It's just evening and Sting takes the stage in front of one hundred or so people. From songs like Soul Cake to the Invisible Sun, he celebrates with us, with Donna Karan, and with Bobby Sager, the launch of the book "The Power of the Invisible Sun." He makes each song sound effortless.  The set is beautiful, unearthing the unexpected vulnerability of a pure acoustic melody, performed in front of images of children projected on to the wall.

Bobby is giving us hope. Following Stings performance, photographer and philanthropist Bobby Sager takes the stage. Bobby is both humble and frank. His candor is refreshing and heartfelt. He begins to tell the story of the boy who has given breadth and meaning to his current book, The Power of the Invisible Sun, and foundation, Hope Is A Game Changer Project. Bobby introduces this boy, a former child solider from the Congo, who had killed three people when he was seven years old. The room is about to weep from guilt. And the storyteller continues. Bobby is not preaching or selling. He is telling us the very story which continues inspire his work.

Bobby's work comes from a curious and conscientious frame of mind. He has devoted the sales proceeds to support his foundation. This foundation aims to provide indestructible soccer balls to war torn countries and child solider camps. He articulated the importance of giving children a feeling of permanence and self worth. Take strength and give them hope. Don't just give them money. Give them a part of yourself." Asking us to imagine the world as it could be. The world as it should be. And as the evening ends, Donna Karan's remarks linger: "Creativity and consciousness is what makes change."

Click here to see pictures from the event:

http://www.patrickmcmullan.com/site/search.aspx?t=person&s=Bob+Sager

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The Power Of the Inisible Sun | www.poweroftheinvisiblesun.com

TEDMED on Twitter

Urban Zen on Twitter

Donna Karan, founder of the Urban Zen Foundation, is speaking at TEDMED 09.TEDMED (Technology, Education, Design, Medicine), celebrates conversations that highlight the intersection between all things medical and healthcare related. The conference taps into the today’s most pressing issues and tomorrow’s most innovative solutions. This year, speakers include Dean Ornish, Jesse Dylan, Martha Stewart, Annie Wojcicki, Andrew Weil and Goldie Hawn, with presentations and discussions that focus on areas such as public health, wellbeing, science and health related technology, and intelligent design. It is the perfect medium for Donna to share her story and speak on patient care. We could not be more excited to be a part of this event and to take one more step towards realizing our mission of caring for the patient and making an impact on the healthcare system.

Please visit www.urbanzen.org to view the talk after October 30, and contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like more information.

TEDMED on Twitter

Urban Zen on Twitter

Donna Karan, founder of the Urban Zen Foundation, is speaking at TEDMED 09.TEDMED (Technology, Education, Design, Medicine), celebrates conversations that highlight the intersection between all things medical and healthcare related. The conference taps into the today’s most pressing issues and tomorrow’s most innovative solutions. This year, speakers include Dean Ornish, Jesse Dylan, Martha Stewart, Annie Wojcicki, Andrew Weil and Goldie Hawn, with presentations and discussions that focus on areas such as public health, wellbeing, science and health related technology, and intelligent design. It is the perfect medium for Donna to share her story and speak on patient care. We could not be more excited to be a part of this event and to take one more step towards realizing our mission of caring for the patient and making an impact on the healthcare system.

Please visit www.urbanzen.org to view the talk after October 30, and contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like more information.

TEDMED on Twitter

Urban Zen on Twitter

Donna Karan, founder of the Urban Zen Foundation, is speaking at TEDMED 09.TEDMED (Technology, Education, Design, Medicine), celebrates conversations that highlight the intersection between all things medical and healthcare related. The conference taps into the today’s most pressing issues and tomorrow’s most innovative solutions. This year, speakers include Dean Ornish, Jesse Dylan, Martha Stewart, Annie Wojcicki, Andrew Weil and Goldie Hawn, with presentations and discussions that focus on areas such as public health, wellbeing, science and health related technology, and intelligent design. It is the perfect medium for Donna to share her story and speak on patient care. We could not be more excited to be a part of this event and to take one more step towards realizing our mission of caring for the patient and making an impact on the healthcare system.

Please visit www.urbanzen.org to view the talk after October 30, and contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like more information.

TEDMED on Twitter

Urban Zen on Twitter

Donna Karan, founder of the Urban Zen Foundation, is speaking at TEDMED 09.TEDMED (Technology, Education, Design, Medicine), celebrates conversations that highlight the intersection between all things medical and healthcare related. The conference taps into the today’s most pressing issues and tomorrow’s most innovative solutions. This year, speakers include Dean Ornish, Jesse Dylan, Martha Stewart, Annie Wojcicki, Andrew Weil and Goldie Hawn, with presentations and discussions that focus on areas such as public health, wellbeing, science and health related technology, and intelligent design. It is the perfect medium for Donna to share her story and speak on patient care. We could not be more excited to be a part of this event and to take one more step towards realizing our mission of caring for the patient and making an impact on the healthcare system.

Please visit www.urbanzen.org to view the talk after October 30, and contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like more information.

THE OCEAN WAVE

“Ashtanga is the easiest form of yoga, once you catch the wave,” shared yoga master and author of “The Yoga Matrix,” Richard Freeman, as he greeted more than a hundred dedicated yogis at the Stephan Weiss Studio for a sold-out session of yoga.  Using the analogy of an ocean wave, Freeman lead the group through the yogic choreography of Sun Salutation.  With meticulous attention to each component of this practice, students were guided through the anatomy and physiology of each movement with the simple act of breathing becoming a visualization of wave upon wave of relaxation. “Now we come to the moment of truth. If it doesn’t feel good, it isn’t good,” said Freeman.  “For some of us this is the dark side.”  Sitting cross-legged with palms on the floor, Freeman guided guests as they lifted their bodies off the ground, as if sitting in mid-air.  “Difficulty is the bread and butter of yoga.” The Urban Zen Integrative Therapy students also had the privilege of working with Richard and his wife, May Taylor, during the three-day August UZIT workshop that followed the open house.

As blog moderator, I want to extend my personal welcome to you and invite you to participate in our UZ blog community by sharing your stories, your visions for health care, and your comments on the health wisdom and information we provide.

Our experience of health, of well-being, and even of health issues, or challenges is way to get in touch with ourselves, with our core, with our inner experience.

I’ve been studying and reporting on integrative health, psychology, and spirituality for over twenty-five years. Back when I began and until this day, it was so that I could heal myself, and contribute to the healing of my family, loved ones, and friends, as well as others—by sharing stories and information.

Back when I began there were medical writers a plenty but no health journalists but me. When I studied hands-on healing, yoga, Ayurvedic medicine, and mind-body healing techniques, a lot of people who knew me, thought I was sort of weird. But as time as passed, and the need for understanding and support in the realms of health wisdom has only grown, I can see that I was guided to this work, and it’s been so rewarding to meet other seekers on the health journey. I look forward to meeting more of you through this ongoing blog.

Dr. Andrew Weil's new book, "Why Our Health Matters" is a must read for anyone wondering why health care reform is in gridlock or what to do about it. In this book, Weil offers solid, original, clear-minded, and impeccably caring solutions for our health care conundrum. "I am sure you or people you know have had disastrous interactions with our so-called health care system, resulting in physical, emotional, or financial harm," Weil writes. "Most of us feel as if we are up against implacable forces and institutions that are beyond our influence."Apparently, even the President feels that way. In his campaign, he promised to get the money lenders out of the temple of health care, but so far--no good. He is being outplayed. The ongoing debacle over insurance reform unveils the unmediated power of health care infrastructures bent on self-perpetuation rather than public health. Corporate bottom lines dictate health care policy thanks to campaign finance laws that permit those with the deepest pockets to buy legislators. "The capitalistic free market system often works well and fairly for both buyers and sellers," Weil points out. "However when the products that an industry sells are meant to save lives and relieve suffering, free market forces are easily skewed... If you need a product or a service to help control cancer, the seller can demand an unfair price (operating) in a free market run amok." As a result, both profits and power have concentrated in the health care sector as the rest of the economy tanks. Yet even with many other options in health care, options brilliantly detailed in "Why Our Health Matters", many people still cling to high cost medicine even when it performs poorly for their specific health care needs.

I've always had trouble picturing the decline of Rome. Why would the Roman people get distracted by a mean-spirited and meaningless circus? At what stage of a civilization do cheap thrills become the best option?

Unfortunately, nowadays, I don't have to crack a history book to get that lesson.If media outlets, pundits, and commentators were seriously concerned about the health of Americans, they'd do more than to fixate on a sound byte which is a poor substitute for addressing a complex reality. Too bad for us and our health.

Fortunately, last month, Andrew Weil offered a voice of sanity on Larry King show. King joked about the title of Weil's just published book, Why Our Health Matters asking: Isn't it obvious why our health matters?

Is it? Do we act as if health is primary?

Urban Zen Staff

Donna Karan, founder of the Urban Zen Foundation, will be sharing her story and speaking on patient care at TEDMED 09. TEDMED (Technology, Education, Design, Medicine), celebrates conversations that highlight the intersection between all things medical and healthcare.