Spring is a Time for Renewal by Nancy Weshkoff
Spring is a Time for Renewal
By Nancy Weshkoff
Spring is a wonderful time of year. The plants and trees shake off remnants of winter and start to come into bloom. We have more daylight and start to feel more alive than when it is dark before 5 PM.
And, just like the plants and trees, spring is a time of renewal for us. Maybe you were more housebound and inactive during the winter months. With spring’s arrival it is time to dust off the cobwebs of winter and start to feel renewed and refreshed.
With the arrival of warmer weather, you start to wear thinner clothes. Wouldn’t it be great to feel toned in those lighter clothes? A great yoga class can help you tone and stretch your muscles, as well as improve strength, flexibility, and balance. If you are a beginner, that’s not a problem at Moonflower Yoga. We love beginners and offer beginner-level yoga classes 7 days a week. Remember EVERYONE was a beginner at one point. Just take that first step and you will feel amazing. Our yoga instructors give you personal attention to help you as you begin a yoga practice.
Clearing out the cobwebs is not just about our physical body. It is also true of our mind and thoughts. Do you brood about things from the past, which you cannot change because the past is over? Do you obsess and worry about the future, which you also cannot control? Stress is a leading cause of heart disease, and heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States behind all cancers combined. So what can you do to stop obsessing about past events and the future, reduce your stress levels, and work towards a healthy heart?
Having a meditation practice is a wonderful way to start taking care of your stress levels and feeling good about yourself. Moonflower Yoga offers several meditation classes including “Stretch and Meditate 101” on Thursdays, “Chair Body Stretch and Meditation” on Wednesdays at 6 PM, and a monthly “Less Stress” meditation on Tuesday nights. Plus the weekly Kundalini yoga classes on Thursday and Sunday offer some meditation in the practice. There are also great workshops on the Moonflower Yoga schedule which can help with stress reduction. And Reiki, which is offered at Moonflower Yoga, is a great way to take care of YOU.
Come join us this spring at Moonflower Yoga and take a step towards renewal for yourself! We are located in Bellmore, on the South Shore of Long Island in Nassau County, but we welcome students from all over Long Island including the neighboring towns of East Meadow, Merrick, Wantagh, Seaford, and Levittown. We look forward to guiding you to a great start to your spring!
A Valentine’s Day Reminder to Love YOURSELF! By Nancy Weshkoff
A Valentine’s Day Reminder to Love YOURSELF!
By Nancy Weshkoff
February is the month of love. We are reminded of this with a celebration of Valentine’s Day. I love Valentine’s Day and enjoy spending time with my husband celebrating our lifelong partnership.
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that it is important to love and take care of yourself. If you cannot love yourself, it is difficult to love anyone else.
For women, we often look in the mirror and see faults: You may not like your hair color, a wrinkle that has appeared, a change in weight, etc. Instead of focusing on the negative, focus on the POSITIVE. If you say to yourself “I hate myself”, your mind starts to believe it. Conversely if you say something positive such as “I love myself”, you start to feel better. When I see a wrinkle appear on my face, I remind myself that it means I smiled a lot in my life.
Part of loving yourself is taking time for yourself. As caregivers, we often help everyone else first and ourselves last. I am reminded here of the inflight directions by flight attendants as the plane is getting ready to take off. If an emergency occurs, and if you are travelling with a child, we are told to put the oxygen mask on yourself first, then on the child. Why? Because if you cannot take care of yourself you cannot take care of the child.
So how can you take a small step towards loving and taking care of yourself? You can start with a positive affirmation. “I love myself” is a great one, or choose something else that resonates with you such as “I am smart”, “I am kind”, “I am beautiful”, etc. Repeat this to yourself several times a day.
How about scheduling an hour for YOU? A great yoga class is a wonderful way to stretch your body, reduce muscle tension, release anxiety through breathing techniques and meditation, and feel wonderful. You do not need prior experience to try a yoga or meditation class at Moonflower Yoga. There are beginner-level yoga classes on the schedule 7 days a week, and our great yoga teachers will help you feel right at home as you give yourself an hour of peace and love. Come give it a try!
If you live in the area of Bellmore in Nassau County on Long Island’s south shore, we would love to have you join us for an hour of time for YOU. It’s a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day for yourself.
Women and Heart Disease by Nancy Weshkoff
Women and Heart Disease
By Nancy Weshkoff
February is Heart Health Month and the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Movement. I applaud the American Heart Association for their work in bringing to light this very important issue.
Here are some key factors about heart disease in women that you need to know:
– Did you know that heart disease is the NUMBER ONE killer of women in the United States?
– Did you know that if you stacked up ALL cancer-related deaths for women together (breast, lung, ovarian, liver, skin cancer, etc), that all of these cancer-related deaths together would still be number two behind heart disease?
– Did you know that 1 in 3 women in the United States will die every year from heart disease? If you are sitting in a group of women, look to your right and to your left. One of you will die from heart disease. And of this number, did you know that more than 1,800 of these women who die from heart disease will live here on Long Island in New York?
– Did you know that you can help PREVENT becoming one of these very sad statistics by proactively taking steps to lower your risk?
While there are some things that you cannot change, such as your family history of heart disease, there are several things that doctors all agree that you CAN do to lower your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. These include:
– Engage in moderate exercise on a regular basis. Sitting on a couch and not moving is bad for you in so many ways. Your body needs to move. Yoga is extremely helpful in helping you with your exercise goals. The postures in a yoga class will build strength and flexibility, and at the same time, the deep breathing techniques (pranayama) used in a yoga class increase the flow of blood to your heart and your organs.
– Reduce your stress levels: We all face stress. How we deal with stress is key. Being in a “fight or flight” mode, which is how our body reacts when our stress levels are high, is putting a huge strain on your body functions – including your heart. Meditation is a wonderful tool to help you lower your blood pressure and stress levels. Yoga classes also help you reduce your stress. The yoga and meditation classes at Moonflower Yoga can get you on the path to accomplishing your stress-reduction goals. We have a fabulous “Stress Buster” series of classes on Tuesday evenings at 730 PM. Or try the popular “Stretch and Meditate 101” class on Thursdays at 5 PM, where you gently stretch and begin to develop a meditation practice. Try one of these classes or the other great yoga classes taught by our yoga teachers on the Moonflower Yoga schedule.
– Learn to be “in the present moment”. We often worry unnecessarily about things from our past that we cannot change or things in the future that MIGHT happen but haven’t happened yet and may never happen. In our classes and workshops at Moonflower Yoga, we teach you ways to be more in the present moment and let go of unnecessary worries bringing you more peace and calm.
– Lower your blood pressure: Moving more, decreasing your stress levels, and using tools such as meditation and yoga mentioned above can all help you with this. How about learning something new? Spending some time reading a great book or engaging in a fun activity can help lower your stress levels. We have several fun “Clubs” at Moonflower Yoga including the Moonflower Yoga Book Club, the Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts Group where you learn to crochet or knit (very meditative!), the Moonflower Yoga Mah Jongg Group, and the new Women’s Gathering Group where women meet to discuss topics relevant to women. There are also fun workshops on the Moonflower Yoga schedule where you can have fun painting, or doing a craft, or just learning something new. These types of interesting and meditative activities can help you on the path of stress reduction and lowering your blood pressure.
– Try Reiki: Reiki is being offered now by leading medical institutions as an alternative therapy. Reiki is a wonderful, hands-on tool that you can learn to reduce blocked energy and send healing energy to yourself. Moonflower Yoga offers Reiki Healing Circles where you can discover Reiki, as well as training to be a Reiki practitioner. Click on the “Reiki” tab on the moonfloweryoga.com website for further info.
As someone who has a history of heart disease in my family, I take heart disease very seriously. My stress levels and blood pressure were very high – all red flags for being on the path to a heart attack or stroke. Through yoga, meditation, learning to be more in the present moment, and spending time in engaging activities such as reading and needle arts, I have been able to lower my blood pressure to normal. You, too, can lower your risk. We hope to see you soon at a great yoga class, meditation, or workshop at Moonflower Yoga in Bellmore in Nassau County, Long Island, where we can help you reduce your risk of heart disease as well. We welcome people from all over the area including Wantagh, Merrick, East Meadow, Seaford, Massapequa and Freeport. Let’s lower these frightening heart-disease numbers for women!
New Year, New You! by Nancy Weshkoff
New Year. New You!
By Nancy Weshkoff
Hello 2018! When we ring in a new year, it is a great time to start fresh with new goals and ambitions. I am reminded of a quote from one of my favorite books “tomorrow is a brand new day with no mistakes in it”.
For Moonflower Yoga, we are starting 2018 anew as well. 2018 welcomes in several great yoga teachers to the Moonflower Yoga staff. We are pleased to have Danielle Meill, Jackie Lee, Rose Edelman, and Cathi Nashak join the Moonflower Yoga teaching team. Each of these great yoga teachers bring their own unique style of yoga to the Moonflower Yoga studio. You will learn ways to strengthen your body, become more flexible, improve balance, link breath with movement, and most importantly de-stress and take care of YOU.
As meditation is something that is important to learn, Moonflower Yoga has also added a great new class on the yoga class schedule: “Stretch and Meditate 101” with Lynn on Thursdays at 5 PM. This gentle yoga class will help you de-stress from the day and then learn meditation tools to enable you to relax.
And to give the studio a great start to the new year, we have completed the facelift on the studio so it has a new design, better layout, beautiful colors on the walls, and new tapestries to help you feel relaxed as soon as you enter the doors.
It is our 2018 commitment at Moonflower Yoga to continue to offer great yoga classes with great yoga teachers where you receive personal attention and don’t get lost in the crowd. And we have made the studio a warm, friendly place in Bellmore, Long Island, on the South Shore of Nassau County, New York, where we also welcome students from the neighboring towns of Merrick, East Meadow, Seaford, Wantagh, Massapequa, and Freeport. Moonflower Yoga is also a great place to learn something new in one of our fun workshops or in one of our clubs. Check out the Moonflower Yoga Book Club, the Moonflower Yoga Mah Jongg Club, the Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts Group where you learn to crochet or knitting, and the new Women’s Gathering.
So what are YOUR plans and goals for 2018? First and foremost, it should be about taking care of YOU. If you do not take care of you, you cannot take care of anyone else. We often find excuses why we can’t take some time for ourselves. When we DO take care of ourselves good things happen. We sleep better at night, and sleep is important to giving our bodies and minds the down time it needs to function better. We reduce stress which lowers blood pressure. High blood pressure can lead to so many diseases including heart disease, the number one killer of women in the US. Just giving yourself a couple a hours a week of YOU time can make a big difference in how you feel physically as well as mentally and it can make you MORE productive as you have a clearer perspective. Are you a beginner and feeling nervous about starting a yoga practice? No worries – Moonflower Yoga offers beginner-level yoga classes 7 days a week. You’ll see a full listing under the FAQ tab above. Have problems reaching the floor? Try Chair Yoga offered 3 times a week.
Yoga and meditation can help put you on a great path for 2018. You can strengthen your body and de-stress while learning that important message of taking care of YOU. Come try it! You will be glad that you did and you will find yourself on the road to better health in 2018. Happy new year, and we look forward to seeing you soon!
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.
Remembrances of 9/11 by Nancy Weshkoff
Tomorrow, on the anniversary of 9/11, we are holding a special meditation for peace at Moonflower Yoga, with all the proceeds donated to Voices of September 11th, an organization that provides ongoing support for the victims of 9/11 and their families. Please join us tomorrow as we come together to pray for peace, and help Voices of September 11th provide support for the 9/11 families. To mark the anniversary of 9/11, I am also reposting this special blog that I wrote four years ago. Like so many other people, 9/11 
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.
15 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.
Chair Yoga by Nancy Weshkoff
Chair Yoga
By Nancy Weshkoff
One of my favorite yoga classes to teach each week at Moonflower Yoga is Chair Yoga. It is a special yoga class to me because it enables yoga to be available to students who would find it challenging to be part of a regular yoga class. Chair yoga at Moonflower Yoga is not just for seniors – it is also great for women in the latter stages of pregnancy. Do you feel stiff and tense from sitting in your office chair most of the day staring at a computer screen? Chair yoga will teach you some stretching exercise that you can do from your office chair to alleviate muscle tension. For people with injuries that might make it difficult to be in a regular yoga class, Chair Yoga is also a great option.
For the seniors who do attend the weekly Chair Yoga class at Moonflower Yoga, I applaud them for trying yoga for the first time in their 70’s and 80’s. How cool is that! Chair yoga provides them with fabulous stretching poses to keep their muscles flexible. We also work on yoga poses to build strength. Each class also consists of mantra (chanting) to quiet your mind, as well as several minutes of quiet relaxation with bolsters, blankets, and essential oils to enhance the relaxation while you meditate. The mantras are something that everyone can use to help with stress reduction, as well as use as a tool if you are having difficulty falling asleep at night. Meditation is something that is helpful for everyone, and meditation is recommended by leading doctors.
Chair Yoga is wonderful for people of all ages. Come to Moonflower Yoga on Tuesday mornings and give this great yoga class a try! Moonflower Yoga is located in the town of Bellmore, in Long Island, New York’s Nassau County. You will love this great yoga class or any of the fabulous yoga classes on the Moonflower Yoga schedule from some of the best yoga teachers on Long Island.
My Favorite Essential Oils by Nancy Weshkoff
My Favorite Essential Oils
By Nancy Weshkoff
What are essential oils? Essential oils are natural aromatic compounds found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers & other plant parts. Essential oils have been being used for thousands of years to support wellness of the mind, body & spirit. Moonflower Yoga has a wonderful variety of essential oils for sale from Young Living, a leader in high-quality, therapeutic quality essential oils. Essential oils can be useful for so many things including:
- Help you feel calmer and more relaxed
- Opening up the nasal passages to reduce sinus congestion
- Cleaning and disinfecting
- Giving you a boost of energy
- Increasing spiritual awareness
At Moonflower Yoga, my yoga teachers and I offer each student an essential oil to apply before they begin their yoga class. It is a great way to help you feel centered and relaxed. Essential oils are fabulous for use before meditation. We also diffuse essential oils at the Moonflower Yoga studio which sets a wonderful mood as soon as you walk in the door.
I love so many of these great essential oils. I’ve decided to pick a few of my favorite ones that I would like to share:
- Stress Away: The name says it all! This beautiful essential oil which is a blend of copaiba, lime, cedarwood, vanilla, ocotea, and lavender just instantly helps me to feel calmer and more relaxed. I especially love the touch of vanilla added to this blend.
- Lavender: One of the most versatile essential oils. Its lovely scent instantly relaxes you. Some students like to apply a tiny drop to their third eye (the space between the eyebrows) to help them sleep better at night. It can also help with certain skin problems, such as acne, as well as provide some relief from respiratory issues. Because Young Living essential oils are pure, we use the Young Living lavender oil in some of the desserts made at the studio, and they are yummy.
- Peppermint: This essential oil is so invigorating and great to use if you are feeling tired and need a boost of energy! If my nasal passages are a little congested from the winter cold or from spring allergies, breathing in peppermint helps relieve nasal congestion. It can also support good digestion. We use peppermint in many of the desserts served at the Moonflower Yoga studio. Anything with peppermint and dark chocolate is heavenly!
- Citrus Fresh: I love this clean blend of orange, tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, mandarin, and spearmint. It is a great essential oil to use first thing in the morning when you need a pick me up to get your energy going. It is also a great air purifier providing your environment with a fresh scent.
If you’d like to try one of these beautiful essential oils, or several other amazing Young Living essential oils, come to a yoga class at Moonflower Yoga. We are located in in Bellmore, in Long Island, New York’s Nassau County. You’ll feel wonderful from the great yoga class and leave the studio with a beautiful fragrance from a lovely essential oil. To learn even more about essential oils, join us on Saturday, May 7th for a fabulous Discover Essential Oils workshop at Moonflower Yoga, where you will learn the basics about 12 lovely essential oils (including those listed above) and make 2 fun Mother’s Day gifts using essential oils which you will take with you. You’ll have a blast! If you’d like to have a great essential oil to keep at home, we have a great variety of essential oils and essential oil products for sale at the Moonflower Yoga studio. You will love the many ways in which you can enjoy your essential oil.
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!
Learning to Love Yourself by Nancy Weshkoff
LEARNING TO LOVE YOURSELF
By Nancy Weshkoff
It makes me incredibly sad when a student at the studio starts to describe herself with negative imagery: “I’m too fat”, “I’m not flexible”, “my hips are too big”, “I don’t like my midsection”, “I have wrinkles”, etc.
Sadly we are being deluged by the media that shows “perfect” bodies in magazines and billboards. Do you know that many of those “perfect” body images have been altered before publication to give the model a smaller waist, longer legs, no wrinkles, etc.?
We need to LOVE OURSELVES. I’ve learned to do this by being positive. When someone points out that I have wrinkles around the corners of my mouth or my eyes, I smile and happily remark that I’m proud of those wrinkles – it means that I have smiled a lot in my life to create them.
On Sunday afternoon, November 8th, Moonflower Yoga has a great workshop to help women look at their bodies in a different way. It is entitled LOVE YOUR BODY NOW and is presented by the talented Shana Sweeney. In this incredible workshop, you learn that many women have a negative body image and wished their body looked different in some way. If you are unaccepting and critical of your body as it is right now, you are not alone. In this great LOVE YOUR BODY NOW workshop, Shana will teach you how to break the negative belief system and embrace and love your body just as it is right now. You will use tools such as meditation, free writing, and ritual to help you heal your relationship with yourself and your body. You do not need to try to attain a shape defined by this culture, and you can give beauty a new definition and have a positive body image.
If you are in the area of Bellmore, in Long Island, New York’s Nassau County, come join us on Sunday afternoon, November 8th, at the Moonflower Yoga studio for this great workshop with Shana. You will learn something new and feel great about yourself! For more information on this workshop or any of the great yoga classes or teachers at Moonflower Yoga, click on the class descriptions section of the moonfloweryoga.com website. We look forward to seeing you soon!
