Co-Founder, Board Chairperson, Grant Committee

I’m so unbelievably grateful to be able to contribute to sharing love, connection and Karma Yoga in our world through United We Om.  

My journey has taken me from sharing yoga in studios to co-founding United We Om with my husband Matt.  Those years of growing the organization into a powerful engine of disruption were wild and amazing.  

In my new chapter I am focusing on our family and our two growing children, but I am so grateful to still be a part of the impact as a Board Member and Grant Committee member.   I am also continuously amazed by what my husband Matt is able to manifest into reality and super proud of the new way we are approaching Karma Yoga in the world.  

Don’t ever forget that just smiling at another human or holding the door open for someone makes a difference.  In every moment we can participate in creating the world we believe in.

Co-Founder, Executive Director, Grant Committee

I started practicing yoga and meditation intermittently in college, after someone left Rodney Yee’s AM/PM Yoga in my DVD Player. While this lead to some fun asana and meditation on the beach, it wasn’t until I fell in love with a yoga teacher named Jenny Gamell that I suddenly developed a profound interest in practicing yoga, especially with Jenny.

Much to my surprise, yoga improved almost every aspect of my life. One monumental shift after another began to occur as I started delving into yoga with regularity and intensity, which ultimately lead to Jenny and I founding United We Om in 2015.

United We Om has held a mirror to my life, to my choices, my belief systems and continues to be one of my greatest teachers. Over time, I have realized that the changes I thought were occurring through the practices of asana and meditation were actually happening through the service work itself. United We Om was the medium as the message. Thus began my next step in my journey of seeking understanding through Karma Yoga, and the transition of United We Om into a Karma Yoga organization.

Prior to United We Om, I was an entertainment producer with credits including The Kings Speech (West End, London), Becoming Dr. Ruth (Off Broadway) and a couple of films. I was kicked out of the Juilliard School for “lacking a generosity of spirit,” but I am hopeful that I have made a little progress in that department. Fingers crossed.

Board Member, Grant Committee

Hi! I’m Lauren Reek. I’m a Yoga Therapist, Meditation Teacher, and Birth Doula located on Long Island. I have dedicated my life to supporting people to navigate the ups and downs of life and create a toolbox of tools they can continue to go back to when things don’t go as planned.

My passion for sharing these tools stems from my own journey towards happiness and fulfillment while previously struggling with depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety. After hitting rock bottom I turned to yoga and holistic health practices as a way to heal myself and now I am committed to sharing these tools with others.

I became connected with United We Om in 2016 and began to explore the world of Karma Yoga, using everything in our lives as grist for the mill. Using my life experiences to share what I have learned along the way on my journey to support other humans - which in turn helps me to be a better version of myself. It started by teaching in group residences and behavioral units of hospitals and it has now led to this current Board position.

This opportunity to be on the board has shown me what beautiful things can happen when we come together with a common mission for the good of humanity. It has also challenged me to think bigger to reach more communities. I am so excited for this next chapter of United We Om and the changemakers we are meeting along the way.

Founding Board Member, Grant Committee

I’m a longtime practitioner of Mindfulness Meditation, having fortuitously discovered Alan Watts back in the ‘70s. A long and winding road has followed through thickets of books, retreats most notably with Pema Chodron, Norman Fischer and Anam Thubten and many retreats with The Jewish Spirituality Institute. I have a now forever unfulfilled dream of being in the presence of Charlotte Joko Beck (but who knows???), her books in my library worn to a frazzle. I’ve been a sangha member of New York Insight Meditation and Shambhala, when it was in NYC, and became a certified Mindfulness Meditation Instructor through Tibet House/Dharma Moon. I’ve found my way into service as a Chaplain, Hospice Chaplain and home visit Hospice Chaplain through Beth Israel Hospital, as a Cantor, and now teaching Mindfulness Meditation on Long Island, where I also lead a bi-weekly Mindfulness Meditation practice and study group. I’ve been on the Board of UWO since its birth and have joyfully watched and participated in its evolution as it has grown in strength of service to others. Over the years, all five of my Standard Poodles have been faithful meditators. My daily watchwords are: This moment, life as it is, the only practice.

I am so often inspired by serving on the Board of UWO, which strives to offer mindful practices - whether it be nourishing to body, mind or soul, through the work of our dedicated practitioners and the people they serve. One path to moments of enlightened mind and flashes of awakening is through this selfless and open encounter with another’s “life as it is.” In these moments, instructor and client experience together the present as blessed and the future as open, “that simple light may emerge out of complicated darkness.” In my mind there is no greater practice than opening to each other - wherever and whatever the circumstances - and UWO is constantly working to create these openings.

Founding Board Member, Grant Committee

I am the founder of The Spiral, an online women’s community, and Soul Mentorship, a transformative coaching program. With over a decade of experience teaching grounded, seasonally-oriented yoga to students across Long Island and globally, I've developed a unique approach that blends the mystical with the practical. I began offering immersive retreats in college, spent many years off and on studying ancestral wisdom in central and South America and most recently Celtic Spirituality and Jungian depth work. I’m a published author, and take pride in making complex spiritual concepts accessible, relatable and grounded.

I am honored to be on the board of United We Om because I deeply believe in the power of connection—to self, to community, and to all of life. United We Om’s commitment to making these practices of connection available to everyone resonates deeply with my personal mission. I am passionate about contributing my expertise and energy to support United We Om’s mission and vision, ensuring that these transformative practices reach those who need them most.

Board Member, Grant Committee, LGBTQ+ Advisor

I used to teach overage and under-credited students in NYC. It was not a good fit. I was good at it, but I never felt like I could be all of the things I am - all at once. Like so many people trying to make a living, I did it, because I was already doing it. Not being able to feel whole, it left me depleted and miserable.

I tried to improve my well-being by returning to my religion, doing yoga and meditation, but I still felt like part of me was always asked to be hidden. Then, I was asked to lead yoga at a summer camp for LGBTQ+ teens by United We Om. I realized it wasn't just about helping them but also about feeling good about who I was. I didn't have to pretend to be someone else to fit into a space. 

Come to find out, this feeling I had, is the heart of UWO.

Now, I'm on the board and supporting the granting process. I can be myself and support others in doing the same. I've been able to support UWO by bringing all of me, every time.

I feel like I am in a community that grows, changes, and leaves space for the individual. Ultimately, that's why I’m here, I want that for everyone.

Founding Board Member, Legal Council

“ I am what I am and that’s all what I am.” - Popeye

I am also a father of two magical daughters, a proud Poodle papa and a practicing attorney with the law firm TLGGR on Long Island, NY.