Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

Lynn used to be a student of mine when I taught Nia in Manhattan. She long ago became a teacher herself and opened up a Nia studio in her home-town of Cornwall-on-Hudson, about an hour north of NYC. I was still in NY when she opened it, and she invited me to come up and teach a series of classes and playshops on the weekend the doors were officially opened. And now I'm returning to the successful studio about ten years later. It is burgeoning and popular, and my class was filled with people. I was bringing the Orchestra routine and tacking on an extra hour of FloorPlay. At first, I was trying to quickly put together an hour of classical music to do FloorPlay to, but it didn't take me long to realize that that was going to take a lot of work to make it any good. I could easily play some music and 'wing it' but I feel like the students that come to my classes deserve my best work, which comes from preparation and much consideration of my movements before being prese...

I know what poison oak looks like, growing up loving to explore the creeks and forests in Southern California. I'm not as familiar with poison ivy. For the past few days, since Vermont, I've been noticing long tendrils of ivy-looking plants with leaves in groupings of three. Not knowing what it was, I kept steering River away from it, but inevitably, he'd find some and get into it before I could say otherwise. And when we had the dog incident at the Green Mountain National Forest, I thought I might have walked in and stood in a patch of it, being so focused on the canine matters at hand. But nothing really came of it, thankfully. I thought at one point I was seeing a patch develop on my right wrist. I had done my best to avoid touching River or the venomous plant, as I am highly sensitive to it. I've got horrible memories of being covered in oozing, burning, itching welts. But I think maybe it turned out onto to be a very mild bug bite. Or, if it was poison ivy ...

My host, Richele set up two classes for me while I was in Albany. One of them was actually while she was teaching her Nia class at the local YMCA, so she wasn't there, but the owner of the studio was. The roundabout connection happened a  year ago when Casey, the owner was out of town on the date I was to teach, so Richele hosted the event. This time, Richele put it all together but Casey hosted me at her space on Friday. Casey was one of the first Nia trainers I'd ever met besides Debbie and Carlos. This was back in 1997, when there were only a handful of trainers. I have seen Casey on videos and in publications and Nia things ever since, but haven't really seen her in person in a long time. Maybe only once since that very first time. And it felt like we were old friends when we saw each other in the parking lot today. The studio is ... well not in the best...um let's say... its in da hood. But painted on the building is this cool mural of yoga poses and positi...

Each state has a different design for the signs that indicate official State Highways.  Some are bland shapes, like the squares of Illinois and Texas which is only different because the outline is thicker in Texas (of course). But the most boring square is Connecticut Or there are the circles of Kentucky and New Jersey I can't even tell the difference between those two! And there are lots of variations on the rounded corner rectangle, but my favorite of the shapes is Wisconsin. Kudos for combining a rectangle and a triangle. Vermont brings a little more creativity to the shape concept and adds color to the rectangle. I don't know what's going on with Alaska, but I love it. And some of my other favorites are downright artistic like in New Mexico or in Kansas A lot of them have silhouettes of people or things, like Washington state has George Washington Utah has a beehive And North Dakota has a Native American. Several ...

I arrived at a lovely house she was renting for a year while her friend, the owner, was in Europe. It had a big fenced back yard where we sat and chatting for hours, mostly about Nia and River and being happy and healthy. At one point we walked to the market and got some food to heat up in the microwave and River and I waited outside while she went in to shop. Throughout the day I was telling her stories about my encounters with people and how they upset River and how my constant struggle through life these days is all about keeping River safe from dog lovers. Strange as it may seem, I told her, the ones that claim to be the most dog savvy are our worst threat. They don't know how River really is and the let their ego cloud their better judgment. For example, while I waited outside the market, a big man with a grey beard slowly waddled toward us, giving unbroken eye contact to River, who freaked out. The guy laughed as I struggled with a ferocious dog, barking and lunging towar...

Last night, my colon started rumbling around bedtime. I guess I had eaten something bad and I was paying for it all night with frequent visits to spill my contents into the bowl. I was losing a lot of water and regretting whatever it was I had that was very spicy. My initial thought was something about the dominos order that I just finished. They took a long time to get to me and my BBQ chicken pizza was nearly cold by the time I ate it. But there was no heat in the dinner. The heat I was feeling seemed like it might have been from the salsa on the burger from lunch.  I also wondered if it was part of, or different than, the sickness I am currently recuperating from. Whatever it was was ravaging my insides all night and into the morning. I got a fitful sleep, and I really missed having my fermented foods. I have a feeling if I had been keeping up with my high-bacteria diet, my digestive system would have plowed right through whatever took me down today. In the morning, about 6a...

After doing laundry at the Motel 6 in Nashua, I started my day with a burger. I noticed that there was another b.good location right around the corner from the motel, so I decided to try another option on the menu before today's road adventure began. I wrote it as an addendum to the entry from yesterday on my burger blog . I set my navigation to avoid highways and we took more back roads through New Hampshire. Whereas yesterday I went east, working my way toward Maine, today I worked my way west toward Vermont. I noticed more and more Hilary on this end of the state. And as I got even further west and into Vermont, I saw several faded and weathered Bernie signs.  The speed limits in New Hampshire feel very slow to me. Every road I'm on, my instinct is to be about 10 MPH faster, but I abide. I noticed that there is also a dearth of gas stations, especially ones that I've heard of. But I wondered if the slower speed limits and the fact that they don't seem to nee...

I set my navigation to take the back roads from Nashua to Portland; it was exactly the same number of miles and it only added about five minutes of driving time. Going through New Hampshire I was dismayed by the support for Donald as evidenced by many "make America great again" yard signs. It nearly put me in a bad mood to think of how much support he is getting. I see him as not only entirely unqualified to run the country, as he has zero political experience, but also extremely dangerous as he has shown he has no tact. I can imagine him pissing off political leaders from other countries and really damaging our international relations, as well as attempting to make changes that favor our countries few billionaire businessmen, further driving a wedge between the haves and have-nots. Not that I think Hillary is any great shakes, I do think she's far better and the only wise choice. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see folks who live along the back roads of rural N...

A few days ago it started with a sore throat. Two days ago that became a stuffed up head and deep productive cough combined with a headache and lack of energy. I was sick. I told a friend of mine and his response was "Your recuperative powers are legion."  Which is true. When I compare myself to other people, I tend to be the one who gets sick less frequently and who recovers more quickly. And I don't know if it's just my imagination or my bias, but when I do get sick, it seems that I get really sick. I don't just get the sniffles or feel kind of off kilter, but when I am sick, I'm thrashed. Such was the case these past few days. But I was inspired by what my friend said and that became my mantra and my inspiration. One of the first things I do is to admit and accept that I am sick. I don't try to get on with my life. I don't go to work anyway. I don't trudge through like a hero, I curl up like a little baby and totally check out of life. And...

Well, I suppose I deserve this. I've been paying about zero attention to the healthfulness of my diet while on the road. I opted to forego healthy eating in favor of ease and convenience (like most Americans) and now I'm paying the price with my health (like most Americans). I suppose I have to admit I thought I was a bit bulletproof. I've gotten used to enjoying glowing good healthy and a robust immune system, that I forgot that it's not just a free gift from heaven, but something that I earn through watching my nutrition and being sure to eat complete, well-rounded and wholesome meals made from fresh foods. It started a couple of days ago with a sore throat, and then last night the mucus started flowing. Today I'm suffering with a full blown head cold and my energy is zapped. I also get super cranky when I'm sick, so don't start anything with me right now. My sinuses are full and inflamed and I'm producing phlegm faster than I can blow it out. My n...

Today started out uneventful. I woke up, had my coffee. Michael made me a frozen toaster waffle with cinnamon sugar and I ate it as I gathered up my luggage for the shlepp back to the car. By this time, I had parked three blocks away, but I was thrilled by the parking space. I found it about 11:10 on Thursday morning. And the space was free and available until Monday! I had struck parking gold by New York standards. The luxury of being able to leave my car on the street and not worry about paying a meter or moving it!! When this morning came and it was time to leave the spot, I felt a bit of internal struggle. I related to George from Seinfeld and how excited he'd get when he found a good parking spot. It was a shame to leave it, but it served me well. Driving up the country, I didn't stop much as I was on a bit of a time line. Of course I allowed for plenty of extra time, but it was Friday afternoon, and I was driving out of a big city and didn't know what I was in for...

New York City still feels a little bit like home to me. I feel nostalgic whenever I return. Today, my drive in from Pittsburgh was going to be a long one, but it was broken up by paying a visit to an old client in Loganton, PA. This is a guy who's seen me twice before when I passed through PA; in King of Prussia once and in Carlisle once. This time it worked out best for me to come to him. He lives on a farm in a rural town. They have one stop sign! It helped to break up my seven hours of driving, and I also made some money. He also fed me. He had some shrimp and vegetables on the BBQ when I arrived, so not only did he feed me and get a session with me, but he impressed me by serving up a healthy meal.  And then I was back on the road. The last time I came through NYC was a challenge in many ways. The parking, the traffic, my state of being and the things I tried to organize all seemed to be working against me. They weren't impossible, but they offered up great resistance. ...