Urban Zen Integrative Therapy at the Yoga Journal Conference

Last Updated on Thursday, 11 April 2013 01:28 Written by nicole Tuesday, 9 April 2013 02:34

This past Sunday, April 7th, the co-directors of the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program, Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman, led a restorative Urban Zen Integrative Therapy class for more than 175 yogis at the Yoga Journal Conference in New York City. With the intention of providing an embodied UZIT experience, the participants were led through each of the five UZIT modalities including in-bed movements, breath awareness, body scans, restorative postures, Reiki and essential oil therapy provided by Young Living Essential Oils. Twenty UZIT graduates from the 2009 and 2011 accelerated trainings supported Rodney and Colleen by providing Reiki and essential oil therapy durning the class. Alumni alternated between Lemon oil for alertness, Lavender oil to help practitioners relax, and Valor to safely ground students in their bodies before reentering the world.  Students were also assisted by UZIT graduates in being guided to find each posture’s nuances, optimizing effects of the Yee’s deeply restorative sequence.

In a brief Q&A session following the class, participants were explained how the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy uses the five modalities in hospitals and outpatient facilities. They learned about UZIT’s outreach in Haiti and the upcoming Level I Self and Family Care Training at YogaWorks in Los Angeles and New York. You can find information on UZIT classes throughout the country here. For informations on trainings, please click here. 

It Takes a Soft Back of Compassion: Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Accelerated Training

Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 December 2012 11:03 Written by uzcreative Thursday, 15 November 2012 06:21

Currently in session is a Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Accelerated Training Program, reducing what is normally a 12-month training educating on the modalities of Yoga Therapy, Reiki, Essential Oil Therapy, Contemplative End-of-Life Care and Nutrition to an accelerated track for individuals who are already established in one or more of these modalities. The UZIT training teaches an integrative approach to address the classic symptoms of illness: pain, anxiety, nausea, insomnia, constipation and exhaustion (PANIC^TM).

In the first day of their training at Yoga Shanti in Sag Harbor, the UZIT trainees were given attunements to the first degrees of Reiki and later taken through the mechanics of teaching basic chair positions for a Yoga Therapy class or private patient. Dealing with illness can mean facing an ongoing situation of PANIC^TM . The UZIT program equips therapists with the instruments necessary to avoid the burnout that we see all too often among nurses and caretakers. “When you have a strong back, you have the strength to soften into circumstances as they arise,” says Mary Taylor, who is a master instructor for the Contemplative Care modality. We cannot bring the old paradigm into the new paradigm. UZIT trainees learn to come from a place of balance first before giving.

Launched in 2009 the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy (UZIT) Program is an advanced program that empowers individuals to work side by side with western doctors, complimenting the course of treatment in focusing on the patient, nurses and loved ones enduring the changes together. This program is designed to connect the dots between the current paradigm in western medicine and the healing techniques of eastern cultures.

Learn more about our UZIT trainings here.

The Voice of A UZIT Student: Reflections on the Program

Last Updated on Monday, 12 December 2011 06:26 Written by Urban Zen Monday, 12 December 2011 05:24

by Kara Dake, student of the 2011 Urban Zen Intergrative Therapy Program

This past weekend at Urban Zen was about the deepening and integration of our skills. We were lucky to have our teachers in all of the modalities – yoga, aromatherapy, meditation, and Reiki – with us to close out the year and prepare us as we go out into the world in 2012.

The weekend was opened with meditations led by Chodo & Koshin, the two beautiful monks from the Zen Center for Contemplative Care. They have been with us from the beginning of our journey as UZIT students, and in this weekend of deepening and integration, they taught us that as care givers we need go beyond empathy for our patients. We need to live in the moment so as to be fully present for our patients and for ourselves.