Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

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Posts Tagged ‘City of San Jose’

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December 30 Minute Movement Challenge – Day #18

Posted by terrepruitt on December 18, 2012

So today is Tuesday.  On Tuesdays I have a Nia Class at 9:00 am for the City of San Jose.  The community center is closed on Christmas Day.  And I have not heard, but I am thinking it will be closed on New Year’s Day too!  So for two weeks I will not have a Tuesday morning Nia class.  (Sad face.)  But there is class today so I am going to be back to check in after class and after I do my 30 minutes.

Hmmm . . . . maybe I can get the people that are going to miss Nia for two weeks to come over to my Nia Classes on Monday and Wednesday?  Maybe offer a deal?  $5.00 with a community card ID?

Yay you for being here to check in!

Posted in December 2012 30 Minute Movement Challenge | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Fun, Beautiful, A Great Addition – San Jose Art

Posted by terrepruitt on August 25, 2012

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia I cannot believe it has been over a month since I was driving around to the Community Centers of San Jose that offer Group Ex classes checking out their floors!  Since we do Nia bare footed I wanted to see what community centers have dance studios.  While I was looking for the community centers is when I first noticed the painted utility boxes around.  I can’t believe it has been over a month since I was driving from my Nia class in Willow Glen and I noticed someone painting the utility box that I pass all the time.  Over a month ago!  Wow.  Time goes so fast.  I was hoping to have more pictures of more boxes, but I haven’t seen any since then.  I must not be in the areas where there are boxes — could also be that I am a little distracted and not noticing the boxes.  Sigh.  Anyway . . . I think the artist might have completed painting these boxes in one day.  I am not certain because I didn’t drive by again until the following Monday and I didn’t stop to take pictures until a week after I first stopped.  I was just waiting to post because I didn’t want to have the utility box posts right in a row.  I don’t mind having Nia posts, or exercise posts, or food posts consecutively, I just didn’t want to have utility box posts one after the other.  Before I knew it, it has been a month.  Wow.Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

The first picture is a shot of the front of the boxes together straight on.  The next “picture” is a collage (obviously) of pictures of different angles so you can somewhat see the side of the boxes.  The second collage is pictures of the back of the boxes and the little label disclosing the artist and the sponsor.

Looks as if the birds are driving around in San Jose.  These boxes are on Bird Avenue so I think it makes total sense that birds are driving cars, vans, motorcycles, sports cars, and delivery trucks.Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

You might have noticed that the artist incorporated the vent on the back of the box painting it as if it is the back of a truck.  Cute.  You may also have noticed that one truck seems to be carrying eggs.  I think Mr. Willis is showing his sense of humor by having a bird drive around as either an egg delivery service or perhaps a pickup service.

It is quite a cheery little mural.  Also very responsible.  You might not be able to see, but all of the birds on scooters or motorcycles have on helmets.  It is a law in California that you have to wear a helmet, so it is good of the artist to have legally correct drivers. I am not sure that any birds have been ticketed for not doing so, but it is still a good idea!

So what do you think?  Cute, huh?  Have you seen any painted utility boxes in your area?  If you have I would love to see.  Send me a picture with some information and I can post it.

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Measuring Instead Of Weighing

Posted by terrepruitt on August 21, 2012

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, ZumbaSo if you are participating in the little challenge of not getting on the scale for either 21 days or 30 days, today is the 21st day.  I assigned 21 days so that is would land on a posting day (I post Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays).  I will let you know that due to more “stuff” as I had posted about before, I got off to a late start on my own challenge!  So how is it going for you?  Has it been a challenge to stay off the scale?  Have you noticed that you are not obsessing about the number the scale displays because you are not looking at it?  Now the thing with measuring with a measuring tape instead of scale means you need to keep doing what you’re doing.  So if you were doing some type of cardio three times a week and adding some strength training in and weighing yourself, looking for that number to change when you stop using the scale it doesn’t mean to stop doing the other stuff.  It is just a different way to track progress.  And for some it could be a little bit of a reprieve IF they allow the scale to affect their mood.  I found it funny that today on FaceBook someone posted about the scale stealing motivation and she reminded people it doesn’t tell the whole story.  That is what I am saying too.  That is why I thought it would be nice to change it up.

I know that some people don’t even have a scale.  Some people don’t even use one.  Everyone is different.  I just hear a lot about people being upset because they didn’t lose a pound “today” and they’ve been trying so hard.  So I think that maybe for those people it is nice to try a different way to track progress.

My schedule is a bit “off” this month as I am spending time dealing with “stuff” and I have picked up a lot of classes that I am subbing for the City of San Jose.  I picked up eleven classes which is great but I have not been able to concentrate as much on my resistance training as I would like.  My numbers did not change as much as I was hoping to see when I thought of this challenge.  What about you?  Did you see a change in numbers?  Are you stopping at day 21 or going to continue on and see what 30 days will do?

Not only do I have the added class times to do I have a little bit of added prep time for each class and the travel time to and from each class.  Since I am subbing in Nia for other classes such as Zumba, Zumba Gold, Pilates, Kick Boxing, and Cardio Toning, I do try to pick Nia routines that will fit.  I am not changing Nia to fit the class, because I explained how that turned out in a post earlier this month, but I do try to pick routines that might fit a little better.  With a Zumba Gold class I might do a Nia routine that is a bit mellow or doesn’t have a lot of bow stances.  And with subbing a Zumba class I might put together a lot of the higher energy “get moving songs”. So all of that cuts into my plan.  But I’m going to buckle down a bit because I have some stuff that I needed to get done this month behind me.  I am going to keep up with this little challenge myself and see where that tape leads me.

Well?  How are you still with me?  Are doing the challenge?  How is it going?  Doing it for 21 days?  Doing it for 30 days?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Utility Box Beautification

Posted by terrepruitt on July 21, 2012

dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaOn my way home from teaching my Nia class in San Jose on a bright and beautiful Wednesday morning, I noticed a man at a utility box.  I had seen him out of the corner of my eye so it did not register what he was doing until I was passed the box.  So I looked at him in my review mirror.  I pulled over to the side of the road to be able to really look to see if he was doing what I thought he was doing.  Then I decided to back my car up, park, and get out to see.  It just so happened that the day before I was on my way to the Roosevelt Community Center, and I took a wrong turn and found myself driving around not sure exactly how to get where I wanted to be and I noticed a set of utility boxes.  Do you ever notice utility boxes?  Probably not, huh?  They are one of those things that are not that attractive so we learn to ignore them.  Well, while I was driving around being lost, I noticed them.  There was one that was painted with a bunch of flowers and then the one right next to it looked like a big red rose.  I thought, “Wow!  That is so cool.”  So as I was driving home from Nia and I saw a man painting a utility box, I wanted to see what it was all about.

We talked briefly, he said it was a project in the City of San Jose.  They are lumping it in as an “anti-graffiti” project, but I like to just think of it as disguising something not attractive AND adding beauty at the same time.  The artist, Scott Willis, was sitting on the grass by the box painting it.  He handed me a fact sheet.  I skimmed it and tried to hand it back and he said I could keep it.  (YAY!)  Because now I have the facts to share with you.

The project is “Art Box Project SJ”.  The project goals are to integrate art into San Jose neighborhoods, grow the project throughout San Jose, and “encourage community participation by engaging neighbors, neighborhood associations, and local artists by sponsoring boxes and paying artists a small stipend for their work.”

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaThe benefits are: bringing art into the neighborhoods, encouraging community engagement, offering temporary work for local artists, deterring and/or reducing the blight of graffiti.

Additional information on the fact sheet says the “project was inspired by photos of utility boxes with murals painted on them, taken by self proclaimed “Anit-Man-About-Town” and world traveler Gary Singh (a local Metro News columnist).  It’s being pushed along by Tina Morrill; an idealist [who] believes anything is possible.”

I know San Jose isn’t the first city to do this but I am excited to see these boxes around.  In fact the Fact Sheet states, “According to the Contra Costa Times, Hayward has found their art on utility boxes has reduced graffiti problems by 97%”.  Wow.  Ninety-seven percent.

In addition to the sponsors paying the artists’ stipend they can pay an additional amount to have the box sprayed with an “anti-graffiti coating”.

There are criteria for both the box locations and the art, but that is to be expected and the criteria even makes sense, such as the utility box can’t be on the replacement list.  Nice that they don’t want an artist to spend time beautifying it just so it can be replaced.  And the are must be tasteful, respectful, and not political, commercial, or religious.

While the artist do get paid a small amount I am hoping that it will be advertising for them.  I mean, if you see really compelling work on a utility box maybe it could lead to other things for the artist!

The rose I saw the other day just keeps jumping into my head, it was so gorgeous.  The art I saw on Wednesday was unfinished, I interrupted the artist.  But since it is a box I pass at least twice a week on my way home from my Nia classes in Willow Glen, I will see the work in progress and post pictures upon its completion.  For now you get to see the artist and his work in progress.  I am relating this to health and wellness because beauty causes a good feeling.  It is nice to see the plain utility boxes beautified.ance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

Here is the Facebook page for it (click here).

So what do you think of this project?  Do you have something like it in your city?  Would you like to have something like it in your city?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Anything Goes Is The Tagline For The First Stage Of FreeDance

Posted by terrepruitt on July 5, 2012

Nia is both a dance exercise and a life practice.  Kind of like yoga.  You can go to a class and get the exercise you want and have it end there or you can learn about its principles and take them into your life.  There are levels of the practice.  Nia has chosen to use a “belt” system as their levels.  Instead of just having numbers or names, they have assigned belt colors to the levels.  There are five levels; White Belt, Green Belt, Blue Belt, Brown Belt, and Black Belt.  The intensives to gain the belts can be taken and enjoyed by people who aren’t teaching. Each belt has 13 principles, except Green. Green does not have its own set of principles because green is the belt level that is actually designed specifically for teachers and helps them hone their teaching skills.  It delves into the 13 principles of the White Belt.  The White Belt’s principle #4 is FreeDance.  FreeDance as a practice has eight stages.  I have posted about eight through two.  This post is about stage one.  Stage #1 of Nia’s 4th White Belt Principle is Freedance – Anything Goes (movement wise).

While you are dancing any movement is great if it is authentic movement.  With Nia there is choreographed moves, but within the patterns of movement there is the ability to freedance.  Also with many routines there is sometimes just freedance where we are allowed to dance free to the music without any choreography.  Stage one:  Freedance, anything goes, allows us the greatest of freedoms.  You can dance using the wall, the mirror, a chair, the floor, or a ballet barre that might be in the room.  You can dance fast, slow, high, low, or in the middle.  Anything that you sense your body wants to do to the music.  It is up to you.

The idea with freedance is to just let the body go.  Don’t think about it.  When you think about it often comes the judgment.  Sometimes the judgment can interfere with movement, especially if it is judgment along the lines of, “Oh I must look silly doing this.”  “Oh that probably isn’t pretty.”  “Oh, I am not graceful enough to spin.”  “Oh, I need to do this or that.”  This is all inner dialog that clogs up the muscles and their movements.

Freedance also, as I believe I’ve mentioned before, in not club dancing.  We are NOT just bouncing or undulating to the beat, we are moving to the music.  We are moving our bodies towards as pleasurable sensation of health and well being.

Freedance is also not patterned dancing, we save the patterns for our choreographed movements.  Freedance is just free.  It is spinning twirling, diving and whirling.  It could be hopping or dropping.  It really is whatever your body does.

Freedance is not easy.  It takes practice.  It is not easy to just be on the floor and not think about how you are going to move and just let your body go.  It is a challenge.  But once you can stop thinking and talking in your head you will find yourself moving to the music.  Sometimes you might even notice that you are moving in a way that you didn’t think about and it is really amazing to have that sensation.  But don’t think too much, just keep moving.

I would like to invite and encourage you to make some space in your home or if you are so inclined find a space to dance outside . . . find a space turn on some music and just dance.  Let yourself go.  Let yourself be free.  Allow the time, space, frame of mind and spirit to freedance.  Remember, anything goes!

Wahoo!  I have to add that in the middle of typing this up I secured another class to sub for the City of San Jose.  So exciting to be able to share Nia through the city!  Yay!

Posted in FreeDance, Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Nia White Belt Principle #7

Posted by terrepruitt on May 25, 2010

The first half of Nia White Belt Principle #7 is the Three Planes of Movement.  The second half is Levels of Teaching.  (You can learn more about Nia’s Belt Levels here)  The three planes of movement in Nia can be easily described as low, medium, and high.  The planes are used to allow our bodies to practice agility and mobility.  We use the floor, the space in between, and the “high”.  We bend and fold.  We reach out and stretch up.  We move in space both horizontally and vertically.

With all the movements available to us in the three planes we have the opportunity to experience energy as it moves around us.  In addition to the possibilities of energies the journey should be to pleasure and comfort.   As you move through the planes part of practice of  Nia is to observe how our joints open and move more freely.

Just like the three levels of intensity Nia encourages everyBODY – regardless of fitness level – to work and play in all three planes.  Keeping in mind everyone’s low, middle, and high is unique to their own body.

Moving through the planes can tie into the levels of intensity.  For example if doing the bow stance, the lower or deeper you go could be considered a level of 3 intensity because going down and coming back up would require greater effort and be more intense than staying “high” and not lowering into a deep bow.

Strength, stability, and flexibility will also be a result of working through and in all the planes.  The more we play in all of these areas we develop more ability in all of them, the more we can maintain balance in the entire body.

If you want to join me in a Nia class please look at my San Jose Nia class schedule or my San Carlos Nia class schedule.  I look forward to seeing you.

Posted in Nia, Nia White Belt Principles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

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