10, 000 yogis lined up to celebrate Yoga at the Great Lawn this past Tuesday evening. Led by established yoga instructor, Elena Brower, and organized by Flavorpill, the event broke the world record for the largest yoga event to ever occur.The crowd of yogis that graced the Great Lawn of Central Park was made up of all shapes, sizes, and levels of practice. Urban Zen's Donna Karan was even there to show her support for yoga, well-being and the importance of a collective consciousness.

Upon arrival to the great lawn, everyone lined up their mats, took off their shoes and prepared for practice - their tired soles in the leafy grass, the hum of the city barely whispering to the crowd. Everyone began to relax in a calming, "Om." The energy was magnetic. But the sky did begin to darken, and soon there were raindrops. There was an immediate rush of people dashing for the canopy of trees and taxi cabs. However, many others remained for a salutation - with the pitter patter of rain falling on yoga mats and the squeaky sighs from slipping hands and feet. There was a moment when the rain stopped, only for a breath, before sheets and sheets of rain came pouring from the clouds and the program was cut short.

Even with the weather, there was a palpable excitement about the event, and a consensus among the participants of wanting more. We all were disappointed but still proud to have participated. And it was a joy to see friends of Urban Zen friends in attendance including representatives from HealthCorps, Smart Water, Gaiam, Tonic, We Like it Raw and The Clean Program. Druhmil Purohit of The Clean Program shared, "It was truly an amazing sight. The unity and energy was very high, even though the rain prevented the event from getting off the ground. I have a feeling though that this event will serve as a nice teaser for the reschedule event."

CONNECT

Flavorpill  |  www.flavorpill.com

Huffington Post  |  www.huffingtonpost.com

Donna Karan was thrilled to be a part of the celebration honoring Mary J. Blige and her commitment to helping women get the most out of life. The Mary J Blige and Steve Stoute Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now (FFAWN) is dedicated to helping women overcome their personal difiiculties to reach their full life potential. FFAWN believes that education is empowerment and through a range of programs encourages women to realize their dreams and pursue their individual goals. Urban Zen congratulates Mary J. Blige for her contribution in assisting women worldwide.  We are proud to be partners with FFAWN in Hope, Health & Relief Haiti (HHRH).  Together, FFAWN, Urban Zen, and HHRH have raised funds to purchase shelter kits that can house more than 7,160 Haitians.   We thank Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute for their partnership and inspiration.

CONNECT

FFAWN  |  www.ffawn.org

Let’s face it; it gets really hot in New York in the summer. The average daily temperature is 89 degrees and can get up to 140 degrees in your car! Fortunately, with the use of therapeutic grade pure essential oils, there is relief on the way.  Although many oils can be found at your local health food store, keep in mind the quality and purity of essential oils play a huge role in their effectiveness and safety. Use unadulterated therapeutic grade essentials and spend the time to research and educate yourself.

Peppermint and Lavender

Because both Peppermint and Lavender are versatile essential oils, no home should be without them. Lavender is an adaptogen, and therefore can assist the body when adapting to stress and Peppermint is a natural pain reliever. 

To help cool off simply put a drop of peppermint or lavender on the back of your neck. If you have sensitive skin, dilute essential oils in a small amount of fatty carrier oil, like olive oil and apply. Or place a drop of either oil on a cool moist cloth and hold at the back of neck.

To give your car a refreshing sense of coolness, diffuse peppermint by simply putting a few drops on a cotton ball or tissue and place in the air vent of your dashboard. The scent will help uplift you. Using lavender in your car will help ease the stress of traffic and both oils will help you concentrate on driving.

Adding peppermint oil to your drinking water is also a great way to cool off.

Hint:  Always use a glass container when using essential oils. They are very potent and will literally eat away at the plastic containers we drink from, and we don’t want to be ingesting plastic!

As the temperatures rise, most homes become a refuge for ants. Simply putting a few drops of peppermint in their tracks will send them back out side.

No need for toxic pesticides. For mosquito bites, peppermint and lavender applied directly to the bite to reduce itching and inflammation.

So, this summer, when you are melting from the summer heat, and the mosquitoes have chosen you for that day's meal, remember these tips on essential oils for relief.

"Each [photo] conjures up a different set of emotions," one guest was overheard saying this past Saturday at the opening of Mary Ellen Bartley's photo exhibit at our Sag Harbor location. Bartley's exhibit, "Beach Lane" consisted of twelve pieces displayed throughout the store and garden.  The artwork wiill be on display through August 1st at the Urban Zen Store in Sag Harbor.

CONNECT

Mary Ellen Bartley  |  www.maryellenbartley.com

Don’t we all in our lives strive for a renewed sense of wellness, to become healthier and more vital in how we exist day to day?

This allegiance with feeling holistically sound is a glorious thing. Yet, we often act as if wellness were elusive, as if we have to go out and grab it, as if it were a separate commodity to trap in our hands.

Yet the simplest expression of living wellness is often overlooked or avoided, as it is also the hardest. It requires us to slow way down, to be willing to go inside and meet ourselves. We come to see that each one of us carries an unflappable healing power that is the purest evocation of the wellness factor we are seeking, and one that is perpetually stable. From this keen intelligent fountain, we flow with abundant strength and tranquility.

To help us arrive here, some of us hire alternative healers. Some of us commit to eating clean, to living green, to practicing yoga, or being of service. And these are all amazing commitments that elicit the deepening of our individual journeys inside.

Still, as more and more of us take this plunge inwards, the building of a community to facilitate personal and global change around the heroic beautiful belief in wellness for all, becomes tantamount. In the midst of our impassioned, crazy, hectic, full, complicated, and at times limping and compromised lives, wouldn’t it be phenomenal, with a network of like-minded people, to wake the rest of the world up to this brave and integrated way of being?

When I was 19, I went to live at a Zen Buddhist center in Northern California. It was also a working organic farm. I remember the first day I walked into Zen center, underneath the giant eucalyptus trees. I knew then, in my bones, that I had found a place where there was common glue, where we all believed in holistic living. At Zen center, we sat zazen for hours every day and also dug our hands in the dirt. All that sitting energetically fed the globe. All that farming physically did too.

When individuals like you and me start to reach out, and to form a coalition from our personal quiet places, wellness begins to spring up radically, naturally, exponentially. To exist from a peaceful aware state, and simultaneously radiate out, set an example, and make a plea for widespread health and transformation: this is what I have come to believe in, and what I try to practice in some small way every day.

Now I invite you to be a part of this experience too, this journey into limitless wellness. Rise up for internal, universal peace. Call for awakenings both big and small. Sound out repercussively for health and integration.

Together let’s cast out a broad net, like a billowing rainbow parachute, spread evenly and bounced among a large group of willing and elated hands. Whatever your own solid version of wellness looks like. Commit in your heart to this immaculate, intense, powerful, far-reaching, ever-burgeoning Urban Zen community. Be a part of yielding such necessary, uplifting change.

"From the moment Frank Lipman called and asked if I wanted to have Baaba Maal sing at Urban Zen, I didn't have to think twice about answering yes. I had heard about his voice and spirit but to be in the presence of his channel is an experience I will never forget. Urban Zen's passion for preservation of culture, well being and education is the connection of the dots. It is through creating community that true change can occur. Baaba Maal is an advocate and a model for what Urban Zen stands for - inspiration and change."

-Donna Karan, Founder of Urban Zen

"Today women are having a major impact as donors, as managers of major foundations and as beneficiaries of a growing crop of women's foundations."

On the evening of June 15, 2010, a still audience was shocked into activity by a band called Bajah and the Dry Eyed Crew. From Sierra Leone, this opening act for Baaba Maal consisted of seven talented musicians whose on-stage energy felt intoxicating. They drew the audience to participate, singing along to words in a language most did not understand. The meaning of those words, however, was blatantly clear—the message being one of freedom and love around the world. In whispers barely audible beneath the strong beats emanating from the stage, people in the audience were telling their neighbors, their friends, or the stranger sitting beside them that they were loved. The audience took the lyrics “tell somebody that you love somebody” to heart, setting the mood for the highlight of the evening: a Q&A and performance by Baaba Maal.

As an artist, Baaba Maal is regarded highly because of his unique musical style - his ability to mix traditional music with modern beats. His popularity and status as an influential spokesperson for Africa is largely due to his social conscience and his ability to use his music to spread messages of hope. During the Q&A moderated by Dr. Frank Lipman, who received his initial medical training in South Africa before emigrating to the United States and founding the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City, Baaba Maal explained some of the significant themes of his music and the way he uses these ideas to change culture and politics in Africa. Inspired by Nelson Mandela, Baaba Maal spoke about the responsibility of human beings within their societies, the problems that Africa still faces and the importance of looking at the reality of Africa in a positive light.

A performance followed this conversation and Baaba Maal’s vocal, dynamic range filled the room captivating the audience. He invited onstage Bobby McFerrin, the musician behind "Don't Worry Be Happy" and a passionate spokesperson for music education, for an unexpected performance. The audience had, by this point, risen to their feet and were swaying mesmerized before the stage. After Baaba Maal last song, the audience called for an encore, and Donna Karan drew Baaba Maal back onto the stage.

His final song was one that he sings at every concert. It was a song for the African children who have lost their parents to HIV and subsequently fallen into a life of violence and drugs and a call to save these children by providing them with support and education. In the process of sharing this need to empower children throughout the world, he managed to make us all feel empowered ourselves. And so, in this way, Baaba Maal showed us that we all play a role in making this world a better place.

CONNECT
Baaba Maal | http://www.baabamaal.tv
Eleven Eleven Wellness Center | http://www.drfranklipman.com

From a press presentation to a photo shoot to an intimate cocktail party, Urban Zen was full of action yesterday. In the morning, Donna Karan invited the press for breakfast and a fashion presentation of the new Urban Zen collection. Models wearing the timeless, in-season Urban Zen clothing graced the loft space.

Russell James, an amazingly talented photographer and a friend of Urban Zen, arrived for a fashion photo shoot in the afternoon. "The space is so beautiful it's hard to believe it's in the middle of a huge city," he said. Thank you from all of us at Urban Zen. Russell posted some photos from the day here.

In the evening, Urban Zen transformed into a magical, exotic oasis for The Journey Home with Architectural Digest. At the intimate cocktail party, guests viewed Urban Zen's new furniture collection. Thankfully, the rain cleared and guests were able to socialize on Urban Zen's outdoor patio among the hand crafted, Balinese furniture. Guests left relaxed and calm wondering how a place like Urban Zen existed in the hustle and bustle of New York City.

"Heart disease is the leading killer of women in the U.S., each year claiming more women than men." - Alice Park, Time Magazine

Urban Zen partnered with Events of the Heart for last night's event, "It's A Matter of the Heart!" raising awareness for heart disease in women.   The event began with powerful readings  unveiling the personal experiences of women affected by heart disease.  Presented by talented actors including Brenda Strong of Desperate Housewives, these revelations were emotional, raw and captivating.  Next, a panel of prominent female cardiologists, the Leading Ladies of Heart, discussed the importance of bringing awareness to heart disease as a women's disease and answered the audience's questions.  The panelists stressed the importance of being educated on what makes you at risk for heart disease and of getting checked yearly for heart disease.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America beating all the cancers combined. With 500,000 American women affected by heart disease, heart disease is no longer a disease that affects primarily middle aged men. Events of the Heart is a non-profit dedicated to telling the real truth about women and heart disease.  Connecting creative arts with a theme of wellness, "It's A Matter of the Heart!" raised awareness to the threat of heart disease empowering women to pass the urgent message to their mothers, daughters, sisters, partners and friends.

CONNECT

Events of the Heart  |  www.eventsoftheheart.org