Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

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Posts Tagged ‘Jazz Hands’

HELP! Which Emoji Do I Use?

Posted by terrepruitt on August 28, 2019

Do you use emojis? Frankly I am afraid to! I don’t know what half of them mean and sometimes the meaning that is assigned to them is just way off target, in my opinion. I don’t actually text that many people and so I really don’t have that many opportunities to use them – thank God! – but sometimes even then I use them wrong. My most used emoji is the kissing face with a heart*

Face Blowing a Kiss on Apple iOS 12.2 because I primarily only text with people I love; my husband, my niece, three or four of my friends.  I just recently noticed it was winking and promptly forgot that it was.

And, just a side note, what is up with that “FREQUENTLY USED”? I can use an emoji once OR . . . . or really not even USE it, just click on it to see what it is or click on it accidentally and not even send it and it still appears on my “FREQUENTLY USED”. That bugs me because then it takes the place of one I do use, but maybe not “”FREQUENTLY” and then I have to go searching for it again.

Ok, back to the emojis themselves. I recently read a post where there was

Hugging Face on Apple iOS 12.2

 

and

Kissing Face on Apple iOS 12.2

and someone wrote “why the hug and kiss emojis?” I was surprised, I really thought the first one was Jazz Hands and that is how I use it. And you might wonder how one uses Jazz Hands in a conversation . . . well, I can’t really explain that, but I do! So case in point as to why I am afraid to use emojis. I think a lot of them are not what I think they are.

Before I started typing this I did a search to see if the first one was a hug, I found 25 Secret Second Meanings of These Popular Emojis and it said

Open Hands on Apple iOS 12.2is a hug. Again, not sure I would have used X as a hug. But then again those are the SECRET SECOND MEANINGS. I just type HUG or HUGS (or hug or hugs) since I don’t know the correct emoji. I didn’t even read all of the explanations in that article because I don’t see myself needing to know the SECRET meanings.

Ah . . . .looking at the other results; here it is Emojipedia. Now I can use emoji safely. I knew there was a site that would steer me in the right directions I just haven’t looked it up before.

What about you? Do you use emojis?  What do you use the most? Are you going to use emojipedia to see if you are using them “correctly”?  Do you have your own meaning for any of them?

*which I just learned was blowing a kiss, I always use it as I love you and I am kissing you!

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

He Got Me With Something New

Posted by terrepruitt on August 18, 2015

Oh my!  I bet you are relieved to hear that I only took a few pictures of the Nia event.  I say that because I took so many of the last two events that I couldn’t decide which ones to post, so I posted a lot.  In March Jason came to town and taught his Nia routine Frankie Say Nia and a Nia FreeDance Playshop.  We had a great time.  You can see pictures and videos on my posts What Did Frankie Say?, Dancing, Learning, Posting, Editing, The Nia FreeDance Playshop Was Awesome!, and What Do You Mean Nia FreeDance Tool?.  This time Jason was driving through California again so I invited him back to do what he is calling Franking Say Redux.  It is so fun.  One of the things he said was that we were going to do things we had never done before.  I teach Nia so I thought that was a tall order and I shared my skepticism.  But I was also eager to see what that might be.  Well, a song or two in he had us doing . . . . something I had never done before.  And I said, “Alright, here it is!”

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo, Nia TechniqueSo even though he was here in March and we did the same routine he did it a little different.  While he traveled throughout the United States he adjusted it.  Plus sometimes part of what a Nia Teacher does while teaching is adjust moves or what we say to encourage different movement.  The move was not only new to me but it was so funny I had to laugh while I was doing it.  It was a Cat Stance Tail Wag with Jazz Hands.  Now, if you know what that is get up and do it.  It is hilarious.  You don’t even need music to get a giggle out of it.  I am sure part of my laughter came from the fact that we were doing other things leading up to or right after the move that doing it was almost a joke because there was just so much going on!

Some of you may need a reminder:  a cat stance is balancing on one leg while the other leg is up, a tail wag is when you wag your tail (I like to do it with a release in my spine), and Jazz Hands are your fingers spread wide.  Yeah.  Ha, ha, ha.  Try it!

Loved it.  I can’t remember what was before or after, but I know the whole thing was very funny.

We had a small group, but we had a great time.  My supportive husband even joined us.  Jason is always fun and we always learn something.  I think I will just have to keep inviting him back until you come and see for yourself.

Doing something new is such a great way to stimulate the brain and with that the nervous system.  Doing something new and having it be physical is a way to stimilate the brain, nervous stystem, and the whole entire body.  Jason had us doing all kinds of stimulating things.  It was very fun.

Does your exercise class stimulate your brain?  Do you do knew things?

Posted in Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Webbed Spaces

Posted by terrepruitt on August 6, 2013

In Nia we use specific hand techniques.  There are seven moves considered “Hand” moves in the Nia 52 Moves.  There are eight moves that are “Finger” moves.  So fifteen moves in all out of 52 that are specifically hand/finger moves.  You can read about “Spear Finger” and “Balance Finger” in previous posts.  The hands are such a large part of our lives.  In addition to the many things they do they help us communicate.  Whether we are using them to make gestures as we speak, using them in place of speaking (in the case of sign language or something as elementary as “the finger”), or using them to comfort by touching.  They are very powerful.  Nia does not neglect that hands.  All fifteen of the 52 Nia moves that have to do with the hands/fingers assist in moving energy.  It could be moving the energy within our bodies or outside of our bodies.  Some of the hand/finger moves can be done both with positive tension or in a relaxed state.  When done with tension the muscles in the hands and arms maybe felt more readily.  While done with a relaxing flow they might allow us to sense the outside energy.  One of the hand moves is called Webbed Spaces.

Webbed Spaces is where your open you hand spreading your fingers wide.  I imagine it is called Webbed Spaces because it shows the “webs” between each finger.  I have also thought it is called Webbed Spaces because I imagine my fingers being spider webs.  I actually don’t know why it is called Webbed Spaces, but those are the things I think about when doing and talking about Webbed Spaces.

After you have already opened your hand and spread your fingers wide.  The Nia Technique book says to practice extending each finger and creating even more space in them.  Usually in a Nia Class we are moving our arms with our hands in Webbed Spaces.  Sometimes we keep our fingers extended while moving our arms or we relax them and move into Webbed Spaces.  Either way it is a great way to keep flexibility in the hands.

Do this: put one hand in the Webbed Spaces position, flex and extend your fingers.  Put your arm out in a gesture of, “STOP!” Allow the flexing sensation to travel all the way up your arm.  Take your other hand and feel the muscles.  Then keeping the tension, point your fingers to the ground . . . feel the muscles in your forearm move.  Then do the same stop motion and fingers-pointing-to-the-earth move while your hand is not in Webbed Spaces position.  Feel the difference.  In both cases with Webbed Spaces the muscles are working differently than doing the same wrist movement without Webbed Spaces.

Webbed Spaces is just another way that Nia engages the entire body.  This move is also comparable to Jazz Hands so I think of it as showy and dramatic.  It can be a great emotional move allowing you to express what you FEEL.  It is another way to add fun and pizzazz into our cardio workout.

What do you feel when you do the little exercise stated above?  What do you sense when you do this move?

Posted in 52 Moves (of Nia), Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »