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 in Willow Glen’

After Nia Visit

Posted by terrepruitt on February 26, 2015

Have I ever told you that one of my students is a Naturopathic Doctor?  Yeah, I have, I looked it up.  I told you in the post about messing up, Messing Up Is Fun.  I told you about how she had been my student for years before I even knew she was a doctor.  Before class I am busy setting up — because there are things that need to be done — just normal things like taking off my socks and shoes, turning on the music, greeting new students, moving things away from the mirror, sweeping the floor, etc.  Sometimes even deciding what to teach.  Often times reviewing in my head what I am going to teach.  And then after there is the cleaning up . . . putting on my socks and shoes, and PAYING ATTENTION to where I put my phone and just the general wrapping up of class, I don’t always get in on the conversations.  Not only do I not get to be a part of them, but often times other students miss out on good stuff, too.  I had always wanted to gather as a group after class, but when I learned she was a Naturopathic Doctor and I hadn’t know for years then I decided we all HAD to meet after.  So there is a day for each of the venues that I teach at where we meet for coffee.

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, PiYoFor the Wednesday class in the area of San Jose called Willow Glen we meet on the second to the last Wednesday of the month.  We meet at a Peet’s coffee shop down the street from the studio.  Period.  I always tell my friends and students that is where we will be.  They can join us whether they come to class or not.  And we have had people do that.  It is very nice.  There are many reasons why people can’t make it to class, but some have stopped by.

For the Thursday classes we meet on the last Thursday of the month.  We meet at a Peet’s coffee shop around the corner from the community center.  It was really cool today because we had ten people.  That is awesome.  That is a big group to have visiting for coffee.  More than half the class came to coffee!  While we were there, a person we all know showed up because she was planning on meeting someone else at that very spot.  She showed up a few minutes early to meet us because she knew we would be there.  So the ten turned into twelve for a bit.  It was fabulous.  So fun.

Not only do I learn about my students and their personal lives, I also get feedback from them.  It could DIRECT feedback or just something I pick up from the conversation.  Sometimes they mention something that they might not know about Nia and I love that I can take the time to explain it.  It is not always possible to get out all the information that can be shared about Nia WHILE you are teaching.  So I love to be able to explain.  Also, it reminds me that if the person talking doesn’t know that other people probably don’t know either so I can try to find away to let them know in class.

Often times it could be that people didn’t hear what I said, during class.  There can be a lot going on in an exercise class, as you may be aware.  Sometimes there is a fan in the room that might make it difficult for some to hear.  Or there might be people outside that distract us.  Or there might be someone walking through class just as I am explaining about something.  Could be that one is just so involved in their own dance that they miss something.  It is all fine.  But I love the opportunity to be able to provide some clarification during our visits.I also really love to hear what is doing on with them.  So many stories out there.

It is great to have NiaNow.com because I get a lot of people who are visiting the are that come to my classes.  I love that.  I always encourage ALL Nia teachers to put their classes on the site.  A lot of people like to keep up their movement routine while they are traveling so it is nice for people to be able to find a class near where they are staying.  I have a out of town student dancing with us now . . . she came to coffee with us.  So fun to experience this!

I have always wanted to have visits after my classes and today I was just so amazed to have such a large group!  I am so happy to be so blessed to have such great people in my classes as Nia students.  They are definitely people you want to have coffee with.

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Goodie Jar – Check In #20

Posted by terrepruitt on June 14, 2013

So this week has been an easy one to have good things to put in the jar.  The biggest thing, of course, is the visit from my niece.  She was here all week long and as she mentioned last night, it went pretty fast.  I had been so nervous she would be bored, but she is pretty easy going and mellow so we managed fine.

She came with me to all my Nia classes and she even participated.  We made candles at Glow in Willow Glen and spent one morning delivering lunch to my hubby.  It was a nice week.  Short.

Our weather in San Jose has been FANTASTIC — all week long.  Nothing beats the weather in the San Francisco Bay Area, especially in the South Bay.  It is awesome.

As I am typing I keep thinking of Good Things to put in my goodie jar.  Ha!  Maybe that is another way to help think of good things.  Start writing about your week and see what comes up.  I bet there will be at least ONE good thing!

So how many things were you able to put in your Good Things Jar this week?

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

Posted in Good Things in the Goodie Jar | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Veggie-Less

Posted by terrepruitt on May 18, 2013

The other day we were out of vegetables.  OH MY!  On my way home from Nia in Willow Glen I was going to go to the store to get some.  For some reason there’s a street in Willow Glen that has been closed for quite some time now so I was unable to take that street home.   So the detour had me going past a different store than I was planning on going to.  It is a produce store.  Maybe kind of more like a small market because they have dry goods also.  The produce there is not that great so I decided not to get lettuce and salad fixings.  I thought I could just grab a veggie for that night’s dinner since I was going to be going to the store the very next day after my Nia class at the community center.    All I bought was broccoli.  When I got home I decided to have a sandwich. I like lettuce on my sandwiches or cucumbers or bell peppers something like that. I usually put at least one of those vegetables, sometimes all three, or a combination on my sandwich.  But I didn’t have any because I didn’t buy any salad ingredients.  Argh!  I had only the broccoli I had bought.  I started thinking.  I’ve had shaved broccoli on pizza before and it was good but I didn’t think the shaved broccoli would go that well on my sandwich.  I remember having posted something about broccoli before and people saying that you could use the stocks or stems so I thought,  “Can I do that?”  So I peeled a stock of broccoli and sliced it thinly and put on the sandwich was pretty good. I was happy I had a vegetable on my sandwich.

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, ZumbaI guess I could do that all the time.  In the comments of the post where I spoke about broccoli the one in which people told me to use the stems I said I would start and I haven’t. I have left more of the stem on when using broccoli but haven’t necessarily used the stocks.  I suppose I could begin making my sandwiches with broccoli stocks in them.  It is a good way to get additional vegetables and use broccoli stocks.

We used to have a dog that ate broccoli stocks.  She loved them.  She loved salad too!

Speaking of salads . . . . I didn’t use all the stocks in my sandwich.  So the next night when I did get around to making a salad I decided to add some of the stocks to our salads.  To me the stocks are a bit fibrous and stringy so I chopped them up pretty small.  I tossed it on the salads as an added veggie.  I think that worked out well.  My hubby didn’t say, “Ewww.  What is this?  A broccoli stock on my salad???”  So it must have been ok.  I liked it.

At first I was not happy that I didn’t buy any produce that I would normally put on my sandwich.  But now I am glad that I didn’t.  I caused me to think of using the stems.  And since my friend had shared that she eats the stems it encouraged me to try something new.  Lovely.  It has only taken me three years from when I originally posted!  🙂

What about you?  Do you like produce on your sandwich?  What do you prefer?  Do you make use of broccoli stocks?

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“A” Stance – One Of Nia’s 52 Moves

Posted by terrepruitt on September 6, 2012

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, NiaAnother one of the 52 Moves of Nia is the “A” Stance.  This is the stance where the position of the legs allows the body to look somewhat like the capital letter A.  The legs are placed wider than hip distance apart, even wider than shoulder width.  The legs are far enough apart and wide enough for them to appear to be as the bottom “legs” on a capital letter A.  The feet are parallel, the upper body is relaxed.  The Nia Technique Book states the benefits as:  “Practicing “A” Stance improves hip flexibility and leg strength, which improves agility and mobility.” 

I would like to add that it improves or at least allows the practice of balance.  Not balancing on one leg which we do a lot in Nia, but balance between the body and the legs, balance between both legs, and balance between the legs and feet.  Also balance of weight between the two feet.  This is a stable and balanced stance.  The weight is not on one foot more than the other.  The weight is not on the front or the balls of the feet more than on the heels.  This is a great stance to practice balance in.  To allow the body to rest onto the whole foot. 

Not only having the feet be parallel but even.  If you were to stand at a line would your toes be even, both up to the line?  I had noticed with myself for a while now that when I step into an “A” stance my right foot is ALWAYS slightly back from where my left foot is.  I have been noticing this since I injured my foot in November of 2010.  Just last week as I was teaching my regular Nia Class in Willow Glen, I noticed I stepped into “A” stance and my left foot was the tiniest bit back from the line on which my right foot landed (had there been a line).  I thought that was funny.  I giggled, but I hadn’t thought of it again until now.  I don’t always think about my uneven landings until I have the opportunity to land in a stance where I see my feet several times in a routine.  Then during the routine I focus on having my feet land even.  There are times, of course in a dance where they don’t need to be or aren’t supposed to be even, but when doing a regular closed, open, A, or sumo stance I think the feet should be even.  The “A” stance is a great stance to practice that because you can clearly see your feet and the pose is relaxed enough that there are not other things you might be thinking about.  I feel the “A” Stance is a great way to practice balance.

As with all stances one way to practice the “A” stance is to simple stand in one place and move through the stances.  Another way to practice is to walk and then stop in the “A” stance.  Walking and stopping into an “A” Stance would be a great way to work on landing “even” — as I mentioned before.  Walk, then stop, then look at your feet, notice the sensation in your hips, if your feet are even then that is the sensation you want to replicate, if not, then adjust your feet, notice the sensation in your hips and try to replicate it again as you step into “A” Stance.

The “A” Stance is just one of the six stances in the Nia 52 Moves.

What do you sense when standing in the “A” Stance?  When you step into the “A” Stance do your feet land “even”?

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

Easy Dinner – Yes, Please!

Posted by terrepruitt on September 8, 2011

After I taught my Nia Class in Willow Glen I had some shopping to do.  After shopping I rushed home because I was going to meet a friend in the afternoon back the way of my class, but I thought would shower so as not to offend her.  It was pretty warm here.  As is normal for a hot day, the late afternoon early evening is the hottest.  So as I was driving home from my visit I was not looking forward to cooking dinner.  I had chicken thawed in the fridge, but what else to cook?  I ended up visiting longer than I had planned and getting stuck in traffic on the way home so I didn’t want to stop to get anything to add to dinner because it was already late.  All the way home I was wondering what to cook.  When I got home it was really hot.  I thought it would be best not to turn on the oven or the stove.  I had an idea that maybe using my electric skillet would be cooler.  I do believe it was.  Although this is a common dish cooked in a crock pot or the oven.  When you have limited ingredients sometimes dinner is really easy.  I have found that with limited ingredients I come up with come pretty good meals.  Some end up being regularly cooked meals.

Ingredients:dance exercise, Nia teacher, Nia class, one pot dinner, easy dinner, healthy dinner, meat veggies rice dinner

-A little over a cup of rice
-32 oz broth
-1/2 cup of sherry
-1 tablespoon of worchestire sauce
-1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
-1 tablespoon marjoram
-1/2 tablespoon powdered garlic
-two large chicken breast (skinless, boneless)
-bag of green beans
-salt and pepper to taste**

I put the rice in the skillet with about half of the broth and turn the skillet on to its highest setting.  I started to cut up the chicken into bite size pieces.  When most of the broth boiled off, I added the rest of the broth, the sherry, the worchestire sauce, the soy sauce and stirred, then I added the marjoram.  I turned the heat down to the lowest setting.  I finished cutting up the chicken, then put it in with the rice I sprinkled the garlic on the chicken with some salt.  I turned it to the middle setting.  I let the chicken cook until it was almost done, then I added the green beans.  I stirred them into the dish and let it cook until they were done.

If you know me, you know I don’t like pepper — at all.  But my friend gave me some smoked pepper, which seems very different than regular black pepper.  It helped finish the dish off perfectly!  I brought the grinder to the table though so we could pepper our food separately.  My husband loves pepper.

I wasn’t planning on posting about this so I wasn’t keeping track of the time, but I think it all took about 30 to 40 minutes.  That is what I will plan on in the future, but I will keep an eye on it to see.  I am looking forward to using different veggies.  Frozen green beans is all that I had.

The last time I cooked an all in one dish I used the oven and I used brown rice and canned soup.  The rice was a bit crunchy still but I didn’t want to cook it longer because the chicken was done.  So that is why with this one I started the rice first, although this time I used white rice and it could have been less done.

I am working my way away from using canned soup so that is why I used broth and it came out great.  With the oven cooked dish I used broccoli.  I am looking forward to trying different veggies in the skillet.

I had forgotten about the electric skillet even though my parents use theirs all the time.  I am glad it was hot and I was at a loss of how to cook dinner because now I am going to start using my electric skillet more often.

Do you have an electric skillet?  If you do, what do you cook in it?  Do you have any favorite one pot recipes?

**09/10/11 — This actually made quite so we ate it a second night. On the third night it seemed as if all that was left was rice and green beans so I sauteed some baby bok choy and a can of chicken then put the left over rice and green beans in the pan and heated it up. Wow! I think I am a fan of baby bok choy!!!

09/12/11 — I didn’t take a picture while I was cooking it because I didn’t think of posting about it.  So the next night when we were having it for dinner I decided to at least take a picture of the food and the electric skillet, even though the food is on my dinner plate.  🙂

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments »