The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Cover Stories

Stephanie Spiegel on Finding Centerpeace

by

On a typical morning, prior to the pandemic, a keen observer would notice a stream of legging-clad women darting in and out of the chasm marking the brick structure nestled in the heart of Chappaqua. They exit with slightly mussed hair, a light sweat and an unmistakable peaceful glow. To those familiar with Chappaqua’s Stephanie Spiegel, it’s no surprise that she’s behind it all. She is the owner of Centerpeace, a studio based on the full-body workout developed by ballet dancer, Lotte Berk. Classes are challenging yet fulfilling and distinguished by Spiegel’s words, which convey a spiritual sensibility wrapped in the approachability of a longtime friend. Her trademark positivity transcends the studio, radiating through Zoom and even here in typeface. 

Stephanie Spiegel
PHOTO BY Carolyn Simpson

The Metamorphosis of Centerpeace

Born and bred in California, Spiegel came to New York almost 25 years ago where she was introduced to the Lotte Berk method. She recalls, “I danced my whole life. In college, I was a dance major with a psychology minor and I fell in love with the discipline of the method.” After undergoing teacher training and working at several studios, Spiegel launched Centerpeace in 2007. Her unique approach features a faster pace and longer reps, while integrating her background in dance and psychology. She explains, “When you weave the two together it creates, what I believe to be, an extraordinary practice and is a foundation for life. There is an intensity to the discipline of my classes that requires a focused lens. Life is filled with distractions–I wanted Centerpeace to be a lily pad where everything could be left at the door and anyone can tune in to their feelings.” 

Since its inception, the studio has indeed become a haven to its base of loyal followers. Longtime enthusiast, Rebecca Scarpati of Sleepy Hollow, credits the practice for changing her life. A passionate recreational dancer and breast cancer survivor, Scarpati was a self-proclaimed  “mess” when she found Centerpeace, recounting, “I had just completed chemotherapy as well as multiple surgeries for injuries I developed throughout the years and could no longer dance at my former level. Stephanie taught me to push through my limitations while listening to my body to grow strong. The exercises brought back the emotional connection I had for telling a story using choreography and I got stronger in my own body.”

The Centerpeace practice is a holistic integration of the body and mind. “The practice sculpts and strengthens while simultaneously elongating every major muscle,” Spiegel says. “The focus throughout class is mind/body alignment with an emphasis on core strength. The power of a body comes from our core. All exercises help to promote better balance and good posture; not to mention the chemicals that fire up our brains, which is important,” she adds, her eyes twinkling, “as we grow young.” 

Spiegel adeptly shifts between challenging seasoned devotees and supporting greener clients. Everyone receives the same encouragement. “Work from where you are. Be mindful and listen to your body.” And, Zoom has expanded her audience across the country. Spiegel steadily scrutinizes form and choreography, calling out adjustments while bestowing inspirational messages. 

Long Island resident Marni Ellis, for one, is “living in fear” that Zoom classes may ultimately end. The longtime barre enthusiast says, “The practice has changed me physically and mentally. Not only does Stephanie have a deep understanding of the body and form, but she’s a special human being with an organic teaching style, exuding a contagious energy and passion that translates across the screen.”

Stephanie with Morgan and Brandon. PHOTO BY Carolyn Simpson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lessons from the Studio

The positive vibe of the Centerpeace community is palpable, a fact Spiegel simply attributes to “the laws of attraction,” saying, “People come together to create good collective energy. I am so proud to be a part of such an amazing group.” Spiegel had no idea just how deeply she would come to rely upon this community when she opened the studio, candidly sharing, “My husband of 20 years was diagnosed with cancer ten years into my practice with Centerpeace. Week-after-week, day-after-day, that group of women were the life vest that held me up.” 

In 2017, Spiegel’s husband, Scott, sadly lost his battle. “There’s nothing more valuable than the net that holds us when we need it. The community gave me unbelievable support and strength at a time when my heart was so broken. I believe that my clients and my team know how central they are in my life. When you are surrounded by such great people, it becomes so much more than a job. It becomes part of the very fabric of your life.”

Woven within each class is the theme that life is a gift. Spiegel says, “I wake up every morning, look to the left and think, ‘This was not the way my story was supposed to go.’ I know how fast life can be taken away, so I always talk about the importance of making each day count. After losing my husband, every day I asked myself, ‘What’s today going to be Stephanie? You get to choose.’ And so I would cry, put the tissues in my pocket and head out to breathe in fresh air. I worked, walked miles and spent every day loving my kids through the most unimaginable pain.” Calling her children, Morgan, Brandon, Adam and Taryn “central in my life and in my heart,” she guided them through this time. There was no roadmap, but she said, “I don’t know how to do this either, but we’re going to learn together and I’m going to love you through it.”

When the pandemic came, those lessons proved instrumental. Spiegel and her family had just regained a semblance of normalcy when the ground was again pulled out from under them. This time, however, everyone was impacted. “I already knew that I could handle anything difficult because I’ve been through the worst.” Spiegel shared this insight with her children and Centerpeace family saying, “We’ve trained for this. We can do hard things. When you get deep into muscle and work your body hard like we do, you learn to center yourself when there is uncertainty. Stop asking when we can get our lives back. Life is happening. Life is right now.” 

Resilience

Living a life of resiliency has become central to Spiegel’s philosophy. The ability for our minds and bodies to bend, move and stretch is only achieved through practice. “We don’t become resilient simply because we want to,” she imparts. “Taking the time to move and connect to yourself, whether at Centerpeace of somewhere else, makes us better to ourselves and the people in our lives. It’s creating strength from the inside out and maintaining that discipline to stand tall when life shifts or the wind blows or a pandemic comes about. I always say, ‘Look up so you can see where you’re going.’ We might get knocked down but none of us are staying down,” adding resolutely, “Not if I have anything to do with it.”

Take it Outdoors: The Zen and Safety of Patios and Decks

by

PHOTO BY © Marianne Campolongo

As the weather gets warmer, our thoughts turn to the outdoors, this year perhaps more than ever. Our yards have become an extension of our work from home office, an oasis to chill out and relax, and a safe space to visit with friends and family. Last summer, my hammock was a spot to unwind, contemplate my garden and my future, as well as a comfortable place to use my laptop or read a book. When the sun got too strong, I moved to the table, adjusting the umbrella to give me needed shade. These simple amenities made such a difference. 

Adding a patio or deck with more room for outdoor seating is the ticket to making the most of your yard, whether for your private enjoyment or as a space for entertaining. A patio or deck is a “great place to sit and have drinks and talk. It’s very convivial,” says Sandy Bueti of Bueti Brothers, Inc. “You can socially distance, set up separate tables. Even elderly people can feel comfortable. You also don’t have to worry about ticks, so it’s an advantage over lying on your lawn.” 

Last year, “because people were spending a lot more time at home, there was a big uptick in demand for decking,” says Donald LeBlanc of Just Decks in Pleasantville. “Manufacturing slowed down, so we had to be creative in getting materials. The demand exceeded the supply, and prices of materials were phenomenal, out of control.” Still, this did not deter most people from adding welcome outdoor spaces. He is hopeful raw material costs will come down this year. 

Trends in decking are changing, with cedar decks becoming a thing of the past, replaced by easy to maintain composites or “very high end exotic hardwoods such as mahogany, ipe and palolape, ” said LeBlanc. Neither ipe, from South America, nor palolape from Asia “need any maintenance unless you’re trying to maintain the color,” he said. Mahogany, while beautiful, varies in grade and requires substantial maintenance. His company uses only sustainably harvested woods. 

Both Bueti and Le Blanc caution that decks and patios are subject to setback and other requirements, so you should work with a licensed contractor who can help you acquire all needed permits. 

They also recommend starting projects as early in the year as possible, especially given the increased demand.

Photo Courtesy of Bueti Brothers, Inc.

Fire pits are continuing to grow in popularity. Whether you opt for a one-of-a-kind model hand built by a mason or a ready-made metal portable model, either provides a fun spot for the entire family to roast marshmallows and make those time-honored treats, s’mores. They also keep you warm come fall, extending the outdoor season.

Another way to extend the season is with a screened porch, says Bueti, particularly if you add a fireplace. Screened porches are also welcome in the hot summer months when mosquitos are biting. He joked that when you are out on a screened porch, it can be hard to get company to leave, “Hours go by, you feel so protected,” he said. These days, as we edge closer to normal life, that’s a welcome problem to have. 

Easy to Digest Healthy Eating Strategies from Weight Loss Coach Lyssa Weiss

by

Lyssa Weiss

Amongst the myriad of ways that Covid has affected our lives this past year, unwanted weight gain has been a reality for many of us. Much of our energy was focused on procuring food for family trapped at home and much time was spent in the kitchen preparing meals. Boredom combined with anxiety created a recipe for plenty of mindless snacking. Armonk resident Lyssa Weiss, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., is the owner of Skinny Jeans Nutrition, LLC and a weight loss coach who specializes in emotional eating. I spoke with her about how she keeps herself accountable and helps her clients control their weight through Covid.

As a wife and mother of two with a busy career, Weiss is relatable. She understands her clients’ weight loss struggles because she herself lost 50 pounds, has kept it off for 27 years, and considers herself a food addict in recovery. “I had to change my thinking about food, overeating, and dieting in order to keep the weight off,” Weiss shares. “Once you learn to think differently, you literally become a happier version of yourself.”

Creating Good Habits

Weiss admits that at the start of the pandemic, her family, like everyone else’s, often found themselves in the kitchen with everyone on different eating schedules and generally bonding around meals. She quickly established boundaries and used the clock as a schedule, limiting herself to specific mealtimes and snack times. “My family was in the kitchen cooking and that was not going to change so I had to change. If there was lasagna, I made sure there was something else I can eat… and taking care of myself the way I would take care of my child if they had a special dietary need.”

Weiss promotes creating good habits and she practices what she preaches. She keeps a daily food record, mapping out her food for the day and budgets her calories accordingly. She calls it “calorie accounting” and teaches her clients that “it’s like money in a bank where you only have $1200 or 1200 calories to spend each day and you must budget that in planning your meals.”

Other helpful habits Weiss encourages include eating off a smaller plate to help control portion sizes and serving meals buffet style which forces you to stand up to get a second helping.

Staying Motivated

As we lounge around in sweatpants without social engagements on our schedule, it is difficult to stay motivated through this pandemic. Weiss advises clients to look to the future. “You don’t want to compound the pain of social isolation with the feeling that you also hate how you look and feel.”

Weiss understands that everyone has slip-ups but advises us to move past them. “Willpower does not work in dieting. I call it skill-power, and it’s a skill to not let your slip-up become your stopping point. I mess up like everyone else,” she concedes, “but I pick myself up the next day. I don’t let it become a week or a month or a pandemic of slip-ups.”

Avoiding Bad Boyfriend Foods

Weiss does not label certain foods good or bad, but she explains that how we behave around certain foods is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. She calls foods that we lose our sensibilities around ‘bad boyfriend foods’. “Whenever you get involved with these foods, it ends badly with you overeating them. One girl’s bad boyfriend food could be cookies while another’s could be grapes. It is not about the food, but rather how you behave around the food.”

To resist the pull towards these bad boyfriend foods, Weiss recommends keeping your kitchen clean of them since “we eat with our eyes.” In her own household, she stores her kids’ snacks in separate drawers from her own “safe foods” to avoid temptation.

Enjoyable snacks, however, that one will not overeat, are encouraged by Weiss.  “Your day should be 80/20; 80% should be nutritious food and 20% should be fun treats because research shows that people who include treats in their diet stick to their food plan better.”

Find a Vice

As a specialist in emotional eating, Weiss travels two lanes in her office. Besides focusing on which foods to eat for weight loss, she explains why clients turn to food to change the way they are feeling whether lonely, tired, overwhelmed, or worried.

For example, those who claim hunger as they reach for the cookie jar, skipping the low-calorie food, such as an apple, are not experiencing physical hunger. “That’s just mindless grazing. Boredom and fear-based eating have been the two biggest culprits of over-eating during this pandemic.”

To combat this, Weiss suggests finding something else to compete with the act of eating so that you don’t turn to food “for a dopamine hit” when you’re simply bored. Instead, she urges, “find a vice that lights you up that is as quick and accessible as eating.” Weiss’s suggestions include watching Netflix shows, taking online courses, talking to friends, or starting a new hobby.

Besides seeing clients in her private practice, Weiss is generous with weight loss advice on her public Facebook page [Lyssa Dansky Weiss] where she runs a private weight loss support community, and on Instagram @lyssaweiss. Weiss is also the author of the book The Skinny Jeans Diet (Harper Collins). For more information, visit www.lyssaweiss.com.

Lyssa Weiss’s Buffalo Chicken Wings 

1/2 of recipe (5 wings): 215 calories, 5.5g total fat, 16g carbs, 4g fiber, 1g sugars, 27g protein

Ingredients

15-20 reduced-fat BBQ baked potato chips or popped chips

Dash onion powder

Dash garlic powder

Dash cayenne pepper

Dash each salt and black pepper

8 oz. raw boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 10 nugget-size bites

3 tbsp. Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.

In a blender/food processor or in a ziplock bag with a spoon, grind/pound chips into crumbs. Transfer to a wide bowl and mix in seasonings.

Place chicken nuggets in a large bowl. Top with sauce and toss to coat.

One at a time, shake nuggets to remove excess sauce and coat with crumbs. Evenly lay on the baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes. Flip chicken. Bake until cooked through and crispy, about 6 minutes. Eat!

(You can also make this in the air fryer. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.)

The Examiner Media Comeback and the Resilience of Local News

by

Adam Stone

When 42-year-old Mount Kisco resident Adam Stone founded Examiner Media in 2007, the prospects for local print was bleak and getting bleaker. When the global financial crisis hit a year later, and every day brought news of long-established publications across the country shutting their presses, Stone doubled down with the launch of his second newspaper, the Putnam Examiner. 

So the unprecedented headwinds facing Examiner Media, which now has four publications, in 2020 were nothing new for Stone. 

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, the company was already dealing with challenging terrain, Stone says. With its newspapers distributed for free, Examiner Media counts on ad money for its revenue and when COVID-19 shuttered businesses and wrecked the economy, that revenue dried up.

“It was already a challenging time,” Stone explains. “Once Covid became a crisis in March, it became immediately clear that the status quo would be totally unsustainable, and I’d have to make some serious changes.”

A year later, Examiner Media not only survived the pandemic crisis but emerged with a stronger digital operation and a more sustainable revenue model, Stone says. 

But in March 2020, as Westchester County emerged as ground zero in New York’s Covid outbreak, the paper’s survival was far from a sure thing. It required Stone finding the revenue to stay afloat in the worst economy in a century and restructuring his business on the fly, while the editorial team covered a one-in-a-lifetime pandemic.

The New Normal

As the impact of the global pandemic began to become clear, Stone recalls, his immediate priority was getting through the drop in revenues and surrounding uncertainty. To these ends, he took several steps to supplement the publications’ revenues.

In March, Stone applied for and received a $5,000 grant from the Facebook Journalism Project, an initiative to support local news. The papers also received a grant from Google as well as a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, established during the first COVID relief bill. 

Finally, Stone launched a community fundraiser to give readers the chance to support the publications, partnering with the non-profit Local Media Foundation. He calls this decision one of the toughest he had to make.

“It was a very humbling thing, to go out there, hat in hand and say, ‘We are dealing with this existential crisis for the business,” Stone says. “But it dawned on me that it would have been very selfish to let the Covid situation just wash The Examiner away. There were employees counting on us, but also readers.”

Within 10 days he had raised more than $15,000, mostly through small donations. In the end, the papers received more than $30,000 in support from roughly 400 donors, most chipping in $100 or less. 

“There was just this outpouring of love for what we did,” Stone says. “People were really worried that we would go away, and they wanted to play their part in helping to rescue us.”

Stone’s team of reporters and editors, meanwhile, faced their own set of challenges. The changes at the paper, including a greater amount of shared content across the four publications, came as the pandemic became an all-consuming focus while upending traditional reporting approaches. 

“In the first three months, it was all Covid, all the time,” says Martin Wilbur, the editor-in-chief of The Examiner. “Whether it was how the local funeral homes were handling their business and dealing with families who can’t have a funeral or a viewing, or local businesses that were on the brink or couldn’t get their PPP loans.”

In the months following the shutdown, Wilbur estimates that 95 percent of stories were related to the pandemic–a product of both the extensive fallout of the virus and the fact that virtually all community events, a staple of local news coverage, had been cancelled. Wilbur would spend that Spring sitting in front of his computer, making phone calls and tuning into virtual meetings and events.

“There have been some days where I am on the phone for six, seven, eight hours, with only maybe five minutes to run downstairs to get a sandwich,” he says. “Between incessant phone calling and a lot of Zooming and a lot of watching of meetings and press conferences, it was a change, obviously.”

Wilbur, Stone, and editor Rick Pezzullo began holding frequent conference calls to coordinate coverage. Reporters began to increasingly focus on posting up-to-date news online.

“We are traditionally a weekly community newspaper, but we became a daily in a sense,” says Stone. 

Readers depended on the Examiner papers more than ever as their local news outlet amid the crisis. Online readership has grown dramatically, Stone says, in part due to an added emphasis on the digital operations. 

By the second half of 2020, Stone says, the publication had turned the corner. Six months after he was forced to make layoffs to stay afloat, Stone was able to start hiring again, bringing back Anna Young, as the company’s digital editor in September. Sports editor and columnist Ray Gallagher resumed his regular writing duties as high school sports returned. 

“The resurgence of Examiner Media in the aftermath of COVID-19 is a testament to the insatiable thirst people have for professionally-reported local news,” Stone says. “I’m grateful we came out the other side of this crisis a more nimble, more modern local news outlet, benefiting from a stronger, sturdier business model.”

Adam with Alyson, Maddie and Mia PHOTOS BY DONNA MUELLER

Family Time 

Stone has two daughters, 14-year-old Maddie, and Mia, who is turning seven in April. While the publisher is used to working from home, his daughters and his wife, Alyson, a schoolteacher, were suddenly home with him (and Daisy, a six-year-old Maltese). “It’s been a bit of an adventure, everybody carving out their space and figuring out how to get their work done and schoolwork without running into each other,” he says. “But by and large we’ve figured out how to do it successfully, and I really love it. It’s really great to be able to go downstairs, get a cup of coffee and have my family right there.”

The Stone family passed much of the time during the height of the pandemic as most Americans did: playing video games and binge-watching Tiger King. 

“Thankfully, last Christmas we had given the girls the Nintendo Switch as their joint Christmas present,” Alyson Stone says. “Little did we know it was going to become the savior in our home. So we played an awful lot of Mario.”

More Locals with a Writing Flair: Kat Nemec

by

Graphic artist Kat Nemec didn’t originally intend to write a blog. A few years ago, she took her college age son on a cross country trip to the West Coast to help him relocate there. Along the way she chronicled their journey on Facebook with twice daily photos and posts. She posted frequently to keep her daughter updated on their journey as she felt mom guilt that her daughter was missing out on the experience. Facebook readers liked her posts so much that they encouraged her to keep writing and start a blog. One of her Facebook followers was writing coach Wendy Fried who owns Pleasantville-based Wordcraft. She strongly encouraged Nemec to start a blog and suggested the Swoon name as Nemec frequently used that word or signed off her posts with it.

Nemec describes herself as an over-sharer who uses a lot of adjectives and prefers stream of consciousness writing. Topics covered include childhood memories, her parents love affair and the joy of cooking. She is not afraid though to tackle more difficult subjects such as talking about sex with your kids, 9/11, and even her family’s experience with the Armenian genocide. 

“I’m not a writer,” claims Nemec but after reading her refreshingly honest posts you may feel differently. “People are savvy and they will respond to something that is truthful and comes from the heart.” Nemec isn’t interested in amassing a huge number of followers, monetizing her blog or cross-promoting products. She writes her blog as a creative pursuit. “I’m not doing this for fame or fortune. When you do something creative for yourself the need for approval goes away and the best stuff is going to come out.”

Before starting her blog in February 2020, she read books on the subject that suggested she had to write 2-3 posts per week with no dry spots. It didn’t work with her schedule initially. When COVID hit though the timing proved to be fortuitous as a lot of her workload decreased and she was able to write more frequently. “If I don’t feel it, I’m not writing it,” explains Nemec. For example, this past October and November she was depressed about the upcoming holidays and not being able to be with her son. “We are a big holiday family. Writing at that time just wasn’t in my bandwidth.” 

As someone who works in a creative field, Nemec encourages others who want to start a creative pursuit to do it for themselves. “If people respond and like it, then that is just the cherry on top,” she says.

From Kat’s Swooning: “T-Rex and Kong”

“Pleasantville is about 30 miles north of Manhattan. More suburb than vacation destination, people fleeing the city due to the pandemic drive right past our exit while heading upstate. We do have one new family since lockdown…a family of dinosaurs. First, it was just one lone T-Rex, checking things out for the rest of the clan, he* ran through the neighborhood feeling out his welcome. We did not tell him to go back to where he came from, we embraced his uniqueness. After a few weeks, the rest of the family showed up. They are a healthy group…some days they run together, other times they take a solitary stroll. Their presence brings joy and laughter during this time of ever growing fog and confusion. T-Rex sightings posted in real time on FB update us when they are out and about…they are on Romer Avenue, they just turned onto Bedford Road…quick go look! The family made an appearance at the farmers market and at the teacher appreciation day drive by at the elementary school. They remind me of one Halloween during elementary school…when I was kidnapped by the Son of Kong….

People who are willing to be ridiculous…are gifts to the universe. I would like to imagine, years from now, someone will be writing their memories of being a child during “The Pandemic of 2020”. There was no school, no parties, no trips to the pool, no playdates, and no grandparent hugs… but there was a T-Rex, who jogged through town, spreading so so so…very much joy.”

Read more from Kat at www.swooning.me