om body
big yogi. Her husband, Stephan, was not at
all. But when he was sick, it just gave him so
much comfort. So his dying wish to Donna
was to be able to spread this to the nurses
and to patients. So she asked Rodney and I
(we’re both her teachers and friends) to help
make her husband’s dying wish come true.
So Rodney and I began to distill all the
practices we had become so intimate with,
and started teaching yoga teachers and
allied healthcare professionals basically that
week, really just trying to figure out what
were the main symptoms and how can we
help. We ended up realising that the main
symptoms from the hospital stay and the
medication, and just the fear of disease,
were pain, anxiety, nausea, insomnia,
constipation, sadness, and exhaustion.
So we went to work distilling everything
that we had learned, to create some comfort
or balance for these symptoms. Since we
were planning to be in the hospital working
with self care for the doctors and nurses,
and then for the patients and their loved
ones, we distilled all the practices for these
symptoms, and then we brought in essential
oils, Reiki, contemplative care with Roshi
Joan Halifax, just learning how to be around
this kind of suffering and not let it kill you.
We designed in-bed movements, an entire
class of in-bed movements, plus restorative
poses, body scan meditations, the essential
oils that go with the symptom. For instance,
if it’s pain, then you start at the distal end of
the pain and you move down the body and
you realise that that part of your body that’s
in pain is not the totality of the pain. There’s
specific essential oils that have the inhibitors
for pain, so we give them that, we give them
Reiki on the entire body.What was the outcome to this
We actually saved a million dollars on one
24-bed surgical oncology unit in Beth Israel
[hospital, in Boston, Massachussets] in one
year, mainly on pain medication. So the
efficacy is not even questioned at this point,
and there’s been so much research behind
us. It just feels like the doors are opening
wide for it. And in some ways, we need
more therapists now. It took us 10 years of
knocking on doors and having them close:
you know, “We can’t afford it”, “You can’t
touch the patients”. But that’s the beauty ofthese modalities, you don’t have to touch
the patient! And then we started teaching
the nurses how to care for themselves...
because they don’t! And so now on their
breaks, instead of grabbing Twinkies and a
Coca-Cola, they give each other Reiki. They
do chair yoga.What are you most proud of
Well, Urban Zen is definitely high up there,
but mainly we have four amazing children.
Hopefully our guidance has helped them
in some way. That’s what fills us up with so
much love and joy.Colleen Saidman Yee is director and owner
of Yoga Shanti in Sag Harbor, New York,
and co-owns Yoga Shanti in Westhampton
Beach and New York City. She is married
with four children to fellow yoga instructor
Rodney Yee. She is also the author of the
book Yoga for Life, A Journey to Inner
Peace and Freedom. Find out more at:
colleensaidmanyee.comPhotos: Zev Starr-Tambor (@zevst)