New Year, New Beginnings by Nancy Weshkoff

NEW YEAR, NEW BEGINNINGS

By Nancy Weshkoff

There is something very special about the new year.   It is a time for new beginnings.   One of my favorite authors is Lucy Maud Montgomery who wrote the wonderful “Anne of Green Gables” series of books.   In this series, Anne Shirley made this comment after having a not-so-good day: “Tomorrow is a brand new day with no mistakes in it.”   How true!   If there were some things in 2015 that didn’t turn out as planned, just say goodbye to that, and turn the page to 2016.   It is a brand new year!

One of the best things to do for 2016 is to take care of YOU.   If you don’t take care of yourself, you cannot take care of the others in your life who may need you – children, elderly parents, spouse, your boss and co-workers, friends, siblings, etc.

At Moonflower Yoga, we have a great selection of yoga and meditation classes where you can take care of you.   In just one hour you can de-stress, learn to take some deep, cleansing breaths to remove tension, and engage in physical activity designed to help you become stronger, more flexible, and improve balance.   If you are afraid to take that first step, don’t be!   Everyone is welcome and greeted who walks through the door.   Our class sizes are small and semi-private in nature (with generally no more than 6-8 students per class).   We have great yoga teachers who will pay attention to you and help you with alignment and feeling comfortable. There are many props at Moonflower Yoga to support you.  If you have difficulty with a standing class, we have Chair Yoga on Tuesday mornings where you’ll get a great workout and feel amazing while seated in a chair.   Or come to a Tuesday meditation class and find some inner peace and relaxation.

Make 2016 a year in which you learn something new. You can join us for the Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts Group where you will learn how to knit, crochet, or quilt, or try the Moonflower Yoga Book Club and go on a wonderful journey with a fascinating book.   There are great workshops on the schedule to start 2016 including a Feng Shui workshop to learn how to situate items in your environment to get the best energy flow, the Ayurveda workshop where you discover your “dosha” type and learn how following the lifestyle for your dosha can help you reduce stress, feel better and sleep better.   Or learn a wonderful healing energy such as Reiki in our Reiki training sessions or Reiki Healing Circle. Discover essential oils and how they can fill your home with aromatic bliss while also providing other benefits, and learn to make homemade, organic gifts using essential oils.   Most importantly, you can feel relaxed while meeting new people and making new friends in one of our great workshops, training sessions, or events.

Here is to 2016 and its new beginnings!   If you are on Long Island, New York, in Nassau County, come give Moonflower Yoga a try in the town of Bellmore.   We would love to help you start the new year with a great beginning!

A Grateful Heart by Nancy Weshkoff

I wrote this blog 2 years ago 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 4 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 meetings bring a smile to everyone’s face.

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.   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 as a new business, and it has been awesome to establish my business roots here as well as my home roots.   I always learn something new at the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce meetings.

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 Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving Gratitude by Nancy Weshkoff

THANKSGIVING GRATITUDE

 By Nancy Weshkoff

 I wrote this blog last year 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 is now 3 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 and Moonflower Yoga Book Club meetings bring a smile to everyone’s face.

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.   I am grateful to all of the teachers 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 as a new business, and it has been great to establish my business roots here as well as my home roots.   I always learn something new at the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce meetings.

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 Thanksgiving holiday.

The Moonflower Yoga Book Club by Nancy Weshkoff

The Moonflower Yoga Book Club

By Nancy Weshkoff

When I was very young, before the days of pre-K and television programs such as “Sesame Street”, I remember sitting next to my father as he read books to me.   It was a very special time, and I learned to read before I entered school.    My love of reading grew, as it gave me an opportunity to learn something new or be taken away to an interesting place or period of time.  When my life in corporate America started to encompass so much of my time, my reading time for interesting novels or biographies diminished, as I was instead reading reports for work.   Now that my life in corporate America has come to an end and I am happily no longer reading corporate reports, I found a longing to return to something which brought me joy and pleasure: getting lost in the pages of a wonderful book.

A couple of months ago, I launched The Moonflower Yoga Book Club, and I am thoroughly enjoying it!   It is giving me an opportunity to research interesting books for the Book Club and learn something new.   Our first book was “THE PARIS WIFE”, which was the story of Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley.   It was fascinating to learn more about Parisian life in the 1920’s and the intriguing characters that were part of that culture including Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald.  

While I love reading the books we have selected, the Moonflower Yoga Book Club is more than that.   We have a diverse group of women who have formed the initial members of the Moonflower Yoga Book Club.   A community has formed, as we have learned a little bit about each other’s lives, and we look forward to meeting and catching up on what’s happening.   We have some very interesting discussions, and it is fascinating to hear each of our perspectives on the characters in the book that we just read.   What did we think about a decision that was made?   How did we feel about the characters?    Was the ending what you expected?     And while we are having a lively conversation, my husband, Bob, who loves to cook, gives us some yummy homemade desserts for snacking.    I have come to really look forward to diving into the next book and meeting with the fun ladies of the Moonflower Yoga Book Club.

How about you?   Come and join us for a very interesting afternoon or evening!   It is wonderful to form friendships and discover something new in our monthly book selection.   You can check the events section of the moonfloweryoga.com website to see what our next book is and the meeting date.   All are welcome to join.

Hope to see you soon at the next meeting of the Moonflower Yoga Book Club in Bellmore, New York, on Long Island’s Nassau County.   Come have fun with us!

In the Spotlight by Nancy Weshkoff

In the Spotlight

By Nancy Weshkoff

One of the things that I love about being a local business is the sense of community that you have from your fellow small business owners.   It is the small businesses that are the backbone of our country, and the income that is earned from a local business stays in the local community to help support schools, parks, etc.  

Moonflower Yoga is a member of the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce, a great organization that works very hard to support our local Long Island community.   I am pleased to advise that Moonflower Yoga was selected to be the “In the Spotlight” business by the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce for the month of January, 2014!!  Listed below is the text from our “In the Spotlight” feature. And remember if you are in the area of Bellmore, in Long Island’s Nassau County, please stop by & check out one of our great yoga classes or workshops!!

 In the Spotlight:

Moonflower Yoga is proud to make its home in Bellmore.  Our classes are small, generally with a maximum of 6 students per class, which enables our instructors to provide you with personal attention.  We are fully equipped with many props, such as bolsters, blocks, pillows, and blankets, so you are completely comfortable while practicing.   Your first class is always free, which gives you an opportunity to try a class with no obligation.

Moonflower Yoga offers an interesting array of yoga classes for all ages and fitness levels.  The classes are lovingly designed to help you build strength, gain flexibility and balance, as well as reduce your stress and find inner peace.  Moonflower Yoga also offers meditation classes, as well as Tai Chi.   We love working with students who have never tried yoga before.   Moonflower Yoga owner and Bellmore resident, Nancy Weshkoff, has put many special touches into the studio to make it a warm and friendly place.   Nancy personally greets all her students welcoming them as they enter the studio.  If you would like a private one-on-one yoga session, we can create a class just for you, and Moonflower Yoga can also come to your local place of business to teach an onsite yoga class in corporate locations. 

For something new and interesting, check out the Moonflower Yoga workshops which take place on Friday evenings or weekend afternoons.    Our past workshops topics have covered varied topics such as relieving back and neck pain, astrology, women’s health issues, goal setting, crystals, Feng Shui, and meditation.   We are also starting the Moonflower Yoga Book Club, which will meet once a month on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, beginning in January.

Please stop by and visit us at 2093 Bellmore Avenue at the corner of Wilson Avenue to learn more about Moonflower Yoga.  You can also check out our user-friendly website, www.moonfloweryoga.com, which is packed with lots of photos and info, and where you can reserve a class or workshop.   Hope to see you soon!