Floral Park residents and business owners have a new neighbor in the heart of the village.
Here and Now Yoga, Wellness & Arts Collective, located at 22 Verbena Ave., opened June 1 and offers a wide range of classes and programs taught by about a dozen local instructors. Activities include a variety of group and one-on-one yoga sessions, tai chi, mat pilates, exercise for children and ballet for adults.
Co-founders and partners Michelle Cavanagh and Dina Denise Paolucci also teach classes and recently Nassau Illustrated News A quick interview in a fresh, airy art and wellness space.
“So far it’s been great fun and going well,” Cavanagh said. “So far we have 11 teachers, including us, teaching a variety of great content, and we also have some children’s workshops planned for the next few weeks.”
Denise Paolucci added, “It’s also really fun being in this community and meeting people and seeing neighbors walking by, coming in and attending classes. The neighbors have been great and supportive and it’s really nice to see people on a regular basis.”
To encourage more locals to stop by and check out the new space, Here and Now is offering a “Summer Blowout” special this month, offering two weeks of unlimited classes for $49. Denis-Paolucci says the special allows people to try out a variety of classes in the mornings and evenings, seven days a week, to “test drive” different movement styles and different instructors.
“If the teacher isn’t someone you think is right, you may never go back to that teacher again, so making those personal connections with people in the community is probably the most important thing for us right now,” Kavanagh said.
Meanwhile, Cavanagh said: “My fitness and health are [journey] In the mid-90s, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a dancer, actor, personal fitness trainer and children’s martial arts instructor before returning to his hometown. [to New York] And we want to reduce violence. [work] “… I think becoming a mother was a big factor,” she laughed.
“I became a yoga instructor in 2010 and started thinking about opening a studio. I looked at a few locations and realized I needed a business partner in June 2023. And then I thought of Dina!”
“One of my students sent me a photo of this place in January. [when vacant]and here we are.”
“Movement creation is my specialty,” says Denise Paolucci, a trained dancer, artist, educator and adjunct professor in the Hofstra University Dance Department.
“Michelle was teaching classes, and I came here from New York and started finding my place in the community. That’s how I ended up representing her, and we started working together, and we’ve always aligned. Michelle is an artist, so we’re both creative in that sense, and it’s nice that we can recognize each other’s talents.”
“As Michelle said earlier, our work is very personal. We engage with people through movement, sound, breath and ideas. We have a show coming up soon, so you can already see things starting to blossom and grow in this space.”
