Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

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Posts Tagged ‘hips’

Second Chakra

Posted by terrepruitt on August 10, 2010

In my Nia class tomorrow the focus is going to be the second chakra. The routine I am doing has a lot of opportunity for us to focus on it. Chakras are areas of the body with specific energies. The second chakra is the sacral chakra, the hara, or the pelvic chakra.  This chakra is located in the pelvis area.

The routine has a lot of hip movements; side to side, up and down, folding, circles, and just dancing them however the body senses the music.  There are times when we might not be moving them at all but focusing on the area enables us to be aware of where we are directing its energy even when it is not in motion.  While we are doing a rib isolation the hips stay still but they should be facing the front with the energy directed to the area in front of us.

This chakra is located in the first lumbar area so movement of it stimulates the spleen, bladder, lower back, sex organs, areas of the intestines, and all liquids in the body.  The sacral chakra is also associated with emotions.  According to The Nia Technique* “move this chakra to develop a strong connection between your male and female sexual energy and to stimulate your powers of creation.”

The color orange is associated with this chakra.

As with any focus the intent can be changed to whatever you would like.  I think tomorrow we will start out with the intent of being aware of the sacral chakras energy and being aware of where we are focusing the energy of the hara.

*A book written by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas, NKA Carlos AyaRosas

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

Core Muscles

Posted by terrepruitt on February 16, 2010

You can look up “core muscles” and find that different people include different muscles in the group considered the “core muscle group”.  But unless you are going to get that specific and train just one muscle in the group then you really don’t need to figure out which person is right.  It would serve you just as well to do a variety of exercises that strengthen your “core” and more than likely you are going to be working the various different sets that the different people are including in the “core muscle group”.  What can help is to think of the “core” not just as the abdominals.  That is very limiting.  If you think of the core as center from which you need to be strong and stable then you will possibly have a larger picture of what the core is and understand that it is more than just your abdominals.

You need a strong center to be stable and balanced while you are manipulating your limbs.  If you keep that in mind you might realize that it is the back of your body as well as the front AND extending further down your legs than you first might have realized.

Doing a variety of crunches and sit-ups, including V-sit-ups and side crunches, will work your abdominals.  Wood chops help with the entire trunk area.  Push-ups are great because they require you to keep your abs tight for a great workout of them.

Bridges (lying on the floor and pushing your pelvis up), work the lower back muscles as well as the hips and glutes.

Lunges are great because they work your quadriceps and glutes.  If you put some trunk twist into it with or without a weight you are adding another dimension to it and getting your trunk area.

Squats can help as they get the quads and glutes too.

Exercises that require you to balance yourself are going to help you with all those stabilizing muscles.  These will strengthen your “core” as well as keeping it trained and at the ready for you when you need them to stabilize you.

So, do you really need to know that in a squat you are using your multifidus and quadratus lumborum (among other muscles) or does it just help to know that if you do them you are strengthening muscles that will assist you in having a strong a stable core?  I believe it is good just to think about the “core muscles” as being the groups and groupings of muscles from the top of your chest down to your knees, front and back.

Posted in Core Muscles, Muscles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »