Brainwave: A refreshing take on the mind, body, spirit connection
Last Updated on Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:18 Written by Urban Zen Thursday, 3 May 2012 02:13
Recently we had the opportunity to collaborate with the Rubin Museum for their innovative well-being series Brainwave, which brought people from diverse walks of life together to engage with neuroscientists in one-on-one conversations in order to better understand the workings of our minds. It was an honor for the Urban Zen team to participate in this year’s series which focused on the role memory has played in the past, and the debatable role it plays in our contemporary cut-and-paste culture.
From remembering the past to learning in the present and the role each plays in our future, the function of memory was elegantly examined at The Rubin Museum on April 28th, starting with actress Marilu Henner and her “Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM).”
Only one of twelve documented HSAM cases, Marilu has the ability to remember each day of her past with perfect recall. As she shares in her new book Total Memory Makeover, each of us has the ability to expand our memories, relive them and take the valuable lessons we might have overlooked or subconsciously ignored. The wisdom of emotional growth allows us to look back at our lives with deeper understanding and compassion that can sometimes transform a painful memory to one that’s empowering.
Learn MoreSupporting our May Ambassador: No Mother’s Day Campaign
Last Updated on Friday, 11 May 2012 05:53 Written by Urban Zen Wednesday, 2 May 2012 03:26
This month we are proud to partner with our Ambassador, Christy Turlington Burns, to help raise awareness and inspire change for all mothers everywhere. This Mother’s Day, we invite you to align with Christy and her foundation, Every Mother Counts, as they launch a social issue campaign designed to raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of girls and women around the world who die each year from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. This campaign is a collaboration between CHI & Partners and Every Mother Counts.
The cornerstone of the campaign is a short social issue film that features moms encouraging other moms to join in solidarity by disappearing May 13th, Mother’s Day, because “our silence can speak the loudest for all mothers.” Click here to watch the video.
Their goal is to leverage Mother’s Day—the day when people are thinking about their mothers most—as a moment to bring the facts about maternal mortality to a wider audience. Christy and her team believe that once people know the facts, they will want to do what they can to engage. Their hope is that the No Mothers Day campaign will spark energy into Every Mother Counts’ overarching goal of driving 5 million individual actions on maternal health by 2015.
How You Can Help:
A Conversation with Tim McHenry, Producer at the Rubin Museum of Art
Last Updated on Friday, 20 April 2012 12:22 Written by Urban Zen Friday, 20 April 2012 12:22
Photo Credit: Michael Palma
Tim McHenry, producer at the Rubin Museum of Art since 2003, has been active in the arts for decades, beginning at the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland and the Zurich Opera in Switzerland. As artistic director of the Armistice Festival (1988) he also edited an anthology The Lost Voices of World War I, published by Bloomsbury. He has also worked for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker where he programmed for the annual New Yorker Festival for the first four years. In charge of the programmatic content of the Rubin Museum of Art since its founding in 2004, he has developed, among many brilliant offerings, the successful series BRAINWAVE. This year, Urban Zen is proud to collaborate with the Rubin Museum for this groundbreaking series.
Recently, we had the opportunity to talk with Tim. Here, we share the highlights of our conversation:
Urban Zen: Why did the Rubin Museum curate and produce BRAINWAVE? Does this build on previous programming?
Tim McHenry: In many practices of Buddhism, to reach enlightenment you need to have complete understanding and control of your mind. But how can you control your mind if you don’t know what your mind is? With that basic, simple question, the idea was born of having neuroscientists meet with people from other walks of life to talk about a subject of common interest, their brains and their minds. The on-stage conversation series was of course fuelled by the Dalai Lama’s well publicized interest in mind science and it seemed an ideal way in which the art in the museum could be seen to be relevant to contemporary sensibilities.
Learn MoreThe Survival Bag Project – The Story Continues
Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 April 2012 11:37 Written by Urban Zen Friday, 13 April 2012 02:16
On Thursday, December 16, 2010, the Urban Zen Foundation launched The Truth – a multimedia cultural exhibition at Urban Zen Center as part of the foundation’s Hope Help & Relief Haiti initiative. Because of our commitment to amplify the work of like-minded organizations, we named Partners in Health, Yele Haiti, Project MediShare, Real Medicine, JP HRO, We Advance, Edeyo and GAO – Fritz Jean Lewis camps as beneficiaries from the funds raised.
The funds granted to We Advance, Edeyo and GAO – Fritz Jean Lewis camps were used to put together survival bags for women and children. Connecting and collaborating with others is very much a part of the Urban Zen mission so we were delighted to work with both Patti Hansen’s Hung on U bags and Bag the Habit, two organizations that generously donated bags to the project.
Learn MoreDr. Christiane Northrup on Letting Food Inspire
Last Updated on Tuesday, 20 March 2012 12:56 Written by Urban Zen Monday, 19 March 2012 06:28
“Food is the most intimate thing you can buy…Unlike clothes and shoes that dress the outside, food goes into your body and builds who you become.”
— Ani Phyo
I love this quote. It is the essence of what I mean when I talk about eating to flourish. Think about it and let it sink in. Making decisions about your health takes on a whole new meaning when you know what you want to do with your life and who you want to be, doesn’t it?
Let’s talk about diet, exercise, and weight for a moment. I’ve studied nutrition, different diets, and medical studies for 45 years. And, I’ve been asked the how-to’s of weight loss many times. Here’s a summary of what I’ve learned over the last 15 years or so. It’s clear that maintaining a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 or under is best. Eating low-glycemic foods is also very important, because it keeps your blood sugar from spiking. Rapid changes in blood sugar levels stimulate cravings, which leads to weight gain, and increase the likelihood of systemic inflammation. This in turn can lead to all kinds of chronic degenerative diseases, including type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Finally, it’s almost impossible to stay trim without exercising. Luckily, a little exercise goes a long way.
No one can refute these facts. But ultimately, reaching and maintaining healthy body composition and vibrant health through the right food choices happens in both your mind and body. Trust me—merely sticking to the latest fad diet or reaching for the perfect BMI won’t bring about the transformation. It is, indeed, personal.
