Posts Tagged ‘Nia San Jose’
Posted by terrepruitt on September 16, 2010
I am turning to the bloggey-sphere for answers. The corners of our sidewalks were curbs and not ramps. I don’t even know if that is what they are called–ramps. Not too long ago people came and jack hammered up the corners and put in ramps. I don’t remember exactly when it was but you can see that the new ramp is still bright and new. I actually think it has been in the last two years because I think I was teaching Nia when they put in the ramps. I remember commenting on it because we always see the work trucks and the “don’t park here” signs but we can’t always figure out what work has been done. With the ramps it was obvious. The whole corner section was bright cement. 
Well, just this week the jack hammers have been back. Again they have made cement rubble of the corners. They did it rather quickly, I think. They have redone all the corners and they have replaced the ramps they created not too long ago with this metal knobby stuff.
I tried to Google it, but what I came up with was how to get a permit in San Jose to work on the sidewalk. What I want to know is what is the knobby metal for?
I would think things that need the ramp, things with wheels, like wheel chairs, skates, and strollers would not roll well over the knobs. You might be able to tell in one of the pictures that the knobby plates don’t seem to come together but it actually looks like the plates are already rusting or something.
So . . . . do you know what the knobby metal plates in the sidewalk ramps are? Also, do you know WHY the knobs are better than the cement?
I am so curious.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Metal knob plates, metal knob sidewalk plates, Nia San Jose, San Jose Nia, San Jose sidewalk, sidewalk corner ramps, sidewalk curbs, sidewalk ramps | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 14, 2010
Presently I live in San Jose and teach Nia Classes in San Jose. I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area all my life. When I was growing up I used to tell people I lived in Santa Clara and they had no idea where that was. So I would say, “San Jose?” and if I still received that look then I would say “San Francisco?” and most of the time I would then see a spark of recognition.
When the dot com boom happened that kind of helped put “Silicon Valley” on the map and is comprised of a few places most notable cities are Cupertino, Santa Clara, San Jose, and Mountain View. A lot more people had heard of Santa Clara and San Jose after that. We weren’t known only in the shadow of San Francisco any longer. It was nice to not have to go through the entire San Francisco Bay Area to explain where I lived.
Now I find myself in that same exact “place” with Nia. I tell people I teach Nia and I get a look back. Most have not hear of it. So we go through the, “Is it like Zumba?” and I want to say:
Yes, Nia is EXACTLY LIKE Zumba: we get a workout via dance,we exercise to music, we sweat, we have fun, we work our muscles, we shimmy, shake, and gyrate, oh, except we do it in bare feet, to a variety of music, participants are encouraged to do it as their bodies allow, and there is a body-mind connection.
But most often say: It is sort of like a Zumba class and sort of like a Jazzercise class in that we move to music. Nia is a cardio workout with no impact. It is fun and unique because Nia incorporates moves and concepts from nine different movement forms a few being Tai Chi, Jazz Dance, and Yoga.
When they hear that, then they ask, “So it is Yoga?” 🙂
I was just reminded of the explaining-where-I-lived portion of my childhood when I was with a group of Nia Teachers recently. Made me laugh when I thought about the going through the same type of thing when talking about Nia. Yay, at least I am in a familiar place. 😮
Posted in Nia | Tagged: cardio workout, Dance Workout, exercise class, Jazzercise, Jazzercise class, Nia Cupertino, Nia in San Jose, Nia Mountain View, Nia San Jose, Nia Santa Clara, San Francisco Bay Area Nia Classes, San Francisco classes, San Jose classes, San Jose Nia classes, San Jose Yoga, San Jose Zumba classes, Santa Clara Classes, Silicon Valley, Tai Chi, work out class, workout class, workout class San Jose, Yoga San Jose, Zumba class, Zumba classes, Zumba in San Jose | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 26, 2010
As you know from my first post on water, the body is made up of a huge percentage of water. As you probably also know, sweating is a process that the body utilizes to cool off. I must always be hot. 🙂 Here in the California Bay Area we had record temperatures. San Jose reached 102 and San Francisco reached 94. For me, when it is that hot, it is easy for me to drink water. I drank a bottle of water right after teaching Nia class today.
It is much easier to become dehydrated in the heat because your body might be sweating more in order to stay cool. Also, because air conditioning takes the moisture out of the air, drinking water even if you are not in the heat is a good thing to do. Often times when the temperatures get high outside the air conditioner goes on or stays on longer, which seems like it would dry the air out more. So even in the air conditioned office or home or mall, drink the water.
I often been told that by the time you are thirsty you are already mildly dehydrated. I like the idea of drinking water throughout the day, but it is really important on the hotter days. There are different stages of dehydration so when you get thirsty drink don’t wait for until you are lightheaded, or get muscles cramps.
Of course there are other more serious reasons people become dehydrated. There are also other treatments when the dehydration is severe. I am just addressing the normal everyday don’t-let-yourself-get-dehydrated-in-the-excessive-heat kind of thing. Funny because my last post regarding water was because it was nice and cool and sometimes a challenge to drink water. In the heat please remember to hydrate!
Posted in Water | Tagged: Bay Area, Bay Area Nia, bottle of water, dehydrated, dehydration, mild dehydration, Nia Bay Area, Nia class, Nia San Jose, San Jose Nia, Water | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 29, 2010
I often find myself defending Twitter when I meet new people. In this world of multiple social media networks, the subject of FaceBook, Twitter, and Yelp often come up. We start talking then usually someone says, “I’ve never gotten into Twitter. I mean, really (!?!?) who wants to know what I had for lunch? And I certainly don’t care about what others had for lunch?!?!” That is not the only thing Twitter is about.
First of all, that is a Twitter stereo-type. Not ALL tweeple tweet about what they had for lunch. But those that do often get a lot of responses. If you are in a circle of people that are foodies they LOVE tweets about food! ANY MEAL AT ALL. My hubby (@JohnPruitt) used to tweet and Facebook pictures of his lunch every day. Now he actually takes lunch from home and people miss his pictures. They ask him if he is on a diet, if he is sick, they miss it. EVERYONE eats. Not everyone has the opportunity to eat what is available to us in San Jose and the Bay Area and they enjoy seeing all the different things. Food really brings people together.
What I was thinking about the other day was when someone tweets me out of the blue and says, “I thought about you . . . .” WOW! People I know only through Twitter THINK about ME! How cool is that? I love that someone out there is thinking about me. I love it when it is silly, “I was thinking about you because I was wearing blue.” I love it when it is related to healthy eating, “I was thinking about you as I ate my salad.” I love when it is about kitties, “I saw a cat and thought about you and your cat.” I love when it is about Nia, “I went to a Nia class today and I thought about you.”
Yes, I started using Twitter to promote Nia and my business. I have made business connections and friends. I have actually made some connections. Funny enough, with this post half written (up to this very point – no lie!) I had a DM* conversation with a friend today. She was asking if I thought it were possible to have “real” friends on Twitter. Ones that you only knew through Twitter. My thinking on that is “you betcha!”
Maybe the definition of “real” is different, I don’t know. But I know that I know more about a lot of my friends on Twitter than I know about my friends I have in person. I talk more to some of my Twitter friends than I do my “in person friends”. So . . . . . to me, as I always say . . . Twitter is what you make it. Connections are out there to be made. Either you know because you are on it, or you will see when you get there. It is soooooo AWESOME (inspiring, and humbling) to have someone tweet, “I was thinking about you today!” Gives me the warm fuzzies.
*DM = Direct Message
(Oh, and puleeeaase! You think I am going to write a post about Twitter warm fuzzies and not put this most excellent tweet that I received one day in my post. Ha! That would be unacceptable. Thanks, Dani!)
Posted in Twitter | Tagged: @JohnPruitt, Bay Area, Bay Area Nia, Bay Area Nia class, Direct Message, DM, Facebook, foodies, John Pruitt, Nia business, Nia class, Nia San Jose, San Jose, San Jose Nia class, social media, social media networks, Tweeple, tweets, Twitter, twitter friends, warm fuzzies, warm fuzzy, Yelp | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 24, 2010
On the way home from a little Nia class / meeting in Danville I starting craving a salad. All the way home to San Jose (its about an hour) I kept thinking of what ingredients I would need. I didn’t have the recipe with me, but since it is so easy I remembered the few things I needed to get. Recently I went to a little party where the hostess had made a bean salad. It had two things in it I REALLY don’t like, one thing I don’t like, one thing I love in teeny tiny pieces, and one thing I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (not including the spices). So on my quest to learn how to like bean and get some legumes in my diet I decided to make my friend’s TWO bean salad recipe.
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 large red pepper – chopped (big or small, you decide)
½ large sweet onion – cut small square sizes
¼ to ½ bunch cilantro – cut ½ inch size
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon fine ground black pepper
1 ½ teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
3 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
Drain the beans, mix everything together. Like most salads it is better when the flavors have mixed so wait an hour or so, then eat. Yum!
I adjusted the recipe to have MORE bell pepper (can you tell which ingredient I love, love, love?), I used a little more salt because I bought these really low sodium beans. I mean compared to the other two brands I looked at these had about one third of the sodium. I like that idea, but I also know that if it doesn’t have a good enough flavor for me I won’t eat it, so I actually put in 1 teaspoon plus two sprinkles. I didn’t have granulated garlic so I used garlic powder and I probably put in more than 2 teaspoons. I cannot tolerate pepper, but I loved her salad and she said she put in a lot of pepper so I sprinkled pepper in. I also used 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar.
I am sure this is an easy thing for people to make, but I have NEVER, EVER, EVER liked a bean salad before so this recipe just thrilled me. Ya see, I REALLY don’t like cilantro either, but I think the kidney beans and the cilantro work to “cancel” each other out. Ha! I don’t know, but I like this salad. I hope you do too.
Since I am on a quest to learn to eat (and like) beans, do you have a recipe that you would like to share to help me out?
Posted in Food | Tagged: bean salad, beans, bell peppers, Garbanzo beans, garlic, kidney beans, Nia, Nia class, Nia classes in San Jose, Nia Danville, Nia meeting, Nia San Jose, party recipe, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class | 17 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 10, 2010
I like to cook. I like to go into the kitchen, have some ingredients, put them together and have something to eat. I like that. I think it is cool. But cooking is not like Nia in the sense that: Nia I like to do every day, cooking I do not. When I cook, I like to cook in a way that leaves us with leftovers. I know a lot of people that won’t eat leftovers and I kinda don’t understand that, but . . . to each their own. I LOVE leftovers. Some, like pasta, are even better the next day.
My husband doesn’t mind leftovers. That makes him really easy to cook for. But at the same time I don’t want him to have to eat the EXACT same thing a few nights in a row. So one thing I do to allow me to cook once but not leave us eating the EXACT same thing for a few days is I cook chicken in foil packets. Yup, just like those aluminum foil ladies on TV showed us.
This also enables me to get one more servings out our a “two serving” bag of chicken. (From Costco the boneless, skinless Foster Farm Chicken Breasts are packaged in twos—-hmmmmm . . . . ? . . . ) I separate the chicken onto foil pieces then I just put whatever seasonings, spices, fruit, sauces, veggies I want in each package. I have to label them because my husband is not a fan of teriyaki and I am. Plus he likes spicy hot and I don’t.
So then I cook them up and we have chicken for a few days. Even though it is chicken it is not that same flavor chicken every night. Then each night I can cook up different veggies, and either rice or pasta. Or we might throw the chicken in or on a tortilla, or maybe even on some bread. Either way it makes making dinner that night much easier and faster. I love it.
Come join me for a Nia class in San Jose and see why I like to do it every day. And here, share with me your thoughts on cooking every day or leftovers. Do you like leftovers? Do you cook every day?
Posted in Food | Tagged: chicken breasts, chicken packets, cooking, Costco, Foster Farm Chicken, leftover chicken, leftover pasta, leftovers, Nia, Nia class, Nia in San Jose, Nia San Jose, Nia San Jose class, San Jose Nia | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 15, 2010
People always ask me how I found Nia. Here is my story: I had just begun exercising. I had found Turbo Jam and I liked it. I did the DVDs in my living room before work. At the time I worked in San Jose not too from where I lived so I would get up early in the morning and do it before work. The women I worked with always told me that they loved to dance, but they couldn’t get their partners to dance with them. They also would tell me that they wished they could find a dance exercise.
I was also seeing a lot of people — at that time — that were my age or even younger that couldn’t walk up the stairs or sit on the floor and get up again. Plus there were some young people around me that were going on High Blood Pressure Meds and experiencing other health issues.
So I started looking online for an exercise that was dancey. I thought maybe I could find something that I could learn to teach others. I found trance dance, but from what I saw and what I read, it said that you closed your eyes and just danced. It didn’t sound like there was ANY rhyme or reason. I sounded as if you were in a trance and you danced. The information talked of having people watch so the people dancing didn’t run into or hit each other. So that didn’t sound like what I would be interested in.
Somehow I stumbled . . . . literally, I don’t know how, just clicking on this link and that link . . . .I found Nia. I checked out the main site and it sounded interesting. I found a class that wasn’t too far. I went. I liked it. I bought the book. I went to another class. Then months later, I found another class at a different time and I tried that. Then months later, I talked my friend into going with me one more time*.
In between the second and third class I was thinking about taking the training that would enable me to teach. But I wasn’t sure. Nia sounded a bit “woo-woo” to me. So I kept reading. I really focused on the fact that it is based on science. It is based on research. The movements are movements that our bodies were designed to do. The movements tie into the way it is taught. Some of the words that are used might give the impression that it is really “woo-woo”, but it is not. There are also some elements of Nia that are like ancient practices. I kept thinking that some of these practices have been around for hundreds of years and they really have a basis in health and wellness. It was all very intriguing.
*My fourth class I attended was my “deciding” class. I went to make a final decision. I decided to do it. I decided to get sign up for the intensive that would allow me to teach. It took me so long to decide I was signing up within 30 days of the training.
I had NO idea what the training would entail. And that my friends is what another post is made of.
Nia. It is awesome. It IS an exercise. It IS a cardio workout. But I will not lie to you to try to keep you interested, it IS so much more. For some reason I cannot (nor can anyone else I talk to) put my finger on, it makes you happy. Try it and see for yourself. Try MY classes, or try someone else’s. Get a DVD, I don’t care. Just try it and then let me know what you think.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: cardio dance, cardio exercise, cardio workout, Dance Workout, high blood pressure, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia exercise, Nia Intensive, Nia San Jose, Nia Teacher, Nia training, Nia workout, San Jose cardio workout, San Jose dance workout, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia classes, San Jose Workout, trance dance, Turbo Jam, Turbo Jam DVDs, woo-woo, workout DVD | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 6, 2010
Ok, not a typical health, wellness, Nia post, but I am changing sheets today and it had me wondering. How often do you change your bed sheets? I try to do it once a week and I have been pretty good. The schedule has been Thursdays. It just works out that Thursdays has been the day it seems to work into my schedule. Sometimes I miss a Thursday so it might turn into a Saturday or a Sunday and then depending on the schedule for the week following I might do it on Thursday or wait until the following Thursday but that is usually it.
I vaguely . . . .I say vaguely because I purged the “who” and the exactly “how often”, from my mind, but I vaguely remember someone telling me their schedule and I was kind grossed out. But since I don’t know yours and I am not sure if that person’s schedule was more to the norm, I am not going to say how “not-often” his/her sheets were changed, just in case that is your schedule to, I don’t want to offend.
So? How often or not do you change your sheets?
I guess how often you sleep in your bed would help determine how often you change your sheets. Or if you have pets that sleep with you. I would imagine that sheets would get changed more often if there are animal butts involved. Also, activities, I would also imagine that if the bed sees a lot of “activity” there might need to be a more rigorous changing schedule. That brings to mind more questions, like “when?” Do you change your sheets before the weekend or after the weekend? Or more accurately before the more frequent “activities” or after?
When you do change your sheets, do you put on sheets out of the linen closet or do you wash the sheets and put them back on? I hate folding sheets (although, for the record, I am not ALLOWED to fold the sheets in our house because I can’t do it well. They are never flat enough to fit in the cupboard. My husband is a MASTER-sheet folder . . . so the job falls to him. Since the job falls to him, I try not to leave the sheets for him to fold.) I try to wash them and put them back on the bed. And I say “try” because I am famous (did you know, do you want my autograph?) for putting stuff in the washing machine and forgetting about it. So it could be all day until I go back upstairs and realize that I didn’t put the sheets in the dryer and it is time to go to bed so I end up having to get sheets out of the cupboard.
So, are you a wash and fold or wash and put back on the bed person? I guess this could depend on how many sets of sheets you own and if you have to go to a laundry mat or you have your own washing machine.
Whew! A lot of questions running through my head about sheets. Will any of you help answer them? I am curious. What are your thoughts on bed sheets? What is your changing schedule? How do you do it (wash and put back on? wash and fold?)
I recently heard from someone who hangs their sheets outside to dry, they like the fresh air dried smell (they don’t live in San Jose because they wouldn’t smell very fresh dried outside here). I can’t remember who that was. I wonder how they do their sheets. Hmmm? So many questions.
Posted in Entertainment, Misc | Tagged: bed sheets, Nia San Jose, Nia schedule, Nia workout, rigorous workout, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, sheets, washing sheets, workout schedule | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 4, 2010
Nia White Belt Principle #5 – Awareness – Dancing Through Life
I have been avoiding this principle because it can be very complex. To me, all of Nia’s White Belt Principles can be complex because they can be applied strictly to the cardio workout that is one aspect of Nia, they can be applied to Nia as a practice—which translates into, they can be applied to life, or they can just be applied to life.
Debbie Rosas Stewart talked about Principle #5 in this month’s Nia Teleconference for EveryBODY. She kept it simple. In all the calls she talks for about 15 minutes then she takes questions for the last 15. The call is 30 minutes. I will share with you what she said, but I recommend you listen to the call when they have it up on the site. They record each call every month.
Since I like to keep my posts relatively short, I have realized that I can post short summaries of Nia information and re-visit the information in additional posts.
One of the first things she said is very true, and I would like you to think about it. She pointed out that we are often aware of pain whereas we are not aware of pleasure. If we have a sore body part, we are aware of it. It makes its presence known and we listen. I personally don’t think we always listen to what it needs, but that is topic of another post. But we certainly don’t always pay attention to pleasure.
With Nia we seek pleasure. We seek to move away from the pain and go towards the pleasure.
There are a few things we can do to assist with that. One way is to be aware. Be aware of what brings us pleasure. As we move throughout our day we can make our movements a dance. While we are “doing”, we can dance through life. As you are reading this and you shift in your chair, notice the movement of your hips, notice to tilt of your head, do it like a dance.
While you are not moving, while you are “not doing”. Notice the stillness in your body. Allow the stillness to bring calm, relaxation, a sort of meditation, if you will. Notice what it is you are touching. Not just touching with your hands, but with your entire body. Are you sitting on a chair? Are you leaning on a desk? Benefit from that touch and that “not doing”.
Life as art so notice the art around you. Notice the noises and allow them to filter in as sound. Breath in the sensation of life. Not talking about “art” that would be in a museum art, but just the beauty of the world. Whatever you find beautiful.
There is so much about Nia I always find myself saying, “Another thing . . . one thing . . . Nia this . . . and Nia that. . .” but really. Another thing about Nia is that it is kind. Nia believes that we receive what we need to receive. We are not expected to hear something and walk away knowing it all or knowing it perfectly. With that in mind, understand that this is what I heard. These are the notes I took. Please, I invite you to listen for yourself and glean from it what you need. Focus on what resonates with you. Take away something you can share.
My site shows Nia class schedule in San Jose and San Carlos. On Nia’s main site you can look up classes in your area. There are classes all over the world.
Touching and Being Touched / May 3, 2010 Teleconference call is the call I have summarized here.
Presently in your life, do you dance through it? Do you practice awareness? Do you notice life as art?
Posted in Nia, Nia White Belt Principles | Tagged: Awareness, Cardio classes, cardio workout classes, Dancing Through Life, Debbie Rosas, Debbie Rosas Stewart, Nia, Nia Awareness, Nia cardio class, Nia Classes, Nia Dance, Nia movements, Nia pleasure, Nia Principle #5, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Jose, Nia Teleconference, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt Principle #5, Nia workout, San Carlos Nia, San Jose, San Jose Nia, workout classes | 5 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 24, 2010
I have a friend who writes a blog. She is an childhood neighbor of my husband but before meeting in person, I met her through her blog first. But we actually have met in person a couple of times when she was in San Jose. Anyway, she wrote a post about a 50 Word Story and I wrote a story as a comment on her blog.
My 50 word story was about dance. It actually was written thinking of a new to Nia student. I really like my story. It is one of those thinks that I just like and I don’t really care if other people like it or not. One of THOSE things. It is on my desktop and I want to file it away, but I know if I do I will forget about it, so I thought that I could post it. I thought that posting in today in honor of Bay Area National Dance Week would be fitting.
She walks shyly into class. Afraid of what people she might see. Unsure about dancing barefoot.
She removes her shoes. The music starts, sparking a fire in her soul. She dances with pure joy. She IS Joy.
She walks out with a sexy sway of her hips, shy no more.
I haven’t asked her so I hope she doesn’t mind me borrowing her idea of inviting my readers (most of who just read and don’t comment) to write their own 50 word story. I would love to hear a story that you want to share of 50 words.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: dance class, Nia, Nia class, Nia joy, Nia San Jose, Nia sexy, San Jose class, San Jose Dance, San Jose dance class, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, sexy Nia | 14 Comments »
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