Posts Tagged ‘Nia students’
Posted by terrepruitt on August 20, 2011
I have posted before about what wonderful friends and Nia students I have. I have also posted about bell peppers. My love for both should be pretty well-known. 🙂 I consider my friends and the people who allow me to hold my Nia classes one of my most precious blessings. Between the group of them I have supporters, counselors, advisors, therapists, doctors, sounding boards, teachers, chefs, cooks, cheer leaders, advocates, lunch dates, chauffeurs, bakers, gardeners, and the list goes on and on. And bell peppers . . .well, with them there are endless snacks, meals, and yumminess.
But, as you are probably aware, not everyone likes bells peppers. You could be among the group of people who do not. You might be one of the people who like the red, but not the green or like the yellow but not the red. There are a lot of combinations in that group. Also, as you may know a bell pepper, when an ingredient in a cooked dish, tends to permeate the entire dish. There really is no “picking” them out if you don’t like the flavor. If you don’t like the flavor then you probably just avoid the dish entirely. While the flavors of the colors do vary, no matter what color is used the flavor seeps into the entire dish. I am not certain if this applies to raw foods, as in a salad, because I love bell peppers so I am not sure if it “gets all over” when it is not cooked.
Well, all of this leads up to two things; an amazing friend and what is in the inside.
First of all, I have an amazing friend who GREW bell peppers for me. She had read my post about different colored bell peppers and my mention of purple ones so when she was planting her garden she planted some purple bell peppers for me. When she told me she had some purple bell peppers for me my first thought was, “Oh, how nice! How could she give them away?” See? That is how much I love bell peppers, I wouldn’t think of giving them away. Then she told me she planted and grew them for me. I thought that was the nicest thing. Then after she gave them to me we were talking and she reminded me that she HATES bell peppers. ALL colors! No matter what. She thinks they all taste the same. I had forgotten, which is really probably just a mental block because she is such a vegetable lover and I love them so much, I forget that people don’t like them. So the fact that she HATES them (REALLY REALLY) made her planting them and growing them for me even more special to me.
Now, there are some funny things about these bell peppers. First of all they are very small. The idea was that they were purple so they are ready. I am not a gardener so I don’t know, except from what I have read bell peppers are ready when they get to the color you have planted. So it was decided that these were purple so they are ready. They are soooo cute!
The second thing is they are GREEN inside. That was a surprise to me. I had seen purple bell peppers before, in the store, but I had never actually had them, so the GREEN was a surprise. I cut it open while I was on the phone with the gardener that grew them and our first thought was that there were not ready because they were green inside, but a quick Google search revealed that the purple ones are green inside. Funny. All the other bell peppers are the same color all the way through, except the purples ones. I wonder why that is.
There you have it, an amazing friend and an amazing (well to me) bell pepper.
So now tell me? Bell pepper lover or hater? Which color do you prefer? Did you know that the purple ones were green on the inside? Since I can’t tell, does a raw bell pepper permeate a raw dish with its bell pepper flavor? Tell me, I really want to know!
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: bell pepper dish, bell pepper lover, bell pepper snacks, bell peppers, friends, green bell peppers, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia students, Nia supporters, Nia teachers, purple bell peppers, purple-green bell pepper, red bell peppers, special friends, yellow bell peppers | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on June 21, 2011
Would you believe me if I told we do push ups in Nia? Ha! We do a lot of exercises in Nia, but we do them to music. We are dancing and flowing from one move to the next. We allow for the individual to do them their own way. People might not even realize they are doing a push up, just like the sit ups they are disguised. It is not a disguise of deception, not at all. It is that we are in the moment and it is truly a dance so one just doesn’t realize it is a push up. Sometimes it is a military push up, but sometimes not. Sometimes it is from the knees, or sitting down or even standing and using a wall. But there is pushing involved and the upper body is utilized.
For this Ten Minute Workout we are using the BOSU. The round side is on the ground. So we are using the flat side to hold onto. Push ups have never been my favorite exercise to do because I have never been really good at the military ones. But I could do them, but now I am sticking to the on-the-knees version to stay off my toe. You do with your legs what is comfortable. Even though my execution of a push up can be improved upon I love the push up because it is a multi muscle working exercise.
In this workout we have just gone from sit up (on the ground), to overhead triceps extensions (on our knees), and now we are doing the push ups. I think having done the triceps extensions on the ground is one way to help you make it through the 10 exercises in the 10 minutes.
With the round side of the BOSU on the ground, I grip the edges of it. Mine has “handles” and I use them. I stay on my knees and use my arms to push me up and allow me to come down. Even on your knees there are different ways to do it. You can keep your legs down, using your shins and the top of your feet for additional stability or your can lift your shins and feet off the ground. Remember no matter how you choose to do the exercise you are not stuck doing it that way for the entire 10 or the second pass through. So experiment. Listen to your body and decide what works best for you at that moment. Remember your goals and adjust your movements to help you to achieve them.
Only go as low to the BOSU as you can and still be able to push back up. Using the BOSU requires you to use equal strength in each arm because you have to work to keep the BOSU level.
One of the key things to do to get the most out of a push up is to keep the body straight and move the entire body down and entire body up. Even if you just go down a little, the straight body is working arms and core. If you just let your upper body down and push it up you are missing out on the exciting portion of a push up. It works soooo many more muscles if you engage your torso and have it move with your arms.
You see what I am saying? (As I am typing this I imagined you getting on the floor and trying it. I am sure you sense the difference. Even if you don’t go down that far.)
As I share with my students in Nia class all the time, there are technical ways to do an exercise or a movement, but not everyone can do it that way — the body’s way. It could be a matter of needing to learn it or work up to that or it could be that our body is not physically able to do it. Whatever the reason, I believe it is important to know how to do it properly and then be aware of how we are doing it. Then we can listen to our body. When we try to do it the technical way our body might say, “Oh yeah, that is just not going to happen.” Then we can adjust. We can learn, is it not going to happen because it is painful or is it because I need to work a little bit to get to that level? Then we can make a decision and a conscious choice.
Know how to do a push up, then decide how you are going to do it. Don’t just let the pattern of your movement dictate how you execute an exercise, decide for yourself make a choice then do it. As I said before, it could be that you do five with your whole torso then need to give your arms a break . . . . but that doesn’t mean you have to stop, just do the push up with your arms and not bring the whole body down and up. Or you do three on your toes then decide that you really want to have a straight back so you switch to your knees. Then on your next set you do all knees. Whatever you decide, make sure it is something you are aware of and then do your push ups your way.
What do you have to add? Share? Comment? Question?
Posted in Ten Minute Workout (Posts) | Tagged: 10 minute exercise, 10 minute workout, arms, body's way, BOSU, BOSU with handles, exercise, exercise flow, knee push up, military push up, Nia, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia flow, Nia Music, Nia push up, Nia students, push up, push up on knees, pushup, Sit-up, strong core, strong torso, ten exercises in 10 minutes, ten minute workout, ten reps, ten/ten/ten, toe push up, tricep, triceps, triceps extension, twenty exercises in ten minutes, workout for 10 minutes | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 3, 2011
Just recently, I learned that one of my Nia students is a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. She has been attending my Nia classes for about two years and when I first met her she said she taught Pilates, so I thought that was her primary job. It is actually funny because I have been looking for a holistic doctor. One day after class she asked how my toe was doing and said something like, let me think about it and see what I have and I’ll let you know. I thought, ok. The next class she brought me a sample of something and a homeopathic treatment/instructions where it stated she was an ND. Ha, the things you learn.
Anyway, the second I got home I looked for cotton socks and wool socks. We didn’t have any that I could accurately identify. And I really didn’t think that walking around shopping was the best thing for my foot/toe. There were times that I had to do things, as in get groceries or take care of some bank business, but shopping was not a high priority. I waited until I could enlist the help of mom! Yup. She ran around and got me some wool socks.
Anyway . . . the therapy is this:
1. Warm your feet, either by soaking them or by taking a bath.
2. Dry your feet.
3. Wet a pair of cotton socks. Make sure they are completely wet with cold water.
4. Wring the socks out so they are not dripping.
5. Put the socks on. Yes! Put the socks on your nicely warmed feet.
6. Cover the cold wet cotton socks with the dry wool socks.
7. Go to bed! Cover up like you normally would.
All of the various instructions I have read said to make certain that you don’t get chilled. So the idea is to put the wet socks on, then the dry socks and go directly to bed.
When you wake up the socks will be dry and your feet warm.
This treatment is said to aid with congestion and upper respiratory infections. Information says it helps with headaches, migraines, colds, infections, sore throats, ear infections, cough and bronchitis. Also, helps with cold feet due to poor circulation. Some things say it helps relieve pain and promote healing.
Since your feet have cold wet socks on your body has to keep your feet warm so it sends the blood to your feet. This wet sock therapy gets your blood moving!
I found it made my feet really soft. Same as putting lotion on then putting socks on. I found that I slept really well. At first I was thinking of this treatment as just something to do for my toe, but now that I actually tried it. I can see how it could help with other things. It was a momentary challenge for me to think of putting on wet socks, but then I realized my student wasn’t just making this up to help me, this is a TREATMENT. It just took me awhile to get the right socks. Neither my cotton nor the wool socks are 100% but they are as close as we could find. I would think the higher the percentage the better.
The instructions I’ve read suggest you do it at least three nights in a row. I did that. I was too tired on the fourth night, which I think is good, but I might try it again tonight. I think it really helped. Oh, also, I skipped the warming step. I started at #3. Maybe if my feet were cold in the first place I would warm them first.
So what do you think? Are you willing to try it? If you do, please let me know your results.
Posted in Helpful Hints, Misc | Tagged: cotton socks, Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine, holistic doctor, homeopathic treatment, ND, Nia, Nia class, Nia students, Pilates instructor, wet cotton socks, wet sock homeopathy, wet sock therapy, wet sock treatment, Wet socks, wool socks | 16 Comments »
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 November 30, 2010
After my Nia class this week, my students told me soak my toe in an epsom salt bath. I had actually been told about them before. They have been around forever. Ya know one of those things that used to be used in simpler times when there wasn’t something fancy to take its place. It is a natural mineral, magnesium sulfate.
I had originally been told about them for sore muscles. In fact a lot of bath salt products on the market contain magnesium sulfate. The instructions on the container state to use two cups of the salts in a tub of water and soak. The mineral is absorbed into the skin and it helps reduce inflammation and soreness. This can help with sprains and strains and muscles that have been exercised. A soak in water with epsom salts can also help relive itching of some illnesses or issues.
Epsom salt is thought to help relax the body as well as the mind and draw toxins out of the body. Soaking one’s feet can help both neutralize foot order and make the skin soft. Soaking in water with salts in it can help soften the skin, but the salts themselves can also be used as an exfoliator. Rubbing the skin while wet then rinsing throughly. Also the salts can be used to help with acne and breakouts.
Now that I actually have a container of them I might start using them more often to soak my feet and exfoliate them. How about you? Have you used them before?
Just as a note: Table salt is sodium chloride it is different substance than magnesium sulfate.
Posted in Helpful Hints | Tagged: acne treatment, epsom salt, epsom salt bath, natural mineral, Nia class, Nia students, skin softener, sore muscles | 9 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 4, 2010
One of my San Jose Nia class students lent me a book*. With all that is going on I haven’t gotten to get into it in depth but I read the beginning and I love it. I was very happy to see that this particular book addressed whole body conditioning.
The author, Eric Franklin (yes, THE Eric Franklin), says that aerobic training is necessary for dancers. Yet, he states that dancers are able to achieve what they do because their training involves presence and awareness. He is talking about the mind body connection. In Nia we call it body mind connection because we go to the intelligence of the body. Either way the idea is that they are both connected and when exercising the benefits are greater when they are working as one.
This book is wonderful because it states much of the same information that is incorporated into Nia. That your state of mind and attitude has an effect on your movements and results. That is just a small example.
It also states the same information we actually apply to personal training. Such as, training specifically for a specific result—the Principle of Specificity. Also it talks about the Principle of Progressive Overload–how you need to increase the intensity in order to improve. But it also advises you to listen to your body and learn to work with it.
I need to spend more time reading it to see what else he has to say. I will definitely do another post on it because it has much more information in it and it is so exciting to see that it mimics so many other things I have learned. It matches up with so much information from other fitness modalities and the information they are saying. It is nice to hear that so many people are recognizing the mind-body / body-mind connection. It has been happening for awhile now, it is just nice that it is getting so “mainstream”. It is exciting to see we are all on the same page—whole body conditioning is better conditioning.
*Conditioning for Dance you can purchase through Amazon, its under “Interesting Reading”.
Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: aerobic exercise, aerobic training, Body-mind, Conditioning for Dance, Dance conditioning, dance exercise, Eric Franklin, mind body, mind-body exercise, Nia exercise, Nia San Jose, Nia students, Principle of Progressive Overload, principle of specificity, San Jose Nia, whole body conditioning | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 14, 2010
As you know, I wanted to share Nia with the world. There are a lot of people, students, teachers, trainers, and participants that share my desire. For me the easiest and quickest thing to do was to join the plethora of Social Networking. So I joined Twitter and when I did I looked for people who were tweeting about Nia. In doing so I ran across Lissa Rankin. She lives North of the San Francisco Bay Area.
She recently wrote a book that I had no intention of buying because I just didn’t think I needed it. Then during her book tour she did an in person launch but she was across the country. So for us on the west coast she did a live online launch. She read from her book and that is what had me jumping on Amazon to buy it. Her book is not so much NEW information as it is more like confirmation for me. I am not even half way through the book so I can’t say that I won’t learn something I never knew.
I can say that I love the way it is written. Lissa is down to earth and lovable. While she is an Medical Doctor not all of her answers are “go see a doctor”. This last section I read had me jumping up to the laptop because I have been trying to find a post topic and the feeling I felt made me think, “Ah-ha!”
The feeling I am getting from this book thus far is health and well-being. Every topic she touches upon has the same message . . . “its your body . . . . be aware of what is a healthy state and a not healthy state . . . love and take care of your body . . . above all be safe.”
It is a book — so far — I would recommend women of all ages read and men read too. It could serve as a great learning tool for men and women a like. I am sure when I am done reading it I will have more to say, but so far, I just wanted to put it out there that even though this book is about “What’s Up Down There?” its underlying message is be healthy and safe and love yourself and your body.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Amazon, Lissa Rankin, Lissa Rankin MD, love your body, Nia, Nia participants, Nia people, Nia students, Nia teachers, Nia trainers, San Francisco Bay Nia, San Francisco Nia, San Jose Nia, Social Networking, Twitter, What's Up Down There | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 5, 2010
I teach Nia in the San Francisco Bay Area. One thing I am trying to do is increase awareness of Nia and also, at the same time, increase my class sizes. So recently I hosted a Playshop in San Jose at the studio in Willow Glen where I hold my Nia classes. My topic for the Playshop was some of the 52 Moves of Nia. It was a success. I felt good about it, even though I put my students to work.
I had spent a day and a half or so preparing what moves I wanted to go over in the Playshop and what Nia katas from the various Nia routines I wanted to use in the Nia Class. I wanted the class routine to include all the various moves we explored in the Playshop. I spend a couple of days between doing other things reviewing to make certain I was comfortable with my presentation and to make certain I could get through it within the allotted time. So I was confident the Playshop and the Nia Class would go smooth. What I was nervous about was being able to get in and set up.
If you are a teacher of almost anything, you know that here is time needed to set up. Showing up early to set up and be ready to greet your students is not always possible with the time allowed in between workout classes. In exercise class situations sometimes there is NO time in between classes. They are scheduled to end on the hour and start at the same time. So I had scheduled 15 minutes in between, but there was still things that needed to be done and I wasn’t wanting to rush the class before us out.
So I came up with an idea . . . . now, I would bet I am not the only one to come up with this and I bet if I were to do minimum research I would find all the “Planning a workshop” information to tell me exactly this, but I am still going share it.
I realized that I could put my students to work! So I did. Most of the time people are more than willing to help. One of my students showed up really early—before me even. So I knew she was ready to do something. So I set her on one task. Then two of my students who I had been plotting to do this work all along were assigned tasks.
This assigning of tasks can also be connected to my post about “If You want something done right“. Because I had to be willing to “let go” and let my students do the tasks. And I have to say they did them beautifully. I was so proud. I was proud of myself for having thought of having them do it and I was proud of myself that I just let them do it. And I was especially proud that they did it so well. I believe they did better than I could have–it was awesome.
It was a great learning experience for me.
My hubby (thanks, Hubby!) also came to help. With him mopping the floor and some of my students setting up the room, I was able to concentrate on the participants coming in that needed to sign waivers and get settled. All of this allowed us to start on time . . . which allowed us to end on time — for the Playshop at least. The Nia routine I put together was a little longer than an hour so we went over on that. But all-in-all it was my students that allowed me to have a successful Playshop.
(Thanks Students!)
Posted in 52 Moves (of Nia), Nia | Tagged: exercise class, katas, Nia 52 moves, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia exercise class, Nia katas, Nia participants, Nia Playshop, Nia routines, Nia San Francisco, Nia San Jose, Nia students, Nia Teacher, Nia Willow Glen, Nia workout, Nia workshop, San Francisco Bay Area Nia, San Francisco Nia, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, SFBay Nia, Willow Glen Nia, working students, workout class | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 12, 2010
I went to San Carlos today to teach my first Nia class for the City of San Carlos Park and Recreation Department. I wanted to get there at least 30 minutes early. I was late, not for the class but for my getting there 30 minutes early. The man at the desk was on the phone when I arrived and there was a woman in front of me needing assistance.
He was kind enough to get off the phone since he wasn’t able to help the person. Sounded like a co-worker he said he would call back. And he asked us if we needed help. The woman that was before me asked where the Nia class was and he asked her if she was the instructor at which time I pointed to myself.
So he took us to the room, helped with the music and the people started coming in. (Thanks, Nick!)
There is always “business” to handle in a class. Either signing in, or making sure everyone is signed up, or checking passes, or something. So we handled that as people were coming in.
This class room was different as it has no mirror. I have talked to a lot of people who prefer the teacher to face away from the students as we do in Nia, but I was not certain about that without a mirror to look at my participants in. So I started off facing them. Then when we got to a point when we would be moving right and left, I turned.
January 2010
Nia is so fun and amazing because even though I could not see the people in the mirror I could sense they were there and moving as I was. When I turned around to look they were doing it just beautifully. Was every doing it exactly the same? No. Was everyone perfectly on step? No. But it is so beautiful because when I turned to make sure everyone was ok, they would smile. They would laugh. They were ok, they were doing Nia.
Most of them were new to Nia. We had a good time. When we did some moving around the room using the space people were smiling and sounding. It was good. I felt as if even though I didn’t have a mirror in which to see my own face and my own body, I was still seeing my reflection. I was seeing joy in movement. Fun in exercise. Happiness in the workout. Nia.
Will all nineteen people come back? Well, some of them will because they had registered. Will the all thirteen that came for the “Try It”? No, probably not all of them. I know for a fact that one won’t because she has signed up for school with a class on that same night and she just came to try it. And other people will not have the time, but at least we danced together. We had fun. I shared Nia with some people who didn’t know about it. I am sure that even though they might not be able to make my class, they will be at others in the future. I think that is good.
Next week I will leave San Jose a few minutes earlier and get there 30 minutes early!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: City of San Carlos, City of San Carlos Park and Recreation Department, joy, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia fun, Nia instructor, Nia participants, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Jose, Nia students, Nia workout, Park and Rec. Department, San Carlos, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Nia class, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout | Leave a Comment »
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