Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

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Posts Tagged ‘Nia class’

Shimmy From The Back

Posted by terrepruitt on September 3, 2013

I was looking for something to post about today and I thought, “Hmmm . . . . let’s check out the Nia 52 Moves list on my site and see what I have yet to write about.”  Much to my HUGE surprise, I have not posted about the shimmy.  I am shocked.  The shimmy is a very often used move in Nia Routines. . . heck, the shimmy is an often used dance move in many, many, many dances.  So I am shocked I have not addressed this before.  I think that the shimmy is somewhat misunderstood.  I believe, from what I have experienced, that many people think of the shimmy as a chest move.  I have sensed great hesitation in many people when it comes to executing the shimmy.  It seems as if people might consider it a boob shake.  Some women don’t want to do it and neither do some men.  I mean, why would either want to shake their breasts in a cardio dance exercise class?  To me, thinking it is a frontal shake is a misconception.  While, yes, for many people the front DOES shake and move in a shimmy, that is NOT where the concentration of the movement is.  The shimmy comes from the shoulder blades/back.

The Nia Technique Book* says:  “Vibrate and shake your shoulders, standing upright or moving front and back, as if you are shaking water off.”**

I think that once the focus of the move is taken off of the chest, some people feel more comfortable with the move.  It is not primarily moving your chest/breasts/boobs around.  It is moving your shoulders and your back.  Since our front is connected to the back, then, yes, our chest will move but the movement will be different than if you are purposefully just moving what is on the front side of your body.  There are several ways to learn and/or practice the shimmy, here is one.  First of all think: “BACK/SHOULDERS” not front of body.

With your thoughts and your intent shifted from the front to the back you can apply the correct motion.  One way to start from scratch with this move is to lie down.  Lie on your back, then lift one shoulder off the ground.  Push your shoulder blade forward, jutting your collarbone out.  Then bring that side back to the ground.  Then do the other side.  Push, jut, back down.  Now push the first side again and as you allow the shoulder to come to the earth push the other shoulder forward.  Continue to alternate.  Only allow one shoulder up at a time.  While you are pushing forward keep your shoulders down toward your hips (not down toward the ground).  Keep the space between your ears and your shoulders open.  So you are not shrugging your shoulders up to your ears, you are pushing them from the BACK to the sky.  Do this until you feel you have the sensation in your body that when you sit up you will still have the correct motion.  Vary the speed.  Play with the size of the movement.  Go for smooth and not jerky.

If you are not starting that far back, from scratch, then stand and concentrate on the shoulders going forward and back.  Again, keep the shoulders down.  This helps me with the forward back motion, otherwise they might start creeping up into that scrunching posture.  Eventually you will be able to just move your shoulders forward and back with nice relaxed (down) shoulders.  But in the beginning it might be something you have to think about in order to ensure the front back motion and not up and down.

This move is great for isolating the muscles that assist with good posture and balance.  It is also a great stress reliever.  It is fun to let out sound while you are shimmying.  You don’t even have to waver your voice if you are shimmying vigorously enough, the movement causes the waver.  FUN stuff!

As mentioned we do the shimmy a lot in our Nia Classes.  Since we do it a lot we do it in many different ways . . . fast, slow, by itself, with other moves . . . it is just one of those great moves to throw into the mix.

I see many, many, many people who are challenged by this move.  There are many reasons for that.  I also see a lot of people’s movement change once they adjust the focus from the front to the back.  I see those proverbial light bulbs come on!  Shift the focus and let your body move!

When you shimmy, where is your movement focus?  Did this post alter your movement focus?  Can you shimmy so vigorously that your voice wavers with your movement?

*written by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas / **page 138, The Core

Posted in 52 Moves (of Nia), Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Happy One Year Anniversary

Posted by terrepruitt on August 31, 2013

I am really happy.  This coming week marks a year that we have had Nia on Tuesday mornings at the Camden Community Center in San Jose.  Workout classes – especially group exercise classes at city community centers – can come and go.  I have been blessed with a small but very consistent group of individuals who are interested in gaining or retaining their health through movement.  I am further blessed that some of my students who attend my Monday and Wednesday Nia classes have made it over to the community center.  Nia on Tuesdays started on Tuesday, September 4, 2012.  Our year class will be Tuesday, September 3, 2013.

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, PiYoI have been teaching Nia on Mondays and Wednesdays in the Willow Glen area of San Jose since February 2009.  Most of the individuals that make up the Monday and Wednesday group have been coming for most of the four years and seven months.  They too are a dedicated group of students that I appreciate.  I rent the time at that location.

I am not sure if many classes at city community centers go on for years.  So I am very happy that we have made it to the year mark.  I think that as long as the students continue to attend we will have a class.  I am hopeful that we will expand our numbers as we enter into our second year.  This is the community center where the students requested a second class.  There was an opening so their thinking was, “Why not fill it with Nia?”  So they wrote a note asking the supervisor if they could have Nia in the time slot that has just opened.  The supervisor is allowing us to give it a go.  If, this story sound familiar it is because I wrote about it in my Goodie Jar – Check In #27 post in the beginning of the month.  I was so excited that was definitely something that went into the Good Things Jar!

The Thursday class has started out with good numbers.  Hopefully that class will grow too.  It is made up of the core group from Tuesdays, but with a few different people.  This past Thursday they were all very kind, patient, and understanding while my music and the player were not cooperating.

As with most dance exercise workouts it is really fun when there is music.  While Nia can be done without music, it is nice to have music so that each individual can dance in their own way while we do the routine.  The group was very nice and let me run to my car after three songs so I could get my boom box.

So, I am just grateful and sharing my gratitude.  I am grateful to have great Nia students at all of my classes.  And I am very grateful that the San Jose Parks and Recreation Department is allowing me to have two Nia classes.  I am jumping for joy at our one year anniversary.  I have actually been working for the city for over a year, but it took a couple of months to get a class.  Yay us!

Here’s to our Nia class being one year old at the community center.  Here’s to more to come!  Thanks for sharing in my joy!

Posted in Nia | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Goodie Jar – Check In #29

Posted by terrepruitt on August 30, 2013

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, PiYoYou might have read that our cat is sick.  She has been diagnosed with a chronic disease.  Unfortunately to get to the point of knowing there is an issue and having it diagnosed the cat has to be really sick.  The disease involves the digestive system and most of you know or can imagine what that means.  So in order to keep any “messes” that might occur contained we had been confining the cat to the bathroom when we leave the house and while we are sleeping.  This allowed for peace of mind on our parts and much easier clean up.  As things started to improve and certain “messes” became less frequent, we would confine her to my office.  I put cardboard over most of the carpet so that clean up would be easier.  While the litter box visits were normalizing and become less frequent there was still some vomit issue.  But in my office if the weather is not too hot, I would leave the windows open and there is just more room for her.  Even though it was somewhat risky, in that any mess would have been more difficult to clean I thought it was nicer for her to be in a larger room and have windows.  At first I left her in her only while I was teaching, but then we started allowing her to stay in my office overnight.

I just looked at my notes and it has not been as long as I thought.  I thought we started confining her at the beginning of July, but it was the beginning of August.  So it progressed faster than I thought.  Either way, I think she was tired of having to stay in one room.  Although she does it anyway on her own, not having a choice is always frustrating — even to a cat.

Anyway . . . . this long story just to say that last night was the first night since the beginning of August that we let the cat stay out.  She was free to roam the house.  I doubt she did much roaming, but at least she had the opportunity.  So far she has not thrown up and I think we are on our way to controlling her symptoms.  She has been eating a very healthy amount and I do believe gaining some weight.

So I have a few things to put in my good jar.  In addition to our cat improving, the Nia class the Nia students asked for which started two weeks ago on Thursday mornings is doing well.  Our weather this summer has been awesome.  Although it is going to be hot over the Labor Day Weekend least it has not been hot all summer long.

So how is your Good Things Jar doing?  Is it getting full?  

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

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 »

Hummus With Sweet Potato

Posted by terrepruitt on August 24, 2013

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

I have mentioned before that I have fantastic Nia students.  Well, I also have fabulous students in my gentle yoga class.  When I posted about green beans being the only beans I like, except garbanzo beans in a couple of recipes, one of my students commented asking if I liked hummus.  Turns out she just made some with sweet potato.  I asked if she wanted to guest post or give me the recipe so that I could post it.  Just as I say about recipes she used the original recipe as a guide and made it her own.  She gave me kinda what she did (pictured). In addition to bringing me the recipe she actually brought me some hummus.  In a little baggie!  So cute.  So sweet of her.  It was a perfect addition to our dinner that night because I hadn’t really planned a well-rounded meal since I spent a good portion of the day at the vet’s office with my cat.  You know that all medications have side effects and one of hers had a big one so we are now on a different plan on how to handle her issue in order to deal with the issue that came up as a side effect.  I had my very first Thursday morning Nia class that will be Thursdays at 8:30 am the same day.  So being at the vet for hours then coming home and having to get some stuff done before having to leave for Gentle Yoga didn’t leave me time to think about dinner in detail.  So having the sweet potato hummus to serve with a raw bell pepper helped a lot.  And it was delicious.  I modified it only by roasting the sweet potatoes and adding more water.

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 YogaHummus With Sweet Potato:

Ingredients (pictured)

1 cup peeled and chopped up roasted sweet potato* (I measured it AFTER I roasted it)
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup Tahini
7 garlic cloves, roasted (or raw)**
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup water (not pictured)

Peel and chop a sweet potato.  Roast it in the oven (at about 450° F with garlic salt and olive oil).  Until it is cooked to your liking.***

Put all ingredients in the blender or food processor and pulse until smooth.****  You can start with less water than 1/4 cup and add as you see fit.*****

________________________________

Recipe notes

*I measured the sweet potato AFTER I roasted it

**I used roasted garlic

***I roasted the sweet potato less than I would have if I were eating it

****I don’t have a food processor, I used my blender and I had to scrape and pulse quite a lot.  I did not drizzle with oil or sprinkle with paprika.

*****I will use the “bean water” next time.  (I forgot that I needed water at all otherwise I would have saved the bean water to use.)

________________________________

As you can see there are two different colored spreads in the picture.  I think we might have used different colored sweet potatoes because I can’t imagine a sprinkle of paprika or her + of cumin would change the color that much.  Can you?

Either way they both were delicious.  Hers was more sweet.  Again not sure if it is because of different potatoes or not.  Could be the roasting.

Either way . . . this recipe is just a guide.  A place to start.  Something to look at to say, “Ok, someone has put sweet potato in a hummus and they thought it was good, now what can I do to make it my own?”

Right?  So . . . . go make it and report back!  🙂

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Goodie Jar – Check In #27

Posted by terrepruitt on August 9, 2013

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

Hey we are INTO August!  WOW!  And we are at our Friday Check-In.  So?  How is it going?  I have a lot of Good Things to add to my Goodie Jar.

I have one thing I should put in my jar because every time I use it I am so very grateful.  I love showers.  They are one of the best privileges on earth . . . I think.  I need to put that in my goodie jar.  I think they are damn good things.  Aside from that I had some good things go in that jar this week.

One of the good things I had happen this week was something amazing by my Nia Students at the community center where I teach on Tuesdays.  I shared this on Facebook, but I will share it here too.  After class one of my students mentioned to me that the class that was being held on Thursday mornings was being cancelled so she asked if I would want to teach Nia in that time slot.  I said yes.  So she asked how to get it as a class.  I told her she needed to talk to the person in charge of the classes at that San Jose City community center.  I told her to write a note for her or send her an e-mail.  She wrote a note and had the students sign it.  I thought that was so cute.  She said she thought it would prove that the students really wanted an additional Nia class to be on Thursdays if they all signed it.

Before I got home the person in charge of the classes at the community center called me to let me know we can give it a go!  So awesome.  This is definitely a good thing for my jar!

How about you?  Do you have good things to add?  Well, here is your reminder . . . ADD THEM!

Cheers!  Have a GREAT weekend!

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

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 »

Put A Little Strut In It

Posted by terrepruitt on July 13, 2013

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, PiYoI have allergies. I’m allergic to things outside, things inside, and things around. I cannot breathe through my nose at night especially when I sleep. My nose gets too stuffed. When my mouth hangs open all night long it gets dry and my throat hurts. So I sleep with a cough drop in my mouth. This does a few things, sometimes it helps a little with the “stuffy”, it helps sooth my throat, and/or it helps me keep my mouth shut which is great because I don’t even want to think about . . . . (spiders, shhhh!). Not too long ago I was doing a quick stop at a shop after one of my Nia classes and I saw that there was a bag of cough drops on sale. They were honey-lemon. Whatever . . . I was hoping they wouldn’t be to icky. Turns out they weren’t icky at all. I liked them. So the next time I was in the store they were still on sale so I bought two bags. I was using them when halfway through one of the bags I actually looked at one of the wrappers. Well, I’ll be . . . I was happily surprised to see little motivational sayings on each wrapper. How cute is that? Halls has a PEP TALK IN EVERY DROP™.

I think that is pretty brilliant. It made me smile. Then I was thinking that most people use cough drops when they are not feeling well, so these could really be little pick me ups. I know there are tags on some tea bags that have nice little sayings, I’ve seen that, but I hadn’t noticed the sayings on the wrappers of these cough drops right away. I like it!

I like all of the sayings, but some I like more than others. My favorites are:

~Put a little strut in 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
~Elicit a few “wows” today.
~Bet on yourself.
~Hi-five yourself.
~Don’t waste a precious minute.
~Don’t wait to get started.
~Flex your “can do” muscles.

You know that I would LOVE the strut one. To me strut is like “spirit” or “pep” and I like putting that into it! Strut into the dance of life! And, really, who wouldn’t want to elicit “wows”, right? Well, I guess there are some “wows” out there that are a result of some odd things, but I am thinking of the of positive masterful “WOWs”. Those two are my favorite of my favorites.

Such a simple thing for a company to do. I know — as I said — they are not the only ones to do it nor, I imagine, the first ones to do it, but I still think it is cool. Sometimes it is the little things. Ha, and speaking of little things, the latest bag I bought . . . the cough drops are SMALLER than they used to be. Sigh.

So yeah, a simple thing, but for me sometimes it is the simple things. Things that make you smile. Things that make you want to strut or wow someone. Or good reminders, like “Don’t waste a precious minute.”

Don’t you think this is a nice idea? Which saying would you pick as a favorite?

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

What IS PiYo?

Posted by terrepruitt on July 9, 2013

I am very shocked and somewhat embarrassed that I have had this blog for over four years and I have never written a post explaining PiYo™.  PiYo is a combination of Pilates (Pi) and Yoga (Yo), brought to us by Chalene Johnson.  Chalene is the creator of Turbo Jam®, Turbo Kick®, TurboFire®, Hip Hop Hustle®, and ChaLEAN Extreme®.  These programs are put out by either Beachbody or her company, Powder Blue Productions.  With PiYo the idea is to combine the two mind/body practices in order to appeal to a large audience.  Pilates and yoga are somewhat similar to begin with, both have a component of connecting the mind and the body in conscious movement.  Both have ideals on breathing and breath.  Both are a way to improve flexibility, stability, strength, and balance.  Depending on which type of yoga practice there could be agility and mobility involved as in Pilates.  Now this might sound familiar if you know about Nia.  In Nia we have the five sensations flexibility, agility, mobility, strength, and stability (FAMSS) which we play with in our dance.  In PiYo the same sensations can be experienced.  The manual states:  “PiYo is considered a ‘Western’ approach to the practices of mind/body fitness.”

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, PiYoI believe that many people think yoga has been “Westernized”.  Since there are so many types of yoga there might not always be a spirituality in the yoga class or chanting, meditating, or even the Sanskrit terminology.  That is true with a PiYo class.  It is more about the physical with an awareness.

PiYo combines yoga breathing and Pilates breathing.  In general a yoga pose is done with yoga breathing and a Pilates exercise is done with Pilates breathing.  Of course, students are encouraged to breath in a way that is comfortable to them and that works with their individual body, the aforementioned is just a general guide.

The PiYo class follows the tried and true module of a typical exercise class.  There is a section for warming up, a section for general strength and balance, a section with more of a focus specific area of the body (say a core, upper body, or lower body), then a cool down and relaxation section.  While yoga poses could meet all the requirement of each section and Pilates exercises could also, it is often the case that each section will have a majority of one or the other.  Although, you might be like me and think that there is such a huge cross over it is difficult with some moves to claim it is only a yoga move or only a Pilates move.  While I am certain the move did originate from one or the other practice specifically it seems as though currently there is a huge cross over.  That is one reason why I think Pilates and yoga marry ups so well.  They can be considered very similar.

So throughout the class there will be yoga poses and Pilates exercises.  It is up to the instructor and the make-up of the class as to whether the yoga poses will be held for a measured amount of time or done in a flow.  No matter which is chosen it will be a sequences of poses.  Whereas the Pilates exercises are done in repetition.  Generally sequences of repetitions.

A PiYo class is allowed the freedom of design.  As mentioned there is a class format, but then the way it is carried out is dependent on the instructor and students.  The consistence of a PiYo class is that it is for the body and the mind using both yoga poses and Pilates moves.

Do you practice yoga?  Do you practice Pilates?

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

Goodie Jar – Check In #22

Posted by terrepruitt on July 5, 2013

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, WeddingThis is the 22nd Goodie Jar check in.  I forgot to post a check in post last week.  So IF I had remembered this would actually be the 23rd check in since we started with a Good Things Jar, but since I forgot, this is 22!

How about a share?

This week it was really, really, really hot for our area.  I do not like heat at all.  I just melt.  So while I in no way consider the heat a good thing, I do feel very blessed and consider the fact that we did not lose our electricity at all — a very good thing.  Seems that in the last few heat waves we have had our power has been cut or we have had “brown outs”.  So that fact that we have been able to have fans on through out the heat wave was fantastic!  I put that in my jar.

I had an extra fabulous Nia Class on Tuesday.  It is always nice when students contact you after class to comment on their experience.

I had a fun time at the annual 4th of July party.  The hostess always does a great job with the food and this year was really good.  It was a small crowd so it makes for a more intimate evening where you actually get to have longer conversations than when you are busy trying to jump from person to person to make sure you get in at least a quick visit.

Time off with hubby is always a nice thing to add to the jar.

And for last week at least one good thing I added was a wedding.  Fun stuff!  These are photos from the photo booth at the wedding.

So what are the good things you’ve added to your good things jar in the past two weeks?

Posted in Good Things in the Goodie Jar | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments »