Posts Tagged ‘Nia San Jose’
Posted by terrepruitt on November 12, 2009
Today is “whatever” Thursday, I wanted to find some pictures to post, but nothing really struck me. I have thought about it all day and I couldn’t come up with anything. Then I thought of lists. People are always posting lists. In fact, my last post was somewhat of a list; a list of benefits of resistance training. On my short drive after class from Santa Clara to San Jose, I decided to post ten of my favorite exercise in no particular order:
1) Dumbbell Chest Press (especially on a stability ball)
2) Upright Row (on one Pilates DVD I have she calls this the “Zip Up”)
3) Lat Pull Down with Alternating Backward Lunge
4) Tricep Kickback (with a dumbbell)
5) Standing Tricep Pushdown
6) Heel Raises
7) Wood Chops
8) Bent-Over Row
9) Bicep Curl
10) Sit-ups (on the BOSU) (she did NOT just say that, oh yeah, I did)
Of course, I love Nia for my aerobic (cardio) workout and with that I get a lot of these same motions as some of my favorite exercise, but this is just a list of some of my favorite exercises I like to do with equipment and/or weights.
Comments? Questions? What are your favorite exercises? What do you like to include in your workout?
Share your list.
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: aerobic classes, aerobic workout classes, Backward Lunge, Bent-Over Row, Bicep Curl, BOSU, Cardio classes, cardio workout, dumbbell, Dumbbell Chest Press, Dumbell Chest Press, exercies classes, exercise, exercise equipment, favorite exercise, Heel Raises, Lat Pull Down, list of exercises, Nia Classes, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia workout classes, Pilates DVD, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia classes, San Jose Pilates, San Jose Workout, Santa Clara exercise, Santa Clara Nia, Santa Clara workout, Sit-up, stability ball, Standing Tricep Pushdown, Tricep Kickback, Upright Row, Wood Chops, Zip Up | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 7, 2009
There is always something Nia going on. Often times visting instructors will host a workshop or two. When they are in an area doing a workshop they often tack on a class or two so that even if you are not going to partake in the workshop you still can do Nia with them. It is a great way to other teachers from all over. This weekend there is a workshop that I am able to attend but I was able to go to the Nia class that was held the night before the workshop.
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It was an hour and a half class. Due to the huge amount of commute traffic from San Jose to Concord we missed the first 20 minutes, but we were able to jump right in and get a great workout in the time we had.
The visiting instructor was Winalee Zeeb. She has been doing Nia since 1991. She is a first degree Nia Black Belt, a Nia White Belt Trainer, and she has her own studio in Michigan called Heartdance.
The event is being held at The Big C Athletic Club. The class I went to was also at that location. I had a great time moving on carpeted thick padded floor. We moved fast and slow, and experienced fire and soul. It was a great workout. Always amazing me because it never feels like exercise. I am always amazed when the class ends. It was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting Winalee. She said we did a bit of Aya and a bit of Velvet. I am not sure what other routines were in there, but it was a great time.
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I often post events on my site so if you are interested in attending Nia workshops and events in my area check my site.
I was still trying to get in the swing of things when I decided to snap a few photos. I was planning on taking more, but since we had missed a few minutes already I didn’t want to take time standing around taking the pictures, but I snapped it and a couple more just to give you an idea.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Aya, Concord, dance studio, Heartdance, Nia, Nia Black Belt, Nia class, Nia event, Nia exercise, Nia exercise class, Nia forms, Nia instructor, Nia routines, Nia San Jose, Nia studio, Nia teachers, Nia workout, Nia workshop, San Jose, San Jose exercise class, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout class, The Big C Athletic Club, Velvet, Winalee Zeeb | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 3, 2009
A Nia workout includes elements from three disciplines from three different arts.
From the healing arts, we use moves and ideals from Yoga. As with all the movement forms incorporated into Nia, Nia does not claim to be practicing Yoga. It is understood that years of studying and practice can be involved in the practice of Yoga, and Nia respects that, that is why I say that we “use move and ideals”. Nia recognizes the benefits that can result from Yoga and with that does its best to utilize some of its amazing power. Nia calls Yoga “The Conscious Dance of Alignment”.* It helps with the proper alignment of the bones. It also assists in increasing flexibility for all fitness levels.
We use the aspects of Yoga to help find balance in the body. In Nia we can also call upon the focus that is evident in Yoga.
The White Belt Manual 3/2001 V3 states:
Witness the value this form provides to increasing and restoring the natural flow of energy throughout the entire body. Recognize the specific principles that help to clear and calm the mind, bring balance to the nervous system, improve breath and posturing, and strengthen specific body parts. Acknowledge the way Yoga unifies the body, mind, spirit, and emotional being, and how the internal, core body becomes soft and supple to provide real “energy” strength from the inside out.
So we might do some exercises of twists, bends, and poses in our workout, it is to help increase strength, flexibility, alignment and our conscious connection.
The breathing in Nia reminds me more of Pilates than to Yoga. We inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth, often times sounding. I have not participated in a Yoga class that does chanting or is vocal so that is why I am reminded more of Pilates than Yoga.
Many of Nia’s teachers are also Yoga instructors or they attend Yoga classes. I sometimes attend a Yoga class in San Jose. The two forms of movement are a great compliment to each other.
***V3 of The Nia Technique – White Belt Manual by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas
Posted in Movement Forms of Nia, Nia | Tagged: Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, exercise class, movement class, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia Movement, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Nia Teacher, Nia Technique, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, Nia Yoga, Pilates, Pilates breathing, Pilates class, Pilates San Jose, San Jose Nia, San Jose Yoga, sounding, White Belt, White Belt Manual, workout class, Yoga, Yoga chanting, yoga classes, Yoga Exercies, Yoga exercises, yoga instructor, Yoga Nia, yoga poses, yoga pracitce, Yoga San Jose, yoga stretches, yoga teacher, Yoga workout | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 26, 2009
A Nia workout includes elements from three disciplines from three different arts.
From the martial arts, we use moves from T’ai chi. Actually it is not just “moves” from Tai Chi but also some of the “ideals” from Tai Chi. Nia calls Tai Chi “The Slow Dance”.* Tai Chi allows for the elements of grace, ease, precision, power, and lightness to be accessed and brought in to our dance that is our workout.
So while we do not do the sequences of postures that form a Tai Chi routine or exercise we might have some of the Tai Chi moves incorporated into a routine. And/or we might take a portion of the routine and execute it “Tai Chi like”, moving slow and graceful. Being mindful of our movements and moving from the feet with relaxed joints establishing that fluid Tai Chi like flow. We might also incorporate circular movements and shift our weight to assist in balance, all the while sensing the gentle flow of chi.
Some things we do in class to assist us in moving “Tai Chi like” is leading with our heels when we step, using our eyes to allow for our head to be included in our movement, keeping our joints open and soft, focusing on moving from our energy center, using our breath to generate power and support for movement, and moving systemically.**
Hopefully this post will serve to address some of the inquires about the aspect of Tai Chi in Nia. This will give you an idea of how Tai Chi is brought into Nia.
I love to watch the people in the parks of San Jose doing Tai Chi. I actually see them all over the Bay Area. In Nia we don’t “DO” Tai Chi, we glean from it and allow what we’ve gleaned to mix with aspects of Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, Jazz Dance, Modern Dance, Duncan Dance, Yoga, the Alexander Technique and the teachings from Feldenkrais. It is all combined to be Nia.
*Both the Nia Technique Book and The Nia Technique – White Belt Manual state this. Both books are by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas.
**V3 of The Nia Technique – White Belt Manual
Posted in Movement Forms of Nia, Nia | Tagged: Aikido, Bay Area Nia, Bay Area Yoga, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, Duncan Dance, exercise classes, Feldenkrais, flow, Jazz Dance, joy, joyful, martial arts, Martial Arts Disciplines, mind, modern dance, movement, Nia, Nia classes in San Jose, Nia classes in the Bay Area, Nia San Jose, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, San Jose Dance classes, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose parks, San Jose workout classes, Tae kwon do, Tae kwon do San Jose, T’ai chi, T’ai chi San Jose, the Alexander Technique, The Nia Technique, White Belt, Yoga, Yoga San Jose | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 24, 2009
My husband and I live in San Jose. We are pretty close to Santa Cruz, I think. It is about 45 minutes away. But usually it takes longer than that to get there due to traffic. We don’t go there often.
Yesterday I went “over the hill”, we call it because we have to go over the hills to get out of the Santa Clara Valley/Silicon Valley to the ocean side.
While there, I thought, I don’t come here enough. This is beautiful. And I took a few shots, thinking I would share 
them with you. Then I was thinking I should write something to post. But then I was invited to coffee today, when I “should have” been writing my blog, I was having coffee. When I accepted the invitation I had a feeling that going to coffee was where I needed to be and posting the pictures of Santa Cruz was what I would end up doing.
Well, it turned out that I was at coffee for three hours. I had been correct. I needed to be on that coffee date making a connection with someone. And these pictures are beautiful and they really should be shared. Because California is beautiful. Santa Cruz is awesome. Yesterday was the most gorgeous day there.
The pictures are beautiful not because of the skill of the photographer, but because of the skill of the maker—-no one could have taken a bad picture of yesterday’s masterpiece. It has worked out as it should. I have been studying the Nia 5 Stages, it is a “self-healing” movement practice. I took a break from it with friends and wow—the break was another way of self healing. Friends, the ocean, coffee, conversation, an exercise in listening, it is all very healing!
Is there something you do for you that is self-healing?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: california, healing, Nia, Nia 5 Stages, Nia exercise, Nia San Jose, Nia Santa Clara, Nia self-healing, Nia workout, ocean, San Jose, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, Santa Clara, Santa Clara exercise, Santa Clara Nia, Santa Clara workout, Santa Cruz, self-healing, Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley exercise, Silicon Valley Nia, Silicon Valley workout | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 22, 2009
I believe that positive thinking can go a long way in helping someone get better. I also believe that “happy” and “positive” can assist with improving someone’s heath and/or keeping them healthy to begin with. I believe there are a lot of things people can do to be responsible for their own health and make themselves better. But I didn’t use the term healing or self-healing. So when I first heard Nia using that term I thought, “Uh-oh, what is this?”
But it is not meant as a proclamation that any or all ills will be cured with Nia. It really is “self-healing” as in feeling better. There is always room for improvement and even just a little better is still BETTER.
More and more people, and even the medical field, are realizing that the body has its own intelligence and sometimes we need to listen to it. One BIG thing that a lot more people are paying attention to is things like “a cold”. I have recently experienced a larger number of people realizing that when they get a cold it is their body saying, “Whoa! Slow down. Rest.” And yes, most of the time that is very difficult but these people are saying, “I better take one day to rest because if I don’t it is going to be worse.” And they exercise a little self-healing, by taking one day and then taking it easy for a few more days and it seems like they can “heal” themselves faster. And taking one day off, can work out so much better than having to take a week.
See? That is self-healing? Our bodies will basically heal themselves.
Yes, there are illness and situations where we need medical attention. But there are a lot of things that we can do to feel better/self-heal.
For example: One thing I did to “heal myself” years ago was stop talking on the phone with my shoulder and head holding the phone. I used to get terrible neck aches and I talked on the phone at work a lot. It got to a point that I could no longer hold the phone like that as much as I needed to so my employer got me a headset. Ahhhh! I felt a little better. Then I realized I needed a headset for home. Ahhhhh. Totally better. Now I don’t talk on any phone holding it between my head and shoulder. Voilà! Self-healed.
So . . . Nia uses the term, self-healing, a lot because it is believed that movement is a healing act. Nia used to say: “Through Movement We Find Health”.
One of the incredible tools that Nia has (and there are many) to assist in self-healing is the Nia 5 Stages. It used to be called the Nia 5 Stages of Healing. I recently took a two day training so that I can now assist people in self-healing with the Nia 5 Stages.
I am confident that living in the Bay Area with San Jose, Mountain View, Cupertino, and Santa Clara having so many great technologies around us I can easily add the technology of the body to the Silicon Valley.
Posted in Misc, Nia | Tagged: Bay Area exericse, Bay Area Nia, Bay Area Workout, body intelligence, body technology, Cupertino exericse, Cupertino Nia, Cupertino workout, heal, heal myself, heal others, Mountain View exericse, Mountain View Nia, Mountain View workout, Nia, Nia 5 Stages, Nia 5 Stages training, Nia Bay Area, Nia Cupertino, Nia exercise, Nia Mountain View, Nia San Jose, Nia Santa Clara, Nia self-healing, Nia workout, positive thinking, San Jose exericse, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, Santa Clara exercise, Santa Clara Nia, Santa Clara workout, Silicon Valley exercise, Silicon Valley Nia, Silicon Valley workout | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 8, 2009
This is a simple overview of TweetDeck. And by simple I mean it does not include all the features and tips and tricks of TweetDeck. My posts regarding Twitter are not for the power users to learn from. It would be great if they commented and shared information, but basically I am sharing what I know and I feel as if I have barely scratched the surface of what Twitter and all its hundreds of applications can do. In this post I do not cover all that TweetDeck can do. I only briefly address what I do, so far, with TweetDeck.
First off, one of the things that some people love about TweetDeck is that you can manage multiple Twitter Accounts with it. I don’t have multiple accounts so I don’t use TweetDeck like that so I won’t be talking about that here. All I can tell you about multiple accounts and TweetDeck is that there is something that says, “Add more accounts” and above the box you type in it says “From” and I am guessing that if you have multiple accounts it will list them there and you can indicate which account you are sending from. (I circled that in the photo. At the bottom.)
For my one account, I use TweetDeck to see various tweets all on one screen. I have an “All” column set up so that I can see tweets from all of the people that I follow. But, I am beginning to think that only the people I recently follow show up because I don’t see tweets from people that I started following when I first signed up for Twitter. So I made another column for those Twitterers.
I also have a column for “Nia People”. This is a “Group”, these are the people that I have met online that teach, do, practice, and love Nia. With this column I have actually set it up so that I see certain people that I am following that I know have something to do with Nia.
I have a “YelpSV” search column. With this column it is set up so that I see people that send a Tweet that mentions YelpSV. It searches for tweets that contain @YelpSV.
See? You can set up different columns and you can set them up different ways. You can set up a column for a search on “Workouts” and it will capture tweets that have that word in them or you can set up a column for a group called, for example “San Jose” or “Exercise Classes” and actually indicate certain people whose tweets you want to see in either of those columns.
It is quick and easy to set up columns so you can change them whenever you would like.
I also have a mentions column of HelpYouWell set up so when people @HelpYouWell I see those in a separate column—although they sometimes show up after the ones in the other columns. And I have DM (Direct Message) column so I can see messages sent directly to me, HelpYouWell.
I don’t have an issue with “API” (whatever that stands for), but I hear of people that do. Apparently Twitter only allows third party applications (systems? programs? Whatever.) 100 “touches” (that’s what I am calling them) per hour. So if your account “touches” twitter (either sending, receiving, dealing with, whatever) 100 times in an hour you have to wait for the next hour in order to “touch” twitter again. But this is only with third party stuff, like TweetDeck. If you are on Twitter.com it does not do that. So use TweetDeck and if you max out, use Twitter.com until the hour is up and go back to TweetDeck.
Posted in Twitter | Tagged: @HelpYouWell, API, exercise, exercise classes, exercise people, exercise San Jose, learn Nia, multiple Twitter accounts, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia exercise, Nia people, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, teach exercise, teach Nia, teach workout, TweetDeck, TweetDeck API, TweetDeck columns, Twitter, Twitter.com, workout, workout classes, workout exercise, workout people, Workout San Jose, Yelp, YelpSV | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 18, 2009
You will notice that the numbers are not sequential, that is because this is just a few of the sixteen main benefits of Nia stated in the Nia Technique Book by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas.
1. Nia increases the pleasure of living in your body.
2. Nia creates weight loss and proper weight maintenance.
6. Nia increases grace and flexibility.
10. Nia enhances sensory awareness.
11. Nia heightens sexual function.
12. Nia builds reservoirs of chi.
14. Nia improves circulation of blood and improves lymphatic drainage.
Please remember that these are benefits that people practicing Nia have had. I invite you to share your experiences and tell me what benefits you have gained from Nia. You can post a comment here or send me information through my site (you can scroll down the drop down menu to “share my benefit(s) of Nia”).
Nia is a journey where you are invited to discover the wonders of your own Body.
Nia is practiced in the Bay Area (San Jose, Mountain View, Cupertino, Los Gatos, etc.) and the East Bay (San Ramon, Oakland, Walnut Creek, etc.).
Posted in Exercise and Working Out, Nia | Tagged: Bay Area Nia, Benefits of Nia, Carlos Rosas, Cupertino Nia, Debbie Rosas, Los Gatos Exercise, Los Gatos Nia, Los Gatos Workout, Mountain View Nia, Nia, Nia Bay Area, Nia Benefits, Nia Debbie, Nia exercise, Nia Oakland, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Nia Technique, Nia Technique Book, Nia workout, practicing Nia, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, San Ramon Nia | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 11, 2009
The focus for the most recent Nia Jam was the 52 Nia Moves. We were to pick songs in which we could highlight one or more of the 52 Nia moves. So we moved a lot because we all wanted to really highlight the moves. The idea was to pick one song that highlighted the move then pick another song that contained the same move that you could play with. There was a couple of us that picked two songs with different moves so we highlighted more moves instead. I think it worked out fine.
Movements Highlighted included:
~Pelvic Circle
~Spinal Roll
~Heel Lead & Ball of Foot
~Closed Stance, Open Stance, “A” Stance, and Sumo Stance,
~Front Kick, Side Kick, and Back kicks
~Releve
~Lateral Traveling
~Shimmy
~Blocks
~Undulation
~Wrist & Hand movements
We do not do all 52 Nia moves in every workout (unless we are doing the 52 Nia Move routine), but we do cover a lot of them. The moves are not necessarily new moves, some are quite common and you will be familiar with them. Some you could be familiar with, but not familiar with DOING, but that is part of the fun. Come to a class and see. I have classes in San Jose and Los Gatos.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: 52 Nia Moves, blocks, Fifty two Nia Moves, Los Gatos Nia, Los Gatos Workout, Nia class, Nia Jam, Nia Los Gatos, Nia routine, Nia San Jose, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, shimmy, stances | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 1, 2009
A lot of practices claim to be mind-body practices. I believe the idea is to engage our mind to control our body.
Well, I like to call Nia body-mind. For me calling it body-mind reminds me that we are first going to the body. We are engaging our bodies in movement and allowing them to move freely. Then we can allow our minds to loosely focus on what we are doing. So we don’t want our minds controlling our movement, but we want our minds registering the sensation so as to give it full power and allow us to acknowledge what feels right.
Let me give you an example of what can happen:
The music starts, and like a lot of people, we begin to move without even thinking, we start to sway or wiggle, or whatever the body senses the music is telling it to do. But then—CLICK! The mind engages and then we start to THINK about how to move, then we start judging movement, then we start choreographing movements, then we realize that we are thinking, thinking, thinking. UGH! I would be the latter as mind-body, my brain is thinking and I am doing what it tells me.
In Nia, one of the greatest tools to learn is to be body-mind and just let the body go. The body can listen to the music on its own. Then when you are able to do that, it is amazing how the body knows what it needs. It can move you in a way that your mind might keep you from. Your hips can thrust or gyrate, your shoulders can shimmy, your feet and skip and jump, and your voice can be heard—all without judgment from yourself.
Also, if we let our bodies lead us, it will keep us from doing something that is too much or not in the best interest of our bodies. Our bodies seek balance and health. When we are working out, if we are allowing our bodies to be the guide we can get the exact kind of workout we need. As our bodies guide us to what we need we can concentrate with our mind to understand the sensation that we are sensing with our bodies. When our bodies get the workout it needs both our body and our mind feel great.
I think if you have not tried Nia it will be difficult for you to “get” what I am saying. I would like to invite you to go to the Nia website and see if there is a class near you or look at my class schedule and see if one of my classes (I teach four per week) works for you. There are Nia classes in San Jose, Los Gatos, Mountian View, San Ramon, Oakland, Pleasanton, Palo Alto, Los Altos, all over, one of them has to work for you. Go out and try it!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: balance and health, body-mind practice, engaged mind, Los Altos Nia classes, Los Gatos Nia classes, Los Gatos Workout, Mind-body practice, Mountian View Nia classes, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia focus, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Oakland Nia classes, Palo Alto Nia classes, Pleasanton Nia classes, Practice, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia classes, San Jose Workout, San Ramon Nia classes | 2 Comments »
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