Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

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Posts Tagged ‘gentle yoga’

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Goodie Jar – Check In #34

Posted by terrepruitt on October 18, 2013

I forgot to post to my blog last night.  That is the second Thursday this month.  I got home from teaching my Nia class rather early since all I did afterwards was run in to pick up some spinach.  Then I got busy planning firming up the routine for my Gentle Yoga class, yet, I still didn’t work on the post.  As I was getting ready to leave I started typing one up.  When I got back from class I was interested in getting dinner on the table.  The evening just flew by.  I remembered I didn’t post at about 15 minutes AFTER midnight!  Oh well.

Here is my #34 Good Jar check in.  It is my hope that even though you are not commenting on the check-in you are still participating in recognizing and jotting down the Good Things.  There are only two and half more months to go.

I can’t wait to read them all at the end of the year.

So how is your jar going?

Posted in Good Things in the Goodie Jar | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Boneless Pork Chops In The Crockpot

Posted by terrepruitt on October 15, 2013

If you have read any of my recipe posts you probably know I love leftovers.  It just makes a lot of sense to me to cook once and have some of the meal left over for a quick meal later on.  This is really a great help for people who are busy or who’s schedule does not allow for cooking every night.  This week I am going to be busy three nights in a row.  Two nights I am subbing Nia for Hot Hula and the third night I have Gentle Yoga.  So Monday I did some cooking.  Monday I actually prepared dinner that will be our dinner for a couple of nights, but I also prepared a lasagna.  I froze it and I will put in the oven before I go to class one night this week, so it will be done around the time I get home.  I will use time bake for that so we will see.  But last night we had Crockpot Balsamic Pork.

I modified a chicken recipe I had seen on Facebook.  First of all I used pork instead of chicken.  I love chicken and I have been “missing” it.  We haven’t had any for a while.  Then the people-getting-sick-from-chicken thing came up and I was happy we hadn’t purchased any.  Then I found some in our freezer hiding behind something and I was happy.  It was purchased way before the latest issue and we had eaten the other chicken from the batch so I was so glad to have found it.  So we had just had chicken and I didn’t feel comfortable buying any so I bought pork.  I know that I like pork and balsamic so I thought it would work.

I rarely use my crockpot.  Something about cooking meat for HOURS, just doesn’t sound good to me.  This recipe called for FOUR hours on high.  Well, I figured that pork would NOT need FOUR hours so I decided to try it for two and see how it looked.

The recipe also calls for dried basil, but for some reason I thought fresh would be better.  Not sure why and not sure that it was.

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Crock Pot Balsamic Pork

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 heaping tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 heaping tsps dried minced onion
1/2 cup of fresh chopped basil
5 garlic cloves, pressed with garlic press
2 tblsp olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
7 thick cut boneless pork chops
chopped parsley for the top

Combine the first four ingredients in a small bowl, then spread over one side of pork, saving half for the other side.  Use half the basil piling a little on each piece.  Let the pork stand a bit.  Then flip the pork over and use the rest of the dry ingredients and basil to coat the pork.

Use the garlic and the oil to coat the pot of the crockpot.  Then place the pork inside.  Pour the vinegar over.

Set to high and cook for about two hours.

________________________________________________________

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, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaAn hour and 45 minutes later I turned my pot down to low so that I could keep preparing my salad for dinner and my lasagna for later.  I think I will cook it less next time.  I think turning it off at an hour and 45 minutes would have been better.  Although our pork was not overcooked, we just prefer it a little less cooked.

I know the thing that people think is so great about crockpots is you put it on and forget it.  Even though this is not hours and hours of “forgetting” it is still at least an hour and 45 minutes.  I would think it could be the four hours on low.

This was good.  My husband and I love garlic and that was a primary flavor . . . so I think if I want the balsamic to stand out more I will use less garlic.  If I had used dried basil – as the original recipe calls for – this would have been a super simple meal.  Adding the basil (washing and chopping) dropped it down to a simple meal.

It was good.  I can see me making this again.  And one day I will even try it with chicken.  Last night we had it with a spinach salad and my favorite Smashed Potatoes!  I did not take pictures of the finished product.  I was doing too many things at the time!

Do you use a slow cooker/crockpot?  What is your favorite thing to cook in the crockpot?  Does meat you cook in a crockpot come out well done?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

My Perfect Smashed Banana Eggs

Posted by terrepruitt on October 5, 2013

I wrote this post to post on Thursday, but I got distracted and forgot to post it.  I wrote it before I went to Gentle Yoga, my intent was to come home and review, edit it, then post it.  But when I got home I was distracted and I completely forgot about it.  I didn’t remember it until Friday when I was making my smashed banana eggs.  I really don’t like to call them pancakes because I don’t want people to think they are “pancakey”.  I have read people post that they didn’t like them because they are NOTHING like pancakes, so I am hoping by not calling them pancakes people will not have that “cake” idea in their mind.  Since I have been making them I have learned a few things.  I thought I would share what I have learned.  Perhaps some of the things I have learned can help you make the perfect Smashed Banana Eggs.

Some of the things are obvious if you were to think about them.  I didn’t until I experienced it.

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, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga—Use a small pan and cook one at a time.  Or use a pan you can get really hot.

I am certain cooking these depends on your stove and the pan you are using.  For me, I finally found the right pan to use.  The last three batches I made were perfect.  I use a small pan and just cook one at a time.  Originally I was using a large pan so I could cook more than one at a time.  That was not working very well.

—Be patient and let them cook until they bubble and are not runny, then flip them.

I still have not been able to cook them to a point where I would eat them in the 20 to 30 seconds that the original recipe that I saw said to cook them.  Ewwww.  I think maybe I like my eggs a little more done.  I cook them until they are the way I like them.  I have learned I have to be patient and I can’t flip them too soon.  When I wait, they don’t break apart.  I am certain you can find the right timing for YOURS.  Cook them the way YOU like them!

—The more ripe the banana, the sweeter the “pancake” will be.

My husband does not like to eat bananas if they are ripe.  If a banana has one tiny little brown spot on it, he doesn’t like to eat it.  He will eat it sometimes, but he doesn’t like it.  So if I have any bananas around that are greenish they go in his lunch.  They don’t stay greenish that long so it is normally just a day or two where he gets a banana in his lunch.  The rest I have to use.  When I use ripe ones in Banana Softserve he will eat them.  When I make banana bread he loves it.  It is just eating a banana with a spot he does not like.  I just recently bought slightly green bananas and used them, the end product was less sweet than normal (normally I use ripe bananas), of course.  Bananas get sweeter as they ripen.  I just had never had unripe bananas to use with the eggs before.

—DO NOT FORGET THE SALT!

I did it a couple of times and they just are not good without salt.  Eggs require salt.

—Be generous with the cinnamon.

Cinnamon really makes them yummy.

—Try THREE eggs to one banana.

I have not it yet, but I have a friend who said that she uses THREE eggs to one banana and mixes it up in the blender.  I usually make John avocado eggs for breakfast and so I am the one that eats the smashed banana eggs and I don’t want to eat three eggs.  I have only made them with two eggs and one banana.

I hope these lessons I learned help you make a perfect protein filled breakfast you will enjoy!  Let me know what you have learned.  How do you make YOUR PERFECT smashed banana eggs?

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Goodie Jar – Check In #32

Posted by terrepruitt on October 4, 2013

First check in of October.  Goodie Jar – Check In #32.  Happy Friday!

Yesterday my plan for the day got a little shifted because my cat wanted to go outside.  You may know from my previous posts that she is ill.  When she wants to go outside it is usually because she wants to eat grass because her tummy is bothering her.  I have learned that it is easier to take her outside and let her eat the grass and expel it on the concrete then it is to deal with it inside.  So I took her outside.  We were outside for a couple of hours.

I did have time to draft a post for my blog, but once home from teaching I forgot to post it.  It was chilly last night and so my husband and I had some tea.  Between the hot tea and my nice hot shower, I got very sleepy.  At one point all I was thinking was – BED!  I totally forgot about posting.

I received a “good thing” in the Gentle Yoga class to put in my Goodie Jar.  A student had excitedly shared with me a progressive step she had taken.  Always so fulfilling to hear about an individual’s successes!  Yay.

Here is to YOU!  I am hoping that you had a lot of good things to put into your good jar this week.

Well?  How is it going?

Posted in Good Things in the Goodie Jar | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Finding Balance In The Gate

Posted by terrepruitt on September 14, 2013

In Nia we have the five sensations that we dance and move with. I always feel that one of them is a personal favorite of one of the co-founders of The Nia Technique. I think that Debbie Rosas really loves stability. I imagine she loves them all because she does a superb job of ensuring they are all included in a each Nia Routine, but sometimes I just get this feeling that practicing balance is her favorite. It could be because sometimes stability, being balanced, requires flexibility and/or agility and/or mobility and/or strength. So you can practice and play with all of the five sensations when practicing balance. In yoga there is at least three of the five sensations we experience in Nia. In yoga there is flexibility and/or strength and/or stability/balance. In the Gentle Yoga class I am teaching I really like to put a huge emphasis on balance. I think balance is very important and yoga is a great way to practice it. There are many poses in yoga that are balance poses. Not all of them are standing poses.

One pose I really like to use for enhancing balance is the Gate pose. This pose is a kneeling pose, somewhat.

In the gentle yoga class we start on our knees. Up off our calves, as in we are not sitting on our legs. Then we lean forward and over to one side, say the left. We lean forward to the left placing both our hands on the ground in front of the left knee. Then we swing our right leg out so it is pointed out to the side. The heel of the right foot is aligned with the left knee or slightly in front. The right foot is flat on the ground and the toes are pointed away from the body. We then lift up so we are kneeling on our left leg with our right leg posed out to the right of our body. Then the left arm comes up reaching straight over the head. Palm towards the right. The right hand is palm up resting on the right thigh. If stability and balance is achieved then those that are comfortable lean over to the right, allowing the right hand to rest lower on the leg, at the shin, not the knee. If comfortable we turn the head to gaze past our left arm. All the while the crown of the head is moving away from our body and the tail is moving in the opposite direction. We are lengthening our spine. The shoulders are being drawn back and down. Even though one arm is up we still keep the space between the ear and the shoulder open and large. The same with the side we are leaning towards.

(11/08/21: Click Gate, Locust – Pictures May Help for a picture.)

Whether you are staying up right or leaning over to the side, keep your body from leaning forward. Stay in the pose for a few breaths. After you perform this pose on one side, do the other.

Parighasana, the Gate pose, is a nice way to pursue balance.  The foot that is out can be adjusted to a parallel (to the body) position if that allows it to be more comfortable or stable.  Or the foot can be lifted leaving just the heel on the ground.  The depth of the side bend is always a point that can be adjusted for the individual’s needs at the moment.

I love all the poses in yoga that allow for balance practice.  I think this is a great post with which to practice balance.

Are you familiar with the Gate pose?  Do you like this pose?

Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

For A Taller You

Posted by terrepruitt on August 27, 2013

There are a lot of things I like about yoga, one thing that I really like is that many of the asanas or poses are executed with a lengthening of the spine. In many poses the idea is to reach with the top of your head, or the crown of your head, in the opposite direction of your tailbone.  Often the cue is to reach with the crown of your head to the sky while reaching with your tailbone into the earth.  I feel as if the reaching and stretching in the opposite directions really help the body be taller.

While standing, sitting, bending the motion or action is to reach. Reach in opposite directions.  Create space in between each vertebra. While consciously stretching the backbone, you are pulling your shoulders back and down. Create a long neck by reaching. Push the shoulders away from the ears.  The ribs lift upwards, and off and away from the hips.

One motion or thought to help straighten and lengthen is to extend your sternum skyward.  This somewhat juts the chest out and the shoulder automatically go back and down.  With this as an image there might be some adjusting that needs to take place, but it can help move you in the right direction.   With the lengthening of the spine comes the separating of the ribs.  Allowing space in between each rib can sometimes help increase lung capacity.  If your lungs have more room to move in they might expand further.  This all lending to bigger, deeper breaths.

In the Gentle Yoga class I am currently teaching I am continually reminding the students to lengthen their spine.  I, myself, have a habit of scrunching.  I think I have mentioned this before.  I both scrunch my shoulders up to my ears and round my back.  I liken my posture to that of a spoon.  So it is very easy for me to fall into that even while I am leading a class because I begin to shift my concentration.  So the reminder is for all of us.  A reminder is nice because then you can check to make certain you are doing all the things involved in lengthening the spine.  Although sometimes I feel a bit repetitive, I think it is worth it.  In addition to myself I usually see at least one participant make an adjustment.

In Nia while we might not always be lengthening and reaching with our spine throughout an entire routine there is often at least a moment.  If not in one of the dances itself in the cool down or the floorplay.  I often include imaging space in between each vertebra as we sit or bend over in a stretch.  The Nia routing might not include yoga poses by the idea of it is included.  Part of the yoga inclusion “is the conscious alignment of bones and joints”*  While lengthening the spine we are lining up the bones and the joints.  Our posture is intact.

I really enjoy the growing taller sensation that yoga can offer through a variety of asanas where we are reaching and lengthening.  To me it makes for a taller me.

Do you sense you are taller after doing yoga?  Do you sense your spine is more straight after yoga?  Do you do a pose that really has you feeling you are taller after?

*The Nia Technique, page 276.  A yoga focus.

Posted in Nia, Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments »

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