually what happens with the regular way of lacing a shoe.

How do you tie your shoes? Does one of these examples apply to you?


Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDDance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCD

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Naked Feet

Posted by terrepruitt on June 1, 2010

One of my blogger friends (and actually I am lucky enough to know this blogger in person) posted about being barefoot.  In her post she mentioned the barefoot philosophy.  I had never heard of it.  She said it is about “living light, being aware and present, being non-conformist, non-consumerist and, well, naked.”

She used a quote that said being naked in public is scary.  When I read that my whole body got tingly.  In a flash I had an epiphany.  We do Nia barefoot.  What is Nia?  It is a workout that was designed to be done barefoot.  But a lot of people don’t like to participate in exercise without shoes on.  I believe that there are a lot of reasons for that and some of them might be because it is different, and a part of you is exposed, and it is like being naked (this is also part of the previously mentioned quote-but it is more in relation to blogging, whereas I am actually talking about feet).

Some people actually never go barefoot because they hate it that much.  Some people have ideas about being barefoot, for example my dad, he thinks you are not dressed unless you have your shoes on.  Me, I am always surprised when people come to my house and the first thing they say to me is, “Do you want me to take off my shoes?”  I didn’t realize until recently that they probably say that because even if I am having a party and I am dressed up, I don’t usually have shoes on in my home.  To me shoes are for going outside.  They are out-of-the-house-wear.  I usually have socks on to keep my feet warm, but not shoes.  Shoes are constricting.  But my attitude towards shoes has restricted me from being sensitive to those that might actually feel naked without shoes.

As I said, Nia was designed to be done in bare feet.  The feet are part of our base.  The base needs to be strong.  One way to ensure a strong, stable base is to exercise it.  A great way to exercise feet is to allow them to do the work of walking, running, balancing, wiggling, flexing, stretching, and generally moving without the assistance of shoes.  Moving in ways that they cannot while they are confined in a shoe.  Also some shoes actually compensate for feet weaknesses.  All of this is not to say that people cannot do Nia in shoes.  In my classes, if the facility allows shoes (some yoga studios do not allow shoes), people are encouraged to be comfortable above all so if shoes allow people to be comfortable then they are invited to keep their shoes on.

My friend’s post just reminded me that it could be a really deep seated feeling of “uncomfortableness” that might require some people to keep their shoes on.  Nia is about moving the body as it was designed to be moved, that alone sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable because we are taught the exact opposite our entire lives.  We are also taught, for the most part, that shoes are required to exercise.  So moving in different ways and doing it without shoes, might not be easy for people new to Nia.  Ah-ha!  I get it now!  It is not just about a floor being dirty.

Well, I will continue to mop the floor when I get to the studio early enough, but I will also think of bare feet in a larger sense.  Because in Nia being barefoot is about exercising the feet, but it also is about being aware, being present, being open, and being free and some people need to work up to that.  Nia is a journey that allows us to work on more than just having naked feet.

Posted in Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments »

Exercising Feet

Posted by terrepruitt on June 2, 2009

I was people watching the other day in a coffee shop in Willow Glen.  I was looking at people’s shoes and it occurred to me that people might not realize feet need exercise too.   The foot is an awesomely designed structure.  Think about it:  over 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, and a bunch of muscles and tendons, all working to support you and transport you, and sometimes even defend you.  The foot was designed to move, flex and absorb.  Your foot can be subjected to up to four times your body weight.

In Nia we workout in barefeet!Do you exercise them?  Do you even think about them?

For most people feet are in shoes most of the day.  Most shoes are very rigid and they don’t allow for the foot to bend and flex.  With that kind of captivity your feet do not move much, so the bones, joints, ligaments, muscles and tendons don’t get the workout they need.

One of the reasons Nia™ is done barefoot is to exercise the feet.  The Nia routines have us (at the very least) stepping flat foot, stepping into releve, stepping onto a heal lead, at times we use the ball of our foot flexing out toes—our entire foot gets a workout.

Nia can be done in shoes, but there is a reason why we do it in bare feet.  We want to build a strong base.  Our feet are the very bottom of that base.  According to The Nia Technique® White Belt Manual:  “Ida Rolf, the creator of Rolfing, teaches that the feet tell an entire story.  She says to develop healthy and powerful posture, to have a strong an agile body, the feet must be structurally aligned.  They must provide a firm, sturdy and flexible foundations.”

It is good for our feet to make a connection to the earth.  Nia say that our feet are the hands that touch the earth.  We have 7,000 nerve endings in our feet.  Think about how alive they would feel out of shoes, touching the floor, assisting in the health of the rest of the body.

Next time you are working out, think about how you can help your feet get some exercise too.

Posted in Exercise and Working Out, Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »