Feminine Zen

By Donna Karan

There is an awakening today among women, a call to the feminine energy, part of our innate being, to embrace the world for the healing of humankind. Our roles are many — caretaker, wife/partner, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, mentor, professional and citizen of the world—and our tasks multiple yet personal.

As a fashion designer I have traveled the world not only to dress woman but also to address them. There is a commonality among all women — the struggle of how to have harmony in one’s life considering the exceptional demands placed on us on a daily basis. Thirty-five years ago my mentor and boss, Anne Klein, passed away on the week my daughter Gabrielle was born and I was given the job as chief designer. As I held my newborn daughter in my arms, rolling racks were being brought into my home so I could have the collection ready on time. Talk about pressure!

Women all over the world live with extreme demands of surviving and working to ensure that at the end of the day they are able to provide for their families needs. I’ve always immersed myself in a personal reflection of what seemed to be missing, then and now, that I could help to create and contribute to. "Donna Karan New York" was geared to the professional woman; "DKNY" grew out of that to address the family.

That initial effort evolved into "Urban Zen," — a new paradigm where philanthropy and commerce connect. Urban Zen is a center that brings and builds community together to create change. The foundation has three missions; wellbeing, empowerment of children and cultural sustainability.

Urban Zen came about when I was caring for my husband Stephan Weiss when he was sick with lung cancer. He received care from the medical community, but I felt something was missing in caring for him and other patients. They were treating the disease, but who was helping to treat patients and their loved ones?

We have started training Urban Zen Integrative Therapists to care for patients and their loves ones using alternative methods, including yoga, Reiki, aromatherapy, meditation and nutrition. These methods also support the doctors and nurses in the hospital environment.

Another one of our missions is children’s empowerment. What is missing with children’s education? Children learn reading, writing and arithmetic in school, but not lessons of life. Urban Zen has embraced a program called "Spirituality for Kids" where children are taught tools to empower themselves regardless of circumstance and realize they have the power to create anything they want. My dream is to have yoga, meditation, creative arts and proper nutrition in all schools.

The third mission of "Urban Zen" is cultural sustainability and realizing how important it is to keep cultures in tact.

We face an era of great concern with what it is going on in the world. We as individuals have a personal responsibility to be involved and we must realize the importance of what a woman’s love, caring, sensitivity, intuition, creativity and power bring. It is only natural that with the dire situation going on in many parts of the world that our hearts go out to peoples’ suffering. In practice, this means we must demand better and more government support for healthcare, childcare and education. By raising awareness we inspire change.

Women have an extraordinary vision and we have the power to change the world. Woman to Woman, Woman to Man. When the feminine energy is embraced by both women and men it can be harnessed with love and compassion to create change.