Posts Tagged ‘Nia class’
Posted by terrepruitt on March 25, 2010
I am saddened that it has come to this. I have started to make a list of products in our home that have High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in them. And I am going to begin eliminating them from our house. (Yeah, sorry, Honey, if you are reading this, I meant to tell you before I posted, but . . . )
I am disgusted with the fact that it is in everything. I do not believe that it is “natural” or that it can be consumed in moderation. It is in too many of our everyday processed foods for it to be consumed in moderation.
I love Worcestershire Sauce. I use it in ALL of my marinades. I am in search of a brand that does not contain HFCS. If you know of one, please, let me know.
This will not be an easy process as some of the items, which I will discuss at a later date, are going to be really difficult for me to part with, but I am just fed up. There is WAY too much corn in America’s diet and I am done.
But in the spirit of fessing up, not only will this not be easy, it will not be an overnight thing. I need to wean us off some of these things. As I said in the e-mail/contact form to Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is a STAPLE. So we will finish what we have which will give me some time to find something else to use.
I actually didn’t even know HFCS was in Worcestershire Sauce, but after my Nia class today I went to Jakes in Willow Glen and my friend and I were talking about how HFCS is in everything. I grabbed all the condiments off of the condiment area and we started reading the labels. Let me tell you I was soooooo disappointed. I never thought to look because it is just something I always buy. Now, when I buy something new, I look, but I have grown up with Worcestershire Sauce so I never questioned it. But now, I wonder, did it always have HFCS in it?
If you know of a Worcestershire Sauce without HFCS, please let me know. Thanks.
This is a copy of the what I sent Lea & Perrins. Pretty sure they don’t care. There website says, “We couldn’t make it better” Uh, yeah, you could, you could take out the HFCS!
Posted in Food | Tagged: America's diet, consumed in moderation, Corn, Corn Fed, HFCS, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Jakes in Willow Glen, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, moderation, Nia, Nia class, Willow Glen, Willow Glen Nia, Worcestershire Sauce | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 18, 2010
My husband does the grocery shopping. I know, cool, huh? Sometimes, when he is busy, I will do it. On my way home from teaching a Nia class on Wednesday, I decided to stop by the store.
Now, the store that is most convenient to us in San Jose we can’t always go to because they have bad milk and, I believe that my husband told me they also don’t have the bread I like. So we drive a little bit out of our way to go to the store where we can buy milk that will is not sour and bread that is what I like.
While standing in the bread isle I almost had to call my Hubby because I forgot what kind of bread we get. As I am scanning the packages I see this.
Oh yeah! THAT IS the bread that we get. But, I did a little dance because of that bright yellow label. See that is one of the reasons why that is the bread we get. The label made me happy.
Then while I was standing in line I was even made more happy because I was able to share with a woman in line why I looked like I just worked out (because I did) AND tell her about Nia. Awesome!
But, Honey, if you are reading this, I still don’t like grocery shopping. 🙂 It can still be “your job”. (Thanks, btw.)
Posted in Food | Tagged: bad milk, Bread Dance, Earthgrain bread, grocery shopping, happy, Happy Dance, HFCS, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Nia, Nia class, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Safeway, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, San Jose Workout class, Savemart, teaching Nia, Wednesday Nia Class, work out | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 25, 2010
I had an appointment this morning where I auditioned Nia in Palo Alto. (So I could be teaching a Nia class in Palo Alto in addition to San Carlos . . . interesting how it all unfolds.) On my way back to San Jose, I was able to stop and have lunch with a friend. I am so blessed to be able to spend the afternoon with a friend who so kindly made me lunch. She made an awesome pizza and salad . . . . a perfect meal in my book.
I didn’t know what to post today and so when I got home and had an e-mail from another friend I thought, “Perfect! People REALLY love the Marilyn Monroe Albert Einstein Optical Illusion. They will go crazy for these.”
So here you go:
Posted in Just stuff | Tagged: Albert Einstein, baby, frog, horse, Illusions, Marilyn Monroe, Nia, Nia class, Nia Palo Alto, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Jose, Optical Illusion, pizza, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 23, 2010
When we do a Nia routine we set a focus and an intent. In my classes I set a class focus and intent but participants are always welcome to set their own. To focus on whatever they need at that moment. I am not sure if I have mentioned it before on my blog, but a focus and an intent can greatly alter the Nia routine. Recently I subbed a Nia class for another Nia teacher, in a different part of San Jose. I had planned and practiced the routine I wanted to teach. I had a feeling that the teacher had taught it because it is a new routine and a lot of teachers tend to start teaching those right away. When I arrived I announced to the class that I would be teaching Sexi. A few of the women, voiced some concerns. They mentioned that their shoulders hurt. They said that it was the routine that made their shoulders hurt.
Well, there is so much to be said about that. Nia is designed specifically NOT to hurt. So it could be that their shoulders had been pushed too hard, but not by the routine. 🙂 It could be that their shoulders weren’t injured but were just sore. Sometimes soreness, because it is a form of “pain”, is perceived as pain that one needs to be concerned about because there is an injury instead of just the “pain” that comes with moving a body part that has not been moved in a long time or has been moved in a way it is not accustomed to. And that is just a FEW things that can be said. At the beginning of a class where there is other classes that follow and a group of people to be attended it is not always possible to give each individual personal attention required—as they would get from a personal training session. So what I suggested was for them to NOT move so vigorously.
Before we started, I gave them the option of changing the routine. I would have gladly done a different Nia routine in order for them to have a good time in their workout and to not be doing a routine they were tired of or a routine they felt injured them. But they said that it was ok, I could do Sexi. And I was so happy, because I knew it would be different. I advised them that even though we were going to do the same routine, we were going to use a different focus.
The original focus of Sexi is the spine. When the spine is mentioned one thing people might think of is the back. Even though this routine employs many movements to move the spine, with the focus being the spine one might be thinking “back”.
Well, I changed the focus to the front. The focus I set forth was actually the Fourth Chakra, the Heart Chakra. And I read out of the Nia Technique Book, as Debbie Rosas is always encouraging us to do. The book states that this energy center is affected most by the motions of your rib cage and chest. With that information it moved the physical focus to the front.
So we danced Sexi. We danced Sexi sexy. Oh yeah. With our focus being the heart chakra and the intention being to allow a connection with love, compassion, joy, and sorrow–we danced.
While we danced I reminded the group to be aware of their shoulders and to try NOT to move them in the way that caused the pain. Afterwards, the ones that had voiced concerns said they were glad that we did it. They were able to do the same routine, but change the focus and therefore changing the routine. I love that about Nia. Because the focus is different the same routine is different. Because I am different the routine is different. Because the moves are basically the same, but the focus is different they were able to get an entirely different workout. Just another wonderful aspect of Nia.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: dance, Dance Workout, Debbie Rosas, focus and intent, fourth chakra, heart chakra, joy, Nia, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia routine, Nia San Jose, Nia Technique, Nia Technique Book, Nia workout, personal training, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Nia Workout, San Jose Personal training, San Jose Workout, Sexi, Sexy, workout classes | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 20, 2010
I subbed a Nia class in another part of San Jose today and so I had a different group of participants, and the routine we did today has a lot of bows in it. Watching the class do the bow stance made me think of how a bow is somewhat of a lunge. Reminded me how we really do work a lot of muscles in our Nia workouts with all of the different exercises we do. The bow stance is one of Nia’s 52 Moves.
Did you know you Quadriceps are made up for four muscles? Maybe, but since we always say, “quads” we might be thinking of them as one muscle. Of course, when we stop to think about it we understand that “quad” means four so it makes sense that quadriceps is four muscles.
Basically they work together. It is not as if you can work just one. Our quads extend the leg and flex the thigh. They move our thigh towards our chest and kick our foot out (as an example). Quads would be included in a “Push” workout. Lunges and squats target the quadriceps.
I am pretty sure you knew that the quadriceps were four muscles, but I thought I would just remind you.
Posted in Muscles | Tagged: bows stance, class workout, exercise class, exercise routine, lunges, Muscles, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia routine, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, push workout, Quadriceps, quads, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, squats | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 9, 2010
Nia is a workout, and a great one at that. It is fun and interesting. We get to play and move our bodies and work our muscles. Our exercise consists of all types of movements.
Presently I teach at two facilities. I teach in San Jose at a dance studio where I rent time by the hour. And I teach at a city recreation department. Here is a picture of my class. This is my San Carlos City Park and Recreation class. This is not all of them, but the ones that were there a few minutes before class.
I took this picture because I wanted to document this. I am posting it on my blog because I want to document this and share it.
For me, Nia is a workout, but it is more. It is a journey. I am learning a lot with these ladies. I am learning a lot with this space. I am learning a lot on this particular path of my journey and I wanted to have record of it.
I asked for permission to post this, but I didn’t get anything signed so I will not be naming anyone, but we are having fun. These ladies are on a Nia journey with me too.
We are starting a new session next week, and I have agreed to do more after that, but this one is special because it is the first one. The first one for me, the first one for San Carlos, and the first one for a lot of these women. I have been contacted by some men and hope to have them in our future sessions, but for now it is just us girls.
I am posting this to remember and honor these wonderful women who are on a wonderful journey with me. Cheers to us!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: muscle exercise, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia journey, Nia San Jose, Nia studio, Nia workout, San Carlos, San Carlos Workout, San Jose Dance Studio, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, teach Nia | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 4, 2010
I always get questions about the Nia Routines. Are teachers given the routines? Do teachers make up their own routines? How many routines are there? And more. In this post I’ll just cover those three questions.
At the time of this writing there are 18 Nia routines showing on the teacher website for purchase. I know in the 26 years that Nia has been around there have been a lot more. I believe back when Nia started having routines, music rights and all that big business part of music was not an issue. Now, I think, that portion of life has affected Nia and the routines. I think they had to remove some from sale.
A routine is group of songs. I think 8 to 10 is the average, but it depends on the length of the songs. An average Nia workout class is about 55 minutes, give or take a few minutes. At the time of this post Carlos and Debbie were the creators of the routines.
As a teacher, we purchase a routine which includes a DVD disc, a music CD, and an information pamphlet. It is an amazing piece of educational material. This post is not about the fabulous package of material we receive or about learning the routine, it is just general information about Nia routines. But whenever I talk about the Nia routine packages I feel compelled to exclaim how wonderful they are. I will save the explanation of them for another post.
Teachers are encouraged to use their own creativity when leading a routine. Nia routines are very well thought out and put together. It is my understanding that with higher belt levels choreography is discussed, but with White Belts, Nia encourages them to use the routines that Nia has created. But at the same time we are encouraged to do the katas to different music than we are given.
With the encouragement of using our own creativity, I believe comes the impression that we can do things in Natural Time and to me, that means we can adjust routines. A kata might be less aerobic, but if we want to help make it more so we can add cha-cha-chas in place of a regular step, or just do fast side steps instead of a grapevine.
In addition to changing simple steps we are empowered with all of the different Movement Forms. When we employ the energies of the different movement forms they can change the routine dramatically.
I do mix up the katas from various routines to “create” new routines. To me this gives the participants a feeling of doing something new, yet at the same time they are moving to familiar patterns. Or once, I had an out of town friend attending my classes, after the first class, she admitted she couldn’t do turns. Well, if she were going to be my student for any length of time, you know I would put those in and work with her on them, but since she was only going to be in one more class, I put together katas that didn’t have turns so she would enjoy her workout more.
When I do mix it up, I make certain I adhere to the seven cycles of Nia. I also try to make it a well-rounded routine. I love it when I put something together and afterwards the class says, “Ahhh, I really liked that routine, what was it?”
I hope this helped to answer some of the questions about Nia routines. Please let me know if you have other question.
I am going to continue to you invite you, my reader to a Nia class. If you are ever visiting the San Jose/South Bay Area or you are local to me, please, come to one of mine :-). If you are not local, look up a class near you and try Nia in your area.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: aerobic class, aerobic exercise, Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, kata, Natural Time, Nia Belts, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia Natural Time, Nia routines, Nia San Jose, Nia teachers, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, Nia workout class, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, seven cycles of Nia, White Belt, workout class in San Jose | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 2, 2010
Weighted Hand Gloves from Beachbody
I have heard people ask about this a few times. Sometimes people want to wear ankle weights or wrist weights while in a Nia class. I personally would strongly recommend against this. Nia is not like other types of movement forms, where you can wear weights. In Turbo Jam for example, Chalene Johnson is wearing weights in one of the workouts. And her crew is wearing them in other workouts but the movements in the Turbo Jam workouts are different. They are very linear. When you move in lines the chance of injury is less. Chalene’s workouts are designed to be done with weights and even then she cautions on using the correct weight and using them carefully. In Nia we move in spirals, circles, we bend, we stretch, we practice falling off balance in order to practice catching ourselves. With weights added to that it could be dangerous.
In Nia we do have punches and kicks which are linear and could possibly be done with weights, but in our routines right after a punching sequence we might have a spiral spinal movement where we use our hands to help activate our spine and this is the type of movement that could easily lead to injury if there were extra weight on our hands/wrists.
I also think since Nia is so body centered weights would interfere with the connection to the body. While you could sense the sensation of weight on your wrist it does not seem the same as connecting to your own body without the added weight. I believe one of the purposes of Nia or one of the exciting aspects of Nia is that we strive to learn to sense what our body’s messages are. What does our body FEEL like . . . not our feelings, but our sensations. And if we add weights to that is could be distracting. It could keep us from being able to truly sense the different energies that we are bringing into the workout.
As an example, and I have stated something like this before, if you move your arm gently you could say it is energize with Duncan Dance or Modern Dance. If you do the same movement, but apply the energies from one of the Martial Arts the sensation would be entirely different. Yet with a weight attached to your wrist it might be difficult to go back and forth between the gentle and the strong. The message being transmitted from the limb would be very different with a weight attached. To me it would seem as if the connection was to the weight and not my body.
So, my conclusion and recommendation when it comes to using weights and Nia is: don’t do it. The risk of injury is too great, plus, I believe you would miss out on one of the fundamentals of Nia and that is connecting to the body . . . . YOUR body.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: ankle weights, body centered, Chalene Johnson, Dance Workout, Duncan Dance, martial arts, modern dance, Nia, Nia class, Nia workouts, Turbo Jam, Turbo Jam workouts, weights, wrist weights | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 30, 2010
One thing about a blog on WordPress, I can see search terms. My blog statistics show me terms used in a search that led people to my blog. One thing I noticed was bow stance came up a lot in the search terms. People want to know what it is, how to do it, what is it for, etc.
So I thought I would post another post on the Bow Stance. I am familiar with the stance from other exercises and other exercise classes. It is not unique to Nia, but Nia includes it in the Nia 52 Moves. I feel it can be compared to a lunge.
The bow stance is one leg bent with the foot flat on the ground, the other leg is bent and out behind with the heel lifted and the ball of the foot on the ground. The feet are not aligned, so if you were to bring your back foot forward it would not collide with the foot in front. Can you picture it? It is kind of like a lunge.
The Nia Technique book states that the benefits are conditioning for walking and dealing with changing levels as the body’s center moves up and down.
My feelings about the bow stance are that it is great for working out the lower body and for practicing balance.
The bow stance can be done with many variations. The typical bow stance is that described above, but, when the feet are place wider apart as if on two railroad ties the stance actually becomes more stable, but if you add moving arms to that it become less stable. If you were to raise and lower your entire body, it changes the dynamics yet again. If you were to add motion to the hips, it changes it again. If you were to place the back foot further back it changes it again. Another way to challenge the muscles is to change which foot holds the weight, leaning the weight to the front or to the back.
This stance is used a lot in Nia routines and I imagine that is because it is such a great exercise and it can be used so many different ways. It fits into many different songs and adds to the dance. Sometimes we move in and out of it quickly, sometimes we stay and play. It is a great movement.
Previously I mentioned it being good for the lower body that is because you can see how it is very good for the feet and ankles too. When the back foot it resting on the ball of the foot, it helps with both strength and flexibility of the foot. When movement is added to the stance it helps with both strength and flexibility of the ankle.
So we answered the question originally stated:
—the bow stance is somewhat like a lunge
—one foot is in front flat on the ground, the other is in back with the heel up, both legs are bent
—it helps with strength, balance, and flexibilty
I hope that helps. If you have anything to add or ask, please do so. And, as always thank you for stopping by. If you want to see how the bow stances is added to a dance workout and you want to try it yourself, join me in a class.
Posted in 52 Moves (of Nia), Nia | Tagged: balance exercise, Bow Stance, Dance Workout, exercise class, flexibility exercise strength exercise, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise class, Nia routines, stability exercise, The Nia Technique, Wordpress blog, workout class | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 26, 2010
Edamame. I first learned of edamame about 25 years ago. I was working at a mortgage company and one of the secretaries (that’s what they were called back then) introduced us. I can’t even remember where we had it whether it was a restaurant or if she made it, but I have loved it ever since. And that was before I knew it was a complete protein* or that it has isoflavones**.
I like it served warm, salted, and in the pods so you can pop the soybeans out into your mouth. It is fun.
I stopped by sushi restaurant tonight for a friend’s birthday on my way home from my San Carlos Nia class and since I don’t eat sushi I had a whole bowl of edamame. Yum. Perfect for after teaching.
I don’t really think of edamame as low in fat, but I do think of it as high in protein.
A 1/2 cup of in-the-pod edamame is about 75 calories, 7 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of protein, and 2 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber.
I don’t often think of eating them on salads, but when I get a salad that has the soybeans on them, I really like it. Once I had a vegetable dish with them in it. I really liked that, but forget to do it myself. I usually just eat them out of the pods. But there are so many other ways you can eat them. I need to remember to add them to salads or put them in with other vegetables to make a vegetable medley.
Do you like edamame? Do you like it served hot or cold? What do you do with edamame, do you add it to other dishes? Do you have edamame recipes?
Writing about it makes me want more.
*complete protein -contains all eight essential amino acids in appropriate quantity
**isoflavones – antioxidants that are believed to have health benefits
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: antioxidants, complete protein, edamame, edamame recipes, isoflavones, Nia, Nia class, San Carlos Nia | 4 Comments »
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