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Posts Tagged ‘Nia’

Fingers And Toes

Posted by terrepruitt on July 14, 2015

About four months ago I went to a Foot Fitness Workshop as part of a Movement as Medicine Series by Tanya Baldwin N.D.. I wrote a post about it called Foot Fitness Workshop — Ahhhhh! I could have sworn we did an exercise where we put our fingers in between our toes, but I am not seeing that on the list nor in my post, but I know I would not have done it on my own. I know I have seen it other places too, such as in connection with yoga, but I can’t put my finger on those references at the moment. I am not fond of this exercise. For some reason I really don’t like to put my fingers between my toes. Well, I think it is more accurate to say I don’t like things between my toes. But this is a great exercise for the feet. It is also relatively simple.

I had to have done it at that workshop because I wouldn’t do it on my own. But once I did it I realized how great it made my feet feel. It helped open my foot and made it feel as if it had more space. Everyone’s feet are different. Some people have toes that are wide apart and some people have toes that are close together. My big toe on both feet have enough room for another toe to be in between them and the rest of my toes. So I have no problem wearing flip-flops where your big toes and second toes “straddle” something. But I don’t like things in between my other toes.

My other toes are very close together. It is a challenge for me to get my fingers in between my toes. Now the idea is not just to put your fingers in between your toes. The exercise involves putting your fingers in between your toes all the way down to your hand. So your fingers are all the way down to where your toes meet with your feet and your toes are all the way down to where your fingers meet with your hand. For me that is wedging my fingers in between my toes. I don’t really like it. The orientation is the bottom of your foot is in the palm of your hand. You want to put your fingers in your toes from the bottom.

But as I said, I had done it and I loved the way my feet felt afterwards. So . . . I took it to a stretching class I taught. I told them I was doing something I didn’t like to do, but I knew was good for them. I put it in the “routine” just for them. After we did it our feet felt great.

Today I brought this exercise to my Nia class. Since I did it and I like the way it made my feet feel I wanted to bring it to Nia, but it seems like a Floorplay exercise, but after we dance we don’t want to touch our feet. No matter how clean the floor is, after moving around on it for 50 minutes, touching your feet is just not very comfortable. Perhaps touching the top or even a quick touch. But the way you have to wedge your fingers in between your toes, is not so great after almost an hour of barefoot dancing on multi-use type floors.

So today we STARTED class with this exercise. We took a bit of time to do it. We talked about the sensations of the our foot and our hand as we did it. A lot of us didn’t really like it. But we did it. We noticed that one set of toes seemed easier to wedge our fingers in between. All of us agree that our foot felt more open after doing it. With the way we squish our feet into shoes. It is great to allow them to open up with this exercise.

It helps with mobility in the foot because we move our foot around while I fingers are in between our toes. It helps strengthen the toes because they are moved into a different position. It helps bring mobility and flexibility into the toes because we are causing the toes to move and separate. It is good for overall foot health. Try it. You will see how different your feet feel after. You will appreciate the sensation.

Have you done this exercise before? How does it make your feet feel?

Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: flexibility in the foot, Foot Fitness, mobility in the foot, movement as medicine, Nia, Nia class, Yoga | 2 Comments »

A Puzzle And Two Websites

Posted by terrepruitt on June 25, 2015

I am venturing a declaration, that we have all heard that exercising the brain helps it. Whether it helps stave off memory loss, helps keep our memory sharp, or just helps keep our brain sharp, I bet we have all heard “exercising” it helps. I bet one of the “exercises” you’ve heard suggested is puzzles. Brain puzzles, as an example and as suggested in my last post. Well, as I was trying to come up with a picture for the post, I was thinking I wanted to have a Nia puzzle. I came across a cool website where you can create a word search puzzle. I quickly decided NOT to use the puzzle I made as a picture because I wanted to make it a blog post! I decided to make a picture for that last post, so I turned to another website that I have been using lately to create collages. So this post is like a “Three-fer”, a puzzle, the website where you can create your own puzzle, and the website where you can create collages.

And, yes, you can Google all of this for yourself, but you know me, I like to share. I know that I learn things from blogs I read. I learn things that are common knowledge to a lot of people, but are new to me, so I like to share because I have faith that sometimes I am sharing something new to someone!

So, here is the Nia Word Search Puzzle. The words all have to do with Nia:

Aikido – one of the nine movement forms
Awareness – a goal of Nia, to bring awareness to your body, awareness to your movements
Cardio – what Nia is, it is a cardio dance workout
Chakras – energy points danced in Nia
Crawling – one of the Nia 5 Stages, and something sometimes included in Floorplay
Creeping – one of the Nia 5 Stages, and something sometimes included in Floorplay
Dance – what Nia is
Embryonic – one of the Nia 5 Stages, and something sometimes included in Floorplay
Exercise – what Nia is
Fitness – what Nia encourages
Flexibility – one of the Nia 5 Sensations, something you will experience in a Nia class
FreeDance – a technique/practice used in Nia
Jazz – one of the nine movement forms
Joyful – what Nia can help you feel
Mindfulness – a goal of Nia, to bring mindfulness to your movements, mindfulness to your body
Mobility – one of the Nia 5 Sensations, something you will experience in a Nia class
Movement – something we do in a Nia class
Nia – the Technique, the form of cardio dance
RAW – a technique/practice used by Nia teachers when learning a Nia routine/music
Stability – one of the Nia 5 Sensations, something you will experience in a Nia class
Strength – one of the Nia 5 Sensations, something you will experience in a Nia class
Technique – Nia Technique
Workout – what Nia is, it is a cardio dance workout
Yoga – one of the nine movement forms

The website to make your own is: http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/code/BuildWordSearch.asp

The collages are super easy to make, you just drag the photos you want to your browser. You can pick a background if you want. You can turn the photos, you can resize them, you can bring them to the front or the back. All basic things. I have several of these types of applications on my iPhone, but I didn’t have anything, but MS Word on my computer. So this website is a great help to me. Easy, quick, and free. And I am not loading my photos onto their site. Website for the collages is: http://www.photocollage.net/

Yay! Exercise your brain! Go create stuff!

The solution is at on my website (click here).

Posted in Misc, Nia | Tagged: Aikido, brain puzzles, cardio dance exercise, chakras, Discovery Education, Free Dance, freedance, memory loss, Nia, Nia 5 Sensations, Nia 5 Stages, Nia Technique, Word Search Puzzle | Leave a Comment »

Bringing Focus Back

Posted by terrepruitt on June 9, 2015

About a month ago I was in a yoga class and afterwards there were a few people who were telling the person that was a couple of mats away from me how great her poses were. They were going on about how beautiful she looked. I felt bad. I felt like an awful person for not even noticing how wonderful this fellow student was. She was so wonderful that a few people came over to tell her. Every class I have taken since then has me questioning that. I started thinking I should be looking around and paying attention to other people’s poses. I realized that I am really focused on myself when I am in a yoga class. Sometimes I open my eyes and I am surprised there are other people in the class. The last few classes I took I started looking around. I started noticing what other people were doing. I was thinking that I needed to be more attentive to the other students so I could pat them on the back when they did well. But then I realized that looking around and watching what other people are doing is what I do when I teach. When I take a class it is perfectly fine for me to let the students fade into the background. When I am in a yoga class I NEED to be focused on me.

When I am instructing a class I am demonstrating a pose. I am IN the pose, but I am not really DOING the pose. I am not focused on the pose, I am focused on looking at the class. I am focused on seeing if they are doing the pose. I am thinking about how to gently guide them into the proper alignment. I am thinking about what to say that will allow them to sense what they are doing. Everyone says they want to be instructed on how to do it right, but no one wants to be the sole recipient of all the instruction. So sometimes, general instructions is best. I am thinking about all of that while I am in the poses.

At times I will step out of a pose to walk around the class to see the students posture from different angles. I walk around to see if they are in alignment and to help someone with the pose. So I am not really doing yoga. I am not focusing on me, I am not focusing on my breath, I am not paying strict attention to sensation in the poses.

So when I am in a yoga class, I don’t look around. I soften my gaze so I don’t really see my fellow classmates. I allow myself to be the student and not look at others’ alignment.

I have been thinking about this for about a month now. I was trying to figure out a post for today, when I came across “No Peeking!” and it reminded me of peeking around in a yoga class. When I look around and pay too much attention to others when I am a student, I sometimes lose sense of what I am doing. It could be that I see the person three over from me doing the pose “better than” me, so I try to go deeper (or higher . . . whatever the case may be) and then I am not listening to my body and what it needs at that moment. No Peeking was about competitive swimming and how when you look around to see where you are in the race you move your head, which changes your body position, which changes the outcome of the race. While yoga is not a race, when I look around whether the movement changes my pose or my thought process changes the pose, the outcome is adjusted.

Hmm. I am going to keep that in mind. And get back to my focus. If I don’t complement your beautiful poses when we are in a yoga class, don’t take offense. Now, Nia is entirely different. While dancing you are tuned into your body, but there is also a sense of sharing and sometimes even stealing. If you see someone doing something you want to try, have at it.

Are you completely focused in your yoga class? Do you get motivated by looking at others? Does looking at others distract you?

Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: focus in class, Nia, Nia class, San Jose Group X, Yoga class, yoga teacher | 2 Comments »

Outside Yoga – Easier Said Than Done

Posted by terrepruitt on May 23, 2015

I decided to go outside today to do some asana. I needed to get some sun on my hair because yesterday I put developer on it. I thought that I could get two things done at the same time: sun on my hair and yoga practice. Usually I think to do this when it is way too hot and my preparation for going outside takes longer than I actually last outside. Today, I kept that in mind. But I could tell there was a breeze outside, so I thought it would be ok. Also, it was the latter part of the day so the sun wouldn’t be beating down on me directly or for that long. So, I went outside. I had a list of yoga poses that I was going to do. It went pretty well, except for a few things.

The list starts out with standing poses. I realized that our windows would serve as a mirror in case I wanted to do some X-Ray Anatomy and check my alignment. Both proper alignment and improper alignment. Sometimes it is helpful for me to do the pose incorrectly so I can sense it and see it, and then teach to it better. So, the reflection was great today.

But . . . . my mat got hot. I would move to step into a pose and the mat was too hot. I could stay, it cooled down eventually, but it would leave my foot burning. A distraction I decided I didn’t want after a few poses. So I got a towel. Ok. Solved that little issue.

I did good on the standing poses. I was aware of the unhappy birds. I would see one come flying into the yard, and swoop out. I figured they had their eyes on the feeder and were heading in then they saw me and would pull up at the last minute. There was a bunch of tweeting, chittering, and squawking going on. I even managed to stay in Anjaneyasana longer than I intended. I was just about to move out of it when two little birds landed close to me. One on the bird bath and the other on the brass ornament we have out there. I stayed because I didn’t want to move and scare them. This was a momentary distraction. But I managed to stay pretty much focused.

The list of asana, then goes over some prone poses. Again, not too bad. I was able to ignore the bugs crawling around on the ground, while I was on my belly. . . for the most part. They were just ants. I was even so focused that I only allowed the multitude of strawberries to distract me for a moment. There are A LOT of strawberries out there. So tiny and bright red!

Then I got to the supine poses. As I was lying there looking up at the sky I noticed the wispy clouds. So I just stayed there a moment in Supta Baddha Konasana looking at them. As I watched they disappeared. I thought, “Well, that was so pretty, but I better get back to my poses.” Then I realized I could just stay in the Reclined Bound Angle and enjoy the sky for a bit. So I did. Then a cloud started to form and I thought, “Ooooo, what a cool video that would make.” So I jumped up to get my phone. I came back to my mat and got back into the pose and waited. Then I felt like I really wasn’t doing yoga or getting the point to it, if I were in a pose but holding my camera. So I put it down. I finished my list with focus.

THEN, I shot more video.

I am gonna share, you might not be able to appreciate the beauty of the day, but perhaps. The first one might even be able to be used as a little respite from a busy day.

The other two are me just pointing the camera in the general direction of the bird. I couldn’t actually see what I was videoing because of the sun. But it turns out in the second one, I actually captured the hummingbird on top of the stand. You MIGHT be able to see him. Then he flies toward the lemon tree, I think he was not happy that he had not intimidated me enough to go away. Then he flew off in a huff! Or he could have been upset because I moved one of the feeders.

I enjoyed my yard and got some yoga in. Oh, and let’s not forget, hopefully the sun helped my dingy hair color! Hopefully you will enjoy a bit of my yard, too.

Do you ever manage to get any yoga done outside?

https://youtu.be/14MEjil_lLw&rel=0

https://youtu.be/G1eOPlpBMHg&rel=0

https://youtu.be/7UBB8V-ytIs&rel=0

Posted in Misc | Tagged: asanas, developer for hair, hair product, Hummingbirds, Low Lunge, Nia, prone poses, Reclined Bound Angle, standing poses, supine poses, X-Ray Anatomy, Yoga, Yoga Practice | 2 Comments »

Exercise For Migraine Sufferers

Posted by terrepruitt on May 21, 2015

Just yesterday I was visiting over on Twitter and I saw a tweet about cycling helping with migraines. That sounded very interesting to me. I, thankfully, don’t get migraines, but I feel as if I know a bunch of people who do. And a migraine is not just a headache, so I have great sympathy for migraine sufferers. I rarely get headaches and when I do, I do not like it. It is so uncomfortable. When I get a headache, since I rarely get them, I know there is a REASON. I don’t just GET headaches, there has to be SOMETHING that is making me have a headache. Most of the time I can figure it out and fix it. Sometimes I can figure it out but I can’t fix it, but at least I know why I have a headache. Headaches are awful. I know that migraines are WAY worse than headaches. Some have very severe pain, more than just “headache pain” and some migraine sufferers have additional symptoms like dizziness, blindness, vomiting, and more. So, as I said, I thought that “cycling for migraines” sounded interested. It was a video report.

First of all, I would call it “spinning” not cycling. But . . that is perhaps just me. I think of cycling as riding a bicycle and riding it outside. The video was about what many people call “spinning” as in riding a stationary bike in a spin class and the video does actually call it “indoor cycling”. I think that riding a bicycle outside is way different from riding a stationary bike in a class. One reason that spinning might be a good form of exercise for migraine sufferers is that the head can remain pretty much stationary. On a bike ride outside the could possibly be bouncing involved and jolting of the head might aggravate a migraine. So it makes sense that stationary would be better and could be good. It could be just be called “spinning” at the gyms and venues that I am familiar with.

So basically the video said that 36 million Americans suffer from migraines. Now I am guessing that the number stated are reported migraine sufferers. I bet there are a lot more people who don’t even go to the doctor or report to anyone that they suffer from migraines. So I imagine that is a low number. It also said that low impact exercise is good for migraine sufferers, because their head doesn’t move and there is not jolting.

The video also said that there was a Swedish study in 2008 where most of the participates showed improvement after being in a 3 month cycling program.

It ended the spinning segment by saying no one is saying that cycling (spinning) is a cure, but they are suggesting it can help people who suffer from migraines cope with the pain. Often time exercise helps people cope with pain and other things that are affecting them. It is a matter of finding the RIGHT exercise. Something that does not exacerbate the issues they are having. But movement helps so many areas of our being. I am always one to suggest Nia as an aide, but in the case of migraines I can understand how one might not want to move their head. I have never actually tried spinning. But I know in Nia we move the head a lot.

Do you suffer from migraines? Have you ever taken a spinning class?

Posted in Exercise and Working Out | Tagged: CNN, cycling for migraines, Group X San Jose classes, migraine sufferer, Nia, Nia Classes, spin class, spinning for migraines, Twitter | 12 Comments »

Many People Feel Diets Don’t Work

Posted by terrepruitt on May 7, 2015

Not too long ago one of my Nia students asked me if the Road Diet in Willow Glen was working. I laughed because I don’t know what the goal of the diet is. I think that if the reason for changing the lanes on Lincoln Avenue in San Jose from four to two was to decrease the number of cars driving down the street, then perhaps it worked. I think there are fewer cars actually using the road because, as I said there are two lanes now, one going one way and another going the other way. Half as many lanes. If with the reduction of lanes they wanted it to take longer to get down the street even with fewer cars, then it is working. I am not in downtown Willow Glen everyday, but when I have been down there, it does seem as if there are less cars . . . but it does not seem like there is less traffic congestion. The cars back up to what seems like the length of the entire downtown. So it doesn’t seem like traffic congestion has been eased at all. So I don’t know if it is “working” because I don’t know if that was the goal of the city.

It seems to me . . . but again, I am not in downtown Willow Glen every day, nor do I own a storefront there, but it seems to me that fewer cars driving down the street would mean less business for the stores. Especially if the lower number of cars is creating a worse traffic situation. While I have not done a large survey, the people I have talked to have shared with me that they are avoiding downtown Willow Glen because “it is worse than it used to be.” Also, the people who I have talked to that live and work down there say that it is now taking them 10 to 15 minutes longer to get to work or home. I do believe that two things might ease the traffic situation with this Road Diet — 1) if the lights were actually properly set up to allow for left hand turning cars to turn at the same time and 2) if people actually understood the purpose of the reversible lane/suicide lane. Even though there are designated turn lanes at the lights now, the lights are only green going one direction. And at places where there is not a light, I have seen people stop all the traffic behind them and make a left hand turn from the lane of traffic that is supposed to be able to continue to flow. It is as if people do not know what a middle lane is for.

The reversible lane/suicide lane is there to allow left hand traffic to pull into so they can make a left hand turn and allow traffic behind them to keep flowing. It is also to help people coming out of the businesses, allowing them to turn left passing over one lane of traffic, then pausing to make certain it is safe to merge into the traffic going the direction they want to go.

Also, apparently, in downtown Willow Glen, it is where all the delivery trucks park so they can make their deliveries. Granted that seems better than blocking a lane of traffic, but that is until you see the driver/delivery person dart out into the traffic from behind the truck.

I have seen a petition against the Road Diet on Facebook from some Willow Glen business owners. As I said, there are fewer cars on the road, so to me that equates less business, but I don’t know. I am curious if there is more walking traffic and more bike traffic. Curious, if the increase (if there is one) in bicyclists and pedestrians equates to more business for the businesses. As I said, I have only talked to people who are avoiding the area, I haven’t talked to people actually down there — because I am one of them avoiding the area. Also, I have only spoke with at a couple of businesses whose employees now have a longer commutes.

At least the term is accurate it is a “ROAD Diet” as opposed to a Traffic Diet or Congestion Diet because from what I have seen it has caused more traffic and congestion. Perhaps they should remove the “diet” from the name altogether, because many people agree diets don’t work.

I believe it was scheduled for a three month test. I am looking forward to seeing the results and finding out what the City will decide. Again “is it working” is a matter of opinion, I guess.

What do you think? Do you frequent downtown Willow Glen? Have you experience a Road Diet in your area?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: decreasing business, decreasing lanes, increasing business, increasing congestion, left hand turn lane, Lincoln Avenue Road Diet, Nia, Nia students, reversible land, Road Diet, San Jose traffic, Suicide lane, Willow Glen Road Diet | 4 Comments »

Really, It IS Exercise

Posted by terrepruitt on April 21, 2015

Recently I was visiting with a friend and she was sharing with me her experience in an exercise class that she had attended a few days earlier. She was sharing that the things they were doing in the class did not qualify as exercise. She was saying that shimmying and doing the hand-around-your-head-move was not exercise. She said she didn’t want to do that type of stuff in an exercise class. I think she forgot who she was talking to. I mean, she was talking to her friend who she was looking at to support her in the fact that neither the shimmy nor the hand-around-your-head-move was exercise. But I think she forgot what I do for a job. I made a comment about how if she didn’t want to use all her muscles, I could see why shimmying would not be something to do. But she said she DID want to use all of her muscles. I did not take the opportunity to elaborate on how the shimmy is a great exercise and uses — not all, but many, muscles. It really was HER moment to share so I just listened. It was obvious she didn’t want to use her muscles THAT WAY. It was not my time to defend my craft or dance as an exercise. It did make me laugh though. It also reminded me why some people don’t like Nia. Some people don’t want to dance as exercise. Some people do not feel that moving to music is exercise. There are many people who think that the only way to get exercise is to do something the same way — to move in the same way, to move in a linear way — over and over again. Some people have very specific ideas about what they want to do as exercise. And that is fine, I am not going to try to get them to a Nia class because they probably wouldn’t be able to participate enough to get a good workout. But I do get my knickers in a twist when people say it is not exercise.

I think it is more accurate to say, “It is not movement that I like or that I consider exercise.” But to say it is not exercise. Not fair. But, again, very much a common way of thinking. I have posted about exercise as dance before. I even mentioned how I liked Dancing with the Stars (even thought I don’t watch it) because I think it helped some people realize that you CAN get a good workout in while dancing. If nothing else, moving around for an hour is great cardio — if you are moving enough to get your heart rate up.

Some dance exercise classes use jumping movements to get the heart rate up. Some — like Nia use big movements, fast movements, low movements, high movements, all over body movements. As, I have said before, it is all there for the participant to use, it is up to each individual to do as much as they want.

Many people don’t care for the shimmying but it really is a great movement that uses upper body muscles. I have seen many of my regular Nia students go from not being able to do it — for whatever reason — to embracing it. I think I have mentioned before that there is one song in one of our routines where I like to keep them at doing the shimmy for a bit. I usually ask, “Are you feeling it?” I just like for people to experience that the shimmy can be an move that can qualify as “an exercise”. Their answer – by the way is usually a laugh with a “OHH yeah!”

Some people move differently once they understand that the shimmy is not shaking what is on the front, but moving from the back. I have a post on that, Shimmy From The Back.

I think there are a lot of dancers at there that would say dance is exercise. However if you don’t like to dance I understand you might not feel that way. But, if you ever want to see what I mean about the shimmy or Nia as a good workout, look for a class near you. There are classes all over the world. There are several in San Jose, California . . . . I know, because I teach ’em.

What do you consider exercise? Have you ever TRIED dance-as-exercise?

Posted in Nia | Tagged: dance exercise, exercise, exercise class, Nia, Nia cardio dance, Nia Technique, Nia worldwide, NiaNow.com, San Jose City Classes, San Jose Nia, shimmy | 2 Comments »

My Organization of the Choreography for Close to My Skin

Posted by terrepruitt on April 16, 2015

The current Nia routine I am trying to learn is taking me a long time. I have mentioned before that I feel it takes me a long time to learn a routine, but this one seems even longer. The first thing I do is listen to the music. I had been doing so for a couple of weeks, then I got busy for a couple of days and hadn’t turned it on. When I went to the album in my iTunes I was shocked to see I had never listened past the sixth song. In fact, at that point I had never made it through the entire sixth song (that is how annoying it is). So I realized I needed to watch the Nia Training DVD. Watching the choreography usually helps me get through a song that I don’t like because it gives me points of reference. But this workout is filmed where the teacher and class are FACING the camera. I don’t like this since I primarily teach with my back towards the class. Back to the class really helps people copy the moves because they don’t have the whole “mirroring” issue to resolve. When I am trying to learn a routine and the people on the DVD are facing me, I don’t care for it. I do it as mirror, they are using their left foot and I am using my right, so I go right when they say “Go left”. All trainers sometimes state the opposite side or direction, but when they are actually USING the left, but I am mirroring them, it confuses my brain. In addition to the camera angle challenge (for me) this particular song is said to be a different version than they thought they were getting. So the choreography appears to be being created as the routine is being filmed. So it is very loose. I often feel that Debbie Rosas, in her brilliance, has so many ideas about choreography for one song that she sometimes shares them all during the filming and there ends up being a lot of moves in one song. I am grateful that the belts I have taken thus far have emphasized “less is more” and we have permission to pick a couple of moves from the song on the DVD and do them to the song. So that is what I did with one of the songs. I picked a few of the moves she did and organized them into something I can learn.

I will work on learning it this way. Although I will need a lot of practice because the song tends to mesmerize me and I lose my place. Hopefully as I grow more familiar with the moves and music I can play with it as the Debbie did. Since I don’t watch the DVDs that are filmed with the class facing front as many times as I watch the other ones I need to have a map I can follow from the get go. That is also the case for me when the song is very long and repetitive. I need to have a pattern, even then I can get lost in a song like this. And as I mentioned — just listening to it, trying to learn the song itself is not something I have been able to do. Every time I turn it on to learn it, half way through I am so annoyed by it, I turn it off. But moving to it is another thing. That is why when I don’t like a song, I look to the choreography because often times when the choreography makes sense it allows me to get through the song. More often than not I end up liking the song. We will see what happens with this song. It is like a dripping faucet.

Except for the class and the trainer facing the camera and the song titles not being shown as each song begins, the Nia training material continues to be stellar. At the end of 2014, Nia HQ put out the new Routines. I had ordered three earlier in the year, I just received the fourth one. I am going to add the titles in with the AWESOME software I have on trial. I have to do it before my 30 days is up. Then I will continue learning the routine I am working on. I will debut it to my class soon.

When you take group exercise classes do you like the instructor to face you? Have you ever noticed how a lot of songs are very repetitive?

Posted in Nia | Tagged: awful camera angle, Close to my skin, iTunes, Nia, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia HQ, Nia instructor, Nia routine, Nia routine album, Nia Teacher, Nia Technique, Nia trainer, Nia Training DVD, Nia workout | Leave a Comment »

Squished Lemons In a Jar

Posted by terrepruitt on April 14, 2015

I have some friends on Facebook that I have never met. They are friends I have through Nia. Nia is like any other group exercise or activity, you tend to “gather” in a group. In addition to the average things people share on Facebook (recipes, family pictures, proud parent moments, pet pictures, meal pictures) we do share about our classes. We make announcements about up coming events. We talk about the routines and the “stuff” going on in Nia. So I have a group of “Nia people” I am friends with on Facebook. One of them was having a conversation with one of her friends and I jumped in because it sounded interesting. You might know from some of my previous posts that I have a lemon tree. You may also know that I am not really a fan of lemon flavor. I never think to add it to any meat I am cooking. I never think to use it to flavor marinades or dressing. I only use it in lemon cookies . . . which I don’t make often any longer. Every once in a while I zest some into our rice. But I don’t think of using the lemons to cook so I am always on the lookout for ways to start using them more. Well, the conversation they were having was about lemons. So I butted in and said, “Hey, what is this about lemons?”

Georgia, my Nia friend on Facebook, shared the recipe she uses to preserve lemons. She said to put them in a jar with salt, let them sit for a month, then use them as you need them. Her instructions stated a quart jar. Well, I don’t have one and have yet to remember to buy one. I really wanted to try this, so I started thinking I didn’t need such a large jar. I might not like it so I decided to start small. So this past week, I smushed some lemons in a jar. I did not do it correctly because I got more involved with cutting and getting them into the jar than actually following the instructions. I did not have the instructions in front of me and I so was just guessing. Of course after I was done I looked them up.

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Preserved Lemons

You’ll need a large jar that will not leak when it is flipped over. (In her picture it looks like she might have used a large pickle jar.)
About 7 or 8 organic lemons (I only used two and a half because my jar was so small)
salt

First make sure the jar is clean. Then make sure the lemons are clean and dry. Then cut the lemons – not all the way through – in an X pattern. Cutting from one end to the other, leaving one end intact. I did not do that because the lemons were bigger than my jar. So I actually cut the lemons into wedges.

Put about two tablespoons of salt in the bottom of the jar. Then put a cut lemon in the jar. Smush it down so the juices come out. Then put more salt, then another lemon – smushing it down, getting more juice. Continue this process until the jar is full. Georgia said you cannot have enough salt. She also said you can add other flavors; herbs, cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaf, dried red chili peppers . . . . whatever flavor you would like.

If you need to, put more lemon JUICE in the jar to make certain the lemons are covered. Then you leave the jar on your counter for 30 days. Flipping it over every day.

After 30 days you put the jar in your refrigerator and use a lemon or a piece every time you want to flavor something with lemon. Pick what you want out of the jar, rinse it, then use it. You can chopped it up using both the rind and the pulp. Use it with chicken, beef, pork, fish, pasta, salad . . . whatever you want.

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Her recipe said that you can always add more juice and salt as you use the slices.

She said that the sour goes away and an intense yummy lemon flavor comes out.

Now . . . . I just did this . . . and by JUST . . . I mean I am in the 30 day flipping stage. So once my 30 days are up you will be reading about it again to see what I think.

In looking at her post again she indicated this was a Moroccan delicacy. So I looked it up and there is a lot of information regarding it on the internet. I will post more when I actually get to taste them.

Perhaps some of you already do this so you can share? What do you think?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: Facebook Friends, group exercise, lemon recipes, Moroccan delicacy, Nia, Nia Dance, Nia exercise, Nia people, Preserved Lemons, squished lemons in a jar | 4 Comments »

Foot Fitness Workshop — Ahhhhh!

Posted by terrepruitt on April 11, 2015

This week my friend and Nia student, Dr. Tanya Baldwin, invited me to her Foot Fitness Workshop she was holding today. I shy away from stuff that has me working on my feet. I tend to think I have to “save” my feet for my classes. But, it occurred to me that thinking like that might be backwards. I started thinking it would be a good idea to see what type of exercises and care I could do for my feet. I think that Nia and yoga are great ways to exercise the feet. Since both are done barefoot they allow for an individual to practice using the feet the way there were designed to be used. Nia is done barefoot so that we can bend and flex and move our feet to help them with strength and balance. But this workshop was solely (ha, ha, ha!) for the feet. It was an amazing workshop. I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone with feet.

It was very informative and FASCINATING. First it wasn’t so surprising that each of us had different issues with our feet. So along that same line it wasn’t surprising that the different exercises presented different challenges for each of us. What was surprises was how somewhat tiring it was. Some of the exercises were as much BRAIN exercises as foot/muscles exercises. Somewhat like what some of the things we do in Nia are – brain stuff! With a couple of them the movement we were supposed to do with our foot was opposite of what we normally do. For example pointing and flexing the foot. Now when you point your toes you “point” your foot. And when you flex your foot, your toes flex, too. In one exercise we were pointing our toes then flexing our foot yet keeping our toes pointed. It was hilarious. Because at first the foot just doesn’t do it . . . but then it will, but you have to really think about it. Or for some, even HOLD your toes in the point.

There were other exercises that really require thought. Which is always great because that means that you are changing up patterns – both movement patterns and brain patterns. So it is a win-win.

We started out with a self-assessment so we could see where we were at the start then sense how we felt at the end. This included holding a pen (or not) and writing (or not) with our toes. Then we did eleven “manual releases” without any props. So just using our hands and the floor. Some of these were not enjoyable for me. My foot that I injured a few years back is very “stuck”. So it did not enjoy some of the movements we did.

Then we had a soft spiky ball that lit up. YUP! That was really part of the fun. Dr. Baldwin mentioned that at first she didn’t care for the lighting up part, but then she realized it could serve as a tool to help you see if you are putting enough pressure on the ball. With this spiky ball, after another self-assessment, we rolled our foot over it and performed an exercise or two.

Then, our next set of exercises was with a towel. YUP, a towel, a hand towel. So this was great because maybe you don’t want to purchase a soft spiky ball, but most people have hand towels. We did a variety of grabbing and moving the towels with our toes. This portion included some other exercises (doming, inchworm, tapping, and strumming toes) without the towel.

Then we used a Theraband. We did several exercises and stretches with the band. This is the section where we did the pointed toes and flexed foot. This section is the one that had me thinking a lot. It was as if I had to keep my body from doing what it normally did. It had to “forget” all that it has in its muscle memory. The best tip from this section was when using the band to stretch the feet include the toes in the band. I guess I think of the bands as stretching legs so I put the band over the arch of my foot. Well, if the band is over the foot AND the toes, the toes can get involved in the stretching. Ha! Brilliant!

Then there was a section titled “Toe Corrector”. Um . . . I don’t think my toes enjoyed being “corrected”. We used a rubber band around our big toes and did various movements including walking, which was funny to me because — let’s just say I could use more practice walking.

The next section was Reflexology which sounds really nice, but it was the one that had us groaning the most. This was done with a smaller than usual tennis ball. We stood and rolled the ball under the various portions of our feet. It is like that stretch or massage you know is good for you, but kinda doesn’t FEEL like it is good for you at the moment.

Then there was one last quick thing to help feet. Kneeling with your toes curled. By this time my right foot was tired so it didn’t care for the desired pose, where you are sitting on your heels. But I was ok with the modifications where you take the weight off the toes by stretching forward and leaning on your arms.

This was a great workshop. My feet are actually feeling pretty good. Although I have to teach almost every day next week so I think I will soak them tonight just to help them recover further.

Easy(ish) things to do to help the feet. Do you pamper your feet? Do you specifically exercise your feet?

Posted in Misc | Tagged: barefoot dance, Dr. Tanya Baldwin, exercise your feet, foot exercises, Foot Fitness, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia Practice, Reflexology, soft spiky ball, Toe Corrector, Yoga | 2 Comments »

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Terre Pruitt's Blog

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I teach yoga, Nia, and stretch online!

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