Several weeks ago, the yoga community in Washington DC was shaken up by news that our ambassador, Michael Hall had been a victim of an attack as he and his partner were walking near their temporary apartment (their permanent residence was destroyed in a fire earlier in June). Our Logan Circle store manager, Emma, shares more about who Michael is and how the DC yoga community came together for a friend in need.

yoga in DC

I often boast that Washington, D.C. has the “best” yoga community. Our nation’s capital houses great studios made possible by a dedicated and loving yoga community that provides respite from an otherwise Type A culture. Entering a yoga studio in Washington, D.C. is like lifting a very heavy elephant or donkey off your back and setting it aside for an hour of unified bliss. In a city divided, yoga unites.

a community shaken

Last Sunday night I received a phone call from a coworker letting me know that our yogi friend and beloved lululemon ambassador, Michael Hall, was attacked and in the ICU. He and his partner were coming home from dinner when a group of men jumped them. Both men suffered injuries and were taken to the hospital. Michael’s jaw and cheek were broken and required surgery. At the time, Michael didn’t have health insurance and the medical costs would surely be phenomenal.

My heart sunk. I thought of my smiling, clever friend who founded MiDCity yoga on the premise that yoga is a discipline of freedom.  Michael is a breath of fresh air. He is eager give to the yoga community.  In the past he has taught Salutation Nation, organized yoga for cross-fit and leads lululemon’s complimentary yoga class in DuPont. Michael creates community connectedness everywhere.

a community united

I opened my email to organize an effort on Michael’s behalf. What I found was astonishing. My inbox was already flooded with emails from various spokes of the Washington, D.C. yoga community offering to hold individual donation classes and suggesting a huge community class rivaling that of Cherry Blossom Yoga. Someone posted a PayPal link to donate. Someone else made a Facebook group. My store, Logan Circle, put up an event page and each lululemon store in the Washington, D.C. region posted it to their sites. Studios and studio owners started pouring out support – in Baltimore, in Bethesda, in Virginia. Then Atlanta, Montana and New York City. Then Puerto Rico, Canada, India. Email after email. Country after country. My eyes filled with tears.

michael hall – yoga community donation class

Immediately, the yoga community responded. By Monday evening there were dozens of yoga classes at studios around the city, Virginia and Maryland holding donation classes for Michael Hall’s medical expenses. Sunday, August 5 2012, the D.C. yoga community planned to come together to raise the final funds necessary in a very special yoga class: 108 sun salutations, 12 teachers, 25 studios.

Amidst the scrambling to get permits and waivers for our giant practice, we received an email from Michael Hall thanking us kindly for our efforts and asking us to cease donations. Through various initiatives, Michael had raised the money he needed. Sunday’s class, instead, would be a celebration.

yoga is community

Yoga means “to join” and “to unite.” Yoga isn’t about being the best. It isn’t even about finding relief from the hustle and bustle of your daily lives or building beautiful back muscles. Yoga actually is about creating space for a community to come together. On Sunday evening, 300 yogis came out to salute a beautiful teacher and a community unwavering. Midway through the sun salutations, it started to rain. “Only yogis can say they saluted the sun in the rain!” said Michael Hall when he took the mic for the final eight salutations.

It turns out D.C. doesn’t have the best yoga community because there is no best in yoga. Yoga is community.

Alright friends, drop and give us 20!

Above is physical therapists Robert Gillanders and Sarah Thorpe, Dane Rauschenberg, Elyse Braner (who wrote this!), and lululemon Ambassadors.

lululemon Logan Circle kicked off Marine Corp Marathon weekend in Washington, DC with our pre-race "Run into More Runners Party". Eighteen elite runners and running experts from across the industry were present to mingle with and advise lululemon guests on everything run. Only at lululemon would the everyday runner have this type of access!

Marathon runner, author, and motivational speaker, Dane Rauschenberg kicked off the evening by leading a pre-race run. Rauschenberg completed 52 marathons in 52 weeks, while raising money for charity. He captivated guests with tales of his marathons, as well as signed copies of his book, See Dane Run.

lululemon run Ambassadors Julie Culley, Lindsay Wilkins, and Mike Hamberger interacted with guests as well. Julie competed on this year’s USA team at the World Track and Field Championships in the 5k. Lindsay was the second place finisher at the 2008 Marine Corp Marathon, and Coach Mike owns and operates his own running and triathalon personal coaching service.

The event was also filled with medical professionals, from sports psychologists to physical therapists. Run charities such as Team in Training, Girls on the Run, and Girls Gotta Run were also on hand to teach runners how they could give back.

Perhaps the highlight of the evening for me were the attendance of two women that I look up to in the industry. Elayne Chow, of Graceful Edge, a website dedicated to hip and active women. Elayne brought me on to be the “Run Expert” for her site, which has grown tremendously in the last few months. The biggest surprise of the evening was the arrival of Brae Blakely. Brae is the Founder and Executive Director of the popular Zooma Women’s Race Series. It was an honor to have a powerful woman in the run industry at our party!

All in all, we all had a great time, and we definitely ran into more runners!

Who are you running into?

Logan Circle's running club works their core after a long run.

There is more to improving your run performance than simply running. Strength training, rest, nutrition, and injury prevention also play a major role.

At the lululemon Logan Circle run club, we focus on core strength to improve our running. After every Monday night run club, we grab yoga mats, place them outside of the store on the sidewalk, and I guide our runners through a 15 minute intense core workout.

While the core include the abs, back, hips, and glutes, we focus on ab and back strength. When people ask about our group, I like to say that the 15 minute core workout is the part of run club that our runners love to hate! I secretly know when they complain about it, they are really telling me how much they love it, as we have quite the large group stay to complete it, and even some who come just for the ab workout. It is quite the scene on our busy street during people’s commutes home to see a group of sweaty runners holding on for an intense 15 minutes as I remind them to “embrace it” (the intensity of the workout) and remind them that they can “rest at home.”

Core work is an integral part of a runner’s routine. A regular core routine will not only help you improve your running times, but will also help you prevent injuries, as well as help you keep your form in the late miles of a race. My favourite core exercises are a series of planks, which help you improve both strength and stability. As a run coach, I recommend that my athletes incorporate some type of core routine two to three times a week into their training schedules. The athletes that do this find it easier to keep their form and quickly learn that it isn’t just about great abs, but about improving performance and giving themselves that extra edge. Need help finding a core routine that works for you? See if your local lululemon has a running club or there are many resources online, such as runnersworld.com, which has video links to various options for core training.

Above: Elyse and Rick Amernick (fellow run coach) outside of the lululemon Logan Circle store.

I recently had a conversation with my friend and fellow run coach Rick Amernick, president of the Capital Striders Run Group, about the difficulty of choosing a fall marathon. He was trying to choose between the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington, DC and the Baltimore Marathon. The right fall marathon is an agonizing decision that many runners go through. Many times, runners end up signing up for multiple marathons, unsure of which one to run. Marathons are an investment, with the average cost near $100. Typically most runners only have one or two competitive marathons in them a year, unlike a 5k in which you could comfortably race every other weekend.

When choosing a marathon, there is a lot to consider. The most important consideration for me is weather. What are the chances that the climate will be favorable to the race conditions that a runner prefers? Secondly, one has to consider amount of travel. I personally like to do my serious races away from home, so that I can spend time in my hotel room, where I can focus on the race and getting the proper rest. Next, one has to consider the course. Is this a race for the experience or one to achieve a personal record? Some runners like to look at other logistics, such as the post-race entertainment, the size of the field, or the course time limit.

This is the second year I have signed up for two fall marathon, but unlike last year, I will only be racing one. Last year, I ran a late October marathon, and did run the time I had hoped to achieve. I decided to run the second marathon, just a month later. It was a decision that I would not recommend for most runners. If your first marathon does not go as planned, I would advise that instead of rushing into a second marathon, you analyze what went wrong, and use your learnings to improve in your spring marathon.

Regardless of the time you race, you are still running 26.2 miles, which is strain on your body. This fall, I will pick one of the two marathons, dependent on when I reach my season peak in terms of fitness. I will then take some time to let my body recover, and then I will see you at Boston in the spring.

Happy running!

Read his story, watch the video, and try some of the poses for yourself! Brandon's video is a visually stunning and educational way to learn some basic yoga moves.

From Brandon:

I created this video in the Spring of 2009 as a motion graphics class project.  I've been wanting to experiment with mixing graphics and live-action video, so I was searching for an interesting subject.

I had also recently started taking some of the free Sunday morning yoga classes at lululemon Logan Circle... in my neighborhood in DC.  My girlfriend, Kelly Ferraro, works at the store and she's been encouraging me to try yoga.  After attending only a couple sessions, I was already feeling the benefits... and I think it also helped spark my imagination.  Whenever the instructor would call a different pose, I couldn't help but imagine what that pose would look like in graphic form... Like energy emitting from the body in color and shape.

So instead of just imagining the energy from yoga, I thought it would be interesting to actually bring it to life with motion graphics.  And fortunately, the DC lululemon community was eager to help out!  Kelly helped me brainstorm the idea. Kristin Neishi, an educator at Logan Circle, lent her time and talent to perform on camera.  And we shot the HD video in the expansive studio of the Georgetown lululemon.  Kristen was also wearing lululemon for the video.

Once the video was shot, I turned to the graphic design with my friend Kiril Tchangov. We created a series of graphics to compliment the poses - using a bright palette of colors and a range of graphic styles --- from graffiti (Pigeon pose) to art nouveau (Lotus).  Then I animated each set of graphics using AfterEffects, overlaying them on top of Kristen's yoga poses.  I really got to stretch my style on the graphics and animation.

The whole project was a great experience - and it all went so smoothly with the help of the lululemon community.  I'm hoping it'll get out there and be seen by yoga fans worldwide.

Hope you enjoy it!  You can see more of my work at blochportfolio.blogspot.com.

~Brandon

Above: Educator Kelly Ferraro, Guest Joanna Russo, Elyse Braner, Ultra-run Coach Bryon Powell, and Guest Cristina Burbach.

Recently at lululemon Logan Circle in Washington DC, we had our very own running meet and greet, called "Run into Runners". We invited several notable runners for our guests to interact with.

Runners are typically open and friendly people by nature, but I was struck with the ease in which the elite runners in our group and the beginner runners interacted. Time and experience didn't matter: we all had running in common, and that was enough. It was inspiring to see many first time lululemon guests at the event come out to our running club the following day.

Our run experts included:

• Melissa Tanner, an elite runner from Washington DC. She ran for Harvard University, and was third in the Marine Corp Marathon. Melissa brings a sense of balance to her training and racing, which is a huge part of the lululemon culture. Read more about Melissa's training: http://melissatanner.blogspot.com/
• Lance Breger, our phenomenal lululemon Logan Circle ambassador and head trainer at Mint Gym in Washington DC, discussed strength training for many of our guests and led core work demonstrations. Lance has an uncanny ability to make the beginner exerciser feel comfortable, so it was great to see him give some of our new runners advice on how to supplement their run program with strength work. Read more about Lance here: http://lancebreger.blogspot.com/
• It was also an honor to have one of my best friends and running/ life mentor at the event! Naoko Ishibe is truly an inspiration. She has twice qualified for Olympic Marathon trials, is a Harvard phD, and is one of the classiest women you will ever meet. Unlike many elite runners, Naoko did not start running until her senior year of college. Naoko is vice president of the Washington Run Club and recently led the club's women's team to a first place finish at the famous Cherry Blossom Ten Miler!
• Sean O'Brien, former pro-runner for Nike, and colleagues with Lance Breger at Mint Gym shared his amazing run stories. It was exciting to hear about his training and interactions with other elite athletes. Sean was definitely a fun run expert for our guests!
• Ultra-run Coach Bryon Powell, recently back from a 5 day race across the desert in Morocco was there to chat about very long distance running and his amazing adventures. Bryon is not only an inspiration in the running community, but he also really exemplifies the lululemon manifesto. Personally, he has inspired me to follow my passion for running and start a career in the running industry doing what I love. I think we are going to hear a lot more from Bryon in the upcoming months, and he will continue to inspire many more runners. You can read more about Bryon on his popular trail running website http://www.irunfar.com.
• Rick Amernick, president of the Capital Striders running club, brought many of his runners and shared a lot about his group and the upcoming race that the group is hosting on May 30th. Rick has grown his organization to over 1,200 members. You can get more information about Rick's group here: http://www.meetup.com/dccapitalstriders/.

During the event, we even had a surprise visit from elite runner Julie Cully, who was the first American finisher at the World Cross Country Championships! Julie is an inspiring athlete and it was an amazing treat for our guests to meet and interact with her.

lululemon is a hub of health and fitness and is a great resource for all athletes. Where else would you be able to interact with so many amazing runners in one place?

Above: Melissa Tanner (Elite Runner), Elyse Braner, and Julie Cully (elite Runner and first American finisher in the World Cross Country Championships.

On a rainy Saturday morning at the lululemon Logan Circle run club, I wore my Run: See Me Jacket. This jacket is made of Flight: an incredibly light material that will keep you dry and is perfect not only for a rainy day, but also on days when you need an extra light layer. Due to the fact that I was not focused on worrying about the elements since my jacket was keeping me protected, I was able to focus on my run and the Logan Circle runners.

Features of the Run: See Me Jacket:

• multiple areas of mesh and venting to keep you from overheating
• reflective stripes on the sleeves for maximum visibility during early morning and night runs
• two large pockets on the front and back, which offer plenty of room for a cell phone, credit card, ipod, and energy bar.
  a longer fit for more coverage
• an adjustable, cinched waste so you can customize the fit

The Run: See Me Jacket is also incredibly compact and takes up virtually no room in a gym bag or tote. I paired mine with my Swiftly Tech tee and my favorite shorts, the Run: Speed Short.

Above: Daysha (on our administration team) jogs through the East Vancouver streets wearing the Run: See Me Jacket and Wonder Under Tights.

Happy running!