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--()--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

Release Summary

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

Contacts

Media:
Square Roots
Aaron Kinnari
press@squareroots.com
or
Urban Zen
Sandra Gil
sandra@urbanzen.com