In speaking with nearly all of the leading health experts in this field, I’ve learned that like Donna Karan, and like me pretty much everyone became involved in health because we were “drafted.” Whether it was our own health issue, or witnessing and supporting a loved one on a health journey, most of us got a wake-up call that something more was needed for authentic healing than mainstream medicine, no matter how helpful it often is, was able to provide.

For me, the draft came because I came from a family of doctors—and of patients. As a result, I got to see both sides of the health experience—as well as some of the shortfalls of our current system. I spent many hours and even days in hospital emergency rooms, in ICU units, in hospital rooms, sitting at the bedside of my father who had many health challenges. From my teenage years onwards, I regularly saw this brilliant and powerful man in his vulnerability and mortality. This stirred in me many questions about how to better people’s health as well as how to support the whole person when it’s most needed, during times of health breakdown. This awoke in me a desire to help the healee by being a healer, not from a high pedestal, but from a place of sharing, commonality, compassion, and support.

As a life-long student, practitioner, and communicator about health, what began for me as a solitary path-finding has transformed into connection and community with an ever-widening circle of people like Donna, like you, and like all of us here at Urban Zen.

There is no doubt that though our healing paths are individual, it’s equally true that our paths are connected—always.

Consider this your community, share with us your experiences, and know that as we join together, offering a listening ear, a comforting word, and warm hug—even a virtual one—are the seeds of a new more caring world.