Give the gift of your time. Why not make a snowman with that special person?

As the season approaches, I'm thinking a lot about gifts. The tradition in my family involves ample gift giving of the tangible kind. Beautifully wrapped boxes and ribbons and bags, oh my! All filled with things the recipient will certainly love to have. Some extravagant, all thoughtful for certain.

This year, such abundance of things poses a conundrum.

For the past few years, I've been getting rid of many "things": from teapots to tables, furniture to footwear, lamps to a luxury vehicle. They weighed me down. Drained my bank. Kept me addicted. (Once the rush of newness wears off, then what? MORE. NEWER. Repeat.) They stressed me out. I call these things: Psychic Fat. And I've been on a mission to trim down. Hence, the conundrum.

I don't want more things, I want fewer things. I want more quality time and connections with the people I care about. But we're approaching the biggest gift-giving time of year when it's probably easiest just to purchase a new thing. HELP! In an ongoing effort to brainstorm non-thing gift ideas, as well as what to request when asked "what do you want", here's what (pathetically little) I've come up with so far:

- Music (via home-made CDs)
- Request donations to favorite non-profits/charities
- Home-made coupons (for some one-on-one time, a foot rub, to cook dinner, etc., complete with a by-when date!)
- Anything you know the person likes to make... (knitted pot-holders or a scarf)
- A request to look through an old photo album together
- um...um...um... (there must be more?)

If any of you have great ideas to share let's help each other!

Recently there was “Free Day of Yoga.” In dozens of cities across the globe, participating yoga and pilates studios opened up their spaces by offering free classes to the community. Studio owners and teachers offered this gift to students in the spirit of sharing the love and bliss of yoga, not to mention the health benefits of practicing the sport.

lululemon athletica Ala Moana sponsored Hawaii’s Free Day of Yoga. We wanted people to try different styles, instructors and studios (at no cost) in order to stretch their mind, body, and spirit.

Our community came out to enjoy this special event. Almost all of the classes were packed to capacity. One of the local studio owners, Conrad Gacki of Bikram Yoga Nimitz had crammed classes from sun up (5.30 a.m. class) to sundown (7 p.m. class).

Gacki was so inspired by the Free Day of Yoga that he has decided to visit all of the studios that were involved in the community event in order to help strengthen the local yoga community. Educators at lululemon Ala Moana have received nothing but positive feedback for helping to organize this event. We even had a 72-year-old guest mention that she attended five free classes on that day! Nothing could make us smile more. The work we do at lululemon is for the community, it is to share the benefits of yoga and fitness with beginners, elite athletes, and everyone in between.

lululemon athletica stores offer complimentary weekly yoga classes. Visit lululemon.com/stores to find a lululemon store near you.

When I received the call three weeks ago that I had been nominated to run with the torch, I was… well, not that excited. I know that sounds bad and I by no means was taking the honour lightly, but in the spirit of full disclosure this was what was going through my head: well, your goal was to win the Olympics in Vancouver, but I guess carrying the torch is kind of cool.

You see, as a two-time Olympian who was forced into retirement through injury, my past Olympic experiences had consisted of operating within an insular bubble of train-rest- compete-leave. I was not exposed to what the world around me understood. I admittedly pretended to understand what this “Olympic movement” was all about.

As an athlete who competed continually throughout the two weeks, I only left the security of the Village to train or compete. All of my down time was spent preparing for the next competition. In preparation for the Olympics in 2002, I decided not to attend the opening ceremonies. As unfathomable as this is to many, I felt like it would negatively affect my competition. Looking back now, I regret that decision. I had not absorbed the spirit of the Games, I just wanted to win.

Well, it took two Olympics, and a 300m run with a torch, but I’ve finally got the spirit! When I boarded that bus with my 15 fellow torch bearers, who together would cover a whopping distance of 4.5 km, something happened, something changed. I don’t know if it was our guide who could barely speak of the Olympics without crying, or the woman who was running in honour of her daughter Hope who had recently passed away, but I started to tingle as that bus took off. 

Allison's biggest/littlest fan

We cruised down the streets lined with people waving flags and kids chanting and the tingles turned to tears. By the time I actually took off with the official flame for my 300m segment, I knew what I think others knew all along. The Olympic Games represent so much more than sport. They truly are a peace movement, where a country first comes together to carry a torch a total of 45,000km, and then welcomes the rest of the world in the celebration of challenging the human spirit. I apologize if I am telling you all something you already knew, but I just wanted to share that it took the torch to teach me this, and I will always be grateful. Go World!