Zen at Kerckhoff Hall

Currently in session is the 3rd cycle of Urban Zen Integrative Therapy at UCLA‘s Kerckhoff Hall. This training is an introduction to the 5 modalities, guiding each trainee toward creating an embodied experience of the Urban Zen Integrative Therapies. Comprised of 50 trainees, cycle 3 includes the in-house staff training of doctors, nurses and allied health care professionals from UCLA. Each trainee has committed to accomplishing 50 hours of clinical rotation hours and on-site visits with a wonderful advantage of having access to patients.

The outcome of this cycle is to prepare the trainees for next month, when they will be practicing the UZIT Self-Care modality integrating their practice inwardly before working with patients throughout the UCLA Health System. Clinical coordinators who are UZITs are on campus at both of UCLA’s hospitals to support the trainees. Because of their vast clinical experience, trainees are also being taught a shortened version of the UZIT program designed specifically for in-hospital staff trainings.

Faculty members currently on-site at UCLA include Master Trainers Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman along with Mary Taylor teaching Contemplative Self Care. UZIT and UCLA faculty member Mary Beth Charno, RN, BSN, OCB, HNB-BC is also attending and supporting this session. All oils used for this training were generously donated by Young Living Essential Oils. Find out more about the UZIT program and where you can take a class here.

SOUL NOURISHING AT ISHA FOUNDATION, INDIA

Many people celebrated the month of March as National Care for the Caregiver month. We, of course, love this as it resonates with our mission and passions on many levels.

We also understand that an essential part of holistic care is self care – taking time to nurture your mind, body and spirit; to center, to sit in stillness, to surround yourself in all of the elements that most nurture your soul.

Over the past month our Founder, Donna Karan, took some time to do just this kind of necessary self care. Her travels eventually led her to India, where she spent some soul-nourishing time at the Isha Foundation – a non-religious, not-for-profit, public service organization, which addresses all aspects of human wellbeing.

We invite you to experience some of her journey by visiting our Facebook Album here.

Transcript of Donna’s Speech at the National Retail Federation Award

< RETURN TO SLIDESHOW PRESENTATION

Today, I had the pleasure of sharing my story at the National Retail Federation’s 102nd Annual Convention and EXPO. It was an amazing experience and one that invited me to re-walk the path of my own life. As I begin the journey of another new year, starting at the beginning of my story felt like exactly the right way to move forward. There is much on the horizon for 2013, and I am looking forward to sharing all of the details with you right here. But, for today, I want to take you back to the beginning by telling you through the story of my life by sharing the speech I delivered earlier this afternoon:

For me, business has always been personal. I stand here today not just as a designer, but also as a consumer. I built my brand by being in touch with my own needs as a consumer and I haven’t changed.

I was born into fashion. My father was a tailor and my mother was a fit model. I never thought I’d end up in design, but the universe had chosen my path.

I launched my career in design at Anne Klein. Soon after while Anne was in the hospital dying with cancer and I was in the hospital delivering my daughter, Gabby, I found myself with a collection due, a company to run and a new baby to care for.

Talk about multi-tasking. Then the phone call came, “When are you coming back to work?”  I said, “Would you like to know whether I had a boy or a girl… by the way it’s a girl.” Of course, in this industry, the show must go on.

After designing at Anne Klein and Anne Klein II for 10 years, I decided I wanted to create a small collection for my friends and I. The thing is, I am a very selfish person: I’ve been a yogi since I was 18 years old, and I wanted to create seven easy pieces around the body suit – a simple collection that would transition from day to night. This was the start of the Donna Karan Company.

As I grew into a working mother, juggling a small child and a growing company, my needs as a consumer grew and so my brand evolved to embrace a working women’s whole lifestyle.

It was time to address the needs of a woman constantly on the go. From sunglasses to hosiery, to the perfect bag to travel with and carry all my seven easy pieces, I designed clothing that could go from day to night, evolving with the ever-growing needs of the modern woman.

As I continued to grow as a businesswoman, my designs grew and the public interest in me grew with it. The press wasn’t always friendly, but it was surreal for me to see powerful women like Hillary Clinton wearing signature pieces from the collection. The thing I love about fashion most is when a design is ripped apart by the press, and winds up on the First Lady for her first White House dinner, unbeknownst to me.

I knew right then and there, that the kind of woman I was designing for was a woman who could and should run for president. (So I was a bit early).

At the same time, my husband was getting into the act, and he wanted clothes. And since my father was a custom tailor, I gave it a shot.

My life as a world traveler and businesswoman took me to amazing places. The colors and the spirits of people and cultures inspired me. These elements were catalysts for my collections then and they continue to fuel my creative expression today.