Posts Tagged ‘Nia’
Posted by terrepruitt on March 17, 2012
When I was younger I remember many people saying that “once you go to a chiropractor you always have to go”. Maybe you have heard that. I still hear people say that. Back when I was young I don’t think a lot of thought was given to that statement. I know I didn’t think about it much, I just had heard it so often I believed it was true. At one point in my life back then I considered myself to “have a bad back”. Being in so much pain once I found myself at a chiropractor. This was all a very long time ago so I don’t remember all the details. I guess they did SOMETHING to make me feel better because I left and must have felt ok. But before I left he prescribed something outrageous like I would need to visit him three or four times a week in order to take care of it. Again, fuzzy on the details, but I know I never went back to that guy. I do remember having medical insurance at the time that would pay for a portion of my visits if I visited a doctor on their list. So, I found one, I believe he was on the verge of retiring and was not interested in seeing people more than he really felt was necessary and he did not think I needed to be seen more than once a week. But I do remember that by the time my next appointment came around I was ready. I think my issue was, and still is, stress or tension. I don’t have a “bad back”. I hold my stress in my upper back. Well, after I had seen a chiropractor I came to believe the saying “once you go to a chiropractor you always have to go” is true. It is because that once you go and you get relief then you always want to feel that good so you “have to go”. But now I also know that there are a lot of things we can do ourselves to either bring relief or make sure we don’t get in a state where we need it in the first place.
One of the things I was doing back then was holding the phone in the crook of my neck and shoulder when talking on the phone. I worked in the mortgage business and like many businesses when you get a phone call you don’t stop working, you keep working because you are having to look at information while talking. After I had been to the doctor I decided I was not going to hold the phone like that any longer and every place I worked after that I got a headset. Ever since then I’ve had had headsets for my home phone, too. That ONE thing alone brought HUGE changes in my back. I never hold the phone in the crook of my neck and shoulder.
But occasionally I still allow the tension to rest in my back. I have been fortunate enough to have someone help me with my back when she is available, but she is not always available and so I try to work on it myself. As I said, I believe a lot of it is making sure we don’t allow our bodies to get into a state where it needs work, but that is not always possible, but there are still things we can do. If you have read a few of my posts you know I have a tendency to scrunch my shoulders up towards my ears. That is a major thing that causes my back to hurt, so I really work on keeping my shoulders down. Also, I work at sitting up straight, which is not easy for me because I like to sit on a leg folded under me.
Aside from plain ol’ not doing things that cause issues I have been doing some things that tend to help my back by keeping the muscles loose and the vertebrae lengthened and relaxed. Often the floorplay in Nia helps with keeping my back loose, but the Nia routine that I have been doing the past few weeks does not have that type of floorplay in it so I am doing other things. My old friend the Downward Facing Dog is a great help for opening the back and releasing the spine. Doing the Downward Facing Dog at least a dozen times as part of a sequence is a great help in keeping my back loose.
Also the Pyramid Pose/Intense Stretch Pose (Parsvottanasana), which I mentioned in my Muscles Used In Nia During Yoga-like Sequence post. When stretching the crown of the head out and over it really does a great job of creating space in the spine. Since my discomfort seems to manifest in my upper back, moves or poses that have me hanging over do a fantastic job of opening my cervical and thoracic spine.
Another “hanging” pose that I feel does a nice job of relaxing my joints and muscles is the simple fold. Just folding over and letting the body hang. Either the ragdoll or the forward fold. Doing both types of hangs, with a relaxed back and a straight back, works to create the sensation that I want – space, space, space, and more space in my spine. The space in my spine helps to relax the muscles that hold the tension.
As I was doing some side bends today, I actually heard my back crack. On each side I heard it crack. While I am not a fan of hearing my body snap, crackle, and pop, I take my back making that noise as the vertebrae getting back into place. When I can move my bones back into place and not have someone else do it, that makes me happy. It is what I have come to think of as self-healing. One of the side bends I have been doing consist of bending to the side while holding my arms over my head with my hands clasps. The other is holding my wrist as I bend.
So I am excited that I am working on my back myself. I have to say that I have not had back pain, tension, or even discomfort in the last two weeks. Yay. I know that I am not the only one that holds stress and tension in the back. So I was hoping sharing some of the things I have been doing to give me relief might help you too.
Do you have issues with your back? Do you hold stress in your back? What do you do to bring yourself and your back relief from your discomfort?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: back pain, back pain relief, back stress, back tension, bad back, chiropractor, Downward-Facing Dog, hanging poses, Nia, Nia floorplay, Nia routines, pyramid pose/intense stretch, yoga poses, yoga sequences | 11 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 15, 2012
While Nia is not yoga nor is it a yoga class we do borrow from Yoga. We borrow some of the ideas and sometimes some of the poses. In one of the Nia routines we do the Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II). We do it both static where we just rest into it and we move in it, we bend our bent leg more and sink into it and come up. Then we do the Extended Side Angle Pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana), then a version of the lunge, which depending upon your body could be a variation of the Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana), or the High Lunge (Utthita Ashva Sanchalanasana), or the Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I) – all without the backbend. Then we straighten our leg into the Pyramid Pose/Intense Stretch Pose (Parsvottanasana). With these poses we are using a lot of muscles. The muscles can be challenged in strength, stability, and/or flexibility. It all depends are your body at that moment.
When we do the Warrior II pose in this Nia routine the arms are extended out to the sides, opposite from each other, the hips, torso, chest, and shoulders are facing the mirror/front, while one of the legs is bent at a 90 degree angle and the foot is in line with the arm. The other leg is straight and the foot is slightly turned with the toes pointed toward the body and the heel pointed away. Of course participants have the option of having the foot at a right angle, but for this dance it is led with a slight angle. Even with that slight variation it is working the glutes (all of them), the thigh muscles: inner, outer, hamstrings, and the quadriceps, and your calf muscles. And for some, like me, who have a habit of scrunching the shoulders, it works the rhomboids while holding up the arms and keeping the shoulder blades down and pulled back. This is true for many yoga poses, that is why it is so great for encouraging straight posture.
Then for our Extended Side Angle Pose the arm, on the same side as the bent leg, is lowered, forearm to the thigh, the opposite arm is raised towards the sky and extended to a position that puts the arm next to the ear. There are options to stay in this modified Extended Side Angle or to move to another modification by removing the forearm from the thigh and placing that hand on the earth next to the inside arch of the foot. With this pose the primary work is in the bent leg. It is another pose that works the hamstrings and thigh muscles. Through the back of the straight leg and all along that side of the body there is a wonderful stretch, which is greater and more wonderful the better the body is as keeping the shoulder blades down and the back straight (not leaning forward).
We then move into a lunge with many options. As with all movements in Nia the responsibility falls on the participant to decide what it is their body is able to do and needs to do at that moment. We start off by placing the hands on the ground and straightening the foot on the leg that was straight in the Extended Side Angle Pose to be parallel with the foot on the bent leg. Then gently bring the back leg down resting the knee on the ground. As I said, many options so many places to go from here. One can stay here in Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana), or do a moving lunge by moving up and down, or go to High Lunge (Utthita Ashva Sanchalanasana), or come into an extended Warrior Pose I (Virabhadrasana I) with the arms up but with a parallel back foot and a straight back. Here the body receives the benefit of a lunge no matter which one the body does. If doing the extended Warrior Pose I like pose, the glutes and thigh of the bent leg are getting a great deal of work, while the straight leg’s foot parallel to the other foot results in a slight change in the muscles being worked and stretched than with the angled foot position of a traditional Warrior I. The inner thigh gets less work while the work and stretch shifts almost entirely to the back of the leg, the hamstrings and calf. The arms extended up in the extended Warrior Pose I allows for work in the spinal extensors, deltoids, lats, and traps . . . . basically a lot of muscles in the back, including the ones that keep your shoulders down. With the crown of the head reaching towards the sky abs get a stretch too.
Moving from whichever lunge was done to the pyramid where the bent leg is straightened and the crown of the head is reaching over the leg while back is straight and chest is on or close to the straight leg. Of course, variations are offered and participants do what is right for their body to remain in the sensation of Joy. With this pose the sensation experienced is a great stretch. The leg to which the head/chest is close to get the largest stretch in the back. If the body is active with the leg and working to keep the knee cap up then the quadriceps will be engaged. The spine gets a nice stretch because the crown of the head is being reach over and down. The back leg might also feel a stretch in the hamstrings if the body is like many people’s and has tight hamstrings.
This is a small yoga-like sequence that we do as part of the cool down cycle of one of the Nia routines. Again, since Nia is not a Yoga class there are many options and variations that are offered that might not be part of a yoga class teaching strictly yoga. With all classes whether it be Nia, Yoga, Zumba, Jazzercise, whatever, the goal should be to give your body what it needs at that time. Bodies are constantly changing so the needs do too. The idea is not to force the body into a pose, but to allow the muscles and bones to sink into the pose, finding strength and flexibility along with openness in the joints and that constant sensation of Joy. This is a little review of movements that are Yoga or are very similar to Yoga, to explain some of the muscles we use in Nia.
Can you see how Nia can improve strength, stability, and flexibility?
Posted in Muscles, Nia | Tagged: back muscles, butt muscles, Extended Side Agnle Pose, Jazzercise, lunge, Nia, Nia class, Nia Moves, Nia routines, Pyramid, thigh muscles, Warrior I, Warrior II, Yoga, Yoga class, yoga poses, yoga sequence, Zumba | 2 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 8, 2012
Have you ever heard about doing a random act of kindness? We are often encouraged to commit acts of kindness. The acts can be simple and they could be random. Pay the toll on the bridge for the person behind you, pay for the coffee for the person behind you in line at the coffee shop, help someone whose car is broken down, things like that. Always for other people. But how often do you hear about doing small acts of kindness for yourself? Small acts of kindness for your body? I’m going to go out on a limb and say not often. I am not talking about getting a massage or buying something new that will add to our happiness. I am not talking about the “take time for yourself” kind of kindness. I am talking about little things that we probably don’t even realize would be a small act of kindness to ourself and to our body.
I was listening to a Nia Continuing Education recording and Debbie Rosas said to do small acts of kindness for ourselves throughout the day. In this Nia training she briefly mentioned the act being a shift in posture, something having to do with the body. The reference to an adjustment in the body reminded me of the information in my post about Dance Conditioning Tips. In reading the tips I thought they were not just for dance and could be applied to everyday living. The tip was to sense your body while doing a task and see if is in alignment. Well there are more things than just “off” alignment that could cause discomfort, so I was thinking of things that we could do to be kind to the body. Maybe some of them are just adjustments in the way we are sitting that can be made. If your neck is tense is your keyboard to high? Can it be lowered or can your seat be raised? Would the small act of sitting straighter be kind to you back? How about the much talked about and needed break? Taking just a few minutes away from the desk for a little stretch or shake out.
What about a glass of water? A small and simple way to be kind to your body. Would you object to closing your eyes for a moment and taking deep breaths? It’s a great way to show some body kindness. I bet you could go for taking off your shoes and wiggling your toes and flexing your feet moving your ankles—-I bet your feet would LOVE you for that small kindness.
Ok, I have one, it is a big one, and don’t deny you have done it because I would bet we ALL have done it at one time or another . . . . . don’t wait! Don’t hold it. Get up and go to the restroom. I bet more of us have done that than not. We have to go to the restroom because of that small kindness of a glass of water, but we just want to finish one more thing, then we will go. Then that one thing turns into another and next thing you realize you are sprinting to the restroom. Do your bladder a small kindness and don’t “do one more thing”. Stop what you are doing and go to the restroom.
These are all little things, so small, you might not even realize how big of an impact they can have until you try one. The “small” part allows you to do them without much or any interruption to your day. Just little adjustments or small acts of kindness for yourself to fit in easily to your day.
So what do you think? Do you think you any of these would be something you can do? Can you think of a small act of kindness that you can do? Can you think of a small act of kindness that you can do for your body? Do tell.
Posted in Helpful Hints, Misc | Tagged: body kindness, dance conditioning tips, Debbie Rosas, kind to the body, Nia, Nia Continuing Educations, Nia training, Random acts of kindness, small act of kindness, take a break, taking time for yourself | 6 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 25, 2012
Are wrist blood pressure monitors accurate? I was wondering because my blood pressure seems low when I use my wrist blood pressure monitor. I know meditative body mind practices like Nia can help keep blood pressure down, but it seems really low. The first thing I looked at on the internet made me laugh. The question was, “How accurate are wrist blood pressure monitors? Mine consistently shows a lower blood pressure reading than that taken by my doctor.” And a portion of the answer said, “blood pressure measurements taken at the wrist are usually higher and less accurate than those taken at your upper arm.”
I often think that blood pressure taken at the doctor’s office is higher just due to the stress of being at the doctor’s office. Even if you don’t have what they call “white coat syndrome” sometimes the stress of getting to the doctor’s office (maybe there is traffic, or you have had to interrupt your busy life to take time to go to the doctor), the stress of WHY you are at the doctor’s (most of us don’t go to the doctor when we are healthy and feeling fine, so the fact that we are there could be stressful), or the stress of having to wait (often times we don’t get called in by our appointment time, or we do and we are stuck sitting on the table) can be causes for higher blood pressure readings than normal. I think that a blood pressure reading at home is more accurate because you are IN your life. You are IN your normal stresses. That is why I was wondering about the wrist cuffs because I think the situation (home monitor) is more ideal then doctor office monitoring. But with mine showing lower than I would expect I was wondering. It isn’t actually LOW, it is just lower than I expect. Because what I usually do is think, “Oh, I should check my blood pressure.” as I am downstairs so I run upstairs and try to sit and wait before taking it, but I end up pressing the button and just seems lower than I would guess because I was just moving around.
The American Heart Association states:
Blood Pressure
Category
|
Systolic mm Hg (upper #)
|
|
Diastolic mm Hg
(lower #)
|
| Normal |
less than 120 |
and
|
less than 80 |
| Prehypertension |
120 – 139 |
or
|
80 – 89 |
High Blood Pressure
(Hypertension) Stage 1 |
140 – 159 |
or
|
90 – 99 |
High Blood Pressure
(Hypertension) Stage 2 |
160 or higher |
or
|
100 or higher |
Just like with all information I found conflicting information. I found information stating that wrist monitors were good and I found information stating they were not accurate. The main concern regarding accuracy was arm position. The common statement was that the readings accuracy is affected by the arm position so if the arm was not properly placed the reading could be wrong. Makes sense, but I was not truly understand why resting one’s left elbow on a table so that the right and monitor were at heart height would be such a challenge to people using a wrist monitor. I also found information stating that wrist monitors were more expensive than arm cuffs, but then the monitors that I saw being advertised on the internet were less than the cuff ones. So, again, a lot of conflicting information. I did see information stating that wrist monitor quality (meaning reading accuracy) had improved a lot I personally think that cuff blood pressure monitor, the kind where you put your arm in the cuff and secure it around your upper arm, is more accurate. However, I also believe they are more expensive, so I bought a wrist monitor.
If you are interesting in having a blood pressure monitor at home, I suggest you buy one from a place that allows you to return it. Then when you go to the doctor take your monitor and take your blood pressure with it to compare to the doctor’s blood pressure monitor. If it is not accurate then you can return it to where you bought it.
There is a technique for ensure your arm is in the correct position when using a wrist monitor that could be easier than the elbow-table method. Cross you arm over your heart, as if you are holding your right shoulder in your left hand. This ensures no movement and that the monitor is above the heart/level with the heart. Don’t hold your shoulder just let your fingers rest on the front of your shoulder. I thought this was an excellent method.
Are you thinking about owning a blood pressure monitor? Wrist or arm cuff? Do you already have a blood pressure monitor at home? Wrist or arm cuff? Do you get a little “white coat syndrome” at the doctor’s office?
Posted in Helpful Hints, Misc | Tagged: blood pressure, Blood Pressure Monitors, body-mind practice, diastolic, meditation, Mind-body practice, Nia, Nia Practice, systolic, white coat syndrome, wrist blood pressure monitor | 21 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 23, 2012
Before Nia class on Wednesday, I was talking with one of my students and she was sharing something with me I found to be an interesting idea. She said that her religion does not practice lent so she doesn’t normally participate, but last year she did and it was an amazing experience so this year she decided to do it again. The time frame for lent is generally from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. This is the period of time where practitioners prepare themselves for Easter “through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial”*. In our society it translates to giving something up. Since Jesus spent forty days fasting in the desert a common practice of lent was fasting. Now-a-days it seems as if the focus is on giving up some type of food for lent. My Facebook newsfeed during lent is usually full of post from people suffering through their lack of coffee, fast food, donuts, alcohol, soda, sugar, pizza, bread, cupcakes, gum, meat, candy, etc. Whatever is difficult for them to give up, they give up. For many I think that they really do challenge themselves and often I am amazed, but what my student decided to give up really had me thinking. I could easily live without my favorite food item or beverage for 40+ days, but her lent “items” would require a huge amount of self-control and thought. Last year for lent she gave up self-pity and self-criticism. This year she is giving up the idea of scarcity.
Now on the surface none of these things might sound as if they should be considered true items to give up for lent, but think again. Many people love to live in the pity-pool. In fact people have created pictures, signs, posters, and post-ups about how others are tired of those who are constantly having a pity party. It is easy to look at something that has happened in one’s day and think that the entire day is bad and “Whoa-is me. Now my whole life is bad.” I can see how for some this would be a challenge. I think that for me this would be the easier of the challenge because when I did start to wallow, I could easily recognize it. For me it is easier to spot than self-criticism.
I think the self-criticism is an awesome thing to give up for lent. Some people just do this out of habit or to be polite. We are taught to be modest so when a compliment is given we shoot back with a, “Oh normally, I can’t . . . . ” “Oh usually, my hair is a mess.” . . . or whatever and we criticize ourselves. I believe it is true that many of us are our harshest critics, so imagine if you couldn’t do it for 40+ days. While this certainly does not fit into the fasting category, I don’t see why it would not be an acceptable thing to give up for lent. I would think that God of all beings would want us to stop with the criticizing of ourselves and to get on with the loving.
Then this year’s, the scarcity. I might not have her idea completely right. We talked about it a bit, but not that long, because this all happened in the few minutes before class. I am going to recap as best I can but also add a little and probably go off away from her original idea a bit, but I think it is best to form it in a way that would best fit into your lent. The original thing she said to me was to give up the idea of scarcity, meaning to stop thinking that there isn’t enough. Usually there is enough we just tend to think there isn’t, so if we give up thinking there is not we can actually relax and see that there is. For her on that very morning, she woke up and thought there wasn’t enough time to attend the Nia class. But then she stopped and allowed her self to “be” and her heart told her that it wanted to dance and that there IS, there would be enough time to go to class and then get things done. So she came to class.
She had also mentioned how some people truly do not have enough. Enough whatever; enough food, enough water, enough heat, enough shelter, enough love, enough etc. So, being blessed with all of that she wanted to practice recognizing that it all is enough. As I type this it occurred to me that with that in mind, with practicing recognition, one could also possibly allow things to flourish on their own. Amazing. I like the idea of giving up something besides food. But even so, with either giving up a favorite food or giving up one of these other things mentioned it could lead to a lifestyle change. Maybe once someone lives without soda for 40+ days they won’t go back. Maybe once the pity party is unattended they’ll see it really isn’t that great of a party after all. Maybe there will be more self compliments. And I believe that there will be enough if we acknowledge there is enough.
What do you think? Are you a lent practitioner? What do you give up?
*quote from Wiki
Posted in Misc | Tagged: 40 days, Ash Wednesday, Easter, Facebook, fasting, Lent, lent fasting, Nia, Nia class, penance, pity party, pity pool, religion, self-control, self-criticism, self-pity | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 21, 2012
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) per the U.S. National Library of Medicine is “episodes of depression that occur at a certain time of the year, usually during winter.” Interestingly, “Like other forms of depression, it occurs more often in women than in men.” According to Wiki “Although experts were initially skeptical, this condition is now recognized as a common disorder”. I remember when it was declared a “real” disorder. It really sounds as if this type of disorder can become very serious. There are general symptoms that are common when someone is depressed; difficulty sleeping, difficulty waking, sleeping too much, not sleeping, over eating, not eating, gaining weight, losing weight, not socializing, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, and so on. It seems as if any depression, if left untreated and it continues, could become serious. This type of depression is no different.
I was surprised to see that it is treated somewhat the same way as other depression with both drugs and therapy. Since it is caused by lack of sunlight I hadn’t thought of using medication or talking about it to help it. But I guess that if you are depressed and antidepressants make you not depressed they would work no matter what the cause. And talk therapy helps with all types of depression too. The Mayo Clinic states the causes for SAD to be possibly your body’s rhythm being “off” due to the lack of light, so your body doesn’t know when to sleep and when to be awake, the serotonin levels being low, this is the chemical in the brain that affects your mood, so low levels could be a cause of depression, then there is melatonin levels which regulates sleep so this hormone can be off balance and affect one’s mood.
With that said, I would think that doing things to help make certain your clock stays regular would help. Make certain you keep to a strict bedtime and rising time in the morning. Also eating foods that can increase levels of serotonin might help. Good foods to eat include bananas, papayas, walnuts, and dates. (Mmmm, sounds like a recipe for a smoothie!)
I found the following list on: Muscle-Health-Fitness.com
1) Free Range Turkey
2) Flaxseed/ Flaxseed oil
3) Buckwheat
4) Wild Fish and Sea food
5) Whey protein
6) Bananas
7) High quality Eggs
8) Sour Cherries
9) Free Range Beef
10) Dark Chocolate
According to Livestrong foods that boost your melatonin are rice, barley, bananas and tomatoes. Melatonin is also found in tart cherries, sunflower seeds, almonds, and red radishes. Which again, if low levels of this hormone are thought to play a role in SAD, then increasing the levels would seem to be a logical step.
The thing I see most is light therapy. But it doesn’t work for everyone. It needs to be a bright light, one that is like the sun. I found a variety of lights on Amazon ranging from $60.00 to $600.00. With this type of therapy you sit in front of the light for a prescribed amount of time per day.
Another way to fight depression is to exercise. Exercise is always going to help because it increases your endorphins. The endorphins create a positive feeling in the body. Feeling positive helps with depression. For me dancing is both a great exercise and a great way to get happy. That is one reason why I love Nia because it really does make me happy. But, of course there is all types of exercise to help get those endorphins up. So anything that you will actually do . . . is GREAT!
I think SAD is much more widely accepted as an actual disorder than it once was. There are so many things and ways that we are educated and allowed to see how people live and feel. We probably all know at least one person living in an area where they might be susceptible to SAD. Even if you don’t feel you have felt depression because of the weather, maybe you have things you do that make you happy and get you out of a funk. What are they? What do you do that help make you happy? Share with us here and maybe they can help someone who is SAD.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: chemical in the brain, dance exercise, depressed, depression, endorphins, exercise, Mayo Clinic, melatonin, Nia, Nia Dance, Nia exercise, S.A.D., SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, serotonin | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 16, 2012
If you’ve read a few of my “recipes” you have probably figured out one of my go-to meals is ground turkey. It is so easy to cook with and to make into almost anything, using any flavor. I cook it with whatever vegetable I have around or new one I want to experiment with. I usually start by sauteing an onion then I add food accordingly. I find that most of the time I need to cook at least one of the veggies first. I feel some vegetables need to be cooked more than turkey, like mushrooms. But broccoli is one that gets added when the turkey is almost cooked. My latest veggie to add to my turkey is a leek. I was in Campbell this weekend signing the studio contract where I am going to have my new evening Nia Class and the city of Campbell has a great farmer’s market. While I was walking down the aisle I saw leeks and I thought, “I should add that to the turkey.” 
So I bought one. I have never cooked with a leek before. I was thinking I would saute a little bit of onion then put the leek in then saute it then add the turkey. But when I chopped up the leek it smelled so onion-y I decided I didn’t need to use an onion. I mean leeks do belong to the same family as onion and garlic. After cooking the turkey until it was almost done, I added some broccoli. When the broccoli was almost done I added a couple of tablespoons of whipped cream cheese with chives. The leeks have such a great flavor I loved them. I am going to cook with them more often.
According to WHFoods vegetables in the same family as leeks, such as onions and garlic supply their nutrients better if they sit for about 5 minutes after cutting before cooking. Furthermore since they all belong to the same family leeks have many of the same health benefits.
Leeks have a lot (over 50% of the daily value) vitamin K. They also have a large quantity of vitamin A. They contain vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), and vitamin B9 (folic acid). They also have a flavanoid shown in research to help protect our blood vessel linings from damage. Leeks also contain compouds that convert to allicin and this has been shown to help relax blood vessels by producing of nitric oxide (NO). With all this good stuff they do for our blood vessels it seems logical they will add to cardiovascular health.
Since leeks are so onion-y for me it will be easy to include them in our diet either cooked right into our food to add an additional layer of flavor and nutrition or even chopped and raw. We can add them to our kale salads or throw them in with our quinoa. I am definitely going to add them in my soups. I think the more vegetables I add to our soups the better.
I really was impressed with the flavor that the leeks add to this dish. I thought they were amazing!
(I took this picture to post to Streamzoo just to show our dinner fixings. I didn’t know I was going to post about leeks until I tasted them and loved them. the leeks are the green things chopped up on the right.)
Do you include leeks in your diet? How? Do you cook them? Do you eat them raw?
Posted in "Recipes", Food, Vegetables | Tagged: Campbell in Nia, cardio class in Campbell, flavanoids, folic acid, Kale, leek nutrition, leeks, Nia, Nia Campbell, Nia class, Nia class in Campbell, nitric oxide, NO, quinoa, vitamin K | 13 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 »
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