Terre Pruitt's Blog

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

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Posts Tagged ‘Spear Finger’

First Degree Nia Black Belt Guest Teacher

Posted by terrepruitt on May 1, 2014

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

This class was held in San Ramon on April 30, 2014!

As you probably know I teach a dance exercise called Nia.  It is a cardio workout.  If you have read any of my information on Nia you will also be aware that many of the people who practice Nia consider it to be more than JUST a cardio dance exercise.  But . . . on the surface that is what I call it, in brief, to let people know what it is.  If they are interested then we can discuss some of the other facets of it.  Like many exercise disciplines there are star teachers or celebrities.  I’ve talked about that before.  There is always some people who were there from the beginning and so they have the most experience and often times get categorized into star or celebrity “status”.  Yesterday we had a long-time Nia Practitioner and Teacher do a 007 Nia class.

Jason Alan Griffin is one of the first First Degree Black Belts.  Nia has created an additional training intensive, they have added a “degree” to the black belt.  It is so new that not a lot of information is out regarding that, and I didn’t even think to ask Jason about it.  I am Facebook friends with Jason and yesterday was the first time we met in person.  Jason likes to travel, so he drives around with his dog River bringing Nia to cities around the United States.  He created a routine he called Bond Girls, but recently re-named it to Goldfinger and that is what he is delivering on his current trip.  He was in the East Bay last year (I believe) but he packs his travel schedule so tight he doesn’t stay long and so I missed the classes he had.  Maybe he was in the North Bay too.  I don’t remember.  I couldn’t make it.  So this trip I was very excited to get to take his class, meet him, and his dog.

Jason is one of those dog daddies that takes his pet parenting seriously and he posts a lot about his dog.  So through his Facebook and blog I feel I know both of them a bit so I was happy to finally get to meet him.

Not to use the current happenings in my life as an excuse, but I found myself leaving for the class much later than I intended and also the directions I looked up gave me a different travel time than the day before.  I ended up being late for class.  And while I felt very bad about that . . . I decided to forgive myself which enabled me to jump right in to his already-started-class.  It was so fun.

While the invitation to dress up in something shimmery was there, I completely forgot, but Jason did not disappoint.  He had on some shiny silver pants.  He led us through many of the 52 Nia moves while we focused on pelvis, chest, head.  We used our spear fingers in true James Bond fashion.  We danced in our own body’s way and laughed and sang while doing so.

Every time I take a Nia class I realize I am not a Nia student often enough.  I love being able to laugh at myself because I don’t get the moves on the first (or how many ever it takes) go around.  I love being able to just follow as someone else’s lead.  I love being able to learn new pearls and moves.  It is so fun.  I am so glad that I was able to join the East Bay Nia community while they hosted Jason’s class.  It was super fun.  I want Jason to come to San Jose to deliver his FreeDance Playshop.  🙂

I hope you jump at the chance to dance with Jason when he is in a city near you.  He is really fun to dance with.  And if you are lucky, River will sneeze on you!

Thanks, Jason and River.  I look forward to your next visit!

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

Jason leading the class in his silver pants!

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

Janet and I doing our Bond Girl impressions – with spear finger

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

Jason and River. River was more interested in the grass than posing!

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Webbed Spaces

Posted by terrepruitt on August 6, 2013

In Nia we use specific hand techniques.  There are seven moves considered “Hand” moves in the Nia 52 Moves.  There are eight moves that are “Finger” moves.  So fifteen moves in all out of 52 that are specifically hand/finger moves.  You can read about “Spear Finger” and “Balance Finger” in previous posts.  The hands are such a large part of our lives.  In addition to the many things they do they help us communicate.  Whether we are using them to make gestures as we speak, using them in place of speaking (in the case of sign language or something as elementary as “the finger”), or using them to comfort by touching.  They are very powerful.  Nia does not neglect that hands.  All fifteen of the 52 Nia moves that have to do with the hands/fingers assist in moving energy.  It could be moving the energy within our bodies or outside of our bodies.  Some of the hand/finger moves can be done both with positive tension or in a relaxed state.  When done with tension the muscles in the hands and arms maybe felt more readily.  While done with a relaxing flow they might allow us to sense the outside energy.  One of the hand moves is called Webbed Spaces.

Webbed Spaces is where your open you hand spreading your fingers wide.  I imagine it is called Webbed Spaces because it shows the “webs” between each finger.  I have also thought it is called Webbed Spaces because I imagine my fingers being spider webs.  I actually don’t know why it is called Webbed Spaces, but those are the things I think about when doing and talking about Webbed Spaces.

After you have already opened your hand and spread your fingers wide.  The Nia Technique book says to practice extending each finger and creating even more space in them.  Usually in a Nia Class we are moving our arms with our hands in Webbed Spaces.  Sometimes we keep our fingers extended while moving our arms or we relax them and move into Webbed Spaces.  Either way it is a great way to keep flexibility in the hands.

Do this: put one hand in the Webbed Spaces position, flex and extend your fingers.  Put your arm out in a gesture of, “STOP!” Allow the flexing sensation to travel all the way up your arm.  Take your other hand and feel the muscles.  Then keeping the tension, point your fingers to the ground . . . feel the muscles in your forearm move.  Then do the same stop motion and fingers-pointing-to-the-earth move while your hand is not in Webbed Spaces position.  Feel the difference.  In both cases with Webbed Spaces the muscles are working differently than doing the same wrist movement without Webbed Spaces.

Webbed Spaces is just another way that Nia engages the entire body.  This move is also comparable to Jazz Hands so I think of it as showy and dramatic.  It can be a great emotional move allowing you to express what you FEEL.  It is another way to add fun and pizzazz into our cardio workout.

What do you feel when you do the little exercise stated above?  What do you sense when you do this move?

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