The Positive Effects of Knitting and Crocheting by Nancy Weshkoff
The Positive Effects of Knitting and Crocheting
By Nancy Weshkoff
Did you know that learning to knit or crochet can have health benefits? Here are just a few of the many benefits:
- Creating a knitted or crocheted piece lowers your heart rate and blood pressure. Heart disease is the number one killer of women in this country, and taking steps to reduce your risk of heart disease is highly recommended.
- It lowers your stress levels, and has been found to reduce the stress hormone cortisol.
- It is meditative. Working on your piece helps you to concentrate on the present moment. Being mindful and letting go of regrets from the past or worries about the future is key to good health.
- It has been found to help people stop smoking by providing a positive outlet.
- Can help children with math skills, especially when following a challenging instruction.
- It has been found to help people with cancer and other serious diseases cope with their illness.
- The pieces that you create are something special for both you and the receiver. What’s better than a gift from the heart handmade with love!
At Moonflower Yoga in Bellmore, in Nassau County, Long Island (New York), we have a very fun Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts Group that meets approximately every 4-6 weeks. The members of this group work on their individual pieces. Many do crocheting, while others prefer quilting, needlepoint, or knitting. Whichever handicraft you prefer is fine. Everyone comes together to show their latest creations, to get advice from the group, and have fun catching up with the other members on what has transpired since the last meeting. For newcomers who have never tried doing this before, there are experienced members of the Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts Group who offer free advice on how to do some basic steps. It is a great way to spend an afternoon. And, as stated above, knitting and crocheting offers many other fabulous health benefits.
If you are near Bellmore, New York, in Long Island’s Nassau County this Saturday, February 20th, please stop by and join us for the next installment of the Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts Group. You will have a blast working on your own piece, enjoying the company of the fellow Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts Group members, sampling delicious homemade snacks, and, of course, you will do some great things for your health as well. We also have a great variety of yoga classes with great yoga teachers at the Moonflower Yoga studio, as well as fascinating workshops. We look forward to having you join us soon!
Yoga and Your Bone Health by Nancy Weshkoff
Yoga and Your Bone Health
By Nancy Weshkoff
As an avid fan of yoga for many years, as well as a yoga teacher, I have experienced firsthand the many benefits of yoga. It is a wonderful practice for helping you feel great, reduce your stress, while teaching you to worry less as you focus on the present moment. The breathing techniques that you learn also calm you while bringing more oxygen to your organs. And your balance improves, which is very important as we age.
Did you know that yoga is also good for your bone health? Many of the poses that you do in yoga are weight bearing which helps to strengthen your bones. In a recent study, Dr. Loren Fishman tested the benefits of yoga on seniors who were suffering from osteoporosis or osteopenia. In this study, the test group performed a standard set of yoga poses on a regular basis. The test was conducted over a 10-year period with more than 90,000 hours of yoga practiced by 741 participants. The results were eye opening. During this period, no fractures or serious injuries of any kind were reported by the participants. Several participants also showed better internal support for their bones. There were also improvements in posture and balance. All of this is great news. Plus with yoga, there are no harmful side effects which you might experience from certain medications.
Yoga can be practiced at ANY AGE. At Moonflower Yoga, located in Bellmore, in Nassau County, Long Island (New York), we have students ranging from children to seniors. No matter what your age, you can always work on improving your bone health, as well as your health in general. If you have never tried yoga before, give one of our great beginner yoga classes a try. Our dedicated yoga teachers are here to help you, and Moonflower Yoga has a small class setting with personal attention, so we can work closely with you as you learn. Keeping your bones healthy is so important! A fracture or fall can be devastating. Come check out one of our great yoga classes and help improve your bone health today.
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.
Rememberances from 9/11 by Nancy Weshkoff
Remembrances from 9/11
Written by Nancy Weshkoff
On the anniversary of September 11, I take this opportunity to reprint my blog with my sentiments from 9/11. The words reflected in this blog still hold true today:
14 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, 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.
Reaching a Milestone by Nancy Weshkoff
Reaching a Milestone
By Nancy Weshkoff
August, 2015 is a personal milestone year for me. I am leaving one decade behind and starting a new one. And while that is a bit scary – and exciting – it is also an opportunity for reflection.
I am so very blessed to be doing something that I love in life. If you had asked me at the start of the previous decade, when I was on a fast track in corporate America, what I would be doing at the end of the decade, I would not have predicted owning my own yoga studio. Yet, here I am, on the verge of celebrating a 3-year anniversary for Moonflower Yoga.
One of my favorite sayings is that “everything happens for a reason”. When life in corporate America came abruptly to an end with the sale of the company, it put me on a different path. Helping me to decide what to do next was my yoga practice and meditation. And through that process, I chose the path of becoming a yoga teacher and opening Moonflower Yoga.
The journey of creating Moonflower Yoga has resulted in meeting so many wonderful people in my life. I am eternally grateful for the students who choose to come to a yoga class or workshop at Moonflower Yoga each week, as well as the great group of yoga teachers who share their love of teaching with the students. I am also grateful to the friends and family who support me.
And, so now, here is the next decade of my life with a brand new slate of possibilities. I am looking forward to seeing what this next decade brings.
If you are in the area of Bellmore, on Long Island’s south shore of Nassau County (New York), please stop by and say hello! It is always nice to meet new people on my continuing journey into my next decade.
Changing the Channel by Nancy Weshkoff
Changing the Channel
By Nancy Weshkoff
One of my favorite quotes is from the remarkable Thich Nhat Hanh: “There are thousands of channels in in our consciousness; it is up to us to choose the channel.” So much wisdom in just one sentence!
When we discuss this concept in my yoga classes at Moonflower Yoga, I suggest to my students that they should think of their minds as cable television with a remote control. If you are sitting at home with the television set on, and if you come across a program that you don’t like, you use the remote control to change channels to something else that you do like. It is the same with your mind. If an unpleasant image pops up, change the channel to something more pleasant and concentrate on the present moment. YOU are in charge of the remote control.
So why is this important? In our yoga classes at Moonflower Yoga, we stress the importance of being in the present moment. When you focus on the present moment, you strengthen your body and become more flexible as you concentrate more fully on the alignment of your pose and your breath. When you concentrate on the present moment, it also means finding that inner peace that reduces our stress because you have released regrets from the past and worries about the future.
In all of our yoga classes at Moonflower Yoga, we teach our students techniques to help you relax, feel calmer, and learn to be more in the present moment. If you are in Bellmore, on Long Island New York’s Nassau County, come and try one of our amazing yoga classes or workshops taught be a dedicated team of great teachers as we help you to become more in the present moment and find that inner peace. You’ll feel great!
What Was Your New Year’s Resolution? written by Nancy Weshkoff
What was your New Year’s Resolution?
Written by Nancy Weshkoff
Do you find yourself making a resolution on New Year’s Eve with good intentions but which is suddenly forgotten shortly after January 1? I found myself guilty of this as well until I learned about goal planning and strategies. From my past experience in corporate life, it was a regular occurrence to have certain requirements or tasks assigned to you. Once I learned written goal planning techniques, it was much easier to accomplish these tasks and measure the progress of my goals.
I am very excited to be sharing these goal planning techniques this weekend at Moonflower Yoga in our “Goal Setting and Vision Board” workshop. You CAN accomplish your goals if you mindfully map out the goal with a realistic goal plan.
Another great way to also keep your goal on track is with a vision board, where you place images and positive messages on a board as a daily reminder of your goal. By seeing this every day, it is a fantastic motivational tool. Chris Senetto will be working with me this weekend to help the workshop participants create their own personal vision board representing their dreams and goals.
If you are in the area of Bellmore, in Long Island, New York’s Nassau County, I hope you can join us this Sunday, January 16, 2015, at 2 PM, for our fabulous Goal Setting and Vision Board workshop. You can make 2015 the year in which YOUR dreams come true with careful planning and a great motivational tool in your vision board.
And if one of your goals for 2015 is to take better care of yourself, find some inner peace, and get in shape, check out the fabulous variety of great yoga and meditation classes or workshops at Moonflower Yoga which can help you on this positive path for this new year. The staff of dedicated teachers at Moonflower Yoga and I look forward to seeing you!
Here is to a great 2015 !!
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.
When Things Happen for a Reason by Nancy Weshkoff
When Things Happen for a Reason
By Nancy Weshkoff
Life is often like a roller coaster. You encounter some curves and dips that you were not expecting. And when that happens, I always think that what has occurred has taken place for a reason, even if that reason is not immediately apparent. I had one of those drastic roller coaster curves 3 years ago this week.
Some of you may know that my past experience before Moonflower Yoga was in the corporate world, specifically I was in the music industry on the business side. It was very interesting, and I met some amazing people, but it also had its stressful times. I had been in the music business more than 30 years. Three years ago this week I received the news that I was being laid off from my current position. It was a shock that I was not expecting. What made it much worse was that my husband had lost his job of 30 years just 3 months earlier when his employer went bankrupt. Now we were both unemployed, just as the recession was hitting its peak and companies were not hiring and making their own cutbacks.
Things looked very bleak. Yet, through it all, I kept a positive spirit that things happen for a reason. My yoga practice had always been my savior, and I found that yoga and meditation helped me with this drastic life change. When my yoga teacher announced the start of a teacher training program, I enrolled – still not sure where this was going to take me. When I completed the training and graduated, I knew that my life was meant to go in a different direction. The corporate world was no longer my path. I also knew that I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny and start my own yoga business, bumpy as that was going to be.
And so Moonflower Yoga was born! I took a giant leap of faith and signed a lease to rent space for my new venture. Those first few weeks of having the doors open were challenging as I worked hard to build the business. Each month things improved and more and more people walked in the doors to try a yoga class. Now Moonflower Yoga has been open for more than 2 years, and yoga classes are selling out with waiting lists.
What has also happened is that I have met so many amazing – and inspirational – people that I would not have met if I had stayed in the music industry. There are a wonderful group of students who I am blessed to have walk through the doors of Moonflower Yoga to try a yoga class or workshop. Many never tried yoga before, and they have fallen in love with yoga as I did. Yoga has helped them cope with their own difficult life challenges in a positive way. At the same time, I have learned things from these amazing students and getting to know them has helped me grow as well. I am also blessed to have a very dedicated group of teachers at Moonflower Yoga who also love teaching and helping people.
And so I go back to the start of this blog…. Things happen for a reason. Although I did not know it 3 years ago, being laid off from the corporate world enabled me to have this incredible new chapter in my life. My husband, who had lost his job 3 years ago, found a new position at a great company that is closer to home. If you are feeling as if life has thrown you into a dip on the roller coaster, think positive! And if you would like to experience an amazing yoga class or workshop to help you feel better, come join us at Moonflower Yoga in Bellmore, in Long Island’s Nassau County (New York). And always remember that things do happen for a reason.
