Being Grateful by Nancy Weshkoff

Being Grateful

by Nancy Weshkoff

I wrote this blog previously during Thanksgiving week   The sentiments expressed in the blog are still true, and I encourage all of you to take a moment to count the blessings in your life.   Doing so can help you realize how amazing each day that we spend on this earth can be.    Here is the blog, and I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I am taking a moment to pause & think deeply about the holiday.    If you look at the media blitz around us, you would assume Thanksgiving is about shopping for items you probably don’t need at discount prices.   Stores are opening earlier and earlier, and this often means families spend less time together as they rush to get to the mall.  What happened to this wonderful holiday with its family traditions?

Instead of the craziness of shopping, I am instead listing a few things in my life for which I am very grateful:

I am grateful for the many students who walk in the doors of Moonflower Yoga to attend a yoga class.   It is such a blessing to have them at the studio each week, getting stronger, feeling better, and sharing a part of their lives at Moonflower Yoga.   I love meeting each person as they walk in the door and catching up with them each week.  Thank you to all of you who have made Moonflower Yoga a success.

It was 6 years ago this month that my life changed forever with the news that my job in corporate America was coming to an end with a forced layoff.    Although that news was devastating at the time, it gave me the opportunity to try something new that I always wanted to do.   Moonflower Yoga was born as a result of that, and I am grateful that my life changed for the better.   As Gandhi very wisely said: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”.

Making a life change would have been very challenging if it wasn’t for the support of my husband, Bob, who has been my rock for the last 40+ years.   Bob, together with friends and family, supported me and Moonflower Yoga, and I am very grateful for their love and support.   And Bob’s delicious, homemade desserts at our workshops, events, and Moonflower Yoga Book Club & Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts meetings bring a smile to everyone’s face.   And now Bob is offering his own vegan and gluten-free cooking workshops at Moonflower Yoga.

Moonflower Yoga has great yoga teachers who work alongside of me each week and bring their love of teaching and helping people to Moonflower Yoga each week.   I could not run the studio without them.   And there have been wonderful workshop presenters as well, who have taught us some very interesting things that we didn’t know before and helped us learn something new.   We now have Reiki training at Moonflower Yoga taught by Connie helping to bring healing to people, as well as IET/Angel healing training taught by Chris.  I am grateful to all of the great instructors and workshop presenters for making Moonflower Yoga a special place.

I am grateful to my hometown of Bellmore, Long Island, in New York’s Nassau County.   I have been welcomed in the town, and it has been awesome to establish my business roots here as well as my home roots.

I am grateful to my yoga teachers who helped me discover the wonders of yoga many years ago.    Yoga has been my rock when things were stressful, and now it has become my life.    It all started with attending my first yoga class, and it grew from there.   Yoga can help you too!

What are you grateful for this holiday season?    Take a moment to reflect on the blessings in your life.   You will feel inspired!   Have a wonderful holiday.

Meditation and Yoga Benefits by Nancy Weshkoff

Meditation and Yoga Benefits

By Nancy Weshkoff

I was watching a morning news show program recently, and I was so happy to see an uplifting story about an inner-city school program.   In this school program for elementary school children, the children were taught meditation and yoga as a healthy way of coping with stress.   If a child had an anger issue with another student or teacher, the child was sent to a meditation area and would meditate quietly for several months.   The children also began their day with several minutes of simple yoga postures and breathing techniques setting a positive intention for the day.

The results were excellent.   The children learned positive ways of coping with life’s stresses.  They reported feeling peaceful and calm.   And a disciplinary trip to the principal’s office was no longer needed as there were no longer student infractions as previously.   These children learned skill sets that can be used throughout their life, which is terrific.

These de-stressing techniques of yoga and meditation are fabulous for people of all ages!   In the great yoga classes that we offer at Moonflower Yoga, we teach you to link your breath with movement.  So many times during the day, especially when we are under pressure and stressed, we forget to breathe deeply.   Our mind is going in a million directions, thinking about the various deadlines we need to meet, perhaps worrying about a child or an elderly parent, etc.   Shallow breathing is not good for our organs.    And all that stress leads to disease including heart disease – the number one killer of women in the US.   In our meditation classes, our teachers give you some gentle guidance to help your mind relax so that you can learn to be in the present moment and not worry about the “shoulda, coulda, woulda’s” that plague us.

Come join us at Moonflower Yoga in Long Island New York’s Nassau County and try one of our great yoga or meditation classes!   Like the children mentioned above, you will find a fabulous tool to help you feel better.