Posts Tagged ‘Nia exercise’
Posted by terrepruitt on February 27, 2010
El Camino Hospital sponsored a Free Health Fair today (February 27, 2010). It was in one of the ballrooms at the Santa Clara Convention Center. There was various Health Screenings. I didn’t actually get any done because I just didn’t feel like waiting in the lines. Although there were plenty of people that were willing to stand in the lines in the interest of learning about their health.
There was various demonstrations and audience participation dances going on. On TWO stages. It was very interesting and very loud since they had the “main stage” and the “side stage” set up right next to each other.
I was able to do a little Zumba, which I have done before. But I didn’t have the right shoes so it made it difficult. I should have stayed to do the yoga that was on the stage right after us. But I didn’t want to keep my photographer waiting that long.
A fellow Nia teacher was invited to do a demonstration of Nia so she had asked people to join her. I am not sure how many people were there from her invitation or how many were there because they joined us, but I think it turned out to be a good crowd. I would say there was at least 30 people. So many so that they did not all fit on the little dance floor she was given.
It was a great thing. I believe that a lot of people were introduced to Nia. I am thankful to Anita for doing this for us.
My husband came along to get some pictures. He was taking pictures of me and we confirmed that our camera is not able to take good action shots in low light. Here are a few. Thank you for looking.
I hope that next year El Camino Hospital sponsor another Day of Dance and you come out to see that dancing is a great way to workout out and a very fun way to get your exercise on!
You can find information regarding my classes in San Jose and San Carlos on my web site (click here).
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Anita Christensen, dance classes, dance exercise, Dance Workout, exercise, Nia Classes, Nia Dance, Nia exercise, Nia exericse, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Francisco, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, San Carlos, San Carlos exercise, San Carlos exercise classes, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Workout, San Francisco exercise, San Francisco exercise classes, San Francisco Nia, San Francisco workout, San Jose exercise, San Jose exercise classes, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, San Jose Yoga, San Jose Zumba, San Jose Zumba classes, San Jose Zumba exercise, Yoga, Yoga San Jose, Zumba San Jose | 2 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 January 23, 2010
As you might now be aware Nia includes elements from three disciplines from three different arts. From the dance arts, we borrow from Duncan Dance. Duncan Dance was brought to us by Isadora Duncan. Isadora believed in the freedom movement. She did not care for the stucture of ballet opting for movement of a more natural flowing nature.
Duncan Dance, like Modern Dance, helps bring freedom to Nia. For me I think of “child-like” when I think of Duncan Dance in Nia. It encourages us to skip, run, do somersaults, jump, hop, giggle, growl, laugh out loud, kick balls, jump rope, catch a balloon, and just release our adult contraints and enjoy movement for the sheer joy of moving. We are not moving to get to one place or the other. We are not moving to build a muscle or burn calories, in this modality we are moving because it is fun. Because, like a child we have so much engergy inside we need to skip-run-jump-hop-hop-hop across the floor. Then, while we are having so much fun we will be moving our muscles and burning calories, but we don’t THINK about that. We imagine we are chasing a balloon and trying to catch it. We imagine that we are playing kick ball or blowing bubbles and chasing them, we imagine we are having fun and we end up having fun. We let out our inner child that gets tucked away during our normal busy day.
While infusing our workout with this energy one might notice their ankles joints and spine opening and moving more freely. With the “child mind” one might tend towards being more “open”; standing tall, reaching up, reaching out, and standing on tippy toes. With these movements come exercises in balance, while standing on tippy toes reaching for your red balloon you are not even going to notice that you are having to balance. With being more “open” physically it sometimes helps with being more open mentally, this can assist with releasing the stress and tension of the our adult lives.
The form also encourages spontaneity, like that of a child. With less stress and tension you might find yourself giving in to your inner child and you might find yourself racing across the floor. Nia encourages it!
I think with all of the different ideas, concepts, movements, and energies that are woven together to form Nia, there is something for everyBODY.
Please note: The photo is a portion of the “Nia Energy Type Questionnaire” in The Nia Technique, by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas.
Posted in Movement Forms of Nia, Nia | Tagged: ballet, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, Duncan Dance, exercise, Isadora Duncan, modern dance, Nia, Nia Energy Type, Nia exercise, Nia Technique, Nia workout, workout | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 21, 2010
With every Nia routine there is an original focus and intent. On the Nia DVD either Debbie or Carlos* explain the focus and intent that was originally intended for the routine. With the routine Sanjana Debbie explains the focus as being Dynamic Ease.
I remember Dynamic Ease as being Dynamic and Ease. It can either be a stretch as one might do in Yoga or could be the sensation of the muscle squeezing the bone as in an isometric contraction. When I do the routine with Dynamic Ease as the focus I often borrow Debbie’s words and explain it as: “the energy moving out as in flexibility or the energy packing against the bone as in strength”.
The way we play with this is that we do a lot of the moves with one quality then the other. So while we are moving arms upward we could be calling upon the dynamic energies of strength and really squeezing the bone with the muscle. And the next time we can move our arms up with a big stretch move the energy out. A punch could be done strong as if we were really punching something or could be done more like a stretch.
The ease is just moving in a relaxed yet ready type of way. When moving arms upward, as mentioned above, we can change the quality to a nice flowing easy movement. Or a “punch” could just be the arms moving away from the body in a soft motion. Its fun to play and try any exercise with the different energy qualities.
We can do the same moves all three ways. Practicing going back and forth between these qualities assists in both balancing the energy in the body and balancing the body itself. An isometric contraction calls upon big muscles and small muscles and the combination is what is used in balancing.
I believe that it helps with the flow of fluids and energy in the body. I know that it leaves me feeling very energetic. I did this routine with this focus twice this week, once for my San Jose class and once with my San Carlos class and both times I felt very great energy afterwards. In addition to the energy I feel it brings me, I think dynamic ease can serve to add another element of challenge to the Nia workout. Dynamic Ease is one of my favorite foci for this Nia routine.
*Debbie Rosas (Stewart) and Carlos Rosas (AyaRosas) the creators of Nia
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, Debbie Stewart, Dynamis Ease, isometric contraction, muscle contraction, Nia DVD, Nia exercise, Nia routine, Nia workout, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Nia class, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, San Jose Workout class, San Jose Yoga, Sanjana | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 16, 2010
As you might now be aware Nia is a wonderful mix of elements from three different movement forms from three different arts. Martial Arts is one of the art forms. Aikido is one of the movement forms from the martial arts.
According to the Nia White Belt Manual that I received during my Nia White Belt Intensive Aikido was the martial art that Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas enjoyed the most. The spirit of it that was added to Nia was the translation of “the way of harmony”. Conflict is resolved lovingly. During the intensive I remember the idea was mentioned of using the opponents own weight and energy to take control of the situation. While in Nia we don’t have opponents or enter into competitions with each other, the example was intended to express the idea that a blending of energies makes it easy to move. Aikido in Nia is the notion of a peaceful warrior.
As with all of the art forms that have been studied in order to create Nia, it is ideas, concepts, and moves that have been integrated. All of the movement forms are understood to be something that takes practice and maybe even years of training. That is respected when we talk about forms being added to Nia.
Aikido brings grounded energy to Nia. We practice spiral swirling motion blending the energies outside with the energies inside. Focusing on our center, the hara, we practice grace. We also exercise our awareness and embrace the moment. We hone our skills of moving from lines into spirals and spirals into circles with the energy surrounding us.
Aikido somewhat reminds me of Nia itself, they are both a blending of energies and movements.
Posted in Movement Forms of Nia, Nia | Tagged: Aikido, Aikido energy, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, martial arts, Nia, Nia energy, Nia exercise, Nia Movement, peaceful warrior, spirit of Nia | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 12, 2010
I went to San Carlos today to teach my first Nia class for the City of San Carlos Park and Recreation Department. I wanted to get there at least 30 minutes early. I was late, not for the class but for my getting there 30 minutes early. The man at the desk was on the phone when I arrived and there was a woman in front of me needing assistance.
He was kind enough to get off the phone since he wasn’t able to help the person. Sounded like a co-worker he said he would call back. And he asked us if we needed help. The woman that was before me asked where the Nia class was and he asked her if she was the instructor at which time I pointed to myself.
So he took us to the room, helped with the music and the people started coming in. (Thanks, Nick!)
There is always “business” to handle in a class. Either signing in, or making sure everyone is signed up, or checking passes, or something. So we handled that as people were coming in.
This class room was different as it has no mirror. I have talked to a lot of people who prefer the teacher to face away from the students as we do in Nia, but I was not certain about that without a mirror to look at my participants in. So I started off facing them. Then when we got to a point when we would be moving right and left, I turned.
January 2010
Nia is so fun and amazing because even though I could not see the people in the mirror I could sense they were there and moving as I was. When I turned around to look they were doing it just beautifully. Was every doing it exactly the same? No. Was everyone perfectly on step? No. But it is so beautiful because when I turned to make sure everyone was ok, they would smile. They would laugh. They were ok, they were doing Nia.
Most of them were new to Nia. We had a good time. When we did some moving around the room using the space people were smiling and sounding. It was good. I felt as if even though I didn’t have a mirror in which to see my own face and my own body, I was still seeing my reflection. I was seeing joy in movement. Fun in exercise. Happiness in the workout. Nia.
Will all nineteen people come back? Well, some of them will because they had registered. Will the all thirteen that came for the “Try It”? No, probably not all of them. I know for a fact that one won’t because she has signed up for school with a class on that same night and she just came to try it. And other people will not have the time, but at least we danced together. We had fun. I shared Nia with some people who didn’t know about it. I am sure that even though they might not be able to make my class, they will be at others in the future. I think that is good.
Next week I will leave San Jose a few minutes earlier and get there 30 minutes early!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: City of San Carlos, City of San Carlos Park and Recreation Department, joy, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia fun, Nia instructor, Nia participants, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Jose, Nia students, Nia workout, Park and Rec. Department, San Carlos, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Nia class, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 9, 2010
As you might now be aware Nia includes elements from three different movement forms from three different arts. One of the arts is the healing arts and one movement forms is The Alexander Technique. When I think of evoking the energy of The Alexander Technique as I lead the Nia workout, I always think of moving from the head and allowing heaven’s gravity to pull up. With the pull from above it enables a sense of lightness, of not being heavy and of moving from the top. Also this pull helps open the vertebrae and lengthen the posture. With the sensation of lightness and lengthening might come a sense of freedom and openness to be silly.
While we experiment with the lifting of the head from the body, we can observe how our posture might be more upright. I have a habit of hunching my shoulders. I call it scrunching because I tend to hunch and round my shoulders at the same time. With some borrowed concepts from the Alexander Technique I am reminded to straighten and lengthen and use the muscles of my back to pull my shoulders down. Even though the focus is on the head and it moving upward, it allows me to think of the rest of my posture.
With these ideas we look as we move, again moving our head away from our bodies. Sometimes we move our hands and allow our head to follow by looking at our hands. But we MOVE our head to watch our hands, we don’t just let our eyes follow, it is a movement. The movement of the head gets our spine moving too.
When I first started teaching I had a student move her hands around and had her follow them with her head and eyes. She would practice this during class. After a couple of classes she came back and said she was a better driver now because she had never moved her head before and now she was actually turn her head to look as she drove. Funny, I had never thought about Nia helping people be better drivers.
If you are not accustom to moving your head and you want to try it, I recommend that you first try this exercise sitting down. Just sit and move your hands as if they were a bird or a butterfly, and allow your head and your eyes to follow them as they fly around you. Once you feel comfortable with that, try it standing up. But be careful because if you are not used to it you may get dizzy.
Since the head is the heaviest part of the body it is important that we can stay on balance when it moves. It is important to build the strength to move it and muscle memory of what it is like when it is moved. All of this will help your dance and your general everyday movement.
Posted in Movement Forms of Nia, Nia | Tagged: exercise, heaven gravity, Nia, Nia exercise, Nia freedom, Nia workout, posture, the Alexander Technique, workout | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 5, 2010
Music and the 8BC System is Nia White Belt Principle #3. This is part 2 of the principle, a brief bit about the 8BC System.
To learn our music, us Nia teachers, literally map out our music. We measure our music using a system of notations called bars. This is our map. We count out our music 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and-5-and-6-and-7-and-8-and. Each bar 
has 16 counts. We count out the song noting the bars on a page. Then we go through and “dress” the bars adding marks to the page making notes of the sounds we hear. We use the noted sounds as cues for the choreography in a routine. No matter if the movements are matching the music or going opposite to it, the instruments and sounds are our cues.
By mapping our music, (“barring” our music) we get to know our music really well. Knowing our music really well allows us to easily play with the choreography, while at the same time, sticking to the basics of it. We can also take the music that we have learned while learning a routine and add different choreography to it.
Also practicing this barring system ensures that we can take any music and dance the Nia choreography to it. We just match the Nia music up with music that has the same count and we can pretty much just “plug” in the Nia choreography.
All of this allows us to have fun while exercising and doing our Nia routines/Nia workouts.
I have taken to the practice of mapping out my music and then scanning it so that I will have a completely mapped out song so when I am ready to add different choreography to it, I can just print my music map and put in the movement portion on my barred music.
Mapping the music allows for so much creativity. Instead of just dancing to the beat you can dance to one instrument, you can allow your body to “BE” the cymbal or the flute, or you can shimmy to the melody, or sway to the harmony. It is fun to play with the music. And you can do whatever you want and lead your class through it all because you have a map!
Since music is such a big part of Nia, I am sure that I will visit this topic often. I might even come back to the Nia White Belt Principle #3.
Posted in Nia, Nia White Belt Principles | Tagged: 8BC System, energizing workout, exercise, exercise routine, exercise workout, Music, Nia, Nia exercise, Nia routines, Nia teachers, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, White Belt, workout, workout routines | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 2, 2010
Music and the 8BC System is Nia White Belt Principle #3. This is part 1 of the principle, a brief bit about Nia and Music.
Nia is so much about the music. As teachers we learn to dance to the music. So as we lead our participants through the workout routines it is more like dance than exercise. Sometimes we count the number of our movements as we are leading the class, but when we know our music well, we are to go to the music and use its cues and not rely on the count of the moves. So when I am leading a class and I am in a section where I am counting if I get distracted from my count, I can just listen to the music and know exactly where I am. Honestly, some songs I know better than others and I can accomplish this, some I am still learning. It is a process. It is amazing.
Music is powerful and has been used for teaching and healing. Your entire body can listen. Your body can respond to the music it senses. The body can sense the vibration.
There have been studies done that equate specific tempos with specific moods and/or emotions, in Nia we play with all of that. We can go with the music or play the opposite. A stereo-typical “happy” song, we might practice as sad and slow or excited and angry. It is a great exercise for the body as well as the mind and spirit to sense music one way and move to it in another, as an example, like previously mentioned; while “happy” is playing move to it as if you are sad or tired. It is a wonderful challenge.
It is energizing to play with the music. The rhythm or beat of the music is said to be the male or Yang energy of music. The melody is the feminine or Yin side. Harmony blends it together stimulating the spiritual energy. You can dance to the rhythm or the beat or move to the melody, or have your senses stimulated by the harmony. When you let your body sense the music you can dance it all.
There are so many ways to play with music. Another way to use music as a workout tool is to visualize what type of sound your body parts would make, match them up with the music as you listen and when you hear that sound activate that body part. Again, challenging your body, your mind, and your spirit. Getting the whole body workout that Nia is known for and at the same time letting the music be the motivation for the movement.
Nia is a workout, but it is a workout that allows you to exercise your body along with your mind and your spirit. It allows participants to be moved by the music in the body’s way. It really is so much about the music.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: 8BC System, energizing exercise, energizing workout, exercise, exercise class, exercise routine, exercise workout, Music, music vibration, Nia, Nia exercise, Nia play, Nia routines, Nia teachers, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, White Belt, workout, workout routines, Yang, Yin | Leave a Comment »
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