Posts Tagged ‘Workout San Jose’
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 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 »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 29, 2009
The Nia White Belt Principle #2 is Natural Time and the Movement Forms. I have posted about the movement forms, here I talk about Natural Time. There is the Natural Time of the Mayans with the 13 moons to a year and there is the Natural Time of one’s body and one’s own movements.
In a Nia workout class even as the teacher is leading the participants through a routine, the participants are encouraged to follow their own natural time. There could be a section of the exercise that consists of floating down and rising up. I might invite you to do it in “your own time”, your “natural time”, encouraging you to do it as you sense. The music could be motivating you to float down slowly and rise up quickly, or vice-versa, or slow both in the downward motion and the upward motion. But it is up to you and your body, your own natural time. So even though we are moving all together we are doing it in our own time. We are allowing our bodies to listen the music and move as we sense it.
The same goes, really for our choreographed moves, one might move it fast and big, whereas the person standing right next to them might move it slow and small. It all depends on one’s own body. Moving in natural time helps us connect deeply with our own bodies. Without being forced to move at a specific speed or “volume” we can ensure that we get the exact workout out bodies need.
The routines in Nia are choreographed in a way that allows for people to play with the moves. Participants can move their own way and in their own time. Most steps are simple and allow for simplifying or spicing it up.
Nia also considers 13/20 to be the code of Natural Time. There are 13 major joints and 20 digits of the body. Body movements moving all 13 joints and 20 digits is a way to receive information from the body.
Visit my site for details on my ON-GOING classes in San Jose (the schedule and the classes I mention on the blog might change from time to time. The best way to find out about CURRENT classes is to visit: http://www.helpyouwell.com/nia-class-schedule.html . Thank you!)
Posted in Nia, Nia White Belt Principles | Tagged: 13 moons, body's way, exercies, exercise, exercise San Jose, Mayans, Movement Forms, Natural Time, Nia, Nia class, Nia exercise, Nia exercise class, Nia Natural Time, Nia routine, Nia San Carlos, Nia San Jose, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt Principle #2, Nia workout, Nia workout class, San Carlos Nia, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, Workout San Jose | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 26, 2009
I am not a big fan of Thanksgiving. I don’t care for any of the traditional fare; sweet potatoes (especially with marshmallows, what is up with that?), stuffing, dressing, turkey, gravy, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. I don’t get excited for the big dinner. I do, however, like the idea of having a day where we give thanks.
It looks like the United States and Canada are the countries that do the Thanksgiving celebrating. But according to Wiki Grenada and the Netherlands do some celebrating to. The time of celebration was about the harvest, but now, as with a lot of Holidays it has morphed into something else.
I have been blessed with so many things to be thankful for, I make it a point to say thanks everyday. But with a day designated for giving thanks I get to gather with my family near my home in San Jose. Sometimes we get to be with both families, but this year it didn’t work out that way and we are staying local. I am thankful for all my blessings. Including you.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: blessings, cranberries, dressing, gravy, marshmallows, pumpkin pie, San Jose Workout, stuffing, sweet potatoes, Thanksgiving, turkey, workout, Workout San Jose | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 8, 2009
This is a simple overview of TweetDeck. And by simple I mean it does not include all the features and tips and tricks of TweetDeck. My posts regarding Twitter are not for the power users to learn from. It would be great if they commented and shared information, but basically I am sharing what I know and I feel as if I have barely scratched the surface of what Twitter and all its hundreds of applications can do. In this post I do not cover all that TweetDeck can do. I only briefly address what I do, so far, with TweetDeck.
First off, one of the things that some people love about TweetDeck is that you can manage multiple Twitter Accounts with it. I don’t have multiple accounts so I don’t use TweetDeck like that so I won’t be talking about that here. All I can tell you about multiple accounts and TweetDeck is that there is something that says, “Add more accounts” and above the box you type in it says “From” and I am guessing that if you have multiple accounts it will list them there and you can indicate which account you are sending from. (I circled that in the photo. At the bottom.)
For my one account, I use TweetDeck to see various tweets all on one screen. I have an “All” column set up so that I can see tweets from all of the people that I follow. But, I am beginning to think that only the people I recently follow show up because I don’t see tweets from people that I started following when I first signed up for Twitter. So I made another column for those Twitterers.
I also have a column for “Nia People”. This is a “Group”, these are the people that I have met online that teach, do, practice, and love Nia. With this column I have actually set it up so that I see certain people that I am following that I know have something to do with Nia.
I have a “YelpSV” search column. With this column it is set up so that I see people that send a Tweet that mentions YelpSV. It searches for tweets that contain @YelpSV.
See? You can set up different columns and you can set them up different ways. You can set up a column for a search on “Workouts” and it will capture tweets that have that word in them or you can set up a column for a group called, for example “San Jose” or “Exercise Classes” and actually indicate certain people whose tweets you want to see in either of those columns.
It is quick and easy to set up columns so you can change them whenever you would like.
I also have a mentions column of HelpYouWell set up so when people @HelpYouWell I see those in a separate column—although they sometimes show up after the ones in the other columns. And I have DM (Direct Message) column so I can see messages sent directly to me, HelpYouWell.
I don’t have an issue with “API” (whatever that stands for), but I hear of people that do. Apparently Twitter only allows third party applications (systems? programs? Whatever.) 100 “touches” (that’s what I am calling them) per hour. So if your account “touches” twitter (either sending, receiving, dealing with, whatever) 100 times in an hour you have to wait for the next hour in order to “touch” twitter again. But this is only with third party stuff, like TweetDeck. If you are on Twitter.com it does not do that. So use TweetDeck and if you max out, use Twitter.com until the hour is up and go back to TweetDeck.
Posted in Twitter | Tagged: @HelpYouWell, API, exercise, exercise classes, exercise people, exercise San Jose, learn Nia, multiple Twitter accounts, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia exercise, Nia people, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, teach exercise, teach Nia, teach workout, TweetDeck, TweetDeck API, TweetDeck columns, Twitter, Twitter.com, workout, workout classes, workout exercise, workout people, Workout San Jose, Yelp, YelpSV | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 27, 2009
I was making rice tonight and I thought, this is so easy, but not everyone knows about this funny little trick, so I wanted to share.
I was not familiar with a rice maker until I met my husband. I was accustom to Uncle Ben’s white rice you make in a pot on the stove. The whole point being to make it fluffy and NOT sticky. But my husband wouldn’t eat that. He only ate “sticky rice”. And he makes it with a rice maker. Since my apartment in San Jose was really small I received a small one as a gift. It was so cute. We don’t have that one any longer.
Anyway, the way he taught me how to cook rice in a rice cooker was to pour the rice in. To me it doesn’t matter how much because to me left over rice is fine. So, pour the rice in. And if it is white rice, rinse it. I hate this part. I always lose rice because in our present rice maker my hand is just that little bit too small that rice escapes when I try to get out most of the water. But usually I only lose a little bit so it works out ok. After you rinse it all you have to do it make sure you have enough water to cover the rice up to the mid-point of your first finger’s knuckle. What? Yeah, I know, odd, but it works.
You put your finger on top of the rice and make sure the water reaches up to half way up your finger only to the first joint. Always works. Rice comes out perfect. How, because Hubby and I have different size fingers, I don’t know. But it works.
But low and behold, that only works for white rice. We found out that you have to add more water for brown rice and then that also means it takes longer to cook. Took two times of waiting for the rice to be done and then having it be crunchy for me to figure that one out!
Sometimes I put a little bit of garlic olive oil in there or lemon infused oil (learned the lemon one from a friend—yum!). Either oil gives the rice a slight flavor plus helps it NOT stick to the pot. Love that.
As you can see from the picture there are measures on the actual pot, never used those. Sounds like an exercise in patience to me. I just dump, rinse, and fill. I rinse white rice well, but not the brown rice. What about you, do you use the finger water level method?
Posted in Food | Tagged: brown rice, fluffy rice, Perfect rice, San Jose exercise, San Jose Workout, sticky rice, white rice, Workout San Jose | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 14, 2009
As you might agree our portion sizes contribute to the obesity epidemic in America.
In restaurants a meal is usually more than one serving of each item. I know that we recently went to Morton’s in downtown San Jose and my steak worked out to be probably about a serving and three quarters.
If we started eating the proper serving sizes I am convinced our obesity rates would go down.
In case you are familiar or you want a reminder:
1 gram = about a paper clip or a dime
4 g is a tsp (4 paper clips or 4 dimes)
| One serving of: |
Is about: |
| Meat |
a deck of playing cards |
| Cheese |
the equivalent of four dices |
| Salad greens |
the size of a softball |
| Baked potato |
the size of a computer mouse |
| Fruit |
the size of a tennis ball |
| Bread |
the size of an audio cassette
(but do people know what THAT is?) |
Also remember to check the serving size on the package. If you fill a bowl with cereal, just because that is one “bowl” doesn’t mean that is one “serving”. The bowl could hold more than one serving. Do you have a favorite food that you tend to eat more of than the serving size? C’mon you can tell me, what is it?
Posted in Food | Tagged: baked potato, Cheese, meat, Morton's San Jose, obesity, obesity epidemic, San Jose work out, Serving size, Workout San Jose | 10 Comments »
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