lululemon; tragedy & tenderness.

Recently, news of a murder and assault at a Bethesda lululemon store shocked the yoga world.

The attacks, allegedly committed by two unknown assailants left one store employee dead and the other bound and brutalized. Immediately I received an email from a dear friend and local lululemon employee. She expressed sorrow, confusion and fear. “How can we feel safe in a world where this is happening?” she wanted to know. I had no answer for her.

Several days later she contacted me again. Lululemon, is a corporation that aligns perfectly with the yoga community by way of their promotion of authenticity, connection and enlightened living. It seemed fitting that they would schedule a nationwide simultaneous yoga class for their employees to mourn this tragedy and honor the life and love of their colleague. This class was to be held in conjunction with the funeral of the young woman.

I felt honored to be asked to teach the Boston class and after we collectively bribed a babysitter with the promise of a pair of lululemon pants, I was able—and very happy to commit.

As I stood before 30 or so yogis, all reeling from the events and shocking new evidence of the past week, one thing became clear to me—these people were afraid.

How can we wrap our heads around what had happened? How can we make sense of it? How can we feel safe when the very people that we trust to be living authentically can allegedly turn on us and cause such hurt, pain and suffering? (and boy, do I know this one very well)

As we sink deeper into this fear we pull away from the world. We pull away from those who can support us. We wrap ourselves in a layer of armor and work to reinforce it so that no one can harm us. But in doing so, we lock out love as well as pain.

As we moved through the class I felt this profoundly. There was fear. There was no breath and there was no trust. As I encouraged these lovely yogis to breath and feel safe in their bodies I realized the fear and pain was just too great.

I sat them down and had them partner up. We came into a restorative partner yoga posture (see pic) that has them lying on top of one another. In this moment I realized that often times—just being there for someone to lean on is enough. Too often we think that we have to do something, or fix something and how can we possibly do that when we are not able to even make sense of what has happened? By allowing ourselves to be leaned on and by allowing ourselves to lean on others we create a connection that is profoundly healing. Connection begins to break down the armor. It promotes trust and safety.

It fosters love.

When the class ended there was a long silence. As the yogis began to file out of the room I received many hugs. There were many tears—and in the midst of this sad, sad day I heard them say—that was just what we needed.