Posts Tagged ‘Nia Teacher’
Posted by terrepruitt on April 19, 2012
In a Nia class the participants are encouraged to make sounds. There are many reasons to make sounds while you are working out. One, is to ensure breathing. As you are making a sound there is air going out, and in order to repeat it, there has to be air that was inhaled. So making sounds during an exercise class is a great way to let the teacher know there is breathing going on. There are also specific sounds related to specific things, but we don’t always have to be so particular. Sometimes just any sound will do. I did a post on Sounding in July of 2009. That is when I was brand new to Nia and new to teaching. I was still learning to be vocal. I had no probably being vocal as I was teaching but as a student I didn’t always participate. So I believe I understand some of the reasons a person might not want to sound and some of those reasons are the very reasons we SHOULD be making noise. All of these points can easily lead to additional posts, and they just might (a sounding series?), but for this post I am going to share what I found a while ago about healing sounds.
There are sounds associated with the chakras so a while back I was thinking I could bring a list of them to my Nia classes and I could use them to encourage my Nia students to sound. But I found a different list instead. Before I share the information with you I want you to play along with me. Pick one sound from the six below. Just pick one that appeals to you right now as you are reading it. Don’t think, just pick one.
SHOO, HAA, HOO, SSS, FOO, and SHEE.
Now keep playing along with me. Inhale and then say the sound you picked out loud on the exhale. Now do that six times. How do you feel?
Well, according to Sales Creators, a business problem solving company, the above sounds are healing sounds related to specific problems or issues. As I mentioned I had wanted to find some sounds that we could make in my Nia classes that would be fun and associated with chakras. As I was looking I discovered this information. At the time I didn’t know it was from a company that helped with business problems, I just discovered that now as I tried to locate the source of my information. In glancing quickly at the website, it looks pretty interesting. They actually speak to wellness of the entire person. What? REALLY? On a sales and marketing consulting company’s website? Yes.
Anyway here is what the information said in summary.
SHOO is a sound that helps alleviate problems associated with a sense of depression. The information states that you will feel better after having repeated it six times. The liver and the gall bladder is positively affected by the vibration of this sound.
HAA helps alleviate anger and helps calm the heart and regulate the small intestine.
HOO is a body temperature regulating sound. It helps one to not become too cold and balances the spleen, pancreas, and stomach.
SSS is a balance sound. SSS helps to regain equilibrium in the nervous system and the body. The vibration of this sound cleanses the lungs and regulates the large intestine.
FOO is another body temperature regulating sound but this one helps with a high body temperature. So to me is sounds as if you are typically hot making this sound will help cool you down. This sound is said to stabilize the kidneys, bladder, and adrenal glands.
SHEE helps relieve stress, tension, and anxiety. The instructions say that if you are under stress make this sound 36 times. It helps with regulating the blood circulatory systems and the central nervous system.
I truly believe that vibrations affect us, so to me it makes sense that certain ones would affect us in certain ways. I was hoping that without your knowledge, without you thinking about it you would gravitate to one of the sounds that would help you.
So, did the sound you randomly picked match up to what you were feeling? And now that you know what is associated with each sound are they a few you might want to try out? What do you think about vibrations and healing sounds?
Posted in Helpful Hints, Misc, Sounding | Tagged: business problem solving, chakras, exercise class, exercise teacher, good vibrations, Healing Sounds, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia participants, Nia Sounds, Nia students, Nia Teacher, regulate body temperature, relieve anxiety, relieve stress, relieve tension, sales and marketing consulting, Sales Creators, sounding, sounding series, workout class | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 13, 2012
I like tea. Do you like tea? I like to have tea to warm me up during the day when I don’t want to have caffeine or when I don’t want to just make a hot cup of spices. I also drink it at night for the same reason. Herb tea in itself is said to be good for you. Green tea is supposed to have all kinds of benefits. I like tea and I do believe that herbal tea has benefits depending on what herb you are drinking. Echinacea tea would fall into that category. For instance I whole heartedly believe in Echinacea being helpful when you feel you might be catching a cold. I believe it can help you not get the cold or help make it less severe. In the same vein I think it can help you get better faster if you are sick. Echinacea is one of those herbs that helps with immune systems. Whenever my husband mumbles he is not feeling well, I make sure he has a cup of Echinacea tea. I also tend to believe in the teas that claim to help with certain things (help you sleep, boost your immue system, etc).
Last October we used up the last of our Echinacea tea. Funny I remember when it was exactly because the studio I teach Nia at had just moved. I found myself looking around the new area one day in November. Normally I wouldn’t remember when I bought tea but this I remember. I wandered into a health food store. They had a large selection of herbal tea. My friend and I had just been having a conversation about green teas so I was looking for green teas. I wanted something to replace my Echinacea tea. There were two I could not decide between. But then I spotted another one and wanted that. So I ended up getting Green Tea Triple Echinacea and a Green Tea “Super Antioxidant”. Not sure I believe that one, but I did believe it was green tea and thought, “Well, what the heck.”
Well, they taste green. If you are conscious of green taste you know what I mean. I don’t think my other Echinacea tea was green tea because it didn’t taste like green. They are ok, I like them but I kind of just save them for when I think I need them. When I want a yummy cup of tea they are not what I think of. Plus they have caffeine.
Not all herb tea is decaffeinated. Green tea has caffeine. So if you are not drinking coffee because you don’t want the caffeine and you are drinking green tea instead, you you could still be getting caffeine. Unless it says it is decaffeinated it has caffeine. Sometimes I don’t mind the caffeine, in fact I will drink it because of the caffeine. But lately it has been cold here at night and I don’t want the caffeine at night. I wanted some decaffeinated tea. While I was buying my calcium I clicked on their tea section and found some interesting looking tea. It is Echinacea Immune Support. It was on sale so I took a chance. Ahhhhh! I am so glad I did.
It has Echinacea root and Cinnamon Bark in it. Also Cardamom Seed, Rose Hip, Ginger Root, and Elderberry Extract among other things. This is not a green tea, but it has other things I like, for instance a yummy taste. It is really good. This tea is one that I think of drinking when I want to have a warm cozy cup of tea. The moment I ripped open the little package I was intrigued by the delicious smell.
Echinacea is good for fighting colds. Cinnamon and cardamom are anti-inflammatory spices. Rose hips is high in Vitamin C so it has anti-oxidants. Ginger can help with chronic inflammation and digestion. And I just learned about Elderberry being an immune system boost. So, with all the ingredients in here that I am familiar with I can concede its claim to be Immune Support. Even if not, it is a good cup of tea.
Do you drink tea? Do you drink herb tea? Do you drink herb tea for health benefits? What is your favorite tea?
Posted in Food | Tagged: anti-inflammatory, Coffee, cold fighter, cold night drink, Echinacea Immune Support, Echinacea root, Echinacea tea, ginger, green tea, Green Tea Triple Echinacea, herb tea, herbal tea, immune systems, Nia, Nia Teacher, Super Antioxidant, vitamin C, yogi, Yogi tea | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 6, 2012
Have you ever been in a situation where the reaction of the person you are dealing with is completely odd? Before I became a Nia Student and teacher I worked in the mortgage industry. I started when I was 15 going on 16. I learned a lot working with Mortgage Brokers, Real Estate Brokers, Lenders, Title Officers, Escrow Officers, County Recorders, borrowers, appraisers . . . . and the list goes on. One thing I learned early on was from a broker. While I don’t remember the exact situation (what it was he did not do), I do remember the utter perplexity I felt then the moment of absolute clarity. I have what I learned and easily applied it to many, many, many, many, many situations throughout my life. Sometimes it actually helps because I can work with the knowledge, sometimes it doesn’t help because it doesn’t matter that I know what is going on, the person is just going to be the way they are no matter what. Sometimes there is no defusing certain situations or people. The lesson I learned was actually about behavior. I observed that people tend to get over the top angry and blow things out of proportion when they are at fault. The situation I vaguely remember was that I could not do something for the broker because he had not supplied me with what I needed in order to do it. He was angry and his huge outburst completely flabbergasted me because it was not my fault, it was out of my control, in fact. . .. . and then I saw it clearly . . . .it was his fault and he knew it.
People tend to get more upset when they are the one at fault. Even when they are the one at fault they project the anger on the person they are dealing with and more often than not the situation goes down hill from there. Sometimes, as I mentioned, when you know what is happening, when you recognize that the person displaying the anger [(edited, added 02.20.13) is angry at themselves], sometimes you can defuse the situation. You can somehow let them know that it is ok they made a mistake and work to fix the situation. But sometimes that doesn’t work. Sometimes people just want to be angry. Or sometimes maybe it is that they have had such a bad day they almost can’t help but be angry. Or sometimes when the situation involves another person they can’t let go of their anger. If say, whatever it is they did in the situation affected their child or their spouse (or whomever), sometimes this is when they can’t let go . . . and I believe it is because of the guilt of their error.
In some situations it is impossible to help relieve the person’s guilt because you might not even recognize they are feeling guilty. You might not recognize that they feel bad for the situation they have created. It could be that it is not really a big deal to you and it can be easily fixed so when the person displays anger towards you, you might be shocked and not be able to work with it.
This reminds me a little of listening with love, but this is more listening with understanding. Of course, as I mentioned if you don’t have a sense of any wrong doing then it is difficult to understand why someone might feel guilty and then that could be where the listening with love comes in, right? “I have no idea what is troubling this person so that they are so angry, but I will listen with love because there has been no indication that I should do otherwise.” 🙂
With all the different ways to listen; the “not assuming” and the “understanding what someone is going through”, to the just “listen with love” sometimes communicating can be a challenge. We should keep trying, keeping talking, keep listening, even through someone else’s guilt.
Have you experienced what I am talking about? Have you seen or been at the brunt of someone’s anger because they were the one at fault? What did you do?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: angry outburst, appraisers, borrowers, brunt of someone's anger, communication challenge, lenders, listen with love, listen with understanding, mortgage brokers, mortgage industry, Nia, Nia student, Nia Teacher | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 11, 2012
I have heard about kale chips for I don’t know how long. I know I have heard about them for a long time. I had just never gotten around to making them until recently. After I completey burned beyond salvage, the first batch, I carefully baked the second batch. I was not impressed. They were ok, but not something I would actually want to eat enough to make them. But one of my blog readers, Mike over at Perception is Reality Corner, asked about eating kale raw. I told him that I had seen information about some nutritional differences between cooked kale and raw kale so that probably means it can be eaten raw. It is so close to a lettuce (it is considered part of the cabbage family) but it is all the same, right? I asked him to report back after he had tried it. He said it was a little bitter, but he liked it. So on my next trip to the store I bought another bunch of kale. We have been eating it a lot lately.
With the second batch I bought, I mixed it with a bit of lettuce we had and we ate it in a salad. It might be bitter raw, but some of the lettuce in the batch was bitter anyway so I couldn’t tell the difference. I am used to eating lettuce that is bitter so to me it didn’t matter if I was eating bitter lettuce or bitter kale.
At the store where I have been purchasing the kale it comes in a rather large bunch so I can use a lot and still have a lot left. My next dish was a bunch of veggies; mushrooms, onions, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and kale mixed with quinoa. Because I think quinoa lacks any type of flavor and I didn’t add enough flavoring to the water when I cooked it, I threw some feta on top of this dish to add an additional layer of flavor. The vegetables were packed with flavor, but not enough to withstand the nothingness of the quinoa.
Next kale dish was left over rice that I cooked with some zucchini and chicken. I put the kale in last because I don’t like it really soggy. I like for my leafy greens to still have a little form to them when I eat them. They might not have any crunch left, but they are not just a soggy green mess on my plate. This dish was really yummy. I put a little bit of feta on it and some chopped water chestnuts. It was so good that my husband was happy I didn’t go out to get bread because I sent the leftovers to work with him for his lunch. I always talk about when I was “on my home from Nia” because I tend to run all my errands when I am on my way home from my Nia class. So if I don’t have a class I don’t always get out to the store when we need something. So breadless, my hubby got our leftovers. He didn’t mind because it was really good.
Since then I taught a Nia class and I went to the store and bought bread and what? Yes, MORE kale. So today when I couldn’t think of what to have for lunch I decided to use up some leftover steak in a sandwich. I made a sandwich that I cooked in my panni press. I thought to take a picture, but I didn’t because I wasn’t going to post about it but then . . . here I am. Anyway, I put cheese, steak, and a pile of kale in the sandwich. This was not so great. While the flavor was good–of course, what wouldn’t be good meat and cheese—I didn’t rip up the kale enough so as I bit the sandwich the kale came out in big pieces. I was not able to bite through it. So to fix that, next time I will tear up the kale into little pieces. But using kale on a sandwich just like lettuce worked.
Then tonight – and this is why I decided to blog about cooking with kale – I added kale to our meal again. This time I used mushrooms and pasta instead of zucchini and rice. And it was just as good. I cook the base vegetable first, the one I want to cook the longest, in this case the mushrooms, then I add the chicken (it was already cooked so I was just warming it), then I rip the washed kale into pieces and toss it in the pan. I even turn the heat off at this point.
So that is how I am adding another green to my diet. How about you? Have you made the kale chips? Have you eaten it in a salad? Kale in your pasta? What are you doing to add kale to your diet?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: bunch of kale, cooked kale, Kale, Kale chips, kale salad, kale sandwich, Nia, Nia class, Nia Teacher, Perception is Reality Corner, quinoa, raw kale, roasted kale | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 9, 2012
In Nia we have FreeDance. FreeDance allows for so many things. One way we FreeDance is we dance to the music with no choreography. We let our bodies sense the music and allow it to move us. When we let our body move freely without thinking and without judging it is a great workout. Many of the Nia Routines have songs where there is no choreography and we just FreeDance, and many of the routines have choreography in addition to FreeDance. Our feet might have set patterns, but our arms and hands are free. Or our arms and hands might have the pattern and our feet are free. Many combinations of dance, choreography, and body parts. Nia FreeDance also has stages. A Nia teacher can call upon these stages for many things. The stages in FreeDance are used for learning a new routine, they might be used as a focus in a class, they might be used for a playshop, we have many options. In Nia FreeDance the fourth stage is The Creative Source – The Real You.
With this stage during the White Belt Nia Intensive I participated in, we were instructed to remember a situation and tell ourself the story of the situation and allow ourself to feel the emotion of that situation. We all walked around the room telling ourselves a story. Some of us talked out loud, some of us were silent. All of us used the emotion the story evoked to move. Our movements might not have been considered a dance by some, because in this stage we are not necessarily dancing. We are not moving our bodies with the intent of dance, we are allowing the emotion from the story to move our bodies. Depending upon the story it could appear as if our movements were a dance. Yet, since we do “dance through life” in Nia, all of our movements are a dance . . . just not the typical dance. In this stage we are not intent upon dancing.
The purpose of FreeDance is to the purpose of stimulate movement creativity. So we use the stages to assist in that. So using a story and the emotions along with the story can really allow for movement we might not have thought to bring to the dance floor. Some stories we use to practice stage 4 might be happy, some might be sad, some might be filled with anger, whatever the story and the emotion it is what moves us.
In the intensive there was all types of movements when we practiced this stage. There was stomping, jumping, running, rolling, skipping, punching, kicking, screaming, laughing, smiling, frowning . . . . all types as you can imagine would occure with a group of people with many different stories. As stated this is a tool to awaken different movement.
When we dance I think that we have a tendency to move in the same pattern. We might move in different patterns to different types of music or different beats, but there might just be a handful of different patterns. When we are challenged by using the different tools of Nia, when we practice and play with the eight stages of FreeDance we move in different ways. Sometimes muscles that don’t normally get to join us in our dance come alive. They are happy to be allowed to join in on the dance.
Using different muscles than we normally do in our dance fuels the creativity even further. When you let go and FreeDance you will be surprised. Here I invite you to try this fourth stage of FreeDance. I suggest choosing music without lyrics. Sometimes lyrics and interfere with FreeDance when trying to practice specific stages because lyrics can sometimes compel certain movements or emotions. So music without lyrics allows for you tell the story and listen to your body’s response to the emotion.
Well, what story are you going to tell?
Posted in FreeDance, Nia | Tagged: dance pattern, Nia, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia creativity, Nia Dance, Nia FreeDance, Nia FreeDance stage 4, Nia Intensive, Nia Playshop, Nia routine, Nia Teacher, Nia White Belt | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 2, 2012
In a post in which I spoke about learning a Nia Routine I said we need to know it perfectly. I would like to explain. First of all I have written before about how when I am learning a Nia routine there comes a point where I just can’t learn any more by myself and I have to take it to class. Always fascinates me how I can spend weeks working on learning it then in one hour in class I learn more than all the time I had spent on it previously. Dance exercise is like that. Teaching something is always different learning, it is a different level. Anyway I had recently said we have to know a routine perfect and what I mean by that is the better we know the music and the choreography, the closer to perfect we can get it, the better. I can do a routine without flaw in my living room then when faced with trucks driving by, kids screaming at the school, people laughing in the lobby I can get distracted. If I don’t know my music perfectly, if I don’t know the choreography perfectly then I will obviously mess up. But when I know it “perfectly” then I can not do it right, but still dance and lead the routine fine. I can mess up without saying, “Oops!” If I know where I am and what is coming I can keep going. Maybe I missed my cue to change movement, but when I know the music I can decide if I just want to stay with the move we are on or go to the next one. If I decide to go, do I want to cut the amount of times short because I was late or do the correct amount because it too fits perfectly with the music? When I KNOW it perfectly, I am free to play and really let the dance of Nia show. I can be perfect in my imperfection.
I might not teach the routine exactly as it is taught on the DVD, but I know what I am doing different and I know where I am going with the music. We teach tight, but loose. I know the moves, I execute them correctly, I do the choreography exactly as the DVD — when I can :-), but, when I mess up I am loose enough to keep going. I am loose enough to see my students enjoying one particular combination of steps, so I can elect to stay and let them enjoy their movements. I know my routine tight enough that when my earring falls off and I get a bit distracted, I can keep going AND expertly step over and around it as it lays on the dance floor. I am loose enough to be able to change the choreography by having to HOP over the fallen jewelry instead of exectuing the normal step. I am loose enough to have fun but tight enough that even when I mess up, I might be the only one that knows. It could be that there are students in class who know the routine well enough that they recognize I am not doing the choreographed move, but they can keep following and dancing because I am tight enough to be able to lead and dance in the now.
Because Nia is about dancing in the moment and having fun we are allowed a lot of freedom. I say this often because Nia allows for people to move in their own body’s way and that is an important part of Nia. But I also like to remind people that Nia IS choreographed. The moves fit the music well and there are proper and safe ways to do them. I like to express the fact that Nia is not just a room full of bodies flaling about. We are all encouraged to be perfect in our imperfection. Our bodies might not move exaclty as they are designed, but we can move with awareness. We can move with purpose. That is how I teach. I like it best when I know the routine so well that I can play and be perfect in my imperfection.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: dance awareness, dance class, dance exercise, dance floor, dance routine, exercise class, Nia choerography, Nia Dance, Nia DVD, Nia Music, Nia routine, Nia Teacher, perfect in imperfection, tight but loose | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 28, 2012
I spent a large portion of the day practicing Alive, it is the Nia routine I am starting to teach. I debuted it Friday, but I need to practice and practice. In Nia we say, “tight but loose”. So I need to know the music and choreography to perfection which allows me to dance with it and play to it is loose and flowing and fun to my Nia students. So practice and play is the key. I was so busy having fun with it I didn’t have a lot of time to come up with a blog post. Because I also spent some time in the kitchen making a different version of my Baby Bok Choy and Spinach Soup recipe. The people I made it for convinced me that it was good enough that I could use my adaptation of my Baby bok choy and spinach soup recipe as a post. So here goes.
Parsnips, Broccoli, Baby bok choy, and Spinach Soup
–olive oil
–1 medium sized onion chopped (save some for garnish)
–2 parsnips (chopped)
–1 bunch of broccoli (chopped)
–4 bundles of baby bok choy (bottom portion separate from leafy portion, chop both and leave separate, they are added to the soup at different times)
–2 or 3 tsp of minced garlic
–1.5 tsp granulated garlic
–1.5 tsp garlic salt
–48 oz of chicken broth
–a half of bottle or can of beer
–shake or two of teriyaki
–small piece (3/4 of an inch) of ginger, chopped
–3/4 of a 6-oz bag of spinach
–1.5 (ish) wooden spoonful of cream cheese spread whipped with chives
Sautee chopped onion in the olive oil. When the onions look tender add in the chopped parsnip, add granulated garlic and garlic salt. Cook parsnip until it seems a bit tender, then add the bottom portion of the bok choy and broccoli. Let it cook a minute, then add the minced garlic. Sautee until tender. Then pour in the broth. Add about a half can or bottle of beer and the few splashes of teriyaki. Stir it as you feel necessary throughout the entire process. Bring to boil. Add the cream cheese if you are going to use it. Add the ginger. Add leafy portion of the bok choy and bag of spinach. Let cook for a few minutes or until the veggies are wilted. Once the veggies looked wilted use the blender to mix it all up. (I use the immersion blender so I can keep it all in the same pot. Please remember to be cautious of the steam.)
The parsnips give this a little difference flavor and the broccoli leaves little green specks in the soup no matter how much you blend it. Actually when you look at it, it looks the same as all the other soup I make. But it tastes different.
I was trying to make something easy to eat for someone with a sore throat. This soup is kind of thick yet easy to swallow and it packs a punch with all the vegetables it contains. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and let me to continue to share my soup experiments and at the same time put spending time with friends and family at the forefront of life!
Enjoy!
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: baby bok choy, beer in soup, broccoli, family time, garlic, immersion blender, Nia Music, Nia routine, Nia routine Alive, Nia students, Nia Teacher, parsnips, soup recipe, spinach, teaching Nia, vegetable soup, veggie purees | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 19, 2012
After a I teach Nia I am sweaty and going from a somewhat warm studio to the cold when you are wet is not fun. After Nia class yesterday I was so cold I just wanted to go straight home, but I had one stop to make in Willow Glen. But after that I had planned on jumping on the freeway and going straight home. Sometimes getting off the freeway at our exit is difficult. The most direct route requires one to go from the exit ramp across three to four lanes of a sometimes busy street. Most of the time I can safely move across to the turn lane, but every once in a while it is too trafficky and I don’t believe I should stop the people behind me on the ramp NOR the people driving on the street I am going to cross just because I want to make a left hand turn. I don’t believe in endangering others to make it easier on myself. So sometimes I just stay in the most right lane and drive through the light instead of turning left. Then I take a round about way home. But I get there just the same and I don’t stress other drivers or myself. Well, this happened yesterday when I was freezing and just wanted to get home. As I was deciding on my round about way home I realized I might as well just go to the grocery store since I was on that road already. We could always use fresh veggies so I decided to get some.
While I was in the store a woman started talking to me about eggplant. She said it was too difficult to cook so when her neighbors gives it to her she just throws it away. For on brief moment I considered asking her if I could give her my phone number and she could call me and I would take it! Then we started talking about some of the other vegetables that were in the same area. She was saying collard greens are good for you. I told her that my husband loves them. She asked me how I cooked them and I told her I sautéed them. She said she fried them, the same as the eggplant. While we were talking I noticed the Kale. I always forget about kale. I was happy that we were talking and it allowed me to focus for a moment on the kale. I bought some.
Kale is part of the cabbage family. It is just leaves. Kale is part of the family of vegetables that are called cruciferous vegetables. Some other cruciferous vegetables are broccoli, collard greens, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower.
You know how I don’t understand plant species and families and all that. But more and more research is providing information that these types of vegetables are very good for us in regards to nutrients we need.
As much as we all know to take the governmental daily values with a grain of salt, a cup of kale has over 1300% of the daily value of vitamin K, over 350% of vitamin A, and over 80% of vitamin C. It also contains calcium and beta carotene. Research has shown that kale is rich in antioxidant, is an anti-inflammatory, and has properties that are thought to be of the anti-cancer nature. Steamed kale is thought to have cholesterol-lowering benefits.
According to Wiki: Kale freezes well and actually tastes sweeter and more flavourful after being exposed to a frost. I, myself, am going to try to make the oh-so-talked-about-you-have-probably-heard-about-them kale chips. In fact I could swear that one of you — one of you that I read your blog — posted about kale chips, but I can’t remember who. I went looking but I couldn’t find the post.
Anyway . . . do you eat kale? If you do how do you eat it? I am going to go experiment right now!
Posted in Vegetables | Tagged: anti cancer, anti-inflamatory, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, choleseterol-lowering benefits, Collard Greens, cruciferous vegetables, Kale, Nia, Nia class, Nia Teacher, plant families, plant species | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 14, 2012
Nia, the dance exercise that I teach, is a great cardio workout. Classes are fun and full of energy. To become a Nia teacher one must take the White Belt Intensive. It is 40+ hours of intense learning, discovery, play, dance, reading, listening, moving, sitting, and so much more. A person that is just interesting in learning more about Nia as a practice may also take the intensive. One does not have to have the intention of teaching to participate in an intensive. In the Nia White Belt there are 13 Principles. These principles are what teachers and practitioner use to expand their Nia practice. Working and playing with the principles actually help bodies to move “better”. Nia is a body centered exercise so these principles actually help us move our bodies. The fourth Nia White Belt principle is FreeDance, this principle has eight stages. The list of the eight stages is in my post Nia Class – Levels 1, 2, 3 – FreeDance Stage 8. The fifth stage is Authentic Movement – Change.
Nia is “about” many things. One thing Nia is about is Authentic movement. Our dance is not a performance. It is not meant to be pretty. It is meant to allow us to move in our own body’s way. The idea is that we will move in our own body’s’ way and we will move as we need to move. With freedom and authenticity we will be working our bodies as they each individually need to be worked. Yes, we do have specific steps in a kata or song. But everyone’s body does the steps maybe a little differently — to their own body’s ability. With practice the body will be able to do the steps and the moves in the Body’s Way, moving the way the body was actually designed to move.
With authentic movement we are letting the body move to the music in its own way. We don’t think of how to move it, we just let it sense the music and it moves. If one is practicing the Nia White Belt Principle #4, stage 5, then the authentic movement is done for two bars, two measures of how we count our music. After two bars change the movement. Do this for each song. The idea is that after a few songs the body will have gone through all of its “normal” movements. You will have danced out all of your movement tendencies. You will have danced all of your bodies patterns and your body will seek new moves. Your body will do things it does not usually do. You might be one that often moves your hips a lot, but after a few songs and continually changing the way you move your hips you might realize that you are out of hip moves, so your body plants your feet and you end up kicking up one leg at a time. Maybe kicking is not part of your typical dance move repertoire. Maybe once your legs start kicking your arms start punching. And this was not thought out or planned it just seemed natural. Leg kick, arm punch.
So the idea is to exhaust the normal and journey into new territory. If you have never done anything like this I want to warn you, you might be a little sore the next day. If you are a booty shaker and you change to a “how-low-can-you-go-er” you will feel it the next morning. If you always keep both feet on the ground and you start kicking or even just doing knee lifts to be different, your body will remind you the next day that you did something different.
If you let your body just dance to the music and switch it up, your body will give you great feed back on how you have never moved your foot/arm/head/butt/ankle/knee/whatever-you-moved-that-was-new the next day. You will go to move foot/arm/head/butt/ankle/knee/whatever-you-moved-that-was-new and probably sense it. This information will help you learn your movement tendencies and you can learn what new moves might help you improve your body’s movements.
Try it! Put on some music and dance with Authentic Movement, then change. Keep doing this through at least five songs and see where you end up. See what new moves your body comes up with. Ready? Go!
Posted in FreeDance, Nia | Tagged: 13 White Belt Principles, Authentic Movement, cardio workout, dance class, dance exercise, dance performance, dance practice, freedance, FreeDance Stage 8, kata, Nia, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia energy, Nia Practice, Nia student, Nia Teacher, Nia White Belt Principle #4, White Belt Intensive | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 10, 2012
I think this is one of the most difficult stages of Nia FreeDance. And there is a reason they are numbered one through eight, and I don’t know why I started my postings about them backwards, but when I’m done they will still be here and they will tie together. On its own Stage 6 is a powerful tool, but it can also be applied when dancing Nia FreeDance stage one (FreeDance) and five (Authentic Movement). Stage 6 of Nia FreeDance is witness. We witness our movements. While we are dancing we acknowledge how we are moving. We observe our tendencies. We observe our structure. We are witness to all that our body can and can’t do, yet we do not interfere. We just let go and move. For many Nia FreeDance is a challenge because we are set free to dance without structure, we are set free to move as we sense the music. In stage 6 we do so — move without structure and as our own body senses the music — without interfering or judging. We are to just observe.
While you are dancing and witnessing, interfering would mean to change what you are doing maybe because you judged it to be a certain way. As an example, say you heard a specific stand-out beat in the music and your body sensed it as little hops so you started hopping. As you are hopping you start thinking and judging, you think, “Why am I hopping? I must look silly. No one else is hopping. I should stop.” While there was witnessing (YAY!), there was judging (not yay.) and then as a result interfering (not yay.). Movement was changed because of a judgement. Movement was changed not because your body sensed something maybe a new move from the music it was changed because you judged. This is what Nia FreeDance Stage 6 is about witnessing but NOT interfering or judging.
Even if we observe our tendency to do the same type of move over and over. This witness does not have an opinion, it just observes. If you are dancing just stage 6 of FreeDance then you just keep going. Observe, don’t judge or interfere. Now is not the time to change. Just dance.
This is not an easy stage. It is not easy to witness, just observing and not judge or interfere, but this stage is a huge eye-opener. This stage can tell us many things about our dance and our bodies. We can see our tendencies and our comfort zones. We can learn our strengths and weaknesses. We can embrace the sense of self. This stage is not easy, but it is powerful. It is a great tool in the Nia tool box for both a Nia Practitioner and a Nia Teacher.
So while you are dancing in the shower, in the kitchen, in the living room — wherever it is you get to truly dance — try stage 6 of Nia FreeDance; Witness – Do Not Interfere of Judge. Observe. And see where this takes you. See what you learn. You could learn things like, you don’t allow your neck free movement, your hips don’t get to dance, you are always bent at the knee, you can do a great shimmy, your hands are like graceful birds . . . . so many things. What have you witness in your FreeDance?
Posted in FreeDance, Nia | Tagged: Authentic Movement, Nia, Nia Dance, Nia FreeDance, Nia FreeDance Stage 6, Nia Movement, Nia Practice, Nia practitioner, Nia Teacher, Nia witness | 6 Comments »
Terre Pruitt's Blog 