Andrea and Elizabeth doing dancer's pose.

Proudly driven down from Portland to San Francisco by Andrea Hehr and Elizabeth Brotz, we present the lululemon love van! “It was a reminder of what I'm here to do. The company that we work for continuously amazes me and it was a sweet journey with a dear friend. We covered every discussion under the sun,” said Andrea.

Speaking of sun, you can do sun salutations on the roof of this van with its unique yoga platform.

Other awesome features
- Bio-diesel eco-friendly design
- Microwave
- Sink and fridge
- 40" plasma
- Wi-fi
- Killer sound system

Our sweet wheels are ready to hit up all the yoga classes!

Welcome to the inside of our lululemon van!

Our lovely manifesto.

Wrapped in our manifesto, this van brought upon sudden awe and dropped jaws from onlookers and drivers along the freeway. “You could see the wheels start to spin…them asking themselves…when was the last time I did one thing a day that scared me?” Andrea.

After working for lululemon, we become immune to the boldness of our manifesto because it really becomes part of our everyday life.

Northern California should watch for us as we explore the region in our lululemon love bus - we'll be hitting up all the coolest events and riding in style. Get ready to be inspired.

Climb on up and join us for a sun salutation soon!

I knew my trip to Albania would include large amounts of food, but not in such long and steady intervals. Eating is such an organized sport in Albania that there is a specific way to practice it.

Begin with chatter and a form of appetizer stimulant, such as grappa. Go through an hour of eating cheese, vegetables, yogurt, spring salad stuffed peppers, all drenched in olive oil of course. You must tell a joke to stay in the game. Your plate starts to look empty and someone slyly places the last stuffed pepper in front of you while you are sipping your third shot of grappa. If you say no, you might lose face against your opponents.

Just when you feel full, the second course comes out: lamb. You eat it without hesitation. Soup comes and even though you have grown a pant size you indulge in it graciously because what could possibly come after soup? I can tell you, bryek! This is spinach with feta cheese covered in thin layers of buttery dough. Ice cream is a typical dessert followed by fruit for digestion, cause you are gonna need it.

Recommended apparel: lululemon athletica pima and vitasea cotton tee’s, tanks and long sleeves.

Why: Soft, slinky, stretchy, stylish fabric that will move with you before and after a long vacation filled with extreme eating.

Nothing better than clothing that will stand by you!

I have found the perfect piece that meets my needs: the Work It One Piece. I love it so much that I am going to share three ways (of many) to work it.

1. In bed

2. On the floor at lululemon Grant Ave

3. Summer day off

Do one thing a day that scares you. Or as my husband likes to say, "Scare yourself every day". After becoming a member at Crunch Fitness, the "Turning Tricks" class inspired my curiosity. I thought that I should get the most bang for my buck and visit the pole dancing class that is specially offered through Crunch.

I was the obvious newbie in class. The only one wearing pants and not sporting heels. The teacher went through a series of exercises that fully engaged the core and activated the spine through head tail movement. Leg stretches showed up everywhere in the warm up. Apparently you can always work toward better splits in pole dancing.

Other than getting a great upper body workout I discovered that pole dancers wear booty shorts for reasons other than showcasing their amazing legs. It is more difficult to climb a pole with pants on as they inhibit the friction needed to make your way four to five feet up the pole. A fourth of the way through class I stood watching in awe as everyone casually climb four feet up their pole with a towel in one hand. Next time I am going to wear my lululemon Knock Out Shorts, and maybe even some heels to keep up with the ambitious ladies in class.

What is the Wanderlust Festival?

It's a yoga / nature / music summer getaway. The yoga and music experience will emerge this summer in Squaw Valley Lake Tahoe, California. From July 24-26 this innovative festival will bring together rock star yoga teachers and current top performers in rock and roll. What could be a more invigorating than waking up to Janet Stone and Rusty Wells and topping the bliss off listening to Spoon?

There are different passes to purchase depending on your preferred flavor. The Seeker ticket gets you into key yoga classes and the Troubadour ticket is for those interested in the full music experience. All passes get you into the Kula Village which will feature vendors, the farmers market and restaurants. During the evening hours the village will become an entertainment hub of burlesque, fire-dance, acrobatics and DJs.

lululemon athletica will be at Wanderlust providing amazing fit experience, education and laughter. Andrea Hehr, Megan Gathers and Meghan McCrea will be attending from the SF Grant Store. There will be team members from a handful of other Bay Area locations participating in activities as well. Look forward to seeing you there!

Want to learn more? Check out their website!

My sisters and I share the same parents but we have our own bodies. I may be able to get into the splits and hold a gnarly headstand, but when it comes to endurance activities, all three of my sisters can pass me in a heartbeat. My friend Jessica commented while I was feeling left behind in the dust during a family hike that "the girls are just built differently."

Our bodies shape the type athletes that we become. Athletes come in all shapes and sizes too. Look at gymnast Shawn Johnson and basketball player Yao Ming.

Think of your body as a unique gift that is designed to perform like none other. How would you start loving your body if you stopped comparing it to others? What image you would have of yourself if mirrors did not exist and we based our image off of how we felt inside? After a sweaty hike or a killer dance class my body reaches a potential so high I could flash the sky at the top of a mountain...

Love your body and the possibilities it has for reaching your highest physical potential.

Getting down and dirty in yoga class is admirable – getting off your mat and practicing outdoors is extraordinary. Taking yoga outdoors stimulates the senses and heightens physical awareness. I have found hiking yoga to be one of the most invigorating and spiritual activities.

Without breath, you are not doing yoga. So why not breathe deeply while hiking and explore the possibilities of connecting to the earth. Groups across the country are offering hiking yoga classes/guides that are specific to the geographic area. Eric Kipp in San Francisco leads urban Hiking Yoga groups that focus on breath and engaging the core. Eric takes you inside the romantic hidden spots of the city while stopping after every huge hill to do a relaxing warrior or triangle pose.

The beauty of nature, like being next to a campfire, immediately inspires you to emerge from your safe zone. Hiking with a group promotes rich social interaction and human connection. I have found the shared experience to be rewarding and quite awakening to my bodies capabilities.

Above: Vanessa, escapes the city and heads to Tofino (Vancouver Island) for an oceanside hike and yoga experience. She's keeping warm in our Remix lulu hoodie.

Above: The Team Lemon crew is decked out in Mac and Cheese yellow!

Bay to Breakers annual 12km race in San Francisco is more than just running, it is pure San Francisco fun loving time with ten thousand-plus participants. This year the lululemon athletica northern California region, Team Lemon, participated in this ninety-eight year old race that starts at the bay and ends at the ocean. Our Mac and Cheese bright yellow outfits blended in with the other outrageous costumes such as little red riding hood, fairies, cops and naked people.

We enjoyed an 83-degree day [ed. note to Canadians: that's about 28 degrees!] with bands every quarter mile cheering us on. Running Bay to Breakers is almost like being in a parade because there are as many people watching from the sidewalk and apartments to see the floats and costumes as there are runners. The course is not exactly easy. By the 6 mile I was so focused on finishing that the sight of another naked runner hardly had me dying from nervous laughter as it did during the start.

Most rewarding was finishing together as a team and celebrating with a nice cold drink of beer followed by a medium rare burger. A month ago I wrote a goal to finish a 15k race by 2015. As long as there is food at the end of the finish line, achieving my 15k is going to be much easier than I thought.

Want to keep up to date on all the other Team Lemon fun? Check out their page on Facebook!

Take a peak at some pics from the event below:

Above:  A little mid run photo posing!

Above: Look at the crowds!

Above: Definitely time to beat the heat with a cool drink!

Above: You'll know how to find us! Look for bright Mac and Cheese yellow!

Yoga Tune Up is so intense you might need a chew toy. The serious athlete has Jill Miller to thank for designing a whole body regenerative fitness system that makes you want to roll during your lunch break. After a session of chugging, rolling and probing your spine muscles along two tennis ball-sized yoga balls, your backside will welcome new movement pathways.

Yoga Tune Up uses yoga philosophy yet excavates and hones in on the nitty gritty muscle points. Dancers love sliding the yoga ball down their lliotibial band as much as the teacher enjoys the grueling vocals that follow. This fitness tunes up sore and undiscovered muscles while creating a workout that engages the core system.
Other than massaging out back kinks, improvements are seen in flexibility, cardio, breathing, relaxation and posture.

Jill Miller gives an accurate description of what a Yoga Tune Up classes entails: "Yoga Tune Up® combines elements of yoga, calisthenics, and body therapy by utilizing traditional yoga postures and focusing on 'functional biomechanics' to bring your body back into complete physiological balance. Ideal for helping heal injuries, reduce pain and de-stress, as you tone, stretch and strengthen. This innovative practice both fortifies and challenges the body, mind and spirit. Appropriate for every level of practice."

More than 25 certified Yoga Tune Up teachers reside nationwide across California (LA, Palo Alto, San Francisco, East Bay), New York (NYC and upstate), New Jersey and more are on their way. Bios can be found at http://www.yogatuneup.com/meet-all-teachers.php.
For a list of nationwide classes visit, http://www.yogatuneup.com/

Above: Carlson's spine is in tip top shape! (Ps, he's seen here wearing the Metal Vent Tech SS and Kung Fu Pants)

If dancers are sighted in an unusual public space, moving seamlessly, you may have stumbled across a site-specific dance project. Innovative choreographers are ditching the stage and going public by choreographing movement in and around public spaces. With the current credit crunch, creating movement in public space is a win win situation as more people are exposed to dance and no one has to worry about paying for a theatre.

I am spearheading a site-specific dance project inside our store at Grant Ave in San Francisco. The show premieres June 5 and 6 and utilizes the stores' front space, window and sidewalk. I enrolled floor manager Chris Cano and local dancer Kristin Cheng to choreograph, as well as our very own educator Anna Carnes to dance. Performing also will be Cameron Growden and Mayuko Ayabe. The goal of this project is to get our feet wet as artists and for our store to move, touch and inspire the community.

Making dance in public spaces has great possibilities. The movement is made in relation to the environment, it is intimate and we get a super work out on the pavement. Not to mention curious crowds watching as we rehearse inside and outside of the store. I am seeing that there does not have to be an announced time and place for dance to be appreciated and seen.

Site-based dance is also happening in Philadelphia where choreographer Kate Watson-Wallace is creating site-based performances that re-imagine everyday spaces such as cars, living rooms and bathrooms. In fact, one of her dancers, Alexandra Holmes, is an ambassador for the lululemon Walnut Street store.

Keep your eyes peeled for random acts of dance in your neighborhood as the epidemic spreads.

Movers, dancers and those wanting to touch each other without sexual ties are forming contact dance improvisation communities around the globe. Contact improvisation is categorized as social dance, as anyone can participate. Choreographers and teachers also use this work to create organic movement phrases. Rather than forcing a kick or turn, the outcome of weight bearing determines the natural flow of movement.

In 1972, Steve Paxton and Oberlin College dance students debuted the first contact dance performance. He further developed contact dance technique by establishing that two bodies come together to create a point of contact, give weight to each other equally and then create a movement conversation that can last as long as the movers feel.

From an outsider's viewpoint, contact dance looks weird, awkward and inhuman. As we are a society that values personal space, the idea of rubbing bodies with strangers sounds absurd. But other then sex and shopping, contact dance actually provides a safe place to explore one's kinisphere.

Our five-foot circle of space between us and people in the street, on elevators and in the subway suggest that we are not finished exploring each other. It is not a coincidence that in dense metropolitan areas such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago, contact dance communities are thriving. A common reaction from newbies is that it is better than sex and fully human.

Above: Ashley (from our Recruitment team) and Katy (from our Graphic team) dance on the train tracks.

Digital yoga classes are growing as the yoga community around the globe multiplies. This fitness innovation extends yoga access to homebodies and gurus in remote locations. Traveling yoga enthusiasts can even drop their mats in hotel rooms with their computers and work up a sweat.

Les Leventhal, a former lululemon athletica yoga ambassador, recently created his own podcast yoga series, updated weekly with a new class. His podcasts cost $19.99 (USD) per month, which includes four classes of varying length - very reasonable considering the cost of monthly yoga studio passes (averaging $160 in urban centres) or drop-in fees upwards of $12-24 per class.

Yogajournal.com/podcasts also offers free mini classes with a selection that varies from Deep Hip Openers to an Energizing Sequence. This allows you to choose your class based on your body's needs. Classes can be taken via RSS or iTunes.

Podcast yoga allows passionate yogis and yoginis to reach their fitness goals in their home, while traveling, and for an affordable price. With the recent economy, podcast yoga may be the solution for budget-conscious yogis. Best of all, you can get into the mudra nude at home.

Cindy, featured above, is our Strategic Merchandising Manager at the SSC. She's seen here wearing our Shape Jacket (in the colour Mac and Cheese). For more photos from our podcast yoga session on the roof, visit our set on flickr.