Posts Tagged ‘Nia’
Posted by terrepruitt on May 11, 2010
There are a lot of tools used in Nia. The way that Nia describes each principle includes the Science of the principle, the Craft of the principle, and the Art of the principle.
For instance, the latest principle I posted about was Nia White Belt Principle #5, a portion of that being Awareness. The Science of awareness would be that you can make observations about your body as you move through your day. You can be aware of your hand as you pull it back from the mug of coffee that was too hot. You can be aware of the adjustment you make to your entire body to make it feel more comfortable in the seat belt. Notice how you scrunch your toes in your shoes. You can be conscious of the things that cause discomfort and maybe, in the future respond and change before the discomfort becomes pain.
With the awareness you can develop an ongoing conversation with your body that can help you move more freely and comfortable throughout your life.
The Craft of awareness is where you acquire the ability to sense with your entire body. Utilize not just your eyes and your ears but your sense of smell and proprioception. The craft are the exercises or the practices that we do in order to assist with the awareness.
Possible exercise, to increase awareness:
—brush your teeth with your eyes closed, sensing the tooth brush on each tooth
—brush your hair with your eyes closed, and notice the moment the brush comes in contact with your hair or head
—as you reach out to touch something image yourself touching it before you actually touch it
—then ask yourself; what will it feel like, what sensation will the nerves in my hand allow my brain to sense, will
touch it softly or roughly?
And as you go through your everyday movements observe if there is any tightness or discomfort. Ask yourself is there an adjustment that can be made to your habitual movement–to the way you do it normally–that could easy that comfort? Is there something you could do to tweak it and move your closer to pleasure? Try it that way.
Recognize the body as a work of Art. The Art of awareness is to be aware of the mechanics and beauty of the working body. Visuals could help with the art piece of awareness. If there was an area of the body that was uncomfortable or there was a constriction of the movement, picture the blood full of life giving nutrients rushing to that area. Picture the nutrients as different colors rushing in to saturate the discomfort and color as paint on a canvas.
Or picture any area of the body that could use relaxation as a tight ball of rubber bands and either just picture the ball become loose and opening and airy or picture it as you are moving and stretching that are. All the while being aware.
This is just an example of how the Nia applies all three tools, Science, Craft, and Art to a principle. The three are also used as tools for other purposes, but this is just to throw some light on the ways that Nia is shared, practiced, learned, taught, and enjoyed.
If you would like some tips on how to move with Nia, such as:
~Use visual imagery to make movements feel natural.
~Combine small movements with large movements.
~Use your Base, Core, Upper Extremities, breath and voice to add energy and power to your moves.
You can click here, and go to my website, HelpYouWell.com
I hope that you will have a day full of awareness that will allow you to dance through life.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: helpyouwell.com, Nia, Nia art, Nia craft, Nia exercise, Nia movements, Nia Practice, Nia science, Nia tools, Nia White Belt Principle #5, Nia White Belt Principles | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 4, 2010
Nia White Belt Principle #5 – Awareness – Dancing Through Life
I have been avoiding this principle because it can be very complex. To me, all of Nia’s White Belt Principles can be complex because they can be applied strictly to the cardio workout that is one aspect of Nia, they can be applied to Nia as a practice—which translates into, they can be applied to life, or they can just be applied to life.
Debbie Rosas Stewart talked about Principle #5 in this month’s Nia Teleconference for EveryBODY. She kept it simple. In all the calls she talks for about 15 minutes then she takes questions for the last 15. The call is 30 minutes. I will share with you what she said, but I recommend you listen to the call when they have it up on the site. They record each call every month.
Since I like to keep my posts relatively short, I have realized that I can post short summaries of Nia information and re-visit the information in additional posts.
One of the first things she said is very true, and I would like you to think about it. She pointed out that we are often aware of pain whereas we are not aware of pleasure. If we have a sore body part, we are aware of it. It makes its presence known and we listen. I personally don’t think we always listen to what it needs, but that is topic of another post. But we certainly don’t always pay attention to pleasure.
With Nia we seek pleasure. We seek to move away from the pain and go towards the pleasure.
There are a few things we can do to assist with that. One way is to be aware. Be aware of what brings us pleasure. As we move throughout our day we can make our movements a dance. While we are “doing”, we can dance through life. As you are reading this and you shift in your chair, notice the movement of your hips, notice to tilt of your head, do it like a dance.
While you are not moving, while you are “not doing”. Notice the stillness in your body. Allow the stillness to bring calm, relaxation, a sort of meditation, if you will. Notice what it is you are touching. Not just touching with your hands, but with your entire body. Are you sitting on a chair? Are you leaning on a desk? Benefit from that touch and that “not doing”.
Life as art so notice the art around you. Notice the noises and allow them to filter in as sound. Breath in the sensation of life. Not talking about “art” that would be in a museum art, but just the beauty of the world. Whatever you find beautiful.
There is so much about Nia I always find myself saying, “Another thing . . . one thing . . . Nia this . . . and Nia that. . .” but really. Another thing about Nia is that it is kind. Nia believes that we receive what we need to receive. We are not expected to hear something and walk away knowing it all or knowing it perfectly. With that in mind, understand that this is what I heard. These are the notes I took. Please, I invite you to listen for yourself and glean from it what you need. Focus on what resonates with you. Take away something you can share.
My site shows Nia class schedule in San Jose and San Carlos. On Nia’s main site you can look up classes in your area. There are classes all over the world.
Touching and Being Touched / May 3, 2010 Teleconference call is the call I have summarized here.
Presently in your life, do you dance through it? Do you practice awareness? Do you notice life as art?
Posted in Nia, Nia White Belt Principles | Tagged: Awareness, Cardio classes, cardio workout classes, Dancing Through Life, Debbie Rosas, Debbie Rosas Stewart, Nia, Nia Awareness, Nia cardio class, Nia Classes, Nia Dance, Nia movements, Nia pleasure, Nia Principle #5, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Jose, Nia Teleconference, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt Principle #5, Nia workout, San Carlos Nia, San Jose, San Jose Nia, workout classes | 5 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 29, 2010
Sodalite – From the things I have read the main thing sodalite is believed to do is bring calm, inner peace, and balance. I have often seen it associated with helping make clear and rational decisions. (Which I would imagine would be easier if your mind was calm and you had inner peace, so those two things seem like they would go together.) In addition to clear and rational thinking, some information states it helps with creative thought too. I have also seen that it helps with inflammation which goes along with the information I have seen that says it assist with immune systems. (Because inflammation is part of that system.)
Moonstone – I see that this stone is said to also bring calm. Most information states, “Moonstone is a stone of inner growth and strength.” Also, it is said to stimulate balance of hormones. (Which we must remember is necessary in males as well as females.) Several things say it is a stone of protection and that it is a healing stone.
This is stuff that interests me. At one time I thought it was pretty (what I call) woo-woo, but then when I start looking into Nia I started seeing things a little differently. When I first discovered Nia I bought the book (The Nia Technique Book). As I started reading it I thought it was too “woo-woo”, but then they related it to science and it made sense. Then I started thinking that there had to be things on this earth that we were given before we had science that could assist with our health and wellness. So I thought, “Why not energies in a stone?” So, I am just interested in this. I feel more comfortable when I read the information out there (and there is so much out there) and it states basically the same information. Then I feel like at least everyone is on the same page.
I was interested in some of the properties these two stones were said to have. I have not listed them all but just some. I have a few in the house. Not sure they are doing any good, but they are pretty.
Do you think stones have energies? Do you think stones have healing properties?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Amazon, healing properties, healing stone, health, inner peace, Moonstone, moonstone healing properties, Nia, Nia energy, Nia Technique, Nia Technique Book, Sodalite, sodalite healing properties, stone energies, wellness | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 27, 2010
My husband broke a vase last night. As he first starts to read this he probably won’t be too happy because this post might appear to be about him and this blog was not supposed to be about us, it is supposed to be about Nia, and health, fitness, and nutrition. I have noticed that my posts that are strictly about exercises and working out don’t get as much traffic as the ones that are about life’s situations. There are so many sites and blogs about ways to exercise and workouts to do, so I am thinking I will do more posts about situations that connect to health and wellness, like this one. It is not about my husband, but about me and how I feel I have progressed to assist with my own wellness.
Used to be a broken vase would greatly upset me, but I think of myself as getting better with stuff like that. He was in a hurry and was doing something nice for me (very nice*) and he accidentally knocked a vase down. Oh well. I sighed. I was sad for a moment. He even said, “Vases are like that, ya know? They break.” Which is true and truly funny at the same time. But for me, just going on with the evening is different than I used to be about a decade ago. I am a “stuff” person so I used to lament over broken things. Sometimes I do a little still, but I am learning—still.
I was wondering what to write today when I was rushing around trying to bake some banana bread for a friend who donated to my MS Walk. Guess what I did? I broke a vase. I laughed. Then I was sad. But then I was happy because, “Vases are like that, ya know? They break.”
I know that often times it is so much healthier to let things go, but honestly it is not always easy. Once upon a time I would have been so upset about the vase last night that I would have allowed it to ruin the evening. Because accidents seem to happen when people are rushed (see the first sentence in this paragraph). If I would have had a fit last night I would have ruined the evening AND had a totally impossible time dealing with the vase I broke today. It would have been, “What? It’s not ok for my hubby to break a vase, but when I do it, oh well?” Yeah, right. And we were both trying to do something for someone else.
So . . . . sigh. I feel so much better that I had a nice evening last night with my hubby. I will also be able to have a nice evening tonight too because he will just be able to tease me about breaking a vase, but I won’t be apologize because I was a jerk when he broke one. So instead of getting upset (over something that really is not worth getting upset over) I let it go which actually helped me health-wise because I didn’t have a ball of anger inside. That helped keep the evening open so that we could have a nice evening. I am not worrying about how I am going to explain to him that I can break a vase and he can’t.
Being able to let things go and just move on away from it is a good thing sometimes. Because really in life vases ARE like that, ya know? They DO break.
*This is what my husband was doing when the vase broke. He had gone outside in our yard and cut some flowers for me. Usually he just gives them to me to put in vases, but I was busy cooking so he was being super nice and putting them in vases too. Sometimes life it like that too, homegrown freshcut flowers brought to you by your love.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: fitness, health, letting go, Nia, Nia exercise, Nia fitness, Nia wellness, Nia workout, nutrition, vases, wellness | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 24, 2010
I have a friend who writes a blog. She is an childhood neighbor of my husband but before meeting in person, I met her through her blog first. But we actually have met in person a couple of times when she was in San Jose. Anyway, she wrote a post about a 50 Word Story and I wrote a story as a comment on her blog.
My 50 word story was about dance. It actually was written thinking of a new to Nia student. I really like my story. It is one of those thinks that I just like and I don’t really care if other people like it or not. One of THOSE things. It is on my desktop and I want to file it away, but I know if I do I will forget about it, so I thought that I could post it. I thought that posting in today in honor of Bay Area National Dance Week would be fitting.
She walks shyly into class. Afraid of what people she might see. Unsure about dancing barefoot.
She removes her shoes. The music starts, sparking a fire in her soul. She dances with pure joy. She IS Joy.
She walks out with a sexy sway of her hips, shy no more.
I haven’t asked her so I hope she doesn’t mind me borrowing her idea of inviting my readers (most of who just read and don’t comment) to write their own 50 word story. I would love to hear a story that you want to share of 50 words.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: dance class, Nia, Nia class, Nia joy, Nia San Jose, Nia sexy, San Jose class, San Jose Dance, San Jose dance class, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, sexy Nia | 14 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 13, 2010
In Nia we refer to FAMSS. We practice FAMSS. We can use it for all types of things. It stands for:
Flexibility
Agility
Mobility
Strength
Stability
And by “use” it I mean, it is often incorporated into each kata of a routine. Or a kata might concentrate on just flexibility, the next one agility, the next one mobility, and so on. Or we could use FAMSS as a focus OR an intention of a Nia class. Either all of them (Flexibility AND Agility AND Mobility AND Strength AND Stability) or just one (Flexibility OR Agility OR Mobility OR Strength OR Stability).
But whatever we do with it or them, they are highly regarded as abilities needed to ensure one’s (high) quality of life. So in Nia we honor them all. In a Nia class we weave them into the workout. In this post I am just referring to FAMSS in the physical. They can certainly be applied to more than just our physical bodies, but that can be another post just by itself.
For now, I am just talking about our physical bodies needing to be flexible, agile, mobile, strong, and stable. Just to move around in daily life these five things are very important. In Nia we can bend down in a forward fold as in the familiar pose one might do in a yoga class, allowing our flexibility to be enhanced. The music might encourage us to run, stop, run, stop, run, stop or move us to play the drums calling upon our bodies to display agility in legs, in arms, in our bodies as a whole. We can move our bodies as if they are grass in a field or seaweed in the ocean, moving each part, each section, each muscle, and all major joints to help ensure their mobility. We could crouch in a bow stance moving up and down exercising the strength in our legs. Then we can we stretch, reaching to the sky as we look up, this can be stability practice, either on flat foot, on the ball of our feet, or in releve. This could be one song in which all of this FAMSS is going on or it could be spread out over the entire routine.
Just tonight in my San Carlos class a woman told me that after her first class last week her hip felt better. She said that after her hip felt better on that first night it encouraged her to do a few of the moves at home that we had done in class. So she started working on her FAMSS in the first class, she was encouraged that movement was working to increase her FAMSS so she moved more. With movement she felt more comfort and less pain. FAMSS is necessary for a high quality of life. Her ever day movements were better not because she did it once, but because she kept doing it. Nia honors Flexibility and Agility and Mobility and Strength and Stability, so in Nia we practice it.
I hope one day you will attend one of my classes (I have two in San Jose and one in San Carlos*) to see how we can improve your FAMSS.
*Please see my website for my CURRENT class schedule. Thank you!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: agility, Carlos AyaRosas, exercise class, FAMSS, five sensations, flexibility, FMASS, kata, Mobility, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia focus, Nia intent, Nia Practice, Nia routine, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia's Five Sensations, San Carlos Nia, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, San Jose Workout class, San Jose Yoga, stability, strength, workout class, Workout San Jose, Yoga class, Yoga Practice, Yoga workout | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 8, 2010
I am using today to post My Easter in pictures.
I started out the day doing my Nia workout. . . . thank God, I got my workout in before brunch.
We went to a friends in San Jose. It was a small gathering so I thought it would be pretty causal, and it was, sort of, this was the spread that met us . . . . pretty fancy, but very relaxed.
We probably could have stayed there visiting all day, but we had to rush off to an early dinner.
We went straight from brunch to dinner in Milpitas. Since the family was done with dinner this is from dinner.
We had a good day. Good food and visiting with friends and family. Very nice. What did you do? What are your traditions?
Posted in Just stuff | Tagged: cardio workout, Easter, Easter Brunch, Milpitas Cardio, Milpitas Nia, Milpitas workout, Nia, Nia cardio, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, San Jose Cardio, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout | 1 Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 30, 2010
When I attended the Nia White Belt Intensive I had not heard of the Four Agreements so I was very captivated by what we refer to as our Energy Allies. When I decided to attend the Intensive I had only been to four Nia classes and I had decided I wanted to teach it. I had no idea what to expect. So these Energy Allies came in handy for me.
We call them friends and rely on them as you would friends. I am posting these because I often need to be reminded of my friends and I thought I would share them with you.
I was taught:
1–Speak with impeccability
–We were reminded to stay “on task”. Often times in a group setting questions are asked that do not actually relate to the subject being discussed. Or people like to tell stories about something “sort of” related to the subject.
–We were also instructed to use “I”. When we talk we often tend to project what we are saying instead of saying “I”.
2–Don’t assume anything
–Don’t “make up” stories in our head. We don’t really always know what the story is so we shouldn’t make it up.
-Quiet our inner mind’s conversation.
3–Don’t take anything personally
–Don’t get caught up in self-pity or self importance.
–Try not to get emotional about a comment.
4–Always do your best
–No holding back
–Follow instruction
–Recognize what is required
I thought this was a GREAT way to start a seminar or in this case an “intensive”. I wished we could have employed these agreements when I was a corporate trainer. I think they really assist in keeping the group on task. When people are allowed to share information that pertains to the subject yet understand that off topic issues will be put on a back burner, that helps keep the subject flow steady. Keeping the inner mind silent assists in hearing what is being said. Not taking comments that were made personally allowed the information to be given and received so that it could be useful and not destructive. Following instructions assisted with the energy in the room. When we all understood what was required we were all able to focus on the moment’s assignment.
Keeping these four allies around really enabled our group to keep our energy going. When listening is not at a premium and/or people are emotional about something it really can zap the energy of the collective.
These are friends that can be invited to anything in one’s life. Do you have these Energy Allies as your friends? Or are you familiar with the Four Agreements?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Classes in San Jose, Energy Allies, Four Agreements, impeccability, Intensive, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia San Jose, Nia trainer, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt Intensive, Nia workouts, San Jose Nia, seminar, trainer, White Belt, workout classes in San Jose | 11 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 25, 2010
I am saddened that it has come to this. I have started to make a list of products in our home that have High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in them. And I am going to begin eliminating them from our house. (Yeah, sorry, Honey, if you are reading this, I meant to tell you before I posted, but . . . )
I am disgusted with the fact that it is in everything. I do not believe that it is “natural” or that it can be consumed in moderation. It is in too many of our everyday processed foods for it to be consumed in moderation.
I love Worcestershire Sauce. I use it in ALL of my marinades. I am in search of a brand that does not contain HFCS. If you know of one, please, let me know.
This will not be an easy process as some of the items, which I will discuss at a later date, are going to be really difficult for me to part with, but I am just fed up. There is WAY too much corn in America’s diet and I am done.
But in the spirit of fessing up, not only will this not be easy, it will not be an overnight thing. I need to wean us off some of these things. As I said in the e-mail/contact form to Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is a STAPLE. So we will finish what we have which will give me some time to find something else to use.
I actually didn’t even know HFCS was in Worcestershire Sauce, but after my Nia class today I went to Jakes in Willow Glen and my friend and I were talking about how HFCS is in everything. I grabbed all the condiments off of the condiment area and we started reading the labels. Let me tell you I was soooooo disappointed. I never thought to look because it is just something I always buy. Now, when I buy something new, I look, but I have grown up with Worcestershire Sauce so I never questioned it. But now, I wonder, did it always have HFCS in it?
If you know of a Worcestershire Sauce without HFCS, please let me know. Thanks.
This is a copy of the what I sent Lea & Perrins. Pretty sure they don’t care. There website says, “We couldn’t make it better” Uh, yeah, you could, you could take out the HFCS!
Posted in Food | Tagged: America's diet, consumed in moderation, Corn, Corn Fed, HFCS, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Jakes in Willow Glen, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, moderation, Nia, Nia class, Willow Glen, Willow Glen Nia, Worcestershire Sauce | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 23, 2010
If you are going to get deeper into Nia–taking it further than a workout and even further than a practice, if you are going to attend a Nia Intensive, you will be introduced to the triads. Nia has a method of grouping things together in threes to assist in the learning of the information. I think that it is a pretty good tool to use. It helps organize things into little manageable packets.
Each principle in the Nia White Belt has a triad. Some triads have three additional triads to help further explain the principle. It is all packaged so wonderfully I just love it.
I have posts about Principle #2 Natural Time and the Movement Forms. Here is an example of what the Art Forms Triad may look like. Each art form has three movement forms.
Now, honestly, participating in a Nia Intensive is so delicious I don’t want to take away from all that you will be experiencing so this does not have all the information that you would see if you were to attend an intensive. With the principles and points on a triad there are usually catch phrases and other things to assist you in learning. This is just an somewhat striped down version so that you can have an idea of what I am talking about.
Also, with all of my talk and posts and tweets and pages about Nia, I am wanting to share with you a glimpse of the richness that is Nia. There is a lot of knowledge that Debbie and Carlos want to share and they have created or commissioned to be created some wonderful and beautiful tools in order for anyone who wants to learn can use.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Carlos AyaRosas, Debbie and Carlos, delicious Nia, Natural Time and the Movement Forms, Nia, Nia Movement Forms, Nia Practice, Nia principles, Nia Triads, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, Principle #2, Triads | 2 Comments »
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