Posts Tagged ‘Nia students’
Posted by terrepruitt on January 6, 2021
There are so many fabulous things about taking trainings online. When I took the FIRST EVERY Nia Belt Training Online there were people from all over the world participating. As part of the training live virtual Nia classes are included. It was super fun to dance with people all over the world. I am teaching classes virtually myself so unfortunately I was not able to attend a lot of the classes because my classes are on the optimal days at the optimal time – and so are a lot of others. So when there was a class offered I was usually teaching. BUT, I did take a class with one Nia teacher in New Zealand. She is hilarious. She just sent out a Daily Log which is perfect. I have been wanting to do something with MY students that is easy and fun and she found it.
Since she sees her students in person she is able to give them a printout if they want. I am having to have you print your own, so I Googled it and found a few versions online (Popsugar posted about it in 2020). This one is slightly different than the one Stephanie sent out. The font is different and the background is white so as not to have to print a colored background. But the idea is the same and I LOVE IT!
What a super easy way to keep track of ANYTHING! Just color in the number and then at the end of the month you will have a colorful word and at the end of the year you will have a color paper!
I am inviting my students to use it as a movement log. So whenever they get some exercise in their day they color in the date. There are so many ways it can be done . . .
If you want to set some guidelines it could be that you color in a date when you have done at least 30 minutes of exercise/movement. If you do a variety of movement forms you can use a different color for each activity. I am going to use a separate color for yoga, Nia, and stretch. I will have an “other” color and a color for none, but for the “none” I am going to use the color and line through the day. I will probably change colors during the year so I can end up with a colorful paper.
You can find a blank one to download (JPEG) for printing for your use on my site by clicking here. The numbers might not print very clear, but it it easy enough to figure out. I can’t read the tiny URL on the page to know where this came from but – thank you, Creator-Of-This-Cool-Tool!
Remember it is ok to have days where you may not have gotten in any documentable movement (it happens) so if you want a colorful page go ahead and pick a color for the time when you are giving yourself a rest.
And like I said this is good for more than just keeping track of days with movement, it could be for days you meditate or days you talk to friends or loved ones, it could even be for keeping track of daily medication or days you eat veggies . . .the possibilities are endless. It is an easy way to keep track of things.
Thank you to Stephanie for sharing. I am so excited. I hope you will join me on this coloring journey. With my students we will have a monthly show and tell . . . seeing each others’ coloring progress. You can always join in on that too! I can’t wait to see how it looks at the end of the year!
Don’t you think this is a cool way to track completion of daily movement or log completion of a daily task?
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: colorful daily tracking, daily log, daily task tracker, New Zealand Nia teacher, Nia students, Nia White Belt Training, Popsugar site, Stephanie DeMay, stretch students, track anything daily, yoga students | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 14, 2020
So this is one of the principles that has changed a bit. The true core of it hasn’t, but I feel that Nia is trying to make it more accessible to everyone instead of just people that want to teach Nia. This shift was introduced not too long after I took the Nia White Belt training. So instead of focusing on the business and marketing required as a Nia teacher, the Nia White Belt Principle #11 focuses on your “life’s purpose”. So this week we were introduced to Nia White Belt P11 – Creating a Sensory Life. This is a great principle for when someone is looking for their life’s purpose or when someone wants to hone their purpose or goals.
The triad consists of Body, Nia, and Life with corresponding Purpose, Potential, and Possibility. Then we have Purpose again as one of the wings along with Philosophy expanding out from the middle which is Sacred Athlete. That term just does not resonate with me in any way. In fact if you watch me when someone says it or I read it you may detect a scrunch in my face. I cannot reconcile any definition of sacred to this principle and certainly not when it is combined with athlete. But that is ok. I do not have to agree with everything Nia teaches, nor all of the language they choose to use. I get the gist of it and that is what is important.
This principal has other language that makes me (somewhat) cringe so I will just share what I understand the core of this principal to be . . . basically search your soul for your purpose and then live daily to move yourself toward that purpose. When you are living your purpose you will be happy. In the training today we did some exercises to help guide us towards determining our purpose/goal. In addition to what we did in class Debbie shared some other tools and exercise to help.
She shared that she has a separate philosophy that she applies to each area of her life. Her philosophy for her marriage is not the same as for raising her kids . . . that kind of thing. She also reminded us that our purpose can change. She encouraged everyone to keep searching and checking in (with ourselves) to always make sure we are moving toward our purpose . . . even if we examine what we are doing and realize that if we keep doing it we will not reach our original goal . . . so that is when we may need to adjust what we are doing or it could even mean we need to re-write our purpose. It can somewhat be related to how we dance. We want to move to have pleasurable sensations in our body (for example walking without pain) so we take inventory of our body and our body’s movements and then move in ways that will enable us to reach our goal of pain free (as per my example) walking. We may at times need to tweak how we are moving in order to reach our goal.
So, to me, this principle is what makes Nia “a holistic fitness practice addressing each aspect of your life – body, mind and soul.”
Do you know what your life’s purpose is? Do you take steps daily towards it?
Posted in 2020 Nia White Belt Principles, Nia | Tagged: Business and Marketing, Debbie Rosas, life's goal, life's purpose, Nia, Nia for everyBODY, Nia students, Nia Teacher, Nia White Belt P11 - 2020, Nia White Belt Princiles, Nia White Belt Training, philosophy, potential, Purpose, Sacred Athlete, Zoom online training | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 22, 2020
Well, many of us are still teaching classes via Zoom. In my area indoor exercise is not allowed and even when they thought they were going to allow it they had restrictions on indoor cardio and dance. And Nia is a cardio dance exercise. Because it is full of playfulness, taps into many types of movement forms, energies, and challenges and satisfies the BMES we don’t like to call it just a cardio dance exercise, but when classifying it for indoor activity purposes, that is what it is. So many of us are still doing it online. Some have moved outdoors, but that gets into all types of possible liabilities and issues I am not ready to take on just yet . . . so I continue to try to improve my delivery of the virtual class.
In my last “Zoom” post I wrote about how at the point of class starting my mic and music failed. That was a bummer. Then I had a great week and then it failed again. Some of it, I know is user (me) error, but sometimes I think it is internet or software error. As an example, last week I used a different USB port for my microphone and speaker and in doing so the transmitter was hanging and I think was not plugged in all the way. But then when we were doing our little chat after class, I couldn’t hear one of my students, the other students could, but I couldn’t. I didn’t do anything to fix it, but she exited the meeting then came back on and I could hear her. So it is crazy.
My students continue to be kind and understanding so I continue to try.
Lately I am using iTunes directly through Zoom. Zoom allows the host to share the screen and in this case the “screen” is just audio. This eliminates the issue of the music cutting out as would happen when I used a speaker and a microphone to pick up both my voice and the music. My fans would create background noise and interfere with music transmission.
Here is the advanced screen where you can choose to just share sound.
The Kimafun microphone I got (box shown in my “struggles” post) came with a USB converter that allows me to plug the transmitter into it so it feeds directly into the computer/Zoom and it allows me to have a speaker attached so I hear the music that is being played through Zoom to my students.
I still have to rely on my students telling me if they can hear me and the music, but that will always be the case. I record myself and the music to test it, but it really boils down to what the students hear. So whoever shows up first gets to set the volumes because I adjust according to what they say.
I still feel I need more practice with the microphone. I usually teach without a microphone so I am used to projecting my voice and allowing myself to exhale with all the lovely sounding techniques that Nia encourages, but that gets LOUD with the microphone in my face. The recommendation I saw said to keep it two fingers away from your face and I am using three. Next week I am going to try four. Part of the issue is that it moves around as I dance so the set up changes. I readjust it when I remember. For the most part it is working out, but I will keep in mind that I need to keep trying to improve.
So . . . what do you do when you are teaching a class? Or, if you don’t teach, what experiences have you had in regards to sounds when in a Zoom class or meeting?
This is the basic screen share screen
Zoom reminder and “stop” sharing
Posted in Nia, Online Classes, Zoom | Tagged: BMES, cardio dance exercise, exercise classes online, iTunes, Kimafun microphone, Nia classes online, Nia students, Nia Technique, screen sharing, virtual exercise class, Zoom classes | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 12, 2018
My family, students, and friends know me so well. I received such cute cat things and wonderful yoga related things this past Christmas season. Look at these super cute mugs. Such a bright addition to the kitchen. Now, if I could just get the Christmas stuff put away!
Here’s this week’s Friday Photo.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Christmas gifts, Christmas season, clowder, Friday Photo, kitty mug, Nia students, yoga students | 3 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 16, 2017
I am shipping out the first batch of coupons this week! You may have seen my post I’m Clipping Coupons, Want To Join Me? about how the military personnel and their families can use expired coupons overseas. There is a program called Troupons which involves collecting and sending MANUFACTURERS COUPONS overseas so that people in the military and their families can use them to help stretch their dollars. I learned about it when I came across Cheryl Wright’s post Overseas Military Coupon Program. She has kindly offered to accept coupons then forward them on to the Troupons program. Because, if you don’t know, cutting out coupons takes a long time. First you have to make sure they are the correct coupons (MANUFACTURERS COUPONS) then you have to cut them out. Then separate them into the correct categories, then separate them into expiration date piles. Originally when I posted my post saying I was going to send her coupons, I didn’t have that many. I don’t get many coupons. I don’t get the newspaper and that is where the bulk of MANUFACTURERS COUPONS come from. But I realized that there are a few Nia and yoga students that actually get a newspaper and they would have access to coupons. So I asked my students for help collecting coupons to help people in the military overseas.
My students came through. They are helping by cutting out coupons. They have brought me enough that I can sent a batch off to Cheryl. I have separated them into three categories: Non-food, food, and pets. I am going to leave the expiration date sorting to her because she will have a better idea of when the coupons will get to the program. At this time most of the coupons are NOT expired, but by the time they get overseas they will be, but hopefully they will be in the acceptable time frame.
I am so grateful for my students contributions. I really wouldn’t have had enough to send to feel like I was contributing, but with their help I think we are making a worthwhile contribution.
The non-food coupons make up the bulk of the coupons. I am sure that there are plenty of uses for many of them. There are coupons for hair dye, shavers, allergy medicine, probiotics (in many forms), heart burn medicine, and more.
I am just fascinated by this whole program. I love that coupons can help the military overseas. I think that is amazing. I appreciate the people that work to make this happen. So thank you to my students. Thanks for taking the time to cut out the coupons and bring them to class. Thanks to Cheryl for volunteering to get the coupons to the program. And thanks to the program organizers for doing it all.
I think that cutting out coupons and sending them in is an easy way to help out those that are making sacrifices for us. If you are interested in learning more about the Troupons program click here. If you are interested in sending your coupons to Cheryl click here.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Cheryl Wright, Clipping coupons, coupons, expired coupons, military overseas, Nia students, pluckingofmyheartstrings.com, Troupons, yoga students | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 20, 2017
Ahhh, I don’t think I talked about Friday FreeDance. In November of last year we there were four Fridays. Two of those Fridays were holidays for SJCity Fit. So out of the four Fridays in November we were only going to have a Nia class for two of them. So I had decided that we could do Friday FreeDance. Now for some people who sounds totally awesome, but for some people it sounds totally scary or icky, as in not fun. Not everyone is a fan of FreeDance. I understand that. Not everyone is comfortable dancing on their own especially in a dance exercise class. Many people go to exercise classes to be told what to do. A majority of the students that attend my Nia classes have been dancing Nia for years now, so I knew they would be able to FreeDance for an entire hour. We did it, and I received some interesting feedback and information.
First of all, I do want to explain that it wasn’t an ENTIRE hour of strictly FreeDance. I think for both Fridays I started with a choreographed first song. And I ended with instructions in the last song. Then the rest of the songs were mainly GUIDED FreeDance. So there were some suggestions on what to do, but it was left up to the participants to do it in their own body’s way. And in some case in their own mind’s way. They might have had to think of what some of the suggestions would be moving like.
I might have suggested that they move as if they are skiing. With that one usually has to think about it and then do it. The fun part is, of course, that everyone does it different. With no clarification as to what type of skiing there is so much room for interpretation. Someone could be water skiing, some people down hill skiing. Some people might be cross-country skiing. And then of course, even with those qualifications it could look wildly different. That is the fun of FreeDance.
I was very happy that most people liked it. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think they would like it and they could do it. It took me four and half years to feel confident enough in the students love of Nia and FreeDance to do it. And most people liked it. I am thinking they liked it as a Friday thing . . . I mean, they still like the choreography so they wouldn’t want to do FreeDance for the hour all the time.
There are a few people who wear pedometers in class and the majority of them reported that they got over 1,000 MORE steps in with FreeDance. One student said she averages about 4500 steps in regular Nia class, but in the FreeDance class she was at 5700. There definitely is the possibility to get in more steps. But if you are one who needs instructions more than just a guide you would probably get less steps in during FreeDance.
I thought I had posted about this because I was really happy and excited that I finally did it AND that the class really enjoyed it. And I was also really excited and happy that many people got more steps in. I couldn’t find the post I thought I did. So here. And if this is a repeat, oh well.
I have been putting in more FreeDance into our routines because people do really enjoy it. I think I will be doing a Friday FreeDance once a month. I love how Nia brings joy through dance.
So how would you feel about Friday FreeDance?
Posted in FreeDance, Nia | Tagged: City of San Jose Exercise Class, FreeDance Fridays, Friday FreeDance, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia students, Nia with the City of San Jose, November 2016, pedometers, San Jose City Community Centers, SJCity Fit | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 15, 2017
‘Tis the season, if you live in California it is citrus season. Everywhere you go someone is giving away oranges and/or lemons. I recently brought a bag of lemons to my Nia class to give to my students. One of my students asked me what kind of lemons they were and I said they were Meyer Lemons. Then she said, “Oh, I thought they (Meyers) had thin skin and tasted less lemony and more citrusy.” We talked a bit more because she had had lemons from my tree before so she was saying that they were not like Meyer Lemons she knew. She said that Meyers tasted more citrusy, like an orange. And I said, that Meyer lemons were a cross between and orange and lemon so that makes sense. She said our lemons didn’t taste like that. So, then I told her I didn’t know what they were. I had always thought they were Meyer lemons, but if she said Meyer lemons were different from these then they were not Meyers. But I did not know. So . . . . I had to come home and look it up. I think our lemons are Eureka Lemons.
Meyer lemons tend to be less acidic and sour, they are sweeter than a regular lemon. Meyer lemons are generally smaller than eureka lemons. They have thin skin and not a large mesocarp or pith. And according to an article on SFGate, the trees are not even classified as true lemon trees. The Meyer lemons are a cross between a lemon and an orange. Either an orange or a tangerine. They originated in China. According to Wiki, in the mid-1940’s after the lemons were commonly grown in California it was discovered that most of the trees had a virus. Since this virus had been responsible for killing and leaving citrus trees all over the world unable to produce fruit, the trees in the United States were destroyed. A new generation of Meyer lemon trees were release in the 1950’s.
Our lemons have a very thick pith, sometimes about a fourth of an inch. Some of the lemons are really big. Some of them are so large that one of my friends asked me if they were pomellos. I didn’t know what a pomello was so I had to look that up. Not all of the lemons are as large as pomellos and they do not taste sweet nor like grapefruit. Our lemons DO taste pretty lemony, as in they are pretty sour.
Both eureka lemons and Meyer lemons can be used in food and products interchangeable, but with the eureka lemon you will get a more sour taste than with the more sweet flavored Meyer lemon. So you would use them accordingly, depending on what you wanted.
Which is your favorite lemon?
Posted in Food, Fruit | Tagged: big lemons, Californai lemons, China lemons, eureka lemon, meyer lemon, Nia, Nia class, Nia students, pomello, small lemons, sour lemons, sweet lemons | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 28, 2016
So we are in the last few days of the year. 2016. I am seeing so many posts on Facebook about what a terrible year this has been and the majority of those posts have been associated with the fact that a celebrity has died. Yes, I, too, feel sorrow when someone has died even when it is someone as distant from me as a celebrity. I certainly feel loss and sorrow when someone close to me, like my father, has died. It was so unexpected I am still, as times, unbelieving of the fact. But I don’t condemn the whole year. There has been a lot of things that have happened in 2016 that have been sad or could be considered “bad”. But there are a lot of things that have transpired or a lot of things that I experienced that were good things. Things I wrote down so that the big sad/bad things are not allowed to take over. So, I am not ending the year saying 2016 was a bad year and I am glad to see it go.
When “bad” things happen, I don’t condemn the whole time in which they happened. I wrote about something like that in my post I Had One Of THOSE Days. I don’t think the day is bad when things go “wrong”. I don’t think the whole year is bad because many of the celebrities from my childhood have died. I don’t think 2016 is a bad year because my dad died. It is just a year. Things happened. Good things. Bad things. Whatever the label. The things that happened are just moments in time. There are so many things that transpire.
We are still doing our Goodie Jar or Good Things Jar. This is our fourth year. We have been writing down the things that make us smile or we have saved a ticket to a show or game, then we put it in a jar. Right now it is not actually a jar but a Christmas dish. We have a few more days left to add things to it. Traditionally, we have read it on New Year’s Eve, but this year we might actually do it on New Year’s Day – depending upon the timing of things, we will have to see. But the same principle applies. We are going to read through the notes, printouts, tickets stubs, whatever we used to remind us of all the good things that happened throughout the year. To be reminded of all the things that made us smile. Then we will be smiling again. So it is like a double smile. All of these things are what makes life good. All of these things, all of these smiles are what makes us able – make us strong enough – to deal with the “bad” things.
That doesn’t mean we can’t cry or lie around and mope for a few days . . . but it does mean that we can’t ignore or belittle all of the great things that happen in our lives. This just helps keep us anchored and steady. The Good Thing Jar is needed sometimes.
In the past our jar has been filled with notes about my Nia students, my yoga students, our cats, our niece, our jobs, our friends, the weather, our house, our food, all the things we are blessed with, all the things that make us smile. Oh! I can’t wait.
So what about you? Do you have any good things that you can reflect upon that happened in 2016?
Posted in Good Things in the Goodie Jar, Misc | Tagged: celebrities died, dad died, Facebook posts, good things jar, Goodie Jar, Nia, Nia students, reflect upon past year, sad things, the year 2016, Yoga, yoga students | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 17, 2016
I always thought it was sitz boneS, but Wiki says it is sitz boneZ. I will probably continue to call them sitz bones. Or get really fancy and call them by the correct name: ischial tuberosity. I thought I should post a picture of them since I am often instructing students to sit on their sitz bones. I wanted to make sure that people knew where they were and what they were. It is easier to consciously sit on something or affect something when you are aware of what it is and where it is. While this (see below) is not the best rendering of the bones in the hip area I think you can get the idea.
Typically the front upper part of the hip bone structure is thought of and called the hip bones. But actually the entire bone is the hip bone. The hip bones are part of the pelvic girdle. The front portion somewhat at the top, the area we often refer to as the “hip bone,” is the Iliac Crest which is on the edge of the Ilium. The bottom portion is the ischial tuberosity or sitz bonez. The sacrum and the coccyx are part of the vertebral column and not considered part of the pelvic girdle. There are names for other portions and areas of the bones, but since this post is about the sitz bones, I’m not going to list and label them all.
We are all built differently so some of us will have more flesh to get through to actually feel the sitz bones. And some of us will feel them rather easily. Either way . . . . we all have them. We sit on our sitting bones or sitz bones. My drawing does not clearly show the acetabulum, the place where the head of the femur (thigh bone) fits. It is about where the words “Tail Bone/Coccyx” is. You might be able to imagine when the thigh bone is moved to a sitting position, the sitz bones protrude a bit.
In yoga often times the correct way to do the pose is to have both sitz bones on the floor. In stretching having both stiz bones on the floor is sometimes the way to get the most out of the stretch. At times the way to do the yoga pose it to be sitting directly “on top” of them. Other times they might be used as reference points or points of focus. When in downward facing dog the instruction might be given to reach your sitz bones away to help lengthen the spine and take the weight off of the hands. For one stretch, one might instruct to pull your foot directly back to your sitz bones.
In Nia we occasionally use the sitz bones and the floor to give our glutes a massage. Gently moving around on them, perhaps rocking and/or rolling, while sitting on the floor can be a great way to ease the muscles we just danced during the class.
Sitz bones are used a lot and referred to often in yoga, stretch, and Nia, so I thought I should highlight them.
Are you familiar with your sitz bones?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: hip bones, ischial tuberosity, Nia students, Pelvic Girdle, sits bones, sitz bones, stretch class, tail bone, yoga students | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 10, 2016
I know that I have written posts about how different people think of different things as exercise. I have written about how some people don’t think that a shimmy is exercise. Whether they don’t THINK of it as something that should be IN an exercise CLASS or they just don’t think they get any benefit from it. Some people just don’t think of dance as exercise. I know I even mentioned that TV shows like Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance have changed the way some people think. Some people understand that dancing can be considered exercise. But I don’t think I have ever talked about how some people don’t consider all dance dancing. I might have but I don’t know that I have and it was something I was thinking about recently. I was thinking that not all “dancing” is considered dancing by everyone.
I was asked to substitute teach a class called Dance Fit. I had asked several times what “Dance Fit” was, but the response was that the students would be happy to just move to music. I had a feeling that the person answering just wanted to make sure that they had a teacher so that they would have a class. So I had been thinking about what I could do. Then I was also thinking about how I was recently at a festival where I overheard some people talking about a particular person there dancing. They were saying that he wasn’t really dancing. They were saying that they thought he wasn’t hearing the music. They just weren’t “getting” his movements. And I was looking at him and I thought it was fine. I could see how his movements fit with the music . . . to me. I thought that he looked as if he was completely dancing in a way that his body was responding to the music. He looked like he was in the moment. He looked as if he was having fun. It was fine to me.
But later I realized that not everyone thinks of all movement as dance. A ballerina might not consider clogging dancing. A ballroom dancer might not consider the pony (remember that move?) a dance. Someone used to doing Latin motion with their hips might not consider a chorus line kick part of a dance. So perhaps those women had specific ideas of what dance is and so they didn’t consider his body movements dance at all.
I think that might happen when it comes to Nia. Some people might not consider a front kick or an upward block a dance movement. People that are accustomed to all the Latin dance steps that are in Zumba they might not consider a jazz square a dance move. Just like some people might not consider a shimmy something that should be in an “exercise class”, some people might think a move such as rock around the clock or a duck walk isn’t really dance and shouldn’t be in a dance exercise class. I think I have overlooked that fact. Hmmmm.
Well, I had decided to not try to create something or TRY to do something that the class MIGHT like – because I really had no idea. I decided to do something tried and true. I decided to do something I do best. I decided to teach Nia. And they loved it. The supervisor was totally correct in saying that the class just loved to dance and they want to move. They were fabulous. We had a lot of fun. Nia is a great “product”, it is a great technique. And when people who like to move get to experience we get to have fun. I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks where I get to fill in as a sub. The students are all about movement of the body being dance and they do great. I was concerned about it for no reason.
What about you? Do you think of only certain moves as DANCE? Do you have a broad definition of dance?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: dance class, dance exercise, Dance Fit, dance teacher, Dancing with the stars, Duck Walk, exercise class, Nia Dance, Nia students, rock around the clock, shimmy as exercise, So You Think You Can Dance, Zumba | 2 Comments »
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