Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

  • I teach yoga, Nia, and stretch online!

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Posts Tagged ‘San Jose City Nia classes’

Goodie Jar Share

Posted by terrepruitt on March 7, 2015

I am still doing my Goodie Jar, are you?  I know there are a ton of versions out there.  Some people have “Happiness Jars” or “Smile Jars”.  Some people have a goal of putting something in the jar every day.  Some people’s goals are for once a week.  Of course, none of the “rules” matter really, except the one that motivates you to remember your blessings.  That is really the point.  To have a little reminder of the blessings or things that make you happy, things that make life worth living.  There is so much going on in the world and in our lives it is sometimes easy to get distracted.  The jar — however you utilize it, is just a way of reminding yourself about the good.  Good things in the Goodie Jar.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoMy hubby and I are using ours.  I have Christmas wrapping paper cut up.  And some other pretty wrapping paper.  We have little sheets of note paper.  All kinds of papers to use.  Plus we both are putting our tickets in there.  We have been blessed with Sharks tickets so those go in the Goodie Jar – win or lose, because a night out with each other is a WIN for us!  It turns out that the San Jose Sharks lost, but it was a really exciting game.  Or . . . to me it was.  I know that people who go to more games than me might have a different opinion, but I thought it was exciting.  I am much better at actually tracking the puck.  I still “lose” it sometimes, but not as much as my first game.  Hockey is so much more exciting and action packed than baseball.

Then there is our trip a couple of weekends ago.  That is DEFINITELY a Goodie Jar item.  That was a well needed trip.  And it was so wonderful.  The weather was awesome.  I bet if we had gone this weekend it would have been too hot for me.  It seems the weather is warming up here.

Then there is our beef.  That is always a good Goodie Jar item.  I have explained before how lucky I am that my hubby will eat pretty much anything.  And he loves beef.  So he has been pretty good about my experimenting with cooking the grass-fed beef we bought.  It cooks so differently than regular beef.  It is just mind-blowing.  I was in a rush tonight as the game started 30 minutes earlier than I realized.  I put the steak in a really hot oven and hoped for the best.  It cooked well even though it didn’t look cooked–as usual.  The flavor was meat, which I don’t prefer, but . . . it was dinner.  And dinner helps us not need to eat the food at the game.

I still have Nia students in my Nia classes.  The San Jose City Nia classes are really going well.

So many things to be thankful for.  So many things that will bring a smile to my face at the end of the year!  Filling up that jar!  Yipee!  It is really nice to have something to document the smiles.

Well?  Are you doing a jar?  What type?  What are your “rules”?  Got any good things you want to share?

 

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Worst Part Of My Job

Posted by terrepruitt on October 7, 2014

I often tell my students at the end of class that making them get up is the worst part of my job.  I have posted blog posts about savasana.  The restful period of time at the end of a yoga class where you take time to relax letting the body and mind absorb the benefits to be had from the asanas that were just practiced.  Let the body remember the stability and strength.  Give the body time to become accustom the space that was created.  Allow the mind to reflect on the stillness.  Well, in Nia we often end the routine in Floorplay.  Floorplay is either playing with gravity to experience the muscles or stretching or . . . it can be a combination of both.  There are a lot of ways to play on the floor.  There are a lot of ways to end the class.  Our Nia training DVDs have floorplay and ending movements, but they are not choreographed.  So there is a lot of freedom in the last songs.  Nia teachers can either duplicate what the trainer does on the DVD or they can create their own movements to the songs and end the class in their own way.  I know I sometimes do what I sense the class needs so sometimes I lead the class through movements and sometimes I instruct them to do their own free dance.  Often times we end by lying on the floor in a restful pose.  Just like in my yoga classes I don’t like to have to make my students get up.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classesIn the studio I rent, I think that I should rent an extra 30 minutes so we can just lie there.  Sometimes I sense the class could easily just stay there for an extra 30 minutes beyond the one hour Nia class.  In the classes I teach for the San Jose Park and Recs Department, I sense they could do that too, but we need to end on time.  Sometimes there is a class right after us so our restful period is interrupted.  But when it is not, it is a challenge to know when to interrupt the peace.

Recently I taught a class and I really didn’t want to tell them to get up.  The clock in the room was not working so I snuck up to check my phone and as I was returning to the circle I saw such peace and relaxation I didn’t want to bother them.  I toyed with the idea of just letting them stay an extra 5 or 10 minutes.  But without having planned that in advance, I didn’t want someone lying there past the hour and not knowing it.  Many people workout on their breaks so they need to get back to work.  Or they just need to get on with their day.  So as much as I don’t like interrupting their peace and as much as I would like to just let them relax, I need to keep to our schedule.  But it really is the worst part of my job when I feel they would love to just stay.

But, on the other hand, it really is a great part of my job when I can be in the presence of those that can just relax and let go.  After dancing and getting all sweaty it is so nice that they can just take a deep breath and melt into the earth and relax.  I get a huge sense of peace when I am in the presence of their stillness . . . . that is why it is so hard to disturb them.

Do you take moments out of your day to just relax and experience peace?

Posted in Nia, Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Moving Into The Back

Posted by terrepruitt on November 9, 2013

In addition to teaching Nia classes for the city of San Jose, I was asked to teach a Gentle Yoga Class.  I have taught three sessions and we have one more before the year is over.  This last session before the holiday break is a short one, it is only four weeks.  In the classes there is a large variety of fitness levels.  Regardless of one’s level of fitness I believe it is very important for the emphasis to be on balance and flexibility.  They also like to practice inner reflection which I believe enables a connection to the body.  The connection is to allow for great stability and ease of movement.  In order to meet the varieties of levels we do a cross between flowing through poses and holding them.  I might have also mentioned before that we include getting up and down as part of our practice.  With this next session we are going to do a progression of backbend poses.  I have not yet decided on the progression of balance poses but I have the backbends progression planned. Since we only have four classes and there are five backbends I would like to progress through we will be doing two in the first class.  As with my Nia classes, my yoga students are continually encouraged to do things in their own bodies way.  Since yoga is a practice they can work into the poses.  For the series of backbends they will be encouraged to stay at the level that is acceptable for their own body.

The first backbend we will do will be the standing backbend.  Then, in the same class, we will progress to the Locust.  The Locust has many modifications some of which can be done with just legs lift or the head and shoulders lifted.

Then in our next class we will move onto the Sphinx.  I’ll probably include the Locust in the routine before moving on to the Sphinx, but the Sphinx will be the next in the progression.  Then the next meeting we will move onto the Cobra.  Excellent for strength, stability, and flexibility.  The last class before the long holiday break will be the Upward Dog.  Even though the idea will be for the students to progress through the backbends the modifications will be presented so each individual can progress only if they are ready.

Some students participate in yoga more than once a week so they are more likely to be able to participate in the progress whereas others will do so to a lesser extent – and modifications meet that need.  This is a great way to work on flexibility.  Everybody is moving in their own natural time through their yoga practice so I am excited to present this progression of backbends.  I will include other flexibility poses and balances poses as in all the classes.  I have been putting the emphasis on one or the other during a class which can still tie into the backbend progressions.

Of course, this is my plan prior to meeting with the class.  It could be that after our first meeting I have to adjust my plan and that will be fine.  I do like to see where the class is at and go from there, but it seems like our group has been pretty consistent.  But I can easily adjust my plan for any new body.

I am very grateful and inspired by the students that come to class every week.  It is very exciting to me to see their progress.  Stay tuned for more on the poses that I have yet to post about.

Do you participate in a yoga class?  How is it structured?  Is it an on-going class or is it a series of classes?

Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »