Bellmore written by Nancy Weshkoff
Bellmore
Written by Nancy Weshkoff
This week marks the 27th anniversary of the Bellmore Family Street Festival in Nassau County, Long Island, New York. Over 120,000 people visited last year’s Bellmore Family Street Festival. It is incredible to see so many people travel from all over to come visit Bellmore, have fun, and enjoy this lovely Long Island town. The town of Bellmore does a great job of organizing this amazing event with 25 square blocks of entertainment and activities.
I am proud to be a resident of Bellmore, and I am even prouder to have launched Moonflower Yoga in Bellmore over a year ago. There is a great sense of community here, and I have been welcomed by my fellow business owners who have helped support me and have given me some great advice. I joined the local Bellmore Chamber of Commerce, and I enjoy speaking with other Bellmore business owners at our monthly meetings and hearing what is new in their lives and businesses.
On the eve of this very special annual event in Bellmore, I am preparing the materials I need for the Moonflower Yoga booth on Bedford Avenue in the heart of Bellmore Village, and I am getting excited for what lies ahead this weekend. If you are one of the 120,000 people who visit the Bellmore Family Street Festival in Long Island’s Nassau County this weekend, please stop by and say hello to us! We would love to speak with you about the great yoga classes and workshops that we offer at Moonflower Yoga.
Hope to see you soon – either at the Bellmore Family Street Festival or at the Moonflower Yoga studio.
Moonflower Yoga’s One-Year Anniversary written by Nancy Weshkoff
Moonflower Yoga’s One-Year Anniversary
Written by Nancy Weshkoff
This week marks the one-year anniversary of the opening of Moonflower Yoga. As I write this, I cannot believe how quickly the year has flown by!
When I decided to embark on this new phase of my life a year ago, I knew it was a life-changing event. Leaving behind my former life in corporate America and opening my own special yoga studio in Bellmore, New York, on Long Island’s Nassau County was a giant leap. I remember all the planning that went into that grand opening: hiring a great staff of teachers, building a website, ordering supplies, preparing the space, developing the class program, etc. Yet, even as I made all these plans, I did not fully comprehend at that time what would happen over the course of the next year.
What happened over the course of Moonflower Yoga’s first year is that I met some of the most amazing people in my life. People who I never met before walked in the doors of Moonflower Yoga to try yoga for the first time. These students come from all walks of life, with interesting and fascinating backgrounds. I look forward to seeing them each week and catching up on what is happening in their lives. And, of course, watching these students grow stronger and become more flexible each week is very gratifying and inspires me as a teacher. I have also witnessed the strain on the faces of many students as they first enter the doors of Moonflower Yoga from a crazy day filled with stressful obligations. When they leave after an hour of a renewing yoga practice, they are once again smiling and are better able to cope with life’s challenges.
I have had fun planning and designing the class program and workshops. I am pleased with the variety of great yoga classes that we now offer at Moonflower Yoga. I also love putting together the workshop programs which give people an opportunity to learn something new as they kick off their weekend. In our first year, we have had some varied and interesting topics ranging from dealing with neck/shoulder pain issues, to understanding the principles of Ayurveda and your unique “dosha” type, to astrology, crystals, and Feng Shui. I’m busy working on new workshops for Moonflower Yoga’s second year.
Most of all, I feel truly blessed. Blessed to be waking up every day to do something that I love. Blessed to have incredible students walk in the door each day to practice yoga at Moonflower Yoga. Blessed to have the support of an amazing husband, family, and friends who have encouraged me in my new journey. Blessed to have a great staff of teachers who put their heart and soul to teach at Moonflower Yoga and who have helped Moonflower Yoga become a success.
I send out a big thank you to each of you who have supported Moonflower Yoga in its first year! If you are in the area of Bellmore, in Long Island’s Nassau County on Sunday, September 15, please stop by the Moonflower Yoga studio as we celebrate our one-year anniversary. And if you haven’t tried a class or fascinating workshop at Moonflower Yoga, come give us a try! Your first class is always free. You will gain strength, flexibility, balance, and feel better. Check out one of fun yoga classes or workshops and join the growing community of wonderful students at Moonflower Yoga.
Onward to year two!!
Remembering 9/11 by Nancy Weshkoff
Remembering 9/11
Written by Nancy Weshkoff
I wrote this special 
blog last year on the anniversary of 9/11. Like so many other people, it is a day that I will never forget. Here is my 9/11 blog which pays tribute to those who lost their lives on that September morning. May they rest in peace. And here is praying that we can live in peace rather than in senseless destruction.
12 years ago on the morning of September 11th, I remember my husband and I waking to a beautiful September morning. The weather was absolutely perfect, and we remarked that it was probably one of the 10 best days of the year. We both worked in Manhattan at that time and headed to work from Long Island and arrived in our respective office buildings shortly before 8 AM. The office buildings had beautiful views of Manhattan including the World Trade Center. Little did we know that in a few short minutes so many lives would change forever.
When we heard about the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center, like so many others, we thought this must be an accident. Sadly, as events unfolded, we realized it wasn’t an accident. From our office buildings, we could see the World Trade Center on fire. I remember being filled with shock and horror. Just like me, so many innocent people had gone to work that day, but in a different office address, and they were now dying or trapped in the towers.
As no one knew what might happen next, every office building in Manhattan was evacuated and all the public transportation in/out of Manhattan was closed. This resulted in millions of people emptying on to the streets of Manhattan. What happened next made me even prouder to be a New Yorker. There were no riots despite huge crowds. Instead we cried in the streets together and consoled and helped each other watching the smoke from lower Manhattan and praying for those who were in the buildings.
There were so many acts of bravery. I think about those heroic first responders who knew they were probably going to die but risked their lives anyway going into the burning towers to try and help people. I think a lot about the victims and their families. Family members stood on street corners after the attack holding pictures of their lost loved ones with messages such as “have you seen my daughter who was on last seen on x floor of 1 WTC.” Those pictures were later placed all over Manhattan on lamp posts and in the huge transportation hubs such as Grand Central Station and Penn Station. The victims became even more real as you looked at their smiling faces and knew they were senselessly killed that September morning.
My heart goes out to the victims and may they rest in peace. My heart also goes out to the families of the victims as they continue to find the strength to carry on.
One lesson that I learned from 9/11 was to live more in the present. Sadly we never know what will happen to us when we begin our morning. So we must make the most of each day. Don’t put off doing something that you’ve always wanted to do. It could be a simple thing such as spending more time with your family or it could be something bigger such as taking that special trip somewhere. After 9/11, I organized a trip to Disney World with my family because I wanted to create a happy memory.
Deciding to start my own yoga studio, Moonflower Yoga in Bellmore, in Nassau County on Long Island, took some courage as I left behind the life I knew best. Yet I know that the courage to start a new venture was only a very small fraction of the courage of those brave first responders who sacrificed their lives to save others on that beautiful September morning and to the 9/11 families who have learned to cope with this tragedy. May all the victims of this sad event in our history be forever remembered. And may we always remember to enjoy the blessings we encounter every single day.
Yoga and Children written by Nancy Weshkoff
Yoga and Children
Written by Nancy Weshkoff
When I was a child in school, yoga was virtually unknown in New York. How much has changed in a short period of time! Now children are being introduced to yoga, and I think this is really fabulous. With a greater emphasis on test scores and the importance of top grades in order to move forward with a higher education, children are having their expectations and stress levels increase.
Yoga gives children confidence, and it builds strength and flexibility. Standing poses also help with good posture which is vital as children grow. All of these are wonderful things for our children. And, unlike many other activities, yoga importantly helps with both physical and mental balance. Physically, it helps children become stronger as they learn to balance their growing bodies. Mentally the stress of today’s fast-paced world takes its toll on our children too, and they need to learn healthy tools to cope and feel better about themselves.
It is because of this that we are adding a great new yoga class to the schedule at Moonflower Yoga in Bellmore, New York, in Long Island’s Nassau County. The new class starting in September is Toddler and Me, designed for a caregiver and a toddler to practice together. It will be a lot of interactive fun as the caregiver and toddler will learn poses together, with each helping the other. What a wonderful bonding experience! The class will be taught by Vicky Seff, one of the great yoga teachers at Moonflower Yoga. Vicky is also a mom who loves children, and she makes this class interesting and fun.
If you would like to register for the new Toddler and Me class, or any of the other great yoga classes at Moonflower Yoga in Bellmore, Long Island’s Nassau County, you can do so at any time by visiting our website: www.moonfloweryoga.com. A special toddler in your life can be on a path of good health and confidence!
