The Return of the School Year by Nancy Weshkoff
The Return of the School Year
By Nancy Weshkoff
September is always a stressful month with the return of the school year. For teachers, you are meeting your new students for the year and ascertaining how you can help them grow and learn. Similarly for students, it is beginning a new curriculum and becoming comfortable with your new teachers. Parents need to help their children become adjusted to the new grade level. In 2021, this stress seems to be amplified even more. The COVID pandemic has added more complexity: should there be mask mandates, vaccine mandates for those who are eligible, remote learning or in-person learning, etc.
At Moonflower Yoga, we have many schoolteachers and parents who attend classes and events. I see the stress and worry start to build in mid-late August and continue through September and October as they try to cope with the onset of the new school year.
For the teachers, the parents, and the students, they all agree that taking even just 30 minutes to RELAX can you help feel better. A great yoga or meditation class, available via Zoom, can help you do that. Yoga can release muscle tension from the day. By doing pranayama (breathing techniques), the mind and body begin to relax. When you are relaxed, you can think more clearly and feel better, and your blood pressure can be lowered creating less stress on your heart. Guided meditation takes your mind away from your worries and anxiety and helps you channel it in a more positive direction. Come give a yoga or meditation class a try with a great Moonflower Yoga teacher who can help you learn ways to relax and cope! With Zoom, you do not need to live in Bellmore, Long Island, New York to attend a class, and we have people attending online yoga or meditation classes from neighboring Nassau County towns such as Merrick, East Meadow, Wantagh, Levittown, and Seaford, as well as out of state from Pennsylvania, Florida, Vermont, Arizona, and California. Take 30 minutes for yourself and begin to feel better! And have a great start to the new school year.
Spring: New Beginnings by Nancy Weshkoff
Spring: New Beginnings
By Nancy Weshkoff
Spring is my favorite time of year. We shake off the remnants of winter. All around you, life is starting to come alive gain. The trees start to bloom, lawns and shrubs are turning green, spring bulbs are blooming, and the weather is warmer. We have more daylight and start to feel more alive than when it is dark before 5 PM.
With a year of living with the Covid pandemic that has gripped the world, spring takes on added meaning for me. I start to feel that we are leaving the darkness of the Covid winter behind us and are moving into the light and to better days ahead. With spring’s arrival it is time to dust off the cobwebs of winter and start to feel renewed and refreshed.
With the warmer weather ahead, 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. Yoga and meditation are also wonderful for stress reduction and helping us cope with these challenging times. If you are a beginner, there are beginner-level yoga classes on the Moonflower Yoga schedule 6 days a week. And while the studio doors remain closed for the time being, you can still enjoy a great yoga class with one of our great yoga teachers, as you join us online from the comfort of your home using Zoom.
In addition to the daily yoga classes, there are also some great meditation activities on the Moonflower Yoga schedule including a weekly Relax and De-Stress with Guided Meditation class on Mondays at 7 PM, as well as a deep, relaxing monthly Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) with Jackie Lee, and a fascinating monthly evening of Guided Meditation with Bhante Sujatha, a 30+ year Buddhist Monk who is singularly focused on adding more love in the world. Bhante teaches loving-kindness meditation to people around the globe for all those seeking the art of happiness and contentment. Discover how meditation can help you relax, reduce your stress levels, and put you on a brighter path.
Perhaps you would also like to learn something new as part of a spring renewal. There is a monthly “In the Kitchen with Bob” cooking workshop where you cook in your kitchen, while we simultaneously cook from our kitchen. We supply the recipes in advance, and have a blast cooking delicious, plant-based, healthy recipes together in our respective kitchens. At the end, we enjoy sharing our meal together using Zoom.
For the month of April, we also added a “New Beginnings for Springtime” workshop with clinical herbalist, nutrition educator, and author Jovanka Ciares on Friday, April 23rd. In this workshop, Jovanka will discuss how to use foods and botanicals to support our natural detoxification system and help improve our well being.
Come join us this spring at Moonflower Yoga and take a step towards renewal for yourself! Using Zoom, you can join us from a wider geographic location and are no longer limited to only the Bellmore, Wantagh, Merrick, Seaford, or East Meadow vicinity of Nassau County, Long Island. We have people joining us from other parts of the United States, including mothers and daughters from different states enjoying a class together. I hope you can join us too and have a great start to your spring!
Heart Disease and Women by Nancy Weshkoff
Heart Disease and Women
By Nancy Weshkoff
Heart health is something I take very seriously. And while it is important to focus on heart health year round, the month of February is Heart Health Month and part of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Movement. I am therefore writing this blog to discuss this very important topic.
Let’s begin with these key factors about heart disease in women:
–Heart disease is the NUMBER ONE killer of women in the United States.
–If you stacked up ALL cancer-related deaths for women together (breast, lung, ovarian, liver, skin cancer, etc), all of these cancer-related deaths together would still be number two behind heart disease.
– One in three women in the United States will die every year from heart disease. If you were sitting in a group of women and looked to your right and to your left, sadly one of you will die from heart disease. And of this number, more than 1,800 of these women who die from heart disease will live here on Long Island in New York.
-If you have heart disease, you are at a higher risk of contracting COVID or having serious complications related to COVID. With the spread of coronavirus, it is even more important to pay attention to your heart health.
– Did you know that you can help PREVENT yourself from 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. Spending long hours in front of a computer screen without moving is not good for you. Your body needs to move. Yoga is extremely helpful in helping you with your fitness goals. The postures in a yoga class will build strength and flexibility, stretch your muscles, 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. This can be particularly challenging in this coronavirus period where we might find ourselves multi-tasking. It makes it even more important to notice how you cope with stress. 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 online yoga and meditation classes at Moonflower Yoga can get you on the path to accomplishing your stress-reduction goals. Perhaps you do not have a lot of spare time right now with multi-tasking due to the pandemic. I would suggest that it is so important to take even 30 minutes FOR YOU which helps lower those stress levels and enables you to better cope with life’s challenges. Moonflower Yoga currently has great online yoga and meditation classes which you can do from the comfort of your home to help you lower stress and help your heart health. The Schedule tab on the moonfloweryoga.com website lists the daily options taught by our great yoga and meditation teachers.
– 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 have not 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 great online activities that you can do from home including two fun “Clubs”. In the Moonflower Yoga Book Club, we have fun going on a journey with a new book which helps you discover something new. There is also the Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts Group where you crochet or knit (very meditative!) while enjoying each other’s company. With the Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts Group, we also donate some of our beautiful creations to various charities. And there are great yoga workshops, as well as crafting workshops where we make beautiful jewelry. We have online meditation classes, as well as regular guided meditation workshops. There is also a monthly online yoga nidra evening, which is deep relaxation “yogic sleep”, a wonderful way to de-stress. One hour of yoga nidra = four hours of sleep! These types of interesting and meditative activities can help you on the path of stress reduction, lowering your blood pressure, and having fun – all great things for your heart.
– Fighting loneliness: In this coronavirus period, it is very important to practice social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus. But social distancing often creates loneliness. We need social interaction. Online yoga, meditation, and other activities via Zoom are a great way to combat loneliness and help you feel better. Before and after each online class, there is a Zoom Room where you can safely see and chat with fellow attendees, have a laugh, or share a story. It makes a big difference to have this social interaction and help you feel better, thereby reducing your stress levels.
-Are you eating a healthy diet, or are you eating fast food or other unhealthy foods that are high in fat and cholesterol? Eating unhealthy foods can clog your arteries and increase your risk for heart disease. One fun, new online activity that we offer at Moonflower Yoga is a monthly “In the Kitchen with Bob” cooking workshop where we connect online via Zoom, and we cook healthy meals together during the workshop and then enjoy the finished product at the end of the workshop. These delicious recipes are plant-based, low in fat, and heart healthy. And we have a lot of laughs cooking together – a great stress reducer.
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 online yoga class, meditation, or workshop at Moonflower Yoga. With online yoga and meditation classes offered via Zoom, there is also no longer a geographic limit to Bellmore, Wantagh, Merrick, East Meadow, Freeport, Seaford, Massapequa, or other towns in Nassau County, Long Island. We now have students joining us from states other than New York including Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Vermont. It is great to connect with new people! All are welcome!
Please take care of yourself and reduce your risk of heart disease, or the risk of heart disease for a special woman in your life. I hope we will see you soon for a great online yoga class, meditation, or other activity as you take positive steps to lowering the risk for heart disease!
Small Businesses in a Coronavirus World by Nancy Weshkoff
Small Businesses in a Coronavirus World
By Nancy Weshkoff
These are very difficult times for so many of us. This is particularly true of small business owners. Small business owners form the backbone of our local economy. They are your local restaurants, hair salons, service stations, and businesses such as Moonflower Yoga. They greet you when you walk in the door of their business because you are special to them. We are the people you meet on the street when walking through your neighborhood. We live in the community and we pay taxes in the local Nassau County, Long Island community to support the schools, parks, police, and other services. We are the stores you see on Main Street, and we are essential to keeping our communities flourishing.
I fully support the need for social distancing in our current Covid19 world, as it is vital that we stay safe. The health and safety of the Moonflower Yoga students and teachers is of the utmost importance to me. While we are following these social distancing protocols, it is causing a financial hardship for many of the local businesses in the community. We need local businesses! The owners of the small businesses are also paying salaries to their local workers to help those workers feed their families and have shelter. Local businesses give you the special attention that you do not get when ordering from giant online services. When this crisis has passed, we need local businesses to still be here. Sadly I think some of us will not survive this.
YOU can make a difference in helping to keep these local businesses still alive. Some local restaurants are staying open for take-out orders or curbside pick-up. Support them by ordering from them. I order my fresh produce from a local Wantagh business that offers curbside pick up. Service stations are still open to take care of your automotive needs. If there is a local business that can be open during this crisis, please help them.
As for Moonflower Yoga, while the doors of the studio are not open for physical classes in the Bellmore studio space, I am still running Moonflower Yoga, and the great yoga teachers you know and love are still teaching great yoga classes for Moonflower Yoga through online class offerings via Zoom. The people you have met at Moonflower Yoga are still around, and you can see them and speak with them in the chat area before the online classes begin. You may be feeling isolated and alone these days, but you are not alone. Join us remotely for a great yoga class, workshop, or Club event from the safety and comfort of your living room and connect with the people and teachers you have met through Moonflower Yoga. Some of the “snowbirds” who are in Florida and California are joining in. By attending a great online yoga or mediation class, you are doing 2 important things: Firstly, you are taking care of YOU by taking steps toward stress reduction in this challenging time, as well as moving your body which might be getting less physical activity than normal as we stay indoors. Secondly, you are helping a small business such as Moonflower Yoga, which supports the local community, survive. Small businesses such as Moonflower Yoga need you! Please help small businesses survive this challenging time and keep our local Long Island communities alive. Thank you!
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!
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!
What is Reiki? by Nancy Weshkoff
WHAT IS REIKI?
By Nancy Weshkoff
Moonflower Yoga in Bellmore, Long Island (New York) offers Reiki training as well as Reiki Healing Circles. Before opening Moonflower Yoga over 5 years ago, I was not familiar with Reiki. Since then, I have taken the path to learn Reiki and practice Reiki, and am now a Reiki Master sharing Reiki with many others. I have personally watched Reiki help many people feel better.
You may have heard about Reiki but you don’t know what it is. Reiki is a wonderful way to de-stress and help you relax. Reducing your stress can lead to better health including lowering your blood pressure. High blood pressure contributes to heart disease, the number one killer of women in the United States. Practicing Reiki can help you relax and feel better. It is being offered as an alternative therapy in many leading medical institutions. Reiki is available to anyone to learn. Below are some of the frequently asked questions about Reiki that we hear at the Moonflower Yoga studio.
What is Reiki?
Reiki, founded by Mikao Usui, is a Japanese technique for relaxation and stress reduction. It is pronounced “Ray” “Key”. Reiki is being used by leading medical institutions, including major cancer treatment centers, as an alternative therapy.
Reiki works with universal life force energy – the energy in and around all living things. When this energy is blocked, it causes an imbalance often leading to discomfort or disease. When the energy is flowing more smoothly, we often feel better.
Here is some basic information on Reiki:
- Reiki allows loving, healing energy to flow through you.
- Reiki is NOT a religion. No specific religious beliefs are necessary.
- Reiki is spiritual and allows you to have a deeper connection to yourself.
- Reiki is open to all who would like to explore this beautiful, healing energy.
What are some of the benefits of Reiki?
- Reiki can reduce your stress levels. Stress is a leading contributor to many diseases including heart disease and high blood pressure. Reducing your stress improves your health.
- Reiki has helped relieve muscle tension and pain by releasing blocked energy.
- Reiki can provide better sleep at night, and it is important to have adequate sleep to allow your body and mind to function properly.
- There are no dangerous side effects to having a Reiki treatment.
- Reiki can be used to help infants as well as seniors.
- Reiki can be used on pets. Dogs and cats love Reiki treatments!
- Reiki can complement other treatments you receive. Leading cancer institutions offer Reiki as an alternative therapy in addition to radiation and chemotherapy.
- Reiki is easy to learn and it is self-healing.
How does Reiki work?
Reiki works by having universal life force energy flow from the person providing the treatment to the person receiving the treatment. It Is done by having the Reiki practitioner gently lay their hands on the person receiving the treatment. The person receiving the treatment can be seated in a chair or reclining. Unlike other treatments, because universal life force energy is flowing, both the person receiving the treatment and the person providing the treatment both receive healing during a treatment, and the practitioner’s energy is not depleted. It is self-healing. A session usually begins at the top of the head (where stress is often accumulated) and from there the Reiki practitioner can lay their hands gently (as needed) on the shoulders, arms, heart, abdomen, knees, and feet.
How is Reiki learned?
Reiki is taught by a person who has been trained as a Reiki Master Teacher who provides you with attunements at each level. There are 3 levels of Reiki:
- Reiki Level One where you learn basic Reiki healing treatments for yourself and are shown techniques for helping others. You receive the first 4 attunements.
- Reiki Level Two where you further learn how to work on others and are introduced to Reiki symbols which enhance your Reiki treatment. You receive 2 additional attunements.
- Reiki Level Three (Master Practitioner) in which additional symbols are learned and where you receive the final 4 Reiki attunements.
Moonflower Yoga offers Reiki training on all 3 levels of Reiki. Each training session also includes a training manual with illustrations so that you can practice Reiki at home. See below for our next available Reiki training session or Reiki Healing Circle.
What is a Reiki Healing Circle?
A Reiki Healing Circle is a wonderful way to be introduced to Reiki. NO prior Reiki experience is necessary, and it is open to all! In a Reiki Healing Circle, one person in the center of the circle receives a Reiki treatment from the others around the circle. The person in the center is often reclining on a comfortable massage table, fully clothed. The other participants will gently place their hands on the recipient on either the top of the head, shoulders, abdomen, knees, or feet. For those with Reiki experience, they can apply what they have learned in their Reiki training sessions to help the person receive a lovely treatment. For those with no Reiki experience, we will show you how to do some basic positions. Each person has an opportunity to move to the center of the circle and receive a relaxing Reiki treatment.
How can I get more information?
You will see additional information on the Reiki tab on the moonfloweryoga.com website.
I hope you will join us for a relaxing Reiki Healing Circle or take the path to become a Reiki practitioner in our Reiki training sessions at Moonflower Yoga. If you are in the Nassau County area of Bellmore, Wantagh, Merrick, East Meadow, Seaford, Massapequa, Freeport or any area of Long Island, we would love to have you join us. Start your new year in a positive way by taking care of YOU and learning wonderful de-stressing tools from Reiki.
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!
