On Saturday, August 21, 2010, Donna Karan was honored at the Ellen’s Run Gala held by the Ellen Hermanson Foundation for her vision in the field of integrative cancer care for patients and their families.

Fellow honorees Steven Klein and sister, Hope Klein, hosted the event in their Bridgehampton home. Co-chair Christy Brinkley looked amazing in an Urban Zen creation.

Donna was deeply moved by the Ellen Hermanson Foundation’s nomination. Established in 1997, the foundation carries on the important work of journalist Ellen Hermanson, who was a forceful voice for breast cancer patients and their families. Hermanson educated her readers about the importance of early detection, the challenges of living with breast cancer, the very real, but little-discussed or understood issue of pain management, and the debilitating effects of breast cancer on the entire family.

The Ellen Hermanson Foundation primarily serves breast cancer patients on the East End of Long Island where breast cancer diagnosis and mortality rates are among the highest in the state. Urban Zen and Donna Karan are truly honored to have been apart of such an empowering evening.

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Ellen Hermanson Foundation  |  www.ellensrun.org

Why is it so hard for us to accept our bodies as they are? What does it actually mean to care for them in a true and authentic way, with all their quirks, marks, dents, breaks, imbalances, and possibly diseased cells?

Sadly, many of us have learned to think of our bodies as adversaries, with whom we are in constant combat. This harsh terminology is incredibly hostile. Our bodies work so painstakingly hard for us. Yet, we rarely show them the adoration they deserve.

True, some of us have been handed heavier burdens when it comes to illness or less than robust physiques. I have often thought of myself as one of the unlucky ones, battered and scarred from the physical trials life has thrown my way, the most recent being a devastating case of amoebic dysentery in 2006, the effects of which I deal with still.

For close to three years I was so preoccupied with my illness, that I had little room for any sense of wellness to take root in my body. Eventually though, and after seeing countless healers to do the work for me, I realized the only thing left was to sit down and consider the possibility of my body as a temple, as a sacred place of worship, instead of as a battleground. When I spent a summer at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, all practitioners bowed to one another. No matter what we were doing when we passed each other by, we simply stopped and bowed. Drawing from this, I pictured softly stepping inside my body, and respectfully bowing to myself as an act of surrender and gratitude. I practiced filling my body up with reverential light. I treated each cell, each joint, each organ, and each tissue, as saintly.

Might you imagine bowing to your body in a mindful and magnificent way? Might you experience your body as an amalgam of saints?

We all at one time or another have wanted to leave our bodies as ways of escaping our pain, instead of engaging and re-engaging with whatever we need to do to take care of ourselves. But having a body is the work of being alive. It is not really our bodies that are causing us stress and misery, but our hankering, small monkey minds, unwilling to receive our bodies as they are.

The happiest people I know humbly accept their bodies, whatever their unique limitations. They glow with the peace and inner respect that resides in this acceptance. I call these people

Bodhisattvas incarnate, choosing earth and pervious bodies over the freedom of enlightenment, their work to patiently teach and awaken us sleepy suffering mortals. From their compassionate acts of body affirmation, caring springs up eternally.

Let’s take our cues from these wise heroes. Let’s emancipate ourselves from criticism and our habitual attachment to pain, so we too can strive to enlighten others, to wake up the world , and to acknowledge that we are part of one universal human body, for which we are all responsible.

Start now, today, this moment. Allow that reverence and acceptance to spread. Go ahead, set an example, and create light on the path. Make space for personal wellness and global peace. Make way for immaculate change.