Posts Tagged ‘Nia’
Posted by terrepruitt on November 6, 2010
Since I started teaching Nia classes I have received the question of what to wear to Nia quite often. For those that have not heard of Nia or done Nia, it is a valid question. People are not sure what it is and what you do in a class, so they have no idea how to dress. I have seen a lot of people wear a lot of different things. I have seen people wear clothes that I would consider fancy “going out” clothes, I have seen people wear “jogging outfits”, yoga clothes, and all types of dance clothes. I wear a variety of things. It depends on where I am doing Nia and what it is for. Most of the time I wear “workout clothes” because I do get sweaty. Plus we do get on the floor. So for my “everyday” Nia I wear my tie-dyed T-shirts. I have a little collection. And I wear loose pants. I do have a few outfits that I think of as “Nia outfits” and I usually save those for Nia playshops, Nia workshops and Nia events. I am working on expanding my Nia outfits.
My answer regarding what to wear is whatever is comfortable to move in. Whatever makes you feel good, but that you don’t mind sweating in or getting on the floor in. I like flowing sleeves and pants that swing. Nia to me is even more fun when your outfit flows and swings. But most important is to be comfortable and safe. Some pants are so so long that they can be stepped on and that could be an issue so you want to make sure you can move freely.
Nia is a workout. In class we move, we sweat, we get on the floor . . . . .so knowing that wear something like that you want to workout in yet that makes you feel good. One thing you don’t have to think about is shoes.
Nia also has Nia clothes in case you are interested. They can be purchased through the Nia website, NiaNow.com.
Below is a picture from a Nia Jam* and as you can see people wear what they want. Nia is about moving your body at your level and in comfort so wearing something that allows you to do that is exactly what you want to wear.
*this Nia Jam was held at the Cupertino YMCA
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Cupertino Nia, dance classes, dance clothes, jogging outfits, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia Clothes, Nia Cupertino, Nia events, Nia Jam, Nia outfits, Nia playshops, Nia website, Nia workshops, NiaNow.com, workout clothes, YMCA, Yoga, yoga clothes | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 2, 2010
I did a post on inflammation, listing a few things that might contribute to chronic inflammation. A state that stresses the delicate balance of the body. It really seems as if overly processed foods and fast foods are the culprits which is just more reasons to avoid foods of that nature. There are some foods that studies have shown that help fight inflammation, foods we can call “anti-inflammation foods” per se.
Omega 3 oil cold water fish (salmon, mackerel, anchovies, herring, sardines)
Grass feed beef
Sweet potatoes
Onions
Olive oil
Hemp Oil
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Brussels sprouts
Kale
Cherries
Blue berries
Mangos
Turmeric
Ginger
Garlic
Cinnamon
Apples
Red grapes
Carrots
Green leafy vegetables; dark green leaf lettuce, spinach, collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens.
Now please keep in mind this is just a partial list. Everyone is different and with so many different bodies, one needs to take what they read and realize that it will not work for everyone. You have to work on yourself and your own diet. See how you feel when you cut some of the “inflammatory foods” out of your diet and add some of the “anti-inflammatory” foods in.
I teach Nia classes because I believe, in addition to food that helps, movement/exercise/being active helps. I want to help people.
Again food that might help the immune system balance itself and not react with inflammation, something worth thinking about.
Posted in Food | Tagged: anti-inflammatory foods, blue berries, broccoli, Cherries, cinnamon, garlic, garlic olive oil, ginger, immune system, Inflammation, inflammatory foods, Nia, Nia Classes, olive oil, Omega 3, teach Nia, Turmeric | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 26, 2010
On the way home from teaching a Nia class a week or so ago, I went shopping and I remembered — finally — to take a picture of the non-dairy powdered creamer. Since I never got back to putting the picture in my original post about my powdered creamer I decided to add the picture here to a new post giving you an update. Its been about a month and a half and I am still NOT using that white powder. Seriously, that is what it is. It is not food. Just because the ingredients have been deemed edible by the FDA, does NOT mean it is FOOD. It is DEFINITELY NOT NUTRIENTS.
I think I need to have this label adhered to my arm as a reminder.
Corn syrup solids . . . . doesn’t even sound good. While the label might tout 0 grams of trans fat (I don’t know if the label does say that because I didn’t look) it has partially hydrogenated soybean oil in it . . . . so it has trans fat. Then it has sodium casinate . . . something they know no one will know what that is so they kindly describe it for us as a “milk derivative”. . . . then more “stuff”. Yeah, I really needed to be drinking that EVERYDAY!
Again . . . . . I am not a perfect eater. I wish I was, but I am trying to eat healthier than this stuff.
As I said in my other post . . . this (the first picture) was my powder of choice . . . the store brand, whichever store I was at. I preferred that over the “national” brand, but I took a picture of that too.
White powder free 2.5 months and counting. 🙂
Posted in Food | Tagged: Nia, Nia class, Non-dairy creamer, non-dairy powdered creamer, partially hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, powdered creamer, teaching Nia, Trans fat, transfat | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 21, 2010
Tonight I went to a TweetUp, I love to be able to talk to people in person about Nia. In our area there is a group of fabulous people (Michael Brito, Jennifer Leggio, and Gabriel Carrejo) that put together the SVTweetups. Tonight it was in San Jose — I like them when they are super close. I wrote about the Halloween event last year. I posted a picture of my favorite costume of the night–last year. Tonight there was not that many costumes. Someone said he thought it was because Halloween was too far away. But since so many people dressed up last year, both my husband and I dressed up this year, I was thinking that more people would dress up. I was not original at all. I had a meeting right before the event, so I wore some scrubs and went as a Medical Professional. I figured that people at my meeting wouldn’t know if that was a costume or it was real. My hubby, bought a costume but came up with another one and pulled it off with ease.
He was Keith Stone. You know that guy from the commercial that sells the beer? Well, it was good. Did I get a picture? No, but I got a picture of his prize. See the TweetUps–the Silicon Valley Tweetups, while they are social events, they are also networking events, and charity events.
So while we paid an entrance fee it was really a donation to the San Jose Family Shelter. Which is a great shelter that helps families in need. If a family is going through a rough patch they can live at the shelter for a bit and they help to get them on their feet. Then there is usually a company that sponsors the event and tonight it was Plantronics. Ya know the company that specializes in headsets. I’ve always had a plantronics at my corporate jobs. And now they are making Bluetooth devices too! They were the costume contest sponsors and my hubby’s costume really was great and he won a prize.
Then there is the social aspect where I get to meet the people with whom I tweet. It is awesome. I have met more people at tweetups and I have a great time.
Here I am—just sharing again. Do you tweet? If you do what is your handle? I want to follow you. You can follow me if you want. I’m @HelpYouWell on Twitter!
Posted in Just stuff | Tagged: @HelpYouWell, beer commercial, bluetooth, Gabriel Carrejo, Jennifer Leggio, Keith Stone, Keystone Beer, Michael Brito, network event, Nia, Nia San Jose, Plantronics, San Jose Family Shelter, San Jose Nia, Silicon Valley charity, Silicon Valley Nia, Silicon Valley TweetUp, social event, SV Tweetup, Youtube | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 19, 2010
As you may know I started blogging to share Nia and information regarding health and wellness. As you can imagine checking into some things leads me to all types of things. New information is always becoming available. Ever done research on the internet? You can end up miles away from where you wanted to be and nowhere near where you started. Some of those places can be very interesting. Interesting to me and I like to share with you. You might not know you are interested but it turns out you are.
You know that yogurt that Jamie Lee Curtis advertises? Activia? Well, they advertise it as a digestive helper–to help keep you “regular”. I’ve never tried it, but I believe in the theory. Do you know what else it MIGHT help with? Yeast overgrowth. Yeast is in our bodies–men and women–and sometimes the amount of yeast in our system gets above the normal level and that can lead to infections.
Probiotics–the stuff contained in Activia and yogurt with live active cultures–can help with yeast overgrowth. Probiotics are: “Live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host.” Probiotics live naturally in the digestive tract (of men and women) and vagina. Also less sugar in the diet can help. Yeast feeds on sugar, so actually the more sugar you consume the more you are feeding the yeast in your system. Any foods with live active cultures could assist in keeping that in check and maybe at the same time helping with your digestive health.
Please keep in mind that I am not saying that this might be a fix for an unhealthy diet. I am always trying to find ways that we can be more healthy. You know that I believe that we can always be better, adding probiotics to our “already healthy” diet could help it be better. So, I am encouraging you, that if you eat yogurt look for yogurt that contains “live active cultures” and the least amount of sugar/sweetener as possible, if you want–take probiotic supplements, and cut down on sugar (in ANY and ALL forms). I believe that all of this can be good for our digestive health.
Posted in Food | Tagged: Activia, digestive health, healthy vagina, Jamie Lee Curtis, live active cultures, Nia, Nia health, Nia wellness, probiotics, unhealthy diet, vagina, Wiki, yeast infection, yeast overgrowth, yogurt health | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 14, 2010
As you know, I wanted to share Nia with the world. There are a lot of people, students, teachers, trainers, and participants that share my desire. For me the easiest and quickest thing to do was to join the plethora of Social Networking. So I joined Twitter and when I did I looked for people who were tweeting about Nia. In doing so I ran across Lissa Rankin. She lives North of the San Francisco Bay Area.
She recently wrote a book that I had no intention of buying because I just didn’t think I needed it. Then during her book tour she did an in person launch but she was across the country. So for us on the west coast she did a live online launch. She read from her book and that is what had me jumping on Amazon to buy it. Her book is not so much NEW information as it is more like confirmation for me. I am not even half way through the book so I can’t say that I won’t learn something I never knew.
I can say that I love the way it is written. Lissa is down to earth and lovable. While she is an Medical Doctor not all of her answers are “go see a doctor”. This last section I read had me jumping up to the laptop because I have been trying to find a post topic and the feeling I felt made me think, “Ah-ha!”
The feeling I am getting from this book thus far is health and well-being. Every topic she touches upon has the same message . . . “its your body . . . . be aware of what is a healthy state and a not healthy state . . . love and take care of your body . . . above all be safe.”
It is a book — so far — I would recommend women of all ages read and men read too. It could serve as a great learning tool for men and women a like. I am sure when I am done reading it I will have more to say, but so far, I just wanted to put it out there that even though this book is about “What’s Up Down There?” its underlying message is be healthy and safe and love yourself and your body.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Amazon, Lissa Rankin, Lissa Rankin MD, love your body, Nia, Nia participants, Nia people, Nia students, Nia teachers, Nia trainers, San Francisco Bay Nia, San Francisco Nia, San Jose Nia, Social Networking, Twitter, What's Up Down There | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 12, 2010
The other day when I was doing something besides Nia :-), I realized that there was a “rule” involved with it. Do you have “rules” in your house? “Rules” that you or your spouse has instituted? I am not saying you have to agree with the rule or even understand it, but it is just something you might do in order to make your spouse happy (or not upset) and vice versa?
Maybe there are rules you have come up with together?
Here are some of our house rules. Following these rules just makes life easier. In no particular order.
-Never leave an empty coffee pot. After the coffee is done, always leave water in the coffee pot. At least six cups.
-Never leave a door to the outside or the garage open. Never!
-Do not touch the cheese with hands. Better to not touch anything that touches the cheese with hands.
-Do not let anything touch the coffee maker–ever. (As in a dish towel).
I would imagine that with kids in the house there are a whole other set of rules both for them and for the adults. 😉
Well? Do you have any rules that the family abides by that helps make your household run more smoothly? I would love to hear. I bet there are a few that would help our house.
Posted in Helpful Hints | Tagged: coffee maker, coffee pot, happy spouse, house rules, Nia | 13 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 9, 2010
In my last post about the Nia workout I referenced an index I created for the Nia Technique Book. I want to point out that some of the section titles you see might be different than some of the information you hear now coming from Nia. The Nia Technique Book was published in 2004. The creators of Nia – Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas wrote the book to explain how Nia came about and to share its principles and moves. As you read the book you will see how Nia was not just thought up over night — actually it wasn’t thought up at all — it was born and it was grown and continues to grow and change. That is my point here, the names you might see of sections or principles in the index and in the book, might be different now because Nia is always moving, changing, and growing.
The basics remain the same. The core principles themselves have not changed but, they might have morphed a bit. In my post about Principle #11, I have said some of this before. I try not to repeat myself in entirety but often times it is ok to repeat some things. I like to repeat that Nia has been around for 26 years, the main ideas of moving to increase health, moving as the body was designed, and many more are still the same, but at the same time Nia has changed.
As I was typing up the index for the Nia Technique Book I noticed that, aside from Principle #11, Principle #9, #12, and #13 had different names then when I learned them and as we move forward the names change. But that is just a natural way of things. Things need to adapt a bit in order to survive. The core of it does not have to change, but it might need to be tweaked a bit. Even as the things have changed the book is still great information. Things have not changed enough for the book to be obsolete or have to be rewritten. The book is still an excellent starting point if you are just beginning and an excellent tool if you’ve been doing Nia for years.
Another thing I like to remind people is that I am a Nia Teacher and Nia Student. I post information on my website and blog about Nia. I might voice my opinion or my understanding about Nia, but the concept and the idea of Nia originated with Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas. I am just helping to promote Nia. It is a workout, an exercise, a dance that makes one feel energized and happy. It is something I love to share. Come to one of my Nia classes or find one near you!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Carlos Rosas, concept of Nia, dance exercise, Dance Workout, Debbie Rosas, exercise dance, how Nia originated, Nia, Nia book, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia exercise, Nia Principle #11, Nia Principle #12, Nia Principle #13, Nia Principle #9, Nia principles, Nia student, Nia Teacher, Nia Technique, Nia workout, The Nia Technique book | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on October 7, 2010
There is a book about Nia. The Nia Technique Book authored by Debbie Rosas* and Carlos Rosas**. When I first thought of teaching Nia I bought it. I think I have said before that I thought Nia was a little too “woo-woo”. When I read the book it helped me see that Nia is based on the science and the design of the body. I often refer to my book. I have little tabs stuck on almost every page and that gets bothersome.
While the book has a table of contents it is sparse and it does not have an index. I always find myself searching and flipping and going back and forth in the pages because I can’t find what I want and I know it is there. Last week when planning the Nia Playshop I just flipped back and forth one too many times. So I created an index.I created an index of all the things I want to look up and arranged in alphabetically. I also arranged it so that there are subsections within the index. But then that seemed so long so I did an index with just the main sections and a separate index below of the subsections. So, yes, I have the index arranged three different ways so that you can have a choice on how to look at it. It’s on my site HelpYouWell.com.
One of the “bothers”, cat eating tabs.
If you would like a copy of the Excel format just let me know.
*now known as Debbie Rosas Stewart
**now known as Carlos AyaRosas
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, Debbie Rosas Stewart, Debbie Stewart, design of the body, helpyouwell.com, Index, Nia, Nia Playshop, Nia Technique, Nia Technique Book | 3 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 25, 2010
I think of Nia as something to help me learn things and sometimes adjust patterns, both patterns of movements and patterns of thinking. Like sayings that we might have heard most of our lives, as in the one I posted about previously “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” you have probably heard, “if you want something done right do it yourself”. Wow. Really? If. You. Want. Something. Done. RIGHT. Do. It. Yourself. I actually wish I was that good, that everything I did, I did right. That everything I did no one else could do. Well, that is not the case. I realized a long time ago this was not true. I realized when I had a boyfriend that could do a lot of things. But it was as if his brain worked opposite of everyone else. He never approached anything like anyone else. But then the end project would be pretty cool. So I realized that he could do something right, it just wasn’t done my way.
Same thing goes with my husband. He can do a lot of things and he can do them well, but he rarely does anything like I would do it. Sometimes there are times when he is helping me and it needs to be done a certain way, say cutting a vegetable that is going into a recipe, so I will tell him that it needs to be chopped and not sliced—or whatever. But sometimes I just need to walk away while he does something. If he offers to do something or I ask him to do something, sometimes I just need it to get done and it doesn’t really matter HOW it gets done, I let it go, but I often need to walk away. Not because he can’t do it right, but because he won’t do it my way.
So, this is just another one of those sayings that I don’t subscribe to. What do you think? Are you the only one that can do things right or are you the only one that can do it YOUR way?
Posted in Just stuff | Tagged: can't teach a dog new tricks, if you want something done right, movement patterns, Nia, Nia Movement, old sayings | 8 Comments »
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