On Sunday, August 8, 2010, Urban Zen hosted Healing in the Hamptons. This transformative afternoon took guests through an all-encompassing Urban Zen Integrative Therapy experience. The afternoon started at Yoga Shanti where Rodney Yee, Colleen Saidman Yee and UZITs treated guests to restorative yoga and essential oil therapy, Reiki, breath awareness and meditation.

After, guests were invited to the Urban Zen retail store in Sag Harbor. There, Donna Karan and guests enjoyed an open discussion about the UZIT program while Pamela Serure offered specially made nutritious juices.

Thank you to all who participated.

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Yoga Shanti  |  www.yogashanti.com

NINE WOMEN WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO ME…
AND THE WORLD

We all have our role models we respect and look up to. My list is endless. So many of them happen to be women I know, have met or have had the privilege to work or partner with.  It’s a pleasure to honor these ten specific role models. (Trust me, I could have added a hundred more.) Each is a life force of style and grace. And each accesses her God-given talent and poetic brilliance to make a difference in this world we share.

ANNA WINTOUR
No mission is impossible for Anna. She takes an idea to its manifestation, a dream to reality, from the runway to the White House. She also is able to talk to the consumer in season – something I’ve always wanted to do. My journey with Anna has truly been inspiring. A simple thought becomes a movement, whether it’s 7th on Sale, Kids for Kids, The Met gala or Fashion’s Night, Anna succeeds beyond every expectation.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
Talk about the power of communication. Arianna has created a community of awareness and action with The Huffington Report. It’s an absolute, must-read of each and every day. More than that, she literally wrote the book on Becoming Fearless….in Love, Work and Life. Arianna empowers us with everything she does.

BARBRA STREISAND
My best friend and sister. We’ve traveled life together for so many years. Barbra makes a difference in the world with a voice and intellect that touches every one of us. She’s God’s gift of creativity: singer, actress, designer, activist and diplomat. She deserves to be a diva. Her heart touches our hearts on so many issues, including her work with the Women’s Heart Center at Cedar-Sinai, raising awareness on heart disease, the number one killer of women today.

CHRISTY TURLINGTON
Christy and I started our journey together in the fashion world and now are partnering to change the global world. A mother, a film producer and consummate yogi, Christy is dedicated to helping and supporting the needs of others. Realizing the importance of our mission at Urban Zen, she partnered with me by helping to initiate our very first forum as the voice of a loved one. Chisty is also an advocate for the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, and for maternal
health “Mothers Matter” for Care.org.

DIANE VON FURSTENBERG
Diane has strength of character like no one know. She’s evolved from a background of personal adversity to become a pro-active person full of love and joy. She leads the way forward, whether she’s designing a dress, a lifestyle or heading the CFDA. Whatever else Diane’s does, she puts her family first and center – something I can relate to.

HILLARY CLINTON
As if being First Lady wasn’t enough! Hillary is a wife, mother and ambassador to the world. I have such enormous respect and admiration for how she does all it all with such integrity, intelligence and effectiveness. And she makes it all seem so effortless. When we first met, in addition to dressing Hillary, we connected on health care reform, addressing its many pressing needs. It’s been such a pleasure and honor to watch her grow as a woman in charge. 

OPRAH WINFREY
Oprah is simply a force of nature. How better to describe someone who shapes and influences the world around her? Oprah is the ultimate communicator. If she’s on television, we watch. If she speaks, we listen.
If she writes, we read.
If she cares about something, we care too.
Even the president listens to Oprah.

TRUDIE STYLER
Trudie balances it all and then some. A wife, mother, actor, producer, director, and yogi, and she maintains beautiful homes all over the world. Yet somehow she finds time for several philanthropic causes as a human rights activist, environmentalist and UNICEF ambassador. Trudie was among the first to acknowledge the devastation of the rain forest and bring it to our attention. I admire everything about Trudie – including her amazing marriage and partnership with Sting.

The Urban Zen Foundation is excited to announce that Donna Karan will co-host the first annual Women Inspiration and Enterprise (WIE) Symposium alongside fellow leaders, Sarah Brown and Arianna Huffington. This conference will take place on September 20, 2010, and will welcome the most powerful women in politics, philanthropy, media, fashion, and the arts. The White Ribbon Alliance (WRA) for safe motherhood, which focuses on the promotion of maternal and newborn health around the world, is hosting this event.  The conference will coincide with a United Nations review summit on the Millennium Development Goals, also being held in New York City. The gathering will center on “women inspiring women”- creating a global community passionate about positive social change and encouraging the next generation of female role models. Confirmed speakers span a wide variety of professions and include supermodels and charity campaigners, as well as renowned political leaders, authors, and photographers (Click to view speakers). By bringing together an extraordinary audience, the WIE Symposium functions as a powerful platform for educating the world about the work of the WRA. All proceeds from this event will benefit the WRA as well as the Urban Zen Foundation, its non-profit partner.

To learn more or for tickets please visit http://www.wienetwork.org/

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Urban Zen is excited to be featured in this week's New York Magazine.  Both the screening of "The Big C" and Super Saturday aligned with our well-being initiative. We are honored that we could be a part of both events this summer in the Hamptons.

On the warm and breezy afternoon last Saturday, Right to Play (RTP), a global Humanitarian organization, hosted their awareness creation event at Urban Zen in Sag Harbor.

While children fenced, boxed and played parachuting games with Olympic athletes, Alexa Ray Joel sang and taught the audience several Right to Play songs. Her mother, Christie Brinkley, settled in for the afternoon and proudly watched her daughter’s performance. Christie mentioned that she was very happy to be there, and that she greatly supports RTP. We had a full house and a surprise visit by Richard Gere.

Devon Harris, one of the members of the first Jamaican Bobsled who served as inspiration for the movie “Cool Runnings,” was there to instill hope and perseverance in the attending children. His books, “Keep on Pushing” and “Yes I Can,” were sold at the store.

Mario Argote, who works at RTP, told us that research shows that unstructured play increases kids’ IQ points. The simple things, like playing with a ball, improve human interaction, and are much better than watching TV or playing video games.

Right to Play (RTP) uses sport and play programs to improve health, develop life skills, and foster peace for children and communities in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world. Working in both the humanitarian and development context, RTP builds local capacity by training community leaders as Coaches to deliver its programs in 21 countries affected by war, poverty, and disease in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America.

After an afternoon of kids playing, the activities moved to the Urban Zen store, where the adults enjoyed drinks and hors d’oevres. Donna Karan welcomed the guests and expressed her gratitude to Bettina for bringing all the parties together. Children’s Empowerment is one of the focus points for Urban Zen, and the mission of RTP aligns perfectly our mission.

Bettina Stelle, who sits on the Right to Play board and is involved with Urban Zen, brought the two organizations together. She fell in love with RTP after traveling to Ghana and experiencing the impact of their work in the refugee camps. Bettina, a photographer, donated her work to RTP. The Urban Zen store in Sag Harbor is selling the images, and donating a percentage to Right to Play and Urban Zen Foundation.

PHOTO CREDIT: Doug Young

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Right to Play  |  www.righttoplay.org

Are you a chocoholic? To some people, chocolate is an occasional treat. But for a true chocolate addict—and trust me, you’re not the only one—it is a deep-seated need. Anyone who’s tried to give up coffee knows that caffeine can also be very addictive.

Chocolate and coffee are not the only habit-forming foods. An increasing body of evidence suggests that meat, cheese, and sugar also seduce us into eating them again and again even though we know they are unhealthy and contribute to weight gain.

The science of food addictions first gained acceptance as researchers started to nail down the physical basis for chocolate addiction. Apparently, the taste of chocolate triggers the release of opiates in the brain, which, in turn, cause a rush of dopamine, the brain’s principal feel-good chemical. And although research is still in its early stages, studies suggest that the same sort of thing may happen with sugar, meat, and cheese.

Evidence suggests that a hefty portion of our current epidemics of obesity, cholesterol problems, hypertension, diabetes, digestive problems, and other conditions are, in fact, nothing but the natural outcomes of food habits exerting their effects year after year. And huge industries are working hard to make sure it stays that way.

Fortunately, we can change our habits. The best way to break away from food cravings is to commit to cut out the unhealthy, addictive foods in your diet for three weeks. Be sure to replace them with foods that steady your blood sugar. For example, beans, green vegetables, fruit, and whole grains help prevent blood sugar dips that can lead to cravings. A low-fat vegan diet can also help by reducing hormone swings that lead to cravings.

A vegetarian diet helps fight food addiction and lowers your blood sugar and cholesterol, and it also stands out as the healthiest way to lose weight. A 2006 scientific review of 87 studies on vegetarian diets and body weight concluded that excluding meat and other animal products from one’s diet can result in healthy weight loss, even without additional exercise or calorie counting.

Observational studies included in the review, which was published in the journal Nutrition Reviews, show that vegetarians have a body weight that is, on average, 3 percent to 20 percent lower than that of meat-eaters. The review found that obesity rates in vegetarian populations range from 0 percent to 6 percent.

This low-fat, vegan diet approach is easy—once you get the hang of it. The best method is to follow the diet completely for three weeks. That will give you enough time to adjust to new flavors and will also allow you to experience significant weight loss and see other positive health changes.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine offers a free 21-day program to help people try a vegan diet for three weeks. It offers meal plans, recipes, advice from doctors and dietitians, and even celebrity tips.

PCRM’s 21-Day Vegan Kickstart

REFERENCE

Berkow, S. Nutrition Reviews, April 2006

Dean Ornish, M.D., is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California and is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. For over 32 years, Dr. Ornish has directed clinical research demonstrating, for the first time, that comprehensive lifestyle changes may begin to reverse even severe coronary heart disease, without drugs or surgery.

We are honored that Dr. Dean Ornish was a part of the Well-Being Forum in 2009 and would like to share this clip of Dean Ornish, M.D.. In this clip, Ornish discusses healing, integrative medicine practices and empowering patients. We are happy to see he is continuing his great work within the medical world.

Donna Karan recently hosted a screening of The Big C, Showtime's newest drama about a suburban mother (played by Laura Linney) diagnosed with cancer, trying to find humor in the disease. When Showtime asked Andrew Saffir of the Cinema Society to organize the premiere in the Hamptons, he says, "One person, and only one person, came to mind: the amazing Donna Karan." Donna started the Urban Zen Foundation a few years to, and in the words of Andrew, "has made great strides in supporting cancer treatment and care and well-being, in part with her integrated therapist program, among others."

For those very reasons, the outdoor screening, a private event at Donna's South Hampton home, was a natural for Donna. During her welcome speech, she introduced the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program to a full house packed with guests such as Laura Linney; Matt Blank, Chairman & CEO, Showtime; Sarah Jessica Parker, Martha Stewart, Edie Falco, Calvin Klein and Gaborey Sidibe.  "Without question, at one point or another in our lifetime, each of us will be a patient as will our loved ones," Donna says.

The Urban Zen Integrative Therapy program was created to help create an optimal healing experience fo patients, loved ones, doctors and nurses. Each Integrative Therapy student undergoes a 12-month, 500-hour curriculum, including clinical rotations. Urban Zen Foundation is proud and honored to assist patients, loved ones and care givers on the path to wellness.

On Thursday, July 22, Urban Zen Center was proud to support and host the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) program Dress for Success.Over 75 promising young men and women gathered at the Urban Zen Center to take in valuable professional advice on how to dress to evoke confidence and self-worth. The program is designed to build confidence through and through for the young adults and to prepare them for any professional and social environment; this we believe in.

When we at Urban Zen heard about Harlem Children's Zone and the Dress for Success program for promising young adults, we knew immediately it was an ideal relationship that we had to embrace with all of our support. Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) aligns with our initiative to empower children. It's a community-based organization serving more then 17,000 children in a 100-city block area of NYC. Their unique, holistic approach to rebuilding a community so that its children can stay on track through college and go on to the job market has offered education, social-service and community-building programs to children and families since 1970, becoming a national model and a subject of many profiles in the media. Its president and chief executive officer, Geoffrey Canada, named one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News and World Report, is a leader and inspiration for educational reform.

Victor Alfaro created Dress for Success, a well thought out and deserving program, after watching Canada speak about HCZ one night on TV. Canada spoke about HCZ's pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem. His passionate story and incredible success record for education reform struck a profound emotional cord in Alfaro, who wanted to give back in a way he knew could be of great service to HCZ young men and women. Alfaro created Dress for Success to help give the young adults of HCZ an equal playing ground when they go in for interviews for potential internships and job opportunities.

We are looking forward to working with HCZ in the future as we truly admire their groundbreaking work with children in underprivileged communities.

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Harlem Children's Zone  |  www.hcz.org

The United States incarcerates more of its youth that any other country in the world.

Last month, Urban Zen hosted the Lineage Project One Day Teacher Training Program. The Lineage Project is one of the nation’s leading non-profit organizations providing alternative tools for physical, emotional and mental wellness to at-risk and incarcerated youth ages 10 to 21. Through the teaching of yoga and meditation to over 600 of these youth annually throughout New York City, The Lineage Project provides a unique forum to cultivate resiliency and positive youth development.

The training was attended by about 15 individuals all interested in assisting at-risk youth through meditation and yoga.  The training program reviewed the curriculum of the Lineage Project and provided instruction on how to connect with youth in a positive, impactful manner. The program also illuminated the tremendous flaws in the Juvenile Justice System in the United States and New York City. Below are a list of facts from the Department of Juvenile Justice that highlight some of the disturbing statistics of the system.

United States:

• Over 500,000 youth are arrested and brought to locked detention centers annually.

• Up to 70% of youth are serving time for non-violent offenses.

• Approximately 75% of incarcerated young females have experienced sexual, physical, or emotional abuse  prior to incarceration.

• Approximately 70% of incarcerated youth suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

NYC Department of Juvenile Justice: Detention Centers for Arrested and Detained Youth

• NYC can arrest and place a child of seven in a locked detention center.

• Age at Admission: 12 and under: 3%; 13: 11%; 14: 23%; 15: 45%; 16: 12%; 17: 6%

• The majority of youth in detention, ages 14 to 15 read at a third grade level.

Urban Zen is excited to host a one-week training session with the Lineage Project in August. Please click here for more information.

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The Lineage Project  |  www.lineageproject.org