On April 28, 2009, Bent On Learning hosted its second annual gala raising funds for children’s yoga classes in the New York City public schools and youth centers. The event honored Donna Karan, founder of Urban Zen, for her efforts supporting health and healing within the community. The gala featured a performance by Sean Lennon and was attended by yoga enthusiasts including Madonna and her daughter Lourdes, Gwyneth Paltrow and Russell Simmons.

Our heartfelt congratulations to this amazing group of people for their dedication to children’s health and well-being. The organizers have worked with us in the past to host classes at the Urban Zen Center in New York City, and for a special children's day in Sag Harbor. Bent on Learning is a non-profit that provides yoga and meditation education to students in grades K through 12 in New York City public schools and youth centers with the larger goal of improving the physical fitness as well as the cognitive, social and emotional skills of young people in New York City.

Read more, click on the news articles below.
USATODAY.COM
OKMAGAZINE.COM
HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

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Bent on Learning | www.bentonlearning.org

The Urban Zen Center hosted Cookie Magazine’s first annual Kidsfest for FreeArts NYC, hosted by Kim Raver and Mary Alice Stephenson. Children and their families were able to join top NYC artists for hands-on activities, from from Sculpting with Will Ryman, Collage with Donald Baechler, Cookie Decorating with Katie Brown, Graffiti Art with Andre Charles, Painting with Michael De Feo, Building Lego City with SOM and Child/Family Portraits with Nigel Barker and Patrick McMullan.

It was an incredible success, and drew more then 500 people. All proceeds went to support FreeArts NYC. Cookie magazine donated the remaining supplies and furniture to the Free Arts NYC children who need it most.

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Free Arts NYC | www.freeartsnyc.org

As health care reform staggers along in the political realm, let’s feel grateful to those who don’t hesitate to stand up for the health of our children. With actions that speak louder than the words of a partisan political debate, two organizations, HealthCorps, launched by Mehmet Oz, MD and his wife, Lisa Oz, and Urban Zen, the foundation launched by Donna Karan, joined forces to share creative solutions for children’s health concerns. Since 2007, Urban Zen’s Health and Wellbeing Initiative has offered an ongoing series of public forums on wellness and nutrition for health, while HealthCorps’ school-based program has expanded nationwide to empower young people to become agents for healthy change.

A Weekend of Inspiration

The minute I heard of the Women in the World Conference, I wanted to be there. All my senses and emotions were evoked - from the heart to the mind.

I love seeing women supporting women. And these women, from a global perspective, are outstanding. It is impossible to acknowledge all of them, but if I could highlight just a few:

* Tina Brown - Journalist, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Daily Beast. She moderated a discussion on human trafficking, the world's third largest black market.

* Diane Sawyer - Journalist, ABC News Anchor, moderated a discussion on what it takes to undo misogynistic traditions in culture.

* Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan - UNICEF advocate, spoke on the urgent need to keep girls around the world in school and help them avoid early marriage and HIV-infection.

* Edna Adan Ismail - Maternal and Child Health Care Activist and

Former Foreign Affairs Minister of Somaliland, shared about her community hospital in Somalia.

Hearing these stories from a global perspective, and issues that we should truly all talk about, was a reminder to continue to find solutions. We at Urban Zen practice this on a day-to-day basis.

Please go to the Women in the World Website and enjoy what I enjoyed. It was an honor to witness the conference. The selection of minds, the intellectual approaches and the creativity of these people were an inspiration, and it would be a joy to return next year.

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Women in the World

www.thedailybeast.com/newsmaker/women-in-the-world

Farewell, and see you soon. The journey is not over.

My heart is filled with sadness and I wonder why. I'm leaving here, leaving Port au Prince, Haiti. This is a place I have fallen in love with. Love for the people. Love for the passion and the pure fight for life. Love for the determination to continue to find pride and dignity in these terrible condition. It is inspiring here, in a way that is beyond words.

We truly have to do something that will begin to bring the basic necessities for life to these beautiful people. The children are ill, the systems are down, the rainy season is beginning. When the rainy season and then the hurricane season start, and the skies open up, health standards will be harder to maintain, disease and infection could spread more rampantly with the increased vulnerability of people’s bodies in those conditions, all of which could lead to more fatalities. “The prospect of bad weather has aid workers and homeless people scared,” reports The Guardian.

There must been basic needs meet so healing can happen. There is still hunger, sadness and anger.

Thank you Haiti for opening my heart and being kind and passionate.
Thank you Marc Baptiste for protecting me and being my angel. But the rainy season is coming! Please God help them, if families do not get homes they need to be brought to places to stay protected and safe.

Donna Karan is truly committed to continuing the Tent Campaign.

There's an experiment going on right now--but it isn't being conducted by scientists. It's being conducted by parents. In 30 million kitchens across the U.S. that experiment is called  "What Can My Child Eat?" In families with children with autism and allergies, the result of that experiment can either be a day of relative calm and comfort, or it can produce anything from brain fog, digestive discomfort, and mood swings, to pain, seizures, skin outbreaks, and severe digestive distress.

"We can't walk away from this and lead our daily lives as if nothing had happened," Donna Karan immediately thought when she heard about the tragic earthquake in Haiti. "This is a wake-up call, a call to community, to caring, to something greater than ourselves."

Andre Harrell, an entertainment industry executive and founder of Uptown Records, heard the same call. "From the first moment I heard about the crisis in Haiti, I felt a sense of responsibility -- and the question: 'What can I do to help?' It sounds a little mystical but I felt like the universe was speaking to me," he said.

Harrell went through a typical day for him--high level meetings uptown, midtown and downtown in Manhattan. Later at the Boom Boom room, he connected with his friend, Andre Balazs at Balazs' elegant Standard Hotel. "We're great friends and I felt the urgency of finding a way to support him in supporting Haiti," Balazs explained. "This is an opportunity to take advantage of a tragedy to focus the world's attention on an ongoing crisis, and create a sustainable solution."

Before long, the two Andres reached out to Donna Karan, whose Urban Zen Center is just a few blocks away from the Standard.

"We have the passion to support Haiti, we have the dream of making a difference, but the question is how do we make it happen?" Karan asked when the powerhouse creative trio met to discuss partnering to bring together the New York art, music, fashion and entertainment worlds to kick off a benefit called Hope, Help, and Relief Haiti, slated for next Monday, February 8th.

Read rest of article on Huffington Post and comment here.

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

Today, in America, portions are out of control. The old admonition to eat everything on your plate no longer applies when processed foods add little nutrition and loads of calories. With an epidemic of obesity, people need to know more than what to eat, and what not to eat to stay healthy. They also need to learn to distinguish a sufficient portion, from one that packs on the pounds. In her opening talk, nutritionist Dr. Lisa Young, author of The Portion Teller Plan pointed out that by definition, fast food is cheap food. Super-sizing your portion costs food companies nothing, but eating over-sized portions can cost you your health.

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As resources and volunteers head to Haiti, I learned that among the medical personnel who have traveled there to serve are Urban Zen presenter and good friend, Dr. Mark Hyman, MD, and his lovely wife, Pier Boutin, also a physician. Traveling with them are a medical team.

The dedicated pair arrived in Port Au Prince on Friday night, and according to a report sent to a colleague, which I'll quote here, they found "the conditions to be absolutely horrific, a scene of death, devastation, and chaos."