Archive for Qigong – Page 3

June 2017; Graduation Thoughts; Girls Rising; NYU Wellness Forum

By Melissa "Mati" Elstein · Comments (0)
Sunday, July 2nd, 2017

I just attended my niece’s high school graduation, and it was a beautiful event filled with such hope and positivity.  The student speakers, the dean, and the guest keynote speaker (Christina Lowery of Girls Rising: http://www.girlsrising.com and for her documentary trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsvklXhYaE ) spoke to the graduates and their guests about approaching life with gusto and grace, finding happiness along many varied and not necessarily linear life paths, finding one’s unique voice, helping others, the global importance of educating girls, and letting go of perfectionism. Noteworthy to me, was that the speakers emphasized relationship building and developing personal inner qualities rather than traditional academic speeches of past that touted success and achievement more narrowly. The student body at this all-girls school is very diverse, and also very international.  It was lovely to see such a melting pot of humanity of the stage, and I was impressed with the messages of empowerment for these young women. I could truly tell that throughout their years at this historic school their voices were being respected and cultivated in a very positive way.  The future felt very bright as I watched their ceremony this morning, and wondered what each graduate will become as they grow into adulthood.  Although today’s graduation represented saying goodbye to high school, it also represented the beginning of their next chapters of their lives. We are always evolving, saying adieu to something, and bonjour to what is next.

(I add a little French in honor of Emmanuel Macron, the newly elected president of France, who has so far been quite an eloquent international leader. For those of you who may have missed his speech in response to the US withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, please watch:   http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2017/06/01/emmanuel-macron-donald-trump-paris-accord-sot-cnni.cnn ).

Regarding life changes, due to pressing family commitments, I am reducing my teaching schedule a bit.  My father has been dealing with serious health challenges, including most recently recovering from surgery for a broken hip. I have been spending much time and energy overseeing his health care, and juggling these new responsibilities with teaching and community work.  As anyone who has been a caretaker of a child or elderly parent knows, it is a priority to be there for your family member as navigating the bureaucracy of our health care institutions is complicated, frustrating, and time-consuming. And additionally, there is no substitute for the personal attention, love and care that a family member will give to the parent or child in need.  As such, I am making some room in my life, and will no longer be teaching the Gentle Yoga class at Integral Yoga on Mondays at 3:15 pm.  I will still teach the ongoing workshop series Chair Chi & Prana there at 2-3 pm most, but not all, Mondays. I will also continue to teach my 11am Chair Yoga class at Dorot for Seniors most Mondays as well.

It has been a true pleasure teaching the IYI gentle class and building it up in popularity, as gentle yoga is what drew me into yoga initially and changed my life for the better (I left the practice of law to teach gentle yoga!).  I will still sub gentle yoga; in fact, I am subbing Yoga & Qigong June 15th at 5:15 pm for my friend Nadiya.  I hope to see you there and also in my 2 pm chair yoga and qigong/tai chi walking class as mentioned above.  I have loved our Monday afternoon gentle practice, and know that my relationship with all of you is what makes teaching and learning (we are all teachers and students) so rewarding. Please email me any questions you may have.  I have appreciated all your support throughout the years and know you will be just as supportive now as I reorient some of my life priorities.


My Father On His 85th Birthday Last Week!

Speaking of health, one of my lovely and brilliant body workers, Sara Vogeler, will be speaking at an NYU health expo this Wednesday.  I signed up and thought you would be interested as well.  The expo will address the connection between stress and overall mental and physical health; how to minimize stress through mindfulness, exercise, and nutrition; discover ways to use emotional and physiological responses to stress to your advantage; and develop practical next steps at regulating and reducing stress in your everyday life.

The expo starts at 11:00 am: get tested for blood pressure and blood glucose, learn hands-on CPR, receive a massage, and receive important information about a variety of topics that matter to older adults and the people who care for them. Attendees will also enjoy a light lunch buffet.

At noon, Dr. Max Gomez (CBS Emmy-Award-winning medical journalist) will moderate a panel of health care experts, who will each provide a 15 minute presentation on a variety of topics.  Closed captioning will be provided.  Panelists include:

Dr. Tara Cortes, Executive Director, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing, and a Professor in Geriatric Nursing;
Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, Director, Women’s Heart Health, Lenox Hill Hospital;
Sara K. Vogeler, BMC, LMT, RMT, Founder and Director of The NeuroMuscular Center, Inc.; and
Dr. Jonathan Whiteson, Vice Chair, Clinical Operations, Assistant Professor, Rehabilitation Medicine, and Medical Director, Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation – NYU Rusk Rehabilitation


Guests will need to RSVP for this event :
https://www.nyu.edu/community/nyu-in-nyc/community-news-and-announcements/6th-annual-community-health-forum.html#program?utm_source=NYU+Symposium+reminder+video+05%2F30%2F17%2C+4%3A15+PM&utm_campaign=NYU+Symposium+June+7%2C+2017&utm_medium=email
Maybe I will see you there!  (I can only stay until 1 pm as I need to take my father to a doctor appointment, but the expo seems worth attending even if you can only make part of the event).

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Categories : Health, Qigong, Yoga, Yoga and Qigong
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March Schedule; Staying Grounded in Qigong; Women’s March Post Cards; Baby Boomer Fitness

By Melissa "Mati" Elstein · Comments (0)
Tuesday, March 14th, 2017

Happy March 2017 to you all!  What a bumpy ride we are on – from our political situation, to extreme weather shifts. This week, I was eating in a sunny outdoor cafe one day and the next day freezing in my winter coat!  In many respects, it feels like we are on a roller coaster ride, and staying grounded is so very key.

I find in addition to doing standing poses in yoga, especially mountain pose, standing qigong meditation is also very helpful for grounding.  Like seated meditation in yoga, one follows the breath as a tool for quieting the mind.  But instead of sitting in a chair or cross-legged on the yoga mat or meditation cushion, we stand in the qigong “horse stance“.  To create this position, stand with the legs slightly wider than the hips, leg and buttock muscles will engage by slightly bending the knees, abdominal muscles will be slightly lifted to protect the lower back muscles, and the arms are in front of you as if you are wrapping them around a tree in nature.  Feel all areas of the feet (the toes, the ball of the foot, the heel) grounding down into the earth, and if you are not outside on the earth doing this meditation, imagine you are in a beautiful place in a favorite natural setting.  Feel the breath expand across your chest, your back, your rib cage area, along your spine from tail to crown as you inhale, and crown to tail as you exhale.  Soften your gaze, and you can even bring the tongue to the roof of the mouth. You decide how long to stay in this calming and grounding meditation pose.  Try one minute and then increase it as you develop your inner and outer strength with practice.  Please let me know what you think!  For those of you who take my classes in person, you will recognize this practice from the Tai Chi Easy(tm) part of my classes.


Seated Meditation            Standing Meditation

I recently saw on social media that March 15th this year is being hashtagged #TheIdesofTrump and is an international day of sending postcards to the White House.  These postcards can be sent in support of the administration or for voicing one’s opposition to this new administration’s policies and stances. If you send a postcard on March 15, you can take a selfie with the card and post the photo to your social media pages with the above hashtag.  You should decide how comfortable you are with using your social media platforms for political advocacy and review the various privacy setting options. Alternatively, just send a card and know you are joining hopefully millions of others to voice your First Amendment right of free speech.  If you would like to use a Women’s March postcard, my local mom and pop copy center, 85 Copy & Graphics, has the template below and you can order them in bulk for the following prices: 30 cards $35; 20 cards $25; and 10 cards for $20.  85 Copy Center is located at 173 W. 85th Street, just east of Amsterdam Avenue.  Call (212) 769 – 4470 or email 85copyny@gmail.com and say Melissa referred you.

Most of you know I am a fan of cross-training, as I often discuss that in class.  I love yoga, but do not believe that practicing yoga to the exclusion of other fitness activities is sufficient. To achieve my fitness goals, in addition to yoga, I do cardio, weight training, pilates, gyrotonics, walking, boxing, and dance classes. Not only does varying the activities keep me interested and prevent boredom, but it also challenges my body and brain. Last month, I met Jason Greenspan, owner of “Silver Stars Fitness” at an open house (he was recommended to me by a lovely yoga student). Jason and his team of trainers specialize in fitness for the “Baby Boomer & Beyond“, and I was impressed with his presentation and understanding of the workout needs of the older person.  It is very important as we age that we adapt exercises and weight training to our unique bodies with our individual histories, and not just be engaging in the latest fad exercise.  Safety is paramount. If you would like to learn more about “Silver Stars Fitness”, their next Open House is on Wednesday, March 22 from 10 am – 6 pm.  Attendees will receive 20% off all future services, a free copy of Jason’s book “Fitness For Real Life“, and a free fitness consultation.  To RSVP call 646-573-9724 or by email:  info@silverstarsfit.com . “Silver Stars Fitness” is located at 850 7th Ave (West 54/55th Streets), Suite 305. Lunch and snacks will be served as well!  If you attend, please let me know your thoughts and tell Jason I say “hello”!  Check out his website at http://www.silverstarsfit.com

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Categories : post-election stress, Qigong, Uncategorized, Yoga, Yoga and Qigong
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February Schedule; Thoughts for Turbulent Times

By Melissa "Mati" Elstein · Comments (0)
Monday, February 6th, 2017

Wishing everyone a February filled with Valentine’s Day love all month – love for one another, for our country, for our planet!

During this turbulent political time, cultivating love may be more challenging than before, or you may be finding the opposite – that the more some (those who will not be named here) espouse hate and separatism, the more you are seeking and finding love and harmony.  For me, joining with others in peaceful protest and community organizing (as well as teaching and taking movement and spiritual classes), makes me feel more connected to others and more positive about the future.  Even though I highly value solitude and my peaceful walks in Central Park, sharing my feelings with others has been an important tool for support. After just two weeks of a new “presidency”, most of the people I know (including myself) are aghast, petrified, depressed, anxious, embarrassed for our country, fearful for our democracy, and desperately wishing that we are going to wake up from this horrible situation to find that it was all a nightmare in our dreams.

So how do we deal with this unique time in our history?  How do we stay involved but also protect and nourish ourselves, our health and sanity in the process?  How do we not burn out?  To be honest, a part of me since the inauguration, is already feeling exhausted and burnt out.  In part, because I was already doing so much organizing and environmental protesting during the last 10 years, and I felt like we had made progress. Then the election happened, and it feels like there will be a huge concrete wall (no pun intended) blocking any more progress.  I know we are currently facing enormous obstacles towards making progress on not just environmental issues, but every issue I care about from human rights, rights to a living wage, money out of politics, animal welfare, education, gun control, free internet, voting rights, separation of church and state, ending gerrymandering, income inequality, corruption, corporate greed, government transparency, criminal justice, the Supreme Court, and the list goes on and on.  It honestly feels overwhelming and we are just two weeks in.

During this time of transition, I have felt so much compassion for those who have lived or are currently living under even more challenging political situations.  For my generation of Americans who have not been overseas fighting in the Irag or Afghanistan wars, we have not had the experience of living in such uncertain and stressful times – unlike our recent ancestors who experienced the World Wars and the turbulence of the 60s. If we were born here, we have not lived under dictatorships, strong men or military regimes. We have not experienced life under a repressive system, such as North Korea’s. We have not lived through coup d’etats. I cannot even imagine the stress and fear that citizens under those types of political situations must suffer.  I know that those of us fearful of losing our democratic system here in the US are seeing warning signs under this new administration, and we feel that we are literally fighting for our country, and more globally for the environmental health of the planet and the prevention of nuclear war.  And that feels heavy, depressing, and infuriating – especially given that we are such a technologically advanced society and yet, in the year 2017 that we are still having to fight against greed, hate, power-mongering, and short-sighted visions.  All the qualities specifically listed in the ancient yoga sutras’ yamas.

So these are the thoughts and feelings I have been experiencing the last two weeks.  I hope you will appreciate my honesty and my openness about my inner struggles at this time. What are some of the things that have lifted me from my despair?  Joining with others in solidarity, humor (thankfully, we have so many genius comedians/ennes), movement (from yoga, dance, qigong, running/walking in the park), being with open young children who are still not yet conditioned by society, petting a dog, listening to beautiful classical music, attending the theater, gentle bodywork, aromatherapy, and yes, probably having a little more wine, chips, and dark chocolate these days.  But maybe most importantly, is having the belief that this is a historic international moment and movement that perhaps needed to occur to truly awaken us. That not only are we witnessing history, we are also co-creating it.  And in that, we have power. How will we each co-create our present and our future is individualized.  But my intention is to not be an angry activist, even though I do have a lot of anger at the situation and injustices I observe. But if I can channel that anger and that despair into fighting for what I believe in with positivity and good energy, I think that will ultimately be more helpful for myself and for others.

Towards those goals, I hope to, in addition to continuing to march and engage in community work, create and host vision board and manifestation circles. Please email me back if you are interested in this as well, and we can organize one hopefully soon.  This would be a group of us creating visual representations of how we each envision a positive future. I believe it would be a very powerful and uplifting event.

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Categories : community organizing, Environment, Holidays and self-care, post-election stress, Qigong, Self-care, society and culture, Yoga, Yoga and Qigong
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November 2016 Class Schedule; NY1 Interview

By Melissa "Mati" Elstein · Comments (0)
Monday, October 31st, 2016

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Halloween!

Some of you have already mentioned seeing my recent NY1 interview during which reporter Michael Scotto shadows me teaching Chair Yoga at Dorot for Seniors and doing community work around the Upper West Side.  It is a nice overview of some of my volunteer work (such as my “Love Your Street Tree” outreach and community events), and there is also beautiful video of the chair yoga class.  I am really honored that NY1 chose to profile me and my work, and that they saw the societal value in both teaching yoga and doing community work focused on urban trees, among other things. By the way, reporter Michael Scotto not only reported on the story, but he does all his own camera work as well. Impressive!  (And he is a lovely person).  Here is the link:
http://www.ny1.com/nyc/manhattan/news/2016/10/12/manhattan-week–the-mayor-of-the-upper-west-side-uses-her-green-thumb-to-keep-the-neighborhood-serene.html

On another note, many of you have asked about where to purchase non-slip socks. I found a supplier of attractive and reasonably priced traction socks in multiple styles and colors. Check out the Silverts website below.  Please wear some type of non-slip traction sock for the tai chi walking in my “Chair Chi and Prana” class, unless you are barefoot. These socks can also be used for yoga in the cooler weather (though I like the toe sox brand for yoga as each toe is separated so you can spread the toes wide in mountain pose, for example). The Silverts catalog also has some nice colorful velcro slippers for home wear, and if you experience leg or ankle swelling, they carry compression socks.  I wear compression socks on all long flights, and they make a huge difference in keeping one’s legs refreshed during the flight and reducing feet swelling due to the cabin air pressure. Let me know what you think of this website!

http://www.silverts.com

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Categories : Connection, Environment, New York City, Qigong, Tai Chi, Trees, Yoga
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July 2015 – Personal Independence & Freedom

By Melissa "Mati" Elstein · Comments (0)
Saturday, July 4th, 2015

Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July, and that you enjoy a safe and relaxing holiday weekend!

In thinking about what personal freedom means, aside from political freedom, I believe that the yogic principles directly apply. In yoga and other spiritual practices, we seek to undo the layers and layers of conditioning that bind us to repetitive thinking and habits. That conditioning mostly comes from our family environment, and even if our caretakers have wonderful intentions, we as little child sponges do soak up the norms, behaviors, and viewpoints of our family environment. Later, as we age, we also become conditioned by society – our friends, schools, media, etc. We continue through our lifetime to be exposed and conditioned by that which surrounds us. Though, as we age and mature, we begin to notice and perhaps question these outside influences. We can become more discerning and notice the effects of our family and societal influences on our selves. In our spiritual practices, we seek a liberation from these external influences so we can at least glimpse who we really are under all those conditions layers. Many of us have had moments, fleeting as they may be, of such peak transcendent experiences. Those moments are glimpses into who we really are – our true essence. For me, the more I can connect to the unconditioned self, my spirit or soul, the more I feel free and at peace. The paths to these momentary awakenings can be varied – yoga and meditation, qigong and tai chi, dancing, walking in nature, chanting, praying, jogging, being with animals or children, listening to music, connecting to art, and many more possibilities. When have you experienced this type of personal freedom?

Also, my wonderful Tai Chi Easy teacher, Roger Jahnke, OMD, will be teaching July 9 – 12 at The Open Center! Many of you have asked about studying this form of tai chi and qigong, and now is your opportunity. Thursday night, July 9 is the free intro and Friday – Sunday is his training. I highly recommend studying with Dr. Jahnke! Check out www.opencenter.org for more info.

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Categories : Meditation, Nature, Qigong, Spirituality, Tai Chi, Yoga
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