Remembering 9/11 by Nancy Weshkoff
Remembering 9/11 by Nancy Weshkoff
On this anniversary of 9/11, I am re-posting a blog that I wrote 7 years ago that pays tribute to those who lost their lives on this September date. Like so many other people, 9/11 is a day that I will never forget. May those who lost their lives rest in peace. And here is praying that we can live in peace rather than in senseless destruction.
18 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.
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!
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!
Mantra and Stress Reduction by Nancy Weshkoff
Mantra and Stress Reduction
By Nancy Weshkoff
Beginners to yoga often ask what is a mantra and why is this used in yoga classes. Mantra is a short phrase, or a chant, or it may be a single word. It can be in Sanskrit, the ancient language of yoga, or it can be in English. As an example, “shanti”, is a Sanskrit word and means “peace”. At the end of a yoga class, a yoga teacher may close the class with “shanti, shanti, shanti” as a message that peace be with you and with the world.
Mantra can be any word or combination of words that has meaning to you. It is important that it be a POSITIVE message. For example, you can say “I am smart”, “I am beautiful”, “Everything is going to be okay”, “I am grateful”, “I am happy”, etc. You want to avoid negative versions of this such as “I am not stupid”, as your brain has difficulty processing the negative and hears “I am stupid”. You could also choose a famous phrase that resonates with you. A simple “I love myself” is also wonderful.
Sometimes people think a mantra can only be used in a yoga class or if you are doing a seated meditation in your house. This is certainly when you might encounter mantra, but mantra is available to you at any time during the day. If you are sitting in traffic, on a train, waiting in a doctor’s office, standing in line at a store, or just walking down the street, you can use a mantra. Just silently repeat to yourself the positive mantra of your choosing.
So, why is mantra important and how can it help with stress reduction? During our day, our mind is occupied with many thoughts – not all of them good. We might find ourselves regretting something from our past and reliving the past scene in our mind. Or perhaps you are imagining what might happen in the future at a certain event which is making you anxious, and we start to worry. Our blood pressure rises, which increases a strain on our heart and other organs. Guilt and worry are two negative emotions that we should try to reduce as much as possible.
Instead of negativity, how about changing this to something positive? If you change the negative into a positive mantra that you repeat to yourself, you start to relax. It helps with stress reduction and lowers blood pressure.
Try doing this for just 2-3 minutes. Select a positive mantra that is meaningful to you. Notice how you feel before you start the mantra. Take a few deep breaths. Then start repeating the mantra to yourself. If you are alone in a room, you can choose to say it aloud. After just a few minutes of slowly repeating the mantra, notice how you feel. You should notice a reduction in your stress and your mind should be calmer. Mantra can be miraculous!
If you would like to discover more about mantra, come try one of the great yoga classes at our Moonflower Yoga studio in Bellmore, in Nassau County (Long Island, New York). Our yoga teachers offer mantra to our yoga students and encourage them to incorporate these into their daily routine. In our singing bowl meditation classes, mantra is used with sound, which is a fabulous way to relax. In our Kundalini yoga classes, mantra is part of the yoga practice, and you may repeat your mantra while moving in a certain yoga posture or with a breathing technique offered by our Kundalini yoga teacher. I encourage you to incorporate mantra in your life and see how it can help you relax and feel great!
Being Grateful by Nancy Weshkoff
Being Grateful
by Nancy Weshkoff
I wrote this blog previously during Thanksgiving week The sentiments expressed in the blog are still true, and I encourage all of you to take a moment to count the blessings in your life. Doing so can help you realize how amazing each day that we spend on this earth can be. Here is the blog, and I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I am taking a moment to pause & think deeply about the holiday. If you look at the media blitz around us, you would assume Thanksgiving is about shopping for items you probably don’t need at discount prices. Stores are opening earlier and earlier, and this often means families spend less time together as they rush to get to the mall. What happened to this wonderful holiday with its family traditions?
Instead of the craziness of shopping, I am instead listing a few things in my life for which I am very grateful:
I am grateful for the many students who walk in the doors of Moonflower Yoga to attend a yoga class. It is such a blessing to have them at the studio each week, getting stronger, feeling better, and sharing a part of their lives at Moonflower Yoga. I love meeting each person as they walk in the door and catching up with them each week. Thank you to all of you who have made Moonflower Yoga a success.
It was 6 years ago this month that my life changed forever with the news that my job in corporate America was coming to an end with a forced layoff. Although that news was devastating at the time, it gave me the opportunity to try something new that I always wanted to do. Moonflower Yoga was born as a result of that, and I am grateful that my life changed for the better. As Gandhi very wisely said: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”.
Making a life change would have been very challenging if it wasn’t for the support of my husband, Bob, who has been my rock for the last 40+ years. Bob, together with friends and family, supported me and Moonflower Yoga, and I am very grateful for their love and support. And Bob’s delicious, homemade desserts at our workshops, events, and Moonflower Yoga Book Club & Moonflower Yoga Needle Arts meetings bring a smile to everyone’s face. And now Bob is offering his own vegan and gluten-free cooking workshops at Moonflower Yoga.
Moonflower Yoga has great yoga teachers who work alongside of me each week and bring their love of teaching and helping people to Moonflower Yoga each week. I could not run the studio without them. And there have been wonderful workshop presenters as well, who have taught us some very interesting things that we didn’t know before and helped us learn something new. We now have Reiki training at Moonflower Yoga taught by Connie helping to bring healing to people, as well as IET/Angel healing training taught by Chris. I am grateful to all of the great instructors and workshop presenters for making Moonflower Yoga a special place.
I am grateful to my hometown of Bellmore, Long Island, in New York’s Nassau County. I have been welcomed in the town, and it has been awesome to establish my business roots here as well as my home roots.
I am grateful to my yoga teachers who helped me discover the wonders of yoga many years ago. Yoga has been my rock when things were stressful, and now it has become my life. It all started with attending my first yoga class, and it grew from there. Yoga can help you too!
What are you grateful for this holiday season? Take a moment to reflect on the blessings in your life. You will feel inspired! Have a wonderful holiday.
Meditation and Yoga Benefits by Nancy Weshkoff
Meditation and Yoga Benefits
By Nancy Weshkoff
I was watching a morning news show program recently, and I was so happy to see an uplifting story about an inner-city school program. In this school program for elementary school children, the children were taught meditation and yoga as a healthy way of coping with stress. If a child had an anger issue with another student or teacher, the child was sent to a meditation area and would meditate quietly for several months. The children also began their day with several minutes of simple yoga postures and breathing techniques setting a positive intention for the day.
The results were excellent. The children learned positive ways of coping with life’s stresses. They reported feeling peaceful and calm. And a disciplinary trip to the principal’s office was no longer needed as there were no longer student infractions as previously. These children learned skill sets that can be used throughout their life, which is terrific.
These de-stressing techniques of yoga and meditation are fabulous for people of all ages! In the great yoga classes that we offer at Moonflower Yoga, we teach you to link your breath with movement. So many times during the day, especially when we are under pressure and stressed, we forget to breathe deeply. Our mind is going in a million directions, thinking about the various deadlines we need to meet, perhaps worrying about a child or an elderly parent, etc. Shallow breathing is not good for our organs. And all that stress leads to disease including heart disease – the number one killer of women in the US. In our meditation classes, our teachers give you some gentle guidance to help your mind relax so that you can learn to be in the present moment and not worry about the “shoulda, coulda, woulda’s” that plague us.
Come join us at Moonflower Yoga in Long Island New York’s Nassau County and try one of our great yoga or meditation classes! Like the children mentioned above, you will find a fabulous tool to help you feel better.
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.
