He's been one of our ambassadors since the dawn of the Groove Pant. It's impossible to be in a bad mood around him. If you haven't experienced Eoin Finn, either in person or on DVD, you have a good thing coming. Read on.

Eoin (pronounced "Ian") Finn is not a yoga instructor - not entirely, at least. He's a self-proclaimed Blissologist, yogi and surfer. He recently toured North America in support of his latest endeavor: the Blissology Project, a DVD series challenging folks to cultivate bliss for four weeks through daily yoga, meditation, nature appreciation, food awareness and gratitude. He's home now, so we decided to celebrate in true lululemon style: midday yoga at the office and good food. We caught up after class to talk bliss.

Define Blissology.
It's the art of slowing down, getting off of auto-pilot and observing the path you're on in life.

The Blissology Project in five words. Go.
Creating an Upward Spiral by making Bliss a Habit! (Editor's note: Yes, he gave us eight, but who's counting, right? What's an Upward Spiral? Eoin explains below.)

What's involved in committing to the Project?
Very little, really. My focus in creating the Blissology Project this way was to demonstrate how we don't have to take a lot of time to create change and transformation in our busy lives.

It's meant to be under an hour a day. The goal is to engage in all five of the Blissology Commitments each day. The DVDs and supplementary booklet make it easy. Spend 30 minutes doing yoga (or the 50-minute routine if you can). Next, spend ten minutes meditating, one minute on nature appreciation and gratitude each and one minute of food awareness at each meal. It's surprisingly simple to do.

How did you come up with the idea for the project?
I analyzed the lives of happy people around the world and realized most of them had small but powerful daily habits. I figured if people could commit to these habits for four weeks, the level of bliss we could tune into would be profound. The real trick with designing the four-week challenge was to encourage these habits by keeping it simple.

You obviously had amazing experiences on tour. What was one outstanding highlight?
In general the highlight was sharing all the Blissology Commitments in each yoga space with people every morning across North America. It was amazing to see how people really lit up.

One comment in particular that stands out was in Toronto when we were talking about gratitude. One woman said, "I am grateful for a second chance at life." It made us all consider how precious life is and the importance of committing to health and a positive attitude.

We're all about being teachers and students. Through teaching, did you learn something unexpected that really moved you?
I learned the power of daily commitments to change behaviour. I often found myself looking around at small miracles in the world and feeling so blessed, when typically before I would have been irritable in the same situations.

For example, I had to teach a class way out in East L.A. and got slammed in bumper to bumper traffic. In the midst of the gridlock, I saw the full moon coming out above the pink snowcapped mountains at sunset. I caught myself thinking, "Now that is a nature appreciation moment! Thank God I am going so slowly so I can take in this beauty."  This is what I call the Upward Spiral!

Admittedly, four weeks is a bit daunting at first. If we can't commit to the Commitments, what is the one thing we can focus on to become blissful in baby steps?
Gratitude. It is so easy and it has such far reaching effects. Simply stopping and acknowledging three things you feel grateful for almost instantly brings you that inner sense of vibrancy we need to create an upward spiral.    

want more?

• Learn more about Eoin on his ambassador page.
• Challenge yourself. Pick up the Blissology Project DVD series or download individual videos through Eoin's website or at your local lululemon store.
• Stay inspired. Follow the Bliss Blog.

Thank you to Eoin for bringing his bliss to the office! How are you bringing the bliss to your world?

what is something unique or surprising about you?

I grew up in small town U.S.A. where we never locked our doors, rode our bikes everywhere, and where my first jobs included picking rocks in corn and bean fields, “walking” beans (involves walking the soybean field row by row and manually removing corn and other weeds), and de-tasseling corn (involves manually removing the pollen-producing top part of the plant).

what is one of your biggest passions?

Athletics – I love playing and watching sports (NFL football, U.S. college basketball, the Olympics, and the Tour de France).

what is the best place you've travelled to?

In 2007 I visited Peru and trekked to Machu Picchu.

how does your role elevate lululemon?

I get to create strategies that elevate our people which in turn elevates our business.

coolest thing about working with the people resources team?

I get to work with lots of people and am inspired by the people I work with who are doing amazing things that makes me want to do amazing things.

a goal you’ve achieved that you’re proud of?

I have completed 11 full marathons and am registered for my first Ironman triathlon race!

Each Monday we introduce people from all over the company to you. Who do you want to meet next?

Pictured above:

A = Bev, graphic designer
B = Dora, repairs specialist
C = Natasha, community relations administrator
D = Lindsay, strategic sales account manager
E = Elissa, internal communications specialist
F = Wes
G = Ray
H = Hubert
I = Jon
J = Edmond

Scroll doooooooown for the answers:

A - J
B - H
C - G
D - F
E - I

Happy Father's Day!

Luckily for us at lululemon, we've just welcomed Gerardo into the Benefits Manager role... he's definitely got his heart in the right place, and he has the mind to make great things happen. Say hi to Gerardo!

Gerardo, with his family.

what are you most passionate about?

I have a great family that I love with all my heart. My wife is a fitness trainer (who loves lululemon clothes) and we have two boys. They're very active and have allowed me to see the world with new eyes. My five-year-old is fascinated with the night sky. He constantly asks questions about the stars, planets and the Milky Way. My eight-year-old loves science and riding his bike anywhere he can (particularly to the local convenience store). He's taking Tae Kwon Do and is pursuing his goal of becoming a black belt.

what's your favourite way to sweat?

Cardio and some weight training three to four times a week has kept me in shape. I love sweating using the treadmill at the gym. I also do 30-minute power walks at least twice a week.

Playing in the snow.

biggest goal you want to accomplish in 2010?

Career goal: Review our current benefits offering and propose those changes that will have the most impact to employee health and wellness.

Health goal: Learn to inline skate and then go skate along Stanley Park’s seawall at least two times this year.

what would an ideal gerardo day look like?

A day spent with people you love doing something you don’t do every day, like go swimming in the lake or ocean. Go hiking or camping somewhere really peaceful. That would be the perfect day.

Gerardo and his kids, in front of the Olympic torch!

what is the best thing about your role at lululemon? most challenging?

The most challenging is to define a benefits philosophy/guiding principles that will be acceptable by all stake holders. This is the first step towards having a consistent benefits strategy.

The best thing is that I get to work with great, optimistic people with many goals and full of good ideas. I really enjoy talking to our educators and asking them what they think about our benefits offering, and getting suggestions that may help improve what we are doing in this area.

If you're interested in joining Gerardo at the Store Support Centre, check out our current opportunities.

Here at lululemon athletica’s Store Support Centre, we have a truly wonderful yoga and fitness program. Five days a week, instructors come into our light-filled studio to conduct classes consisting of various styles and degrees of difficulty throughout the day – and all you have to do is grab a (provided) mat and show up. With all these resources at my fingertips, you’d think I’d be the downest dog in town, right?

Wrong. Exceedingly, surprisingly, embarrassingly incorrect.

It’s time for a shameful admission: In my four months of working here thus far, I have NOT been to a yoga class at the Store Support Centre (editor’s note: those meowing noises are the symphony of a litter of inflexible kittens pawing their way out of the bag).

Alexis is going to her first yoga class today!

It didn’t start this way. I had the best of intentions, sure. But like many of you, I was so caught up in the workings of my new job that I completely forgot what attracted me to lululemon in the first place.

The reason I’m sharing this with you is to prove a point – this can happen to anyone with the best of intentions, even someone working in a building BASED around yoga. It doesn’t matter how near or far you are from your yoga facility, or gym class; how cold it is outside, how much work you have, or how your running crops are in the wash. If you want to make excuses, you can.

Clichéd, but true: you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Well friends, get ready, because this old chestnut (neigh?) is getting ready to take a trot (scratch that: CANTER!) through the Hatha fields on Monday with Ingrid, one of our lovely instructors. As for her correcting my woeful use of animal metaphor, it’s too soon to tell.

What are you going to do today with no excuses?

We held an outdoor yoga class outside our office to welcome Muhammad Ali with sun salutations and warrior poses.

In town promoting a new documentary called Facing Ali, the Greatest himself graced us with his powerful presence at 10:30 am this morning. Through a personal connection with our founder Chip, Muhammad and his wife Lonnie were generous enough to join the SSC, Distribution Centre, Guest Education Centre, and store lululemons for an impromptu visit.

Allison, our elite athlete coordinator (and the author of this post!) relaxing at the SSC while we wait for Muhammad to arrive.

Well, on the grand scale, we believe that receiving confirmation Wednesday afternoon is impromptu. In this short period of time, the company pulled together as a team. In 48 hours we created the ceremony space, had a member of each department and each store honored with a photo op, and even had a Game Over hoodie made for Ali that read "The Greatest" on the back. As I sit here three hours later, I struggle to put the experience in words and the tears keep creeping back up.

We are a company that believes in the greatness of our people, and to have such an amazing person come share an hour with us truly elevated us all to a new level of greatness. The only point of sadness was the inability to have every employee with us in person.

Today was a day full of greatness.

Among many memorable moments, a true highlight for us all was when one of our leaders, Jenna Hills, placed her new son Ryder in Ali’s lap for a photo. Muhammad smiled at the future lululemon-leader and there wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd.

If you look closely behind her desk in the photo below, there is a little hole in the wall.

And this is life on the other side of the hole: a mysterious-looking hallway with a cryptically-numbered door.

Today we decided to add a treat to the other side of the hole.

Stay tuned... I'll let you know what happens!

***BREAKING NEWS***

15 minutes after publishing this post, the gum was replaced with this!

Can't wait to see what happens next.