Posts Tagged ‘San Jose Workout’
Posted by terrepruitt on March 18, 2010
My husband does the grocery shopping. I know, cool, huh? Sometimes, when he is busy, I will do it. On my way home from teaching a Nia class on Wednesday, I decided to stop by the store.
Now, the store that is most convenient to us in San Jose we can’t always go to because they have bad milk and, I believe that my husband told me they also don’t have the bread I like. So we drive a little bit out of our way to go to the store where we can buy milk that will is not sour and bread that is what I like.
While standing in the bread isle I almost had to call my Hubby because I forgot what kind of bread we get. As I am scanning the packages I see this.
Oh yeah! THAT IS the bread that we get. But, I did a little dance because of that bright yellow label. See that is one of the reasons why that is the bread we get. The label made me happy.
Then while I was standing in line I was even made more happy because I was able to share with a woman in line why I looked like I just worked out (because I did) AND tell her about Nia. Awesome!
But, Honey, if you are reading this, I still don’t like grocery shopping. 🙂 It can still be “your job”. (Thanks, btw.)
Posted in Food | Tagged: bad milk, Bread Dance, Earthgrain bread, grocery shopping, happy, Happy Dance, HFCS, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Nia, Nia class, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Safeway, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, San Jose Workout class, Savemart, teaching Nia, Wednesday Nia Class, work out | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 27, 2010
El Camino Hospital sponsored a Free Health Fair today (February 27, 2010). It was in one of the ballrooms at the Santa Clara Convention Center. There was various Health Screenings. I didn’t actually get any done because I just didn’t feel like waiting in the lines. Although there were plenty of people that were willing to stand in the lines in the interest of learning about their health.
There was various demonstrations and audience participation dances going on. On TWO stages. It was very interesting and very loud since they had the “main stage” and the “side stage” set up right next to each other.
I was able to do a little Zumba, which I have done before. But I didn’t have the right shoes so it made it difficult. I should have stayed to do the yoga that was on the stage right after us. But I didn’t want to keep my photographer waiting that long.
A fellow Nia teacher was invited to do a demonstration of Nia so she had asked people to join her. I am not sure how many people were there from her invitation or how many were there because they joined us, but I think it turned out to be a good crowd. I would say there was at least 30 people. So many so that they did not all fit on the little dance floor she was given.
It was a great thing. I believe that a lot of people were introduced to Nia. I am thankful to Anita for doing this for us.
My husband came along to get some pictures. He was taking pictures of me and we confirmed that our camera is not able to take good action shots in low light. Here are a few. Thank you for looking.
I hope that next year El Camino Hospital sponsor another Day of Dance and you come out to see that dancing is a great way to workout out and a very fun way to get your exercise on!
You can find information regarding my classes in San Jose and San Carlos on my web site (click here).
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Anita Christensen, dance classes, dance exercise, Dance Workout, exercise, Nia Classes, Nia Dance, Nia exercise, Nia exericse, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Francisco, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, San Carlos, San Carlos exercise, San Carlos exercise classes, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Workout, San Francisco exercise, San Francisco exercise classes, San Francisco Nia, San Francisco workout, San Jose exercise, San Jose exercise classes, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, San Jose Yoga, San Jose Zumba, San Jose Zumba classes, San Jose Zumba exercise, Yoga, Yoga San Jose, Zumba San Jose | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 23, 2010
When we do a Nia routine we set a focus and an intent. In my classes I set a class focus and intent but participants are always welcome to set their own. To focus on whatever they need at that moment. I am not sure if I have mentioned it before on my blog, but a focus and an intent can greatly alter the Nia routine. Recently I subbed a Nia class for another Nia teacher, in a different part of San Jose. I had planned and practiced the routine I wanted to teach. I had a feeling that the teacher had taught it because it is a new routine and a lot of teachers tend to start teaching those right away. When I arrived I announced to the class that I would be teaching Sexi. A few of the women, voiced some concerns. They mentioned that their shoulders hurt. They said that it was the routine that made their shoulders hurt.
Well, there is so much to be said about that. Nia is designed specifically NOT to hurt. So it could be that their shoulders had been pushed too hard, but not by the routine. 🙂 It could be that their shoulders weren’t injured but were just sore. Sometimes soreness, because it is a form of “pain”, is perceived as pain that one needs to be concerned about because there is an injury instead of just the “pain” that comes with moving a body part that has not been moved in a long time or has been moved in a way it is not accustomed to. And that is just a FEW things that can be said. At the beginning of a class where there is other classes that follow and a group of people to be attended it is not always possible to give each individual personal attention required—as they would get from a personal training session. So what I suggested was for them to NOT move so vigorously.
Before we started, I gave them the option of changing the routine. I would have gladly done a different Nia routine in order for them to have a good time in their workout and to not be doing a routine they were tired of or a routine they felt injured them. But they said that it was ok, I could do Sexi. And I was so happy, because I knew it would be different. I advised them that even though we were going to do the same routine, we were going to use a different focus.
The original focus of Sexi is the spine. When the spine is mentioned one thing people might think of is the back. Even though this routine employs many movements to move the spine, with the focus being the spine one might be thinking “back”.
Well, I changed the focus to the front. The focus I set forth was actually the Fourth Chakra, the Heart Chakra. And I read out of the Nia Technique Book, as Debbie Rosas is always encouraging us to do. The book states that this energy center is affected most by the motions of your rib cage and chest. With that information it moved the physical focus to the front.
So we danced Sexi. We danced Sexi sexy. Oh yeah. With our focus being the heart chakra and the intention being to allow a connection with love, compassion, joy, and sorrow–we danced.
While we danced I reminded the group to be aware of their shoulders and to try NOT to move them in the way that caused the pain. Afterwards, the ones that had voiced concerns said they were glad that we did it. They were able to do the same routine, but change the focus and therefore changing the routine. I love that about Nia. Because the focus is different the same routine is different. Because I am different the routine is different. Because the moves are basically the same, but the focus is different they were able to get an entirely different workout. Just another wonderful aspect of Nia.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: dance, Dance Workout, Debbie Rosas, focus and intent, fourth chakra, heart chakra, joy, Nia, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia routine, Nia San Jose, Nia Technique, Nia Technique Book, Nia workout, personal training, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Nia Workout, San Jose Personal training, San Jose Workout, Sexi, Sexy, workout classes | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 20, 2010
I subbed a Nia class in another part of San Jose today and so I had a different group of participants, and the routine we did today has a lot of bows in it. Watching the class do the bow stance made me think of how a bow is somewhat of a lunge. Reminded me how we really do work a lot of muscles in our Nia workouts with all of the different exercises we do. The bow stance is one of Nia’s 52 Moves.
Did you know you Quadriceps are made up for four muscles? Maybe, but since we always say, “quads” we might be thinking of them as one muscle. Of course, when we stop to think about it we understand that “quad” means four so it makes sense that quadriceps is four muscles.
Basically they work together. It is not as if you can work just one. Our quads extend the leg and flex the thigh. They move our thigh towards our chest and kick our foot out (as an example). Quads would be included in a “Push” workout. Lunges and squats target the quadriceps.
I am pretty sure you knew that the quadriceps were four muscles, but I thought I would just remind you.
Posted in Muscles | Tagged: bows stance, class workout, exercise class, exercise routine, lunges, Muscles, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia routine, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, push workout, Quadriceps, quads, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, squats | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 9, 2010
Nia is a workout, and a great one at that. It is fun and interesting. We get to play and move our bodies and work our muscles. Our exercise consists of all types of movements.
Presently I teach at two facilities. I teach in San Jose at a dance studio where I rent time by the hour. And I teach at a city recreation department. Here is a picture of my class. This is my San Carlos City Park and Recreation class. This is not all of them, but the ones that were there a few minutes before class.
I took this picture because I wanted to document this. I am posting it on my blog because I want to document this and share it.
For me, Nia is a workout, but it is more. It is a journey. I am learning a lot with these ladies. I am learning a lot with this space. I am learning a lot on this particular path of my journey and I wanted to have record of it.
I asked for permission to post this, but I didn’t get anything signed so I will not be naming anyone, but we are having fun. These ladies are on a Nia journey with me too.
We are starting a new session next week, and I have agreed to do more after that, but this one is special because it is the first one. The first one for me, the first one for San Carlos, and the first one for a lot of these women. I have been contacted by some men and hope to have them in our future sessions, but for now it is just us girls.
I am posting this to remember and honor these wonderful women who are on a wonderful journey with me. Cheers to us!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: muscle exercise, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia journey, Nia San Jose, Nia studio, Nia workout, San Carlos, San Carlos Workout, San Jose Dance Studio, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, teach Nia | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 4, 2010
I always get questions about the Nia Routines. Are teachers given the routines? Do teachers make up their own routines? How many routines are there? And more. In this post I’ll just cover those three questions.
At the time of this writing there are 18 Nia routines showing on the teacher website for purchase. I know in the 26 years that Nia has been around there have been a lot more. I believe back when Nia started having routines, music rights and all that big business part of music was not an issue. Now, I think, that portion of life has affected Nia and the routines. I think they had to remove some from sale.
A routine is group of songs. I think 8 to 10 is the average, but it depends on the length of the songs. An average Nia workout class is about 55 minutes, give or take a few minutes. At the time of this post Carlos and Debbie were the creators of the routines.
As a teacher, we purchase a routine which includes a DVD disc, a music CD, and an information pamphlet. It is an amazing piece of educational material. This post is not about the fabulous package of material we receive or about learning the routine, it is just general information about Nia routines. But whenever I talk about the Nia routine packages I feel compelled to exclaim how wonderful they are. I will save the explanation of them for another post.
Teachers are encouraged to use their own creativity when leading a routine. Nia routines are very well thought out and put together. It is my understanding that with higher belt levels choreography is discussed, but with White Belts, Nia encourages them to use the routines that Nia has created. But at the same time we are encouraged to do the katas to different music than we are given.
With the encouragement of using our own creativity, I believe comes the impression that we can do things in Natural Time and to me, that means we can adjust routines. A kata might be less aerobic, but if we want to help make it more so we can add cha-cha-chas in place of a regular step, or just do fast side steps instead of a grapevine.
In addition to changing simple steps we are empowered with all of the different Movement Forms. When we employ the energies of the different movement forms they can change the routine dramatically.
I do mix up the katas from various routines to “create” new routines. To me this gives the participants a feeling of doing something new, yet at the same time they are moving to familiar patterns. Or once, I had an out of town friend attending my classes, after the first class, she admitted she couldn’t do turns. Well, if she were going to be my student for any length of time, you know I would put those in and work with her on them, but since she was only going to be in one more class, I put together katas that didn’t have turns so she would enjoy her workout more.
When I do mix it up, I make certain I adhere to the seven cycles of Nia. I also try to make it a well-rounded routine. I love it when I put something together and afterwards the class says, “Ahhh, I really liked that routine, what was it?”
I hope this helped to answer some of the questions about Nia routines. Please let me know if you have other question.
I am going to continue to you invite you, my reader to a Nia class. If you are ever visiting the San Jose/South Bay Area or you are local to me, please, come to one of mine :-). If you are not local, look up a class near you and try Nia in your area.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: aerobic class, aerobic exercise, Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, kata, Natural Time, Nia Belts, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia Natural Time, Nia routines, Nia San Jose, Nia teachers, Nia White Belt, Nia workout, Nia workout class, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, seven cycles of Nia, White Belt, workout class in San Jose | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 21, 2010
With every Nia routine there is an original focus and intent. On the Nia DVD either Debbie or Carlos* explain the focus and intent that was originally intended for the routine. With the routine Sanjana Debbie explains the focus as being Dynamic Ease.
I remember Dynamic Ease as being Dynamic and Ease. It can either be a stretch as one might do in Yoga or could be the sensation of the muscle squeezing the bone as in an isometric contraction. When I do the routine with Dynamic Ease as the focus I often borrow Debbie’s words and explain it as: “the energy moving out as in flexibility or the energy packing against the bone as in strength”.
The way we play with this is that we do a lot of the moves with one quality then the other. So while we are moving arms upward we could be calling upon the dynamic energies of strength and really squeezing the bone with the muscle. And the next time we can move our arms up with a big stretch move the energy out. A punch could be done strong as if we were really punching something or could be done more like a stretch.
The ease is just moving in a relaxed yet ready type of way. When moving arms upward, as mentioned above, we can change the quality to a nice flowing easy movement. Or a “punch” could just be the arms moving away from the body in a soft motion. Its fun to play and try any exercise with the different energy qualities.
We can do the same moves all three ways. Practicing going back and forth between these qualities assists in both balancing the energy in the body and balancing the body itself. An isometric contraction calls upon big muscles and small muscles and the combination is what is used in balancing.
I believe that it helps with the flow of fluids and energy in the body. I know that it leaves me feeling very energetic. I did this routine with this focus twice this week, once for my San Jose class and once with my San Carlos class and both times I felt very great energy afterwards. In addition to the energy I feel it brings me, I think dynamic ease can serve to add another element of challenge to the Nia workout. Dynamic Ease is one of my favorite foci for this Nia routine.
*Debbie Rosas (Stewart) and Carlos Rosas (AyaRosas) the creators of Nia
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, Debbie Rosas, Debbie Stewart, Dynamis Ease, isometric contraction, muscle contraction, Nia DVD, Nia exercise, Nia routine, Nia workout, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Nia class, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout, San Jose Workout class, San Jose Yoga, Sanjana | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 14, 2010
Recently I had a brief conversation with one of my Nia buddies regarding a routine. She had asked if it was easy to bar. I admitted to her that barring for me was difficult, but that some songs were easier to bar than others.
Later that same evening I was listening to music from a routine I have not learned yet. I found myself stopping what I was doing and starting to do the dance that was associated with the song that was playing. I laughed because I realized that I was ready to learn the moves to the song. That is how it is with me. I will listen to the music over and over and over again. When I find myself saying, “What? What is this song? There is a kata to it?” When I don’t even recognize the song, then I know I am no where near ready to learn that set of movements. So I keep listening to the music over and over. When I find myself stopping what I am doing to do the moves or at least going over the moves in my head as the song is playing then I know that is when my body, my brain, and my spirit is ready to learn the moves. Otherwise it is a struggle for me.
It is so much easier to learn the routine well, when you can sense the moves. It is like you already basically know them and all you have to do is map out the music and put the moves on the paper where they actually belong. Doing the workout to the routine DVD over and over is one of the steps in the first set of steps in learning the routine. And I see why. Listening to the music over and over is one thing that is recommended too. And I see how these two things are important in learning a routine.
I also have learned that not only do I benefit from listening to it over and over, it helps to listen to the music on a variety of devices. I teach in two different facilities and the sound system at the Park and Rec building in San Carlos is very different than the sound system at the studio in San Jose. It it almost as if I need to learn different musical clues for each facility because the systems are so different.
As I said some music is easier for me to learn than others, but when I stick to learning it when I sense it, when I am ready to learn it, it works for me.
Posted in Nia | Tagged: barring, barring a routine, barring music, kata, Nia, Nia DVD, Nia facility, Nia Music, Nia routine, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Park, San Carlos Workout, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia Studio, San Jose Workout | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 12, 2010
I went to San Carlos today to teach my first Nia class for the City of San Carlos Park and Recreation Department. I wanted to get there at least 30 minutes early. I was late, not for the class but for my getting there 30 minutes early. The man at the desk was on the phone when I arrived and there was a woman in front of me needing assistance.
He was kind enough to get off the phone since he wasn’t able to help the person. Sounded like a co-worker he said he would call back. And he asked us if we needed help. The woman that was before me asked where the Nia class was and he asked her if she was the instructor at which time I pointed to myself.
So he took us to the room, helped with the music and the people started coming in. (Thanks, Nick!)
There is always “business” to handle in a class. Either signing in, or making sure everyone is signed up, or checking passes, or something. So we handled that as people were coming in.
This class room was different as it has no mirror. I have talked to a lot of people who prefer the teacher to face away from the students as we do in Nia, but I was not certain about that without a mirror to look at my participants in. So I started off facing them. Then when we got to a point when we would be moving right and left, I turned.
January 2010
Nia is so fun and amazing because even though I could not see the people in the mirror I could sense they were there and moving as I was. When I turned around to look they were doing it just beautifully. Was every doing it exactly the same? No. Was everyone perfectly on step? No. But it is so beautiful because when I turned to make sure everyone was ok, they would smile. They would laugh. They were ok, they were doing Nia.
Most of them were new to Nia. We had a good time. When we did some moving around the room using the space people were smiling and sounding. It was good. I felt as if even though I didn’t have a mirror in which to see my own face and my own body, I was still seeing my reflection. I was seeing joy in movement. Fun in exercise. Happiness in the workout. Nia.
Will all nineteen people come back? Well, some of them will because they had registered. Will the all thirteen that came for the “Try It”? No, probably not all of them. I know for a fact that one won’t because she has signed up for school with a class on that same night and she just came to try it. And other people will not have the time, but at least we danced together. We had fun. I shared Nia with some people who didn’t know about it. I am sure that even though they might not be able to make my class, they will be at others in the future. I think that is good.
Next week I will leave San Jose a few minutes earlier and get there 30 minutes early!
Posted in Nia | Tagged: City of San Carlos, City of San Carlos Park and Recreation Department, joy, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia fun, Nia instructor, Nia participants, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Jose, Nia students, Nia workout, Park and Rec. Department, San Carlos, San Carlos Nia, San Carlos Nia class, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Nia class, San Jose Workout | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 7, 2010
I was awake and aware for two recent earthquakes felt in my area of San Jose. When you look at the information regarding earthquakes there are earthquakes all the time. We just don’t always feel them. The earthquakes that I have been feeling lately have been somewhat different. They have been JOLTS. Well at least two of the last three. But the two I felt just recently were both different. The first one was small. It measured 2.8. It started out as a little rumble. I didn’t hear a rumble, I felt it, like a truck driving by on the street, then it felt as if someone gave the house a little shove.
Then next one or the one I felt most recently was a 4.1. It was more of the kind I am used to. I am used to the shaking kind. I don’t like the rolling kind, I am more familiar with the shaking kind.
So, yeah, if you have never been in an earthquake they are different. I am assuming it has to do with what plates are doing the moving. But there is the kind that shake, the kind that roll, and this sort of new-to-me jolting kind. Odd. Sometimes there are ones that shake and roll, but I don’t remember having felt one of those in a while.
I was not in the Bay Area when the Loma Prieta quake hit. But I felt it all the way in Rohnert Park, near Santa Rosa, past San Francisco. It was odd the way it worked out, the day before our neighbor in the office next door had been hanging pictures and banging on the wall and shaking it. So my boss and I thought that was what was happening.
I remember hearing a long time ago that each number on the Richter Scale actually is 10 times as much movement. So if we have a point 4 earthquake it is actually 10 times as much movement as a 3 pointer would be. So the difference just sounds like a digit but in actual energy and movement it is a lot more. I can’t even begin to fathom the example that was given. It was something like, an earthquake with a magnitude of one releases as much energy as 6 ounces of TNT, but an 8 pointer is as much as 6 million tons of TNT. Huh? Either way, that is a HUGE, HUGE difference. Way more than just 7 digits of measurement it sounds like.
Earthquakes are weird. There are so many things in our world that can make it move sometimes we don’t even realize we are having an earthquake. I used to work in a building where every time someone stomped by my entire cubical it would shake. So I often didn’t even know when we were having an earthquake, I just thought it was someone walking by my cube.
Today, I saw so much talk regarding earthquakes I was amazed. It seems like everyone has something to say about an earthquake. Either they were in one, they don’t like them, they do like them, they think they are fun, they are afraid of them, or they didn’t feel it. Even people that have never been in one have stuff to say. It is amazing.
Since so many people have stuff to say about them, I thought you might want to share something. For me one of the three earthquakes I mentioned above made our house felt like it received a BIG shove. Stuff was knocked off the walls. Have you been in one? Have you never been in one, but they are still scary? Do your animals freak out right before there is one? Were you around this area in ’89? Share.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: 1989, Bay Area Earthquake, Bay Area Workout, earthquake Bay Area, earthquakes, earthquakes San Jose, Loma Prieta Earthquake, magnitude, quake, San Francisco Earthquake, San Jose Workout, Workout San Jose | 2 Comments »
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