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January 25th, 2012 - 10:00 am § in Exercise, Workout Reviews

Yoga for a Cause: Lululemon’s Children’s Tumor Foundation Fundraiser

Last Sunday, my local Lululemon (Clarendon) hosted an in-store yoga session in support of the Children’s Tumor Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to improving the health and well being of individuals and families affected by the neurofibromatoses (NF).

Neurofibromatosis encompasses a set of distinct genetic disorders that causes tumors to grow along various types of nerves.  NF can also affect the development of non-nervous tissues such as bones and skin. Neurofibromatosis causes tumors to grow anywhere on or in the body.

The class was led by ambassador Sima Tamaddon from Xsport in Alexandria.  Sima has a great vibe to her yoga class, she brings a serious level of fun making the practice more about enjoyment. She talked you through advance levels and made an effort to adjust participants as much as possible.

I have to say, her flow had me seriously working up a sweat, which she made a comment about “loving.” We went through each flow twice on both sides. There were a couple of moves (this being power yoga) that I had never done before. She had us go into utkatasana or chair pose and put our arms up like goal posts. Then we twisted from side to side keeping our elbows off our legs.

That wasn’t even the best one. Toward the end of the practice she had us fold up our mats and put them in between our legs and lay on the floor. We squeezed our thighs together, did some yoga abs and some lifts.

Lululemon is hosting a happy hour fundraiser at Liberty Tavern on Thursday. If you are around from 5-8, a $5 donation gets you a wristband that extends HH specials. All proceeds are going to the Children’s Tumor Foundation.

To make a donation, please visit https://grow.ctf.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=298.


January 22nd, 2012 - 10:00 am § in Food, obesity

Two Separate Studies Say Parents to Blame for Weight Gain

My mom and I both devour research on weight loss and obesity. A few weeks ago, she pointed me to a study that said a poor relationship with your mother can lead to weight troubles as teens. She apologized in advance and said she would feel guilty if I struggled with my weight. I told [...][...]


January 15th, 2012 - 10:00 am § in Food, obesity

Is Your Job Making You Fat?

If you’ve ever sat at your desk, eating left over pizza from the day’s earlier meeting for dinner, then you’d probably agree with the recent editorial in the journal PLoS Medicine that says, “Unhealthy eating could legitimately be considered a new form of occupational hazard[...]


January 11th, 2012 - 10:00 am § in Exercise, Workout Reviews

The Most Un-Yogi Yoga Instructor

Tara Stiles has been called the most un-yogi yoga instructor. I read in a NYT article last July that people in the inner yoga circles criticize her emphasis on yoga for weight loss rather than a lifestyle. For me though, her yoga practice makes me feel better and more centered than some of the other[...]


January 8th, 2012 - 10:00 am § in Food, obesity

Exercise for how long to burn that?

Johns Hopkins recently conducted a very interesting study: displaying the amount of time you’d need to jog in order to burn off sugary drink calories may be the key to curbing intake. After introducing signs displaying either calorie counts, calorie counts as a percent of recommended daily ca[...]


January 4th, 2012 - 10:00 am § in Exercise, Workout Reviews

Reinvigorated My Love for Spinning

I went through a recent period of loathing spinning. I don’t know if it was that the times were off for the classes or they were just too standard. Then last month, Matt came to Gold’s Gym Clarendon on Tuesday nights and reinvigorated my love for spinning. Last week, even though it was a[...]


January 1st, 2012 - 10:00 am § in Marketing, Running Through My Mind

Creative Mornings

Last week a Facebook friend posted the below video. It’s the full talk given by Ben Chestnut, CEO and co-founder of MailChimp.com, to a group at the Piedmont Park Conservancy in Atlanta. It’s a long video, but it was the slow weeks of December so I was able to watch the whole thing. 20[...]