Posts Tagged ‘Nia Practice’
Posted by terrepruitt on January 4, 2011
When I first started teaching my Nia classes I was doing it three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the studio in Willow Glen. Not every class had many students. I remember talking to different people about the low numbers. Some of them suggested not having that many classes in a week, not having that many dance lessons a week. Understandable. Most people didn’t know what Nia was. Since it is dance many people thought of it as a dance that you learn. But Nia is not like Salsa or Tango where you are shown steps, then asked to mimic them, then instructed to practice, then allowed to practice to music. Nia is not a dance lesson type of dance.
Even though Nia incorporates nine different movement forms, Nia is more comparable to Zumba or Jazzercise where the music is playing and the participants follow the lead of the teacher. No experience in or with any of the movement forms is required. Nia is a cardio dance workout, it is exercise so it is GREAT to do it three times a week. It is recommended to participate in a form of cardio exercise at least three times a week to maintain heart health. Depending upon your individual needs and goals cardio more often might even be in order. So Nia three times a week is great.
When I had the opportunity to hold a third class in a week that is exactly what many of my Monday and Wednesday students said, “Nia three times a week is great!” Now I have a third Nia class on Fridays in Los Gatos. (I know I have said that before, but I am excited. Plus I need to get the word out!)
Another point about Salsa and Tango is a partner is needed. Nia does not require a partner so it is often easier to actually do it three times a week since you are not trying to coordinate with another person to meet and dance three times a week.
Participating in Nia with any regularity participants will learn, but it might not be dance steps. There are many things to learn when participating in Nia, but it is not taught as steps and or patterns are taught in a dance lesson. Instead of Nia being a dance lesson, you will learn lessons as you dance Nia. 🙂
Posted in Nia | Tagged: cardio dance, cardio dance workout, cardio exercise, cardio workout, dance class, dance class Willow Glen, Exercise classes in Willow Glen, heart health, Jazzercise, Nia, Nia class, Nia Music, Nia participants, Nia Practice, Nia students, Nia studio, Nia Teacher, Nia three times a week, Nia Willow Glen, Salsa, Salsa partner, Tango, Tango partner, Willow Glen Jazzercise, Willow Glen Nia, Willow Glen Salsa, Willow Glen Tango, Willow Glen Zumba, Workout in Willow Glen, Zumba | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 30, 2010
With Nia you get a workout. It is not necessary to have any experience in any type of dance modality or martial arts, or any type of practice (Yoga, Pilates, etc.). Any BODY can walk into a class and join in and following their own body’s way get a great workout.
In the Nia practice there are three stages. So if you want you can take your workout into these areas. The stages are:
1—Learn the Move
When you learn the move you are learning the name, you are thinking about the move. The concentration is on placing your feet in the proper place, learning where your limbs are supposed to be. Maybe trying some of the different intensity levels and the different planes. This is the stage where you are actually doing a lot of thinking.
2—Move the Move
This is the stage we you move the move. You are doing a routine and just moving. Getting the moves into your muscle memory. Your body is learning the move. Here is where you are learning the combinations. This stage is where you let your body lead and you don’t think too much. The body has an intelligence of its own and if you let it sense it can flow.
3—Energize the Move
This is the stage that you can achieve once your body knows the move. This stage could be during a song the first time you do it, if you feel comfortable and your body senses the moves you might be able to just put the energy into it from one of the Nine Movement Forms. Or it could be the stage you get to once you have done the song a few times. It really depends on the you. It depends on how you feel and how you sense the music. But this is where we really get to play with our routines, where we can energize with the energy of T’ai Chi, Tae Kwon Do, Jazz Dance, or Yoga.
This weekend (10/03/10), in Willow Glen/San Jose I am holding a Nia Playshop where we will Learn the Move. We are going to play with some of the moves that make up the 52 Moves of Nia. Then after we are going to have a Nia Class where we Move the Move. Since we will have spent an hour Learning the Moves I am hoping that some of you will be able to Energize the moves. See you Sunday!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: 52 Moves of Nia, Jazz Dance, Nia class, Nia Class in San Jose, Nia Playshop, Nia Practice, Nia Willow Glen, Nia workout, Nine Movement Forms, Pilates, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Nia practice, San Jose Pilates, San Jose Yoga, Tae kwon do, Tai Chi, Willow Glen Nia, Willow Glen Workout, Yoga | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 27, 2010
The 10th Principle of the Nia White Belt is X-Ray Anatomy. When I first heard this I thought, “What? Do the people that do Nia think they have X-Ray Vision?” But that is not the case at all. (Whew!) To put it in its simplest form it is a way to see the body.
In Nia we study anatomy. We do not study it to the extent of doctors, but we read books and use tools to help us learn how the bones act as the frame and support of the body; how the bones protect organs, and how the bones connect. We examine the joints and how they move. Each type of joint: the hinged joints, the ball and sockets, etc. moves differently We notice how they move and how they allow movement. We also look at how the muscles move the bones, with contractions. In addition, we think about the connective tissue, believing that in order for it to be healthy it must move and be supple.
Focusing on how the body was designed to move and appear allows us to “x-ray” beneath the skin using our intuition, our knowledge, and our eyes to possibly see areas that could use attention. For example shoulders in general should be level. Rounded shoulders could be weak muscles in the back not holding the back up and shoulders back, or tightness in the muscles in the front. Level hips is the original design, barring injury, hips off kilter could be a matter of weak leg muscles on one side. See how that can work?
Looking at our bodies using our X-ray Anatomy can assist us in seeing and learning what our bodies need. Seeing what our bodies need give us the opportunity to give them what they need. When we have an idea of what our bodies need it enables us to practice Nia in the way that best suits our needs. Working out in a way that our bodies actually need makes working out enjoyable and makes you feel great.
Posted in Nia, Nia White Belt Principles | Tagged: Nia, Nia antomy, Nia Practice, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt Principle #10, Nia workout, Nia Xray vision, Working Out, workout, X-reay anatomy, xray vision | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 11, 2010
There are a lot of tools used in Nia. The way that Nia describes each principle includes the Science of the principle, the Craft of the principle, and the Art of the principle.
For instance, the latest principle I posted about was Nia White Belt Principle #5, a portion of that being Awareness. The Science of awareness would be that you can make observations about your body as you move through your day. You can be aware of your hand as you pull it back from the mug of coffee that was too hot. You can be aware of the adjustment you make to your entire body to make it feel more comfortable in the seat belt. Notice how you scrunch your toes in your shoes. You can be conscious of the things that cause discomfort and maybe, in the future respond and change before the discomfort becomes pain.
With the awareness you can develop an ongoing conversation with your body that can help you move more freely and comfortable throughout your life.
The Craft of awareness is where you acquire the ability to sense with your entire body. Utilize not just your eyes and your ears but your sense of smell and proprioception. The craft are the exercises or the practices that we do in order to assist with the awareness.
Possible exercise, to increase awareness:
—brush your teeth with your eyes closed, sensing the tooth brush on each tooth
—brush your hair with your eyes closed, and notice the moment the brush comes in contact with your hair or head
—as you reach out to touch something image yourself touching it before you actually touch it
—then ask yourself; what will it feel like, what sensation will the nerves in my hand allow my brain to sense, will
touch it softly or roughly?
And as you go through your everyday movements observe if there is any tightness or discomfort. Ask yourself is there an adjustment that can be made to your habitual movement–to the way you do it normally–that could easy that comfort? Is there something you could do to tweak it and move your closer to pleasure? Try it that way.
Recognize the body as a work of Art. The Art of awareness is to be aware of the mechanics and beauty of the working body. Visuals could help with the art piece of awareness. If there was an area of the body that was uncomfortable or there was a constriction of the movement, picture the blood full of life giving nutrients rushing to that area. Picture the nutrients as different colors rushing in to saturate the discomfort and color as paint on a canvas.
Or picture any area of the body that could use relaxation as a tight ball of rubber bands and either just picture the ball become loose and opening and airy or picture it as you are moving and stretching that are. All the while being aware.
This is just an example of how the Nia applies all three tools, Science, Craft, and Art to a principle. The three are also used as tools for other purposes, but this is just to throw some light on the ways that Nia is shared, practiced, learned, taught, and enjoyed.
If you would like some tips on how to move with Nia, such as:
~Use visual imagery to make movements feel natural.
~Combine small movements with large movements.
~Use your Base, Core, Upper Extremities, breath and voice to add energy and power to your moves.
You can click here, and go to my website, HelpYouWell.com
I hope that you will have a day full of awareness that will allow you to dance through life.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: helpyouwell.com, Nia, Nia art, Nia craft, Nia exercise, Nia movements, Nia Practice, Nia science, Nia tools, Nia White Belt Principle #5, Nia White Belt Principles | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 13, 2010
In Nia we refer to FAMSS. We practice FAMSS. We can use it for all types of things. It stands for:
Flexibility
Agility
Mobility
Strength
Stability
And by “use” it I mean, it is often incorporated into each kata of a routine. Or a kata might concentrate on just flexibility, the next one agility, the next one mobility, and so on. Or we could use FAMSS as a focus OR an intention of a Nia class. Either all of them (Flexibility AND Agility AND Mobility AND Strength AND Stability) or just one (Flexibility OR Agility OR Mobility OR Strength OR Stability).
But whatever we do with it or them, they are highly regarded as abilities needed to ensure one’s (high) quality of life. So in Nia we honor them all. In a Nia class we weave them into the workout. In this post I am just referring to FAMSS in the physical. They can certainly be applied to more than just our physical bodies, but that can be another post just by itself.
For now, I am just talking about our physical bodies needing to be flexible, agile, mobile, strong, and stable. Just to move around in daily life these five things are very important. In Nia we can bend down in a forward fold as in the familiar pose one might do in a yoga class, allowing our flexibility to be enhanced. The music might encourage us to run, stop, run, stop, run, stop or move us to play the drums calling upon our bodies to display agility in legs, in arms, in our bodies as a whole. We can move our bodies as if they are grass in a field or seaweed in the ocean, moving each part, each section, each muscle, and all major joints to help ensure their mobility. We could crouch in a bow stance moving up and down exercising the strength in our legs. Then we can we stretch, reaching to the sky as we look up, this can be stability practice, either on flat foot, on the ball of our feet, or in releve. This could be one song in which all of this FAMSS is going on or it could be spread out over the entire routine.
Just tonight in my San Carlos class a woman told me that after her first class last week her hip felt better. She said that after her hip felt better on that first night it encouraged her to do a few of the moves at home that we had done in class. So she started working on her FAMSS in the first class, she was encouraged that movement was working to increase her FAMSS so she moved more. With movement she felt more comfort and less pain. FAMSS is necessary for a high quality of life. Her ever day movements were better not because she did it once, but because she kept doing it. Nia honors Flexibility and Agility and Mobility and Strength and Stability, so in Nia we practice it.
I hope one day you will attend one of my classes (I have two in San Jose and one in San Carlos*) to see how we can improve your FAMSS.
*Please see my website for my CURRENT class schedule. Thank you!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: agility, Carlos AyaRosas, exercise class, FAMSS, five sensations, flexibility, FMASS, kata, Mobility, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia focus, Nia intent, Nia Practice, Nia routine, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia's Five Sensations, San Carlos Nia, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, San Jose Workout class, San Jose Yoga, stability, strength, workout class, Workout San Jose, Yoga class, Yoga Practice, Yoga workout | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 1, 2010
I have learned a lot from our backyard here in San Jose. One thing I have learned is even rose bushes change.
I am posting pictures of our roses because they have changed over the years. When we first moved in there were ORANGE. I had never seen roses so orange. My husband wanted to rip out all the rose bushes and rearrange the yard and I requested that he keep the orange rose bush. I didn’t care about anything else in the yard but that one bush. I was fascinated by the orange roses. And so were many people that saw them. When we first moved in we had a ton of roses, all the time, or it seemed like all the time. We would have flowers in the house all the time. I would also take them to work. People would stop and ask me about the orange roses. That is how vibrant their color was. 
While I am not sure about how my hubby felt about the orange roses, I know how he felt about the rose bush. He HATED it. It was one of those bushes that had thorns everywhere. At the top of the stem near the flower there would be hundreds of little tiny thorns. When they got in your fingers, they felt like fiber glass. The thorns were progressively larger as they went down the stem. There was never any room on the stem to put your fingers. So working with these roses always resulted in bloody fingers. The thorns at the bottom where huge, sometimes as big as a half of an inch.
Also the blooms had “less petals”. I think of the “less petal” roses as “real” roses.
Early this week, while I was practicing Nia, I looked out the window and saw a huge rose on the bush. I decided I wanted to have it inside. So I went out to cut it. Even though the rose was next to a bud, I decided to cut them both so the stem would be long enough to put in a tall vase. I also cut another rose. I was holding them while I was looking for a vase to put them in, it occurred to me that there was one (ONE!!!) thorn on the big rose’s stem. And the other one hardly had any. Then I looked at the rose itself and noticed it too is different. I had previously posted about the color change of our roses, but I had not noticed the lack of thorns nor the increase in the amount of petals before.
They are still very beautiful and I love having roses in the yard and in the house. But, there are not the same roses that we had when we moved in. So I learned that roses morph. The rose bush that has been in our yard since we moved in eleven years ago has changed. Interesting. I guess most things change huh? I had noticed that the flowers were not longer the striking orange color they had used to be, but I just noticed the flower itself is different and there are less thorns. They have been changing over the years. Do you know why? Is it cross pollination? Do all roses do that?
Posted in Flowers | Tagged: Changes, Flowers, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Practice, rose bushes, rose thorns, Roses, San Jose, San Jose Nia | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 23, 2010
If you are going to get deeper into Nia–taking it further than a workout and even further than a practice, if you are going to attend a Nia Intensive, you will be introduced to the triads. Nia has a method of grouping things together in threes to assist in the learning of the information. I think that it is a pretty good tool to use. It helps organize things into little manageable packets.
Each principle in the Nia White Belt has a triad. Some triads have three additional triads to help further explain the principle. It is all packaged so wonderfully I just love it.
I have posts about Principle #2 Natural Time and the Movement Forms. Here is an example of what the Art Forms Triad may look like. Each art form has three movement forms.
Now, honestly, participating in a Nia Intensive is so delicious I don’t want to take away from all that you will be experiencing so this does not have all the information that you would see if you were to attend an intensive. With the principles and points on a triad there are usually catch phrases and other things to assist you in learning. This is just an somewhat striped down version so that you can have an idea of what I am talking about.
Also, with all of my talk and posts and tweets and pages about Nia, I am wanting to share with you a glimpse of the richness that is Nia. There is a lot of knowledge that Debbie and Carlos want to share and they have created or commissioned to be created some wonderful and beautiful tools in order for anyone who wants to learn can use.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Carlos AyaRosas, Debbie and Carlos, delicious Nia, Natural Time and the Movement Forms, Nia, Nia Movement Forms, Nia Practice, Nia principles, Nia Triads, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, Principle #2, Triads | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 13, 2010
Ahhhh, so what are you thinking? Friends that you have all your life? Yeah, no. This is about friends for LIFE. As in friends for health. As in friends for well being. It is very important to have good friends. The definition of “good friends” is vast and we can have a lot of “good friends”, but I believe that we all can benefit from friends that we can connect with.
Most of us have an array of friends in our life, we have people we call friends but they might REALLY be categorized as acquaintances. We have friends that call us when they need something, and friends we call when we need something. We have friends that annoy us and friends that don’t. We have friends that we might not think of often, but that we are very fond of. And, when we are lucky we have friends that fill us up. That make us feel good. They make us feel grounded and connected to humanity.
These friends could agree with us when we need it and tell us to get it together when we need that too. They could agree with us on something and disagree with us on others. They can see our faults and ignore them or try to help us with them, but either way, they are there and they are our friends. I believe that is vital to our health. I believe that sometimes life needs to be suspended—in between appointments, and kids athletic games, around the Nia classes, the gym, and the yoga practice, regardless of work and responsibilities–you need to be with those types of friends.
Enjoy time visiting with these friends no matter how frequent or infrequent it is important to connect, to refill, to recharge. It is awesome.
It is as important as good nutrition and exercise . . . . .at least, I think so . . . . I think there are friends for life.
Do you believe that friendships play a role in life/health?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: athletic games, connected, exercise, friends, grounded, gym, humanity, life, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia Practice, nutrition, yoga classes, Yoga Practice | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 31, 2009
So here it is the end of the year. I have been blogging since March (2009). I have posted 130 times. This is 131. I thought I would end the year with a review of some of my favorites and according to the numbers some of your favorites too. Here they are, not in any order:
Lyrics Gone Wrong . . . I had entertained the idea of doing this once a month, but after the second month I ran out of songs to play with.
Interesting Picture – Marilyn Monroe Albert Einstein . . . I LOVE optical illusions and this one is a doosey.
Hummingbird Tongues . . . they still fascinate me and I am still surprising people with the fact that the birds have tongues and use them more than the beak is a straw. And usually they tongues dart in and out so fast it is a rare treat to catch it out for a picture. Yay!
A Poem Says A Lot . . . Fabulous! We Have Come To Be Danced . . .
Nia Belt System . . . Before you can move onto the next belt they say a year must pass. You do not have to get involved. It is a great workout without being involved with the belts. The belt system only comes into play if you care to get that involved in Nia. Nia’s belts mimic some Martial Arts; white, green, blue, brown, black. I am learning so much with my White Belt, I can see myself waiting at least another year before I move onto the next belt. There is so much to learn and enjoy in each belt, I am not in a hurry.
Say: “I Am Wonderful” . . . I like to say this, I like to hear this song. I like to remind people to go to iTunes each week to download the free song.
A Brief Look At Nia . . . still excited to share Nia with people. It is a great body-mind practice and a workout that can make you sweat yet not really feel like exercise. It is learning to follow the body’s way.
Wrapping Tips . . . WHAT? I was shocked that everyone did not read my blog. On Christmas Day and the day after the bags and bags and bags and bags of wrapping trash that I saw on the curbs just blew my mind. In this day and in these times, I was just utterly flabbergasted that people don’t re-use the wrappings. It amazed and saddened me.
My Favorite Mugs . . . so I found out that not everyone got my little joke. Ya know, back in the day (what day, I don’t know), they used to call faces mugs . . . get it now?
The Seven Cycles Of A Nia Workout . . . The workout has cycles, somewhat like Jazzercise. I like to share this aspect of Nia so people have an idea of what a workout class will be like. We set a focus and an intent, step in, warm up and move all the way through the cycles to the floor, and then we step out.
Well, thank you so much for joining me on my blog. I hope that you continue to read, I hope you enjoy and learn. I learn from your comments so keep them coming. Thank you for a great year. Here is to the NewYear.
But . . .before we jump into the New Year, share with me what your favorite post from my blog was? AND/OR give me ideas on what you would like to see posted in the New Year.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Albert Einstein, Bay Area Workout, Belt System, Black Belt, blonde sex symbol, Blue Belt, body's way, Body-mind, body-mind practice, Brown Belt, Carlos Rosas, cats dancing, Christmas, Christmas Day, coffee mugs, cool down, cycles, dance, dancing cats, Debbie Rosas, exercise, floorplay, Free download, Free iTunes, free iTunes download, free song, Gary Go, gift bags, green, Green Belt, Healing exercise, Healing workout, health, heaven dance, Humming bird, Hummingbird, hummingbird pictures, Hummingbird tongue, I am wonderful, iTunes, Jazzercise, Jazzercise San Jose, Jewel Mathieson, lefty, Lyrics, March 2009, Marilyn Monroe, martial arts, Martial Arts Belt System, mind body, Mugs, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia exercise class, Nia play, Nia Practice, Nia routine, Nia San Jose, Nia teachers, Nia Technique, Nia workout, Non-Impact Aerobics, Painted Glove, Personal Trainer, Poem, San Jose, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, San Jose Yoga, sanctuary, sex symbol, theory of relativity, tongue, warm-up, We Have Come To Be Danced, White Belt, Working Out, Workout cycles, workout routines, wrapping paper, Yoga | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 12, 2009
Now Feldenkrais in Nia is not so much a movement as it is the feeling, the sensation of movement. With this technique as our guide we slow down, we become aware, we witness our movement. The creators of Nia wanted a movement form that resulted in health, both physical and mental.
The Feldenkrais technique is specific and Nia does not claim to practice this technique, instead the idea of being able to create change in the body, by moving it and by focusing on the movement is what is incorporated into Nia. The idea of change being possible. The idea of slowing down and paying attention. Or even if going fast—the idea is to pay attention.
I like to refer to Nia as a body-mind* practice/exercise/workout, because in White Belt we are instructed to go to the body. Moving in the body’s way and in our own body’s way in particular is one reason why I think of it as body-mind. But even though we go to the body that does not mean that we are not being aware. We need to use our mind to listen to the body. If a movement is being done in class and you copy it exactly, you need to be aware of the sensation your body is returning back to you. Is doing the move EXACTLY how the teacher is doing it really what YOUR body needs? Do you need to do it bigger? Or smaller? What is it that YOUR body is telling you?
Adding some of the concepts of Moshe Feldenkrais adds body awareness to Nia. We feel the body as it moves. We respond to it, we are aware of it. We are connected to our bodies. It is somatic movement. It is movement with ease.
This is how a Nia workout includes elements from Feldenkrais.
The Nine Basic Movements Forms of Nia
*I think that is how Carlos Rosas (AyaRosas) refers to Nia also
Posted in Movement Forms of Nia, Nia | Tagged: body-mind exercise, body-mind practice, body-mind workout, Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, exercise class, Feldenkrais, mind-body exercise, Mind-body practice, mind-body workout, Moshe Feldenkrais, movement sensation, Nia, Nia class, Nia Exercies, Nia Practice, Nia workout, somatic movement, workout class | 12 Comments »
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