Urban Zen Integrative Therapy (UZIT) and Square Roots Host New York City Mothers and Maternal Health Leaders to Explore the Future of Wellness in Pregnancy
Square Roots funds innovative program to explore wellness care during
pregnancy, including stress and anxiety reduction through therapeutic
yoga, Reiki, and meditation.
Program is hosted by Donna Karan, Founder, Urban Zen
Foundation and Morad Fareed, Founder and CEO, Square Roots.
Other speakers include Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman,
Co-Directors of the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program; and Elan
Vital McAllister, Founder of Choices in Childbirth.
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Square Roots, a discovery company focused on creating healthier
pregnancy and BIRTH standards, today joined forces with the Urban Zen
Integrative Therapy (UZIT) program to host several expecting mothers
from across New York City for an evening of interactive and informative
programing around maternal health and wellness.
Square Roots hosted the event to explore how to improve the pregnancy
experience for expecting mothers. Through therapeutic yoga, Reiki, and
meditation, participants discovered how to address common issues
associated with pregnancy such as stress, anxiety, and exhaustion.
Expecting mothers learned practices to improve their physical and mental
health and the importance of an ongoing commitment to personal
well-being for their baby’s development.
“As a mother and grandmother, it is a privilege to share our Urban Zen
Integrative Therapy program with other New York moms,” said Donna
Karan, founder of Urban Zen.
“On the heels of Mother’s Day, we are thrilled to host expecting mothers
for today’s program,” said Morad Fareed, founder and CEO of
Square Roots. “Our work with the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy
Program is part of our effort to address the dire state of maternal
health in America. A new approach, which we’re calling BIRTHTM
is seeking to shift one dimensional efforts into integrated and
coordinated health systems for all mothers. BIRTHTM represents
this shift. We look forward to collaborating under this platform in the
future.”
The program builds on the existing mission of Square Roots, which
identifies high-yield programs and tools that have a proven health
impact for mothers and coordinates the distribution of these programs
and tools between academia, policy, public agencies, and private
companies. Square Roots seeks to bring these needed solutions and
resources to mothers to-be in order to positively impact pregnancy
outcomes. Square Roots works with initiatives like the Urban Zen
Integrative Therapy (UZIT) program to advance access for pregnant women
and their families to evidence-based information to improve the state of
maternal and infant care.
The United States spends more per birth than any nation in the world,
yet is the only developed nation where maternal mortality is on the
rise. As many as one in three women report having a traumatic birth
experience. The intricacies and importance of this challenge
necessitates collaboration across the private, public, and civil
sectors. The UZIT program will serve as a model for future work with
partners in communities across the country.
About Urban Zen Integrative Therapy (UZIT)
The mission of the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy program (www.urbanzen.org)
is to change the present healthcare paradigm, to treat the patient and
not just the disease. Through our partnerships, we are transforming
patient care in hospitals, healthcare education in nursing schools,
self-care in the home and emergency relief in disasters. Urban Zen
Integrative Therapy program incorporates Reiki, essential oils and yoga
to address the primary symptoms of PANICTM (Pain, Anxiety, Nausea,
Insomnia, constipation and exhaustion).
Follow Urban Zen on Twitter with @Urban_Zen. Follow Urban Zen on
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Google+ with @UrbanZen, and on
Pinterest with @urbanzenpins.
About Donna Karan
DONNA KARAN, Urban Zen Creator
Fashion icon and humanitarian Donna Karan founded Urban Zen in 2007. The
foundation is dedicated to three initiatives: preservation of culture
(past), and bringing mind, body and spirit to healthcare (present) and
education (future.) The groundbreaking Urban Zen Integrative Therapy
(UZIT) Program integrates eastern healing modalities with western
science, with over 700 certified therapists of varying levels working
throughout the country. After Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, Karan became
passionately involved with The Clinton Global Initiative to develop and
support sustainable artisan opportunities in Haiti, culminating in 2015,
when Karan collaborated with her alma mater, Parsons School of Design,
to open the Haitian vocational education center called D.O.T. (Design
Organization Training).
Urban Zen is, in part, supported by the luxe Urban Zen brand and stores,
a harmony of philanthropy and commerce, an idea Karan cultivated through
her leadership on Seventh on Sale, the CFDA AIDS benefit, Kids for Kids
carnival for Pediatric AIDS, and Super Saturday, an annual Hamptons tag
sale, Karan founded with Liz Tilberis to benefit Ovarian Cancer Research
Fund.
A world traveler, a lifelong yogi, as well as mother and grandmother,
Karan considers Urban Zen the realization of her dream not just to dress
people, but to address them as well. Karan candidly shares her personal
and professional story in her 2015 autobiography, My Journey
(Ballantine/Random House.)
About Square Roots
Square Roots (www.squareroots.com)
is a discovery company focused on empowering women throughout the
pregnancy experience by connecting the dots of existing care models to
human needs. By integrating new technology and scientific findings with
intelligent partnerships from medicine to policy to maternal care
takers, Square Roots brings needed solutions and resources to the most
critical period of life: our beginning. We identify the highest impact
programs and tools that have a proven health impact for Mothers and
coordinate the distribution of these programs and tools between
academia, policy, public agencies, and private companies.
Follow Square Roots on Twitter with @SquareRootsLife. Follow Urban Zen
on Facebook and Instagram with @SquareRootsBirth.
About Morad Fareed
Prior to launching Square Roots, Morad Fareed co-founded Delos Living,
where he helped to pioneer the WELL Building Standard™ and Wellness Real
Estate™. He is the Founding Partner of the Clinton Foundation’s 20/30
Initiative™ and a member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Business
Council. He serves as an Advisory Board Member to several organizations,
including the Smithsonian’s Science Education Center, the Cleveland
Clinic’s Wellness Institute, Ariadne Lab’s Childbirth Design Board, and will.i.am’s
the i.am.angel Foundation. He is a native of New York and lives in
Manhattan.
Contacts
Media:
Square Roots
Aaron Kinnari
press@squareroots.com
or
Urban
Zen
Sandra Gil
sandra@urbanzen.com
