Lululemon Leaders, Ambassadors and Employees: Wake The F*ck Up
By: Sona Desai Buchanan, Ba
Tags: Spiritual Bypassing, South Asian, White Supremacy, Accountability, Cultural Appropriation

Dear lululemon,

I woke up this morning, and knew that I had to write this.

On a scale from 1–10, my discomfort is at a 10 right now. By all accounts, that’s a good place to be. As practitioners of yoga, we are asked to lean into our discomfort — and it is necessary, because in a living practice, ahimsa (the first tenet of the 8-limbed path of yoga) doesn’t just mean non-violence — it means interrupting harm (thank you Susanna Barkataki for that perspective).

I write this as a former employee of 6 years, encompassing the roles of educator, assistant manager and VM store opening trainer as well as from the social location and context of being an Indian, female, immigrant, heterosexual, able-bodied, military spouse, currently residing on native Hawaiian lands.

I would like to acknowledge that I am probably one of few South Asians that has ever worked for your company, for as many years as I did, and during a time that it was growing exponentially and quickly — and that is precisely why I feel it is imperative that I address what’s in front of me.

I would also like to acknowledge that while I am incredibly grateful for all of my life experiences and particularly, the close relationships I made and professional skills I learned during my time at lululemon, they do not in ANY WAY diminish the things I am about to describe. Social impact, equity and justice is the responsibility of a company first and foremost — and secondarily, the responsibility of the individuals that work for (Employees) and choose to represent (Ambassadors) that entity.

Four things I learned during my time at lululemon were:

1) how to have a crucial or real conversation

2) how to be accountable

3) how to disrupt

4) how to listen, listen, listen and then ask strategic questions

So here goes that — lululemon, I want to have a crucial accountability conversation with you. I am seeking to DISRUPT the spiritual bypassing and cultural appropriation that you embody like a sickness (click link to read an overview by Arundhati Baitmangalkar). And what ensues from there are a list of strategic questions.

First of all, lululemon, are you truly as open to feedback as I honestly believed and told our community that you were, for all of those years? Then prove it.

Furthermore, are you willing to answer with accountability and action? Are those of you associated with lululemon also willing? I earnestly hope that you, the smart, kind and capable people that I know from my time at lululemon, will acknowledge the emotional labor put forth in writing this and think critically, digest and act accordingly in ways that hold yourselves and others accountable, in ways that create REAL inclusivity and change.

Let me get to the point: Why haven’t you spoken up about the global humanitarian COVID-19- crisis in India? India, my homeland, is the ancestral home of yoga — where yoga originates, in its many forms. Yoga was preserved during years of colonial rule by oral tradition and perhaps most importantly, by the generosity of our people and the sacredness with which we do everything in our lives. In India, everything in life is sacred.

The origin and the massive growth of lululemon during the years I was employed there was significantly due to your appropriation of yoga (and I know, because I used to hire and train new employees). Product was either classified as “run” or “yoga” and the internal company culture was largely based on principles of yoga philosophy (although they were taken out of context, time and time again). Without this constant cultural appropriation of yoga, your company would not be making BILLIONS of dollars today, much less even EXIST as a brand or company. So please explain, where is the disconnect?

In order to get to the answer for that, perhaps you need to dive deeper. Despite the acknowledgement on your website today, that “yoga is at the core of everything we do” …Why have you yet to acknowledge WHERE yoga comes from, and FROM WHOM?

Stating that yoga comes from India would be acknowledging that the yoga industrial complex is tied up in colonialism, which IS white supremacy, which would then shine an additional light on your choice to blatantly and unapologetically commodify yoga. I get it — why would you want to call yourself out like that? The culture of lululemon certainly supports being called out. But probably not if it means you are no longer in business. Ah, now we are getting somewhere.

I hope you’re paying attention here: this type of appropriation literally takes away the breath of an entire people and culture who practice yoga as their form of spirituality and livelihood, not just cherry-picked pieces of it or in a way that is for personal or capitalist gain or an industry-at-large. For the last 11 days, I have watched and waited for a daily email to land in my inbox, to in some way speak to what’s plastered on your website — “yoga is at the core of everything we do” — as its ancestral people and land are hurting, badly. Acknowledging it and leaving it at that isn’t enough either; you have to continually work to decolonize in a visible and meaningful way, and push others like you to do their own work with the same fervor that you send out daily marketing emails for new product. This is the work of dismantling. Trust me, I know. I’ve had to claw my way out of the suffocating grip of white supremacy, in every turn of life.

While working at lululemon, I did not feel seen for my culture, its wisdom traditions, the color of my skin or the intersectionality that all of this has with yoga, the supposed “heart” of lululemon culture. Dominant culture was still perpetuated under a guise of “we are doing better because yoga is our guiding philosophy.” As a POC, I am so used to feeling this way, that for a long while, I just accepted it — because through it all, I was always centered in and knew the place within myself from which I was acting and operating. In the store where I worked for many years hung the words “We Are All Connected” a piece of art that was installed when the store opened. I had suggested those words to the designer because for me, that was the point of all of it, the reason I was there at lululemon and generally showing up in this world, despite constantly feeling whitewashed. That’s what yoga had taught me. Looking back, I wonder how many looked at those same words and internally were spiritually bypassing. At the time, I could not figure out a way to successfully externalize my knowing that inclusivity and cultural appreciation wasn’t actually happening from the top-down, nor in the community itself, and that ultimately that was harmful. I am just so thankful that as I work hard to decolonize my own biases and beliefs, I see things more clearly.

lululemon, what is supremely disturbing is that in today’s climate, you do not seem to be trying to be inclusive to South Asians. In fact, I don’t really see how you’re doing anything here but spiritual bypassing and then using that to continue to culturally appropriate. Even if you were being inclusive, inclusivity is not enough because it does not equalize or neutralize the experience of holding multiple oppressed identities. Why are you majorly spiritually bypassing, not initiating or engaging in any conversations around the potential impact of your brand on South Asians? This has been going on for years, it’s truly nothing new.

Tangibly speaking, portions of your “manifesto” directly tie into yoga philosophy, specifically “the pursuit of happiness is the source of unhappiness” and “visualize your eventual demise to affect how you live in this moment” (thinking about your death). Both of these are directly cherry-picked from yoga philosophy. Also noting here that just because you’ve tried to minimize the word “yoga” in your marketing (yes, I have noticed), and replaced it with mindfulness, that doesn’t mean we’re not still talking about yoga. Mindfulness is rooted in the same eastern religions that yoga is. Some would argue that they are actually one and the same. Some would say they are each a component of the other, but to deny their relationship by replacing one with the other is insincere and casually deceptive.

I joined lululemon in 2010 during a very grassroots phase of expansion for the company. I learned about the company for the first time in 2009 while at yoga teacher training, and at that time, sincerely felt that it could be the perfect opportunity for me to help spread awareness from WITHIN the system and to spread the benefits of yoga’s wisdom to people who were already leaders in a community. So I quit my full-time job, and joined a team in North Carolina, where we opened a showroom, which grew to a store, and now there are multiple stores in the area. There were many times that I questioned things around me. But dominant culture — white supremacy culture — is powerful and insidious, and most often it is outside of the realm of possibility for things to be different — that’s why it is dominant. At that time, something inside me kept me curious and wanting to dig deeper and figure out how to use this platform to cultivate yoga in the community, to make a difference. One of my favorite memories was when I spearheaded a no-cost community yoga event that over 450 people attended (captured in the image below). That proved to me that I could use the platform to create meaningful opportunities for unity and connection in the community. That’s what kept me there and willing to try. I helped to hire multiple teams of employees and assisted in opening several stores in other states. I was the only POC for several years, which was sadly the norm for me in most other workplaces too. My family can attest that I worked to the bone, with all of my heart and soul to help lululemon grow and thrive. For most Indians, life is sacred, and everything that is useful in our lives becomes sacred, including one’s vocation. That is how I approached my role during those years.

Photo by Heba Salama Photography

But, I was also there for the flip side of the coin. All of the scandals and feeble attempts to address them (and in many cases, blatant ignorance) — from sweatshop labor, to the sheer pants debacle, to the cult-culture accusations and so many more. Then there was the Bethesda murder. I was training with a colleague at the Georgetown store in March 2011. That day I vividly recall brushing elbows in passing with a very troubled looking employee, Brittany Norwood. The following day, after closing up the Bethesda store, Norwood, who was black, and her white coworker re-entered to get some forgotten items. Norwood stabbed and bludgeoned her coworker an estimated 331 times over the course of 20 minutes, with six different weapons, severing her spinal cord. It was revealed that Norwood had a history of theft with the company and had been caught stealing that evening. When found by the incoming employee the next morning, Norwood lied to the authorities, stating that two men were responsible for the brutal assault. She was ultimately found guilty and is in prison for life without parole. How many employees are actually aware of this? My guess, not many. That incident had a deep impact on me. But we were encouraged to gloss over it, not to speak about it. At the time, the top-down communication included no genuine concern for the impacts to and welfare of its employees. There was no mention of looking at internal procedures and policies, much less any guidance for reconciling the incident. Doesn’t seem right for a company founded on yoga, which is fundamentally rooted in ahimsa (non-violence) and satya (truthfulness) to brush over a murder. Not to mention all the thoughts that went through my head surrounding the racial implications, backlash, reinforced stereotypes, and the culture that may or may not have been present in that store environment. What was given to us as employees was just more of the usual that you’d expect from white supremacy culture.

I was there for the acts of appropriation. I can’t possibly cover them all, but I do recall the “This is Yoga” shopper and the “BRAHMACHARYA” shopper. Plastering a Sanskrit philosophical concept and term, brahmacharya, on shopping bags is just blatant appropriation, especially when the company culture was not practicing the first two Yamas: Ahimsa (non-harming) and Satya (truthfulness) towards South Asians (and I would add, certainly at the time that shopper came out, to all POC). Then, there were the products. One of the worst examples was the Namastay Put Thong (Namaste means “I bow to you.”) which was eventually discontinued. Those of you who are Christians, how would you feel about Jesus G-Strings being sold for $18 a pop?

Knowing what I know now, I truly wish I had realized the extent to which I, as a POC, was also very much ingrained in the narrative of dominant, white supremacy culture and in being this way, completely minimized my true experiences for years. Climbing the ladder at lululemon meant on some level that I was complicit with this appropriation and yet at the same time, was experiencing erasure. In order to find success, it was well known anecdotally and often joked about that one had to talk a certain way, “the lululemon speak” and as time went on, I resisted this more and more. The result was that higher ups looked down on that and lots of microaggressions ensued. The message was very clear (though not explicitly said, like most insidiously racist things are not) that you also had to look a certain way (white) in order to truly be successful in the company. Which I was not. Never in my 6 years did I interact with a person of color that was a Store Manager or higher up. I was not uplifted or amplified as a local South Asian yoga teacher in the same way that other teachers (mostly white) explicitly were. But I was most definitely one who uplifted and amplified other teachers. I distinctly remember teaching new hires about asteya, one of the other Yamas in Patanjali’s 8-limbed path. Although this Sanskrit term was a “pillar” of company culture, never was it made important to acknowledge, refer to/credit the Yoga Sutras, 8-limbed path of yoga, or anything else of relevance to the subject. I always did what I could to explain things to people and give context, but in this instance I really remember not being able to reconcile how on one hand, you could be preaching to employees about asteya (which means non-stealing) as a multi-million dollar company that continued to offer no genuine appreciation to the origins of yoga or its people.

Here is the thing lululemon: you chose to align yourself so strongly and outwardly with yogic philosophy and values without any of the social responsibility. You could have found ways to culturally appreciate but instead you culturally-appropriated from my people. You have used your power as a Western, predominantly white-owned and led company, to do so. And whether you are willing to see it, or choosing to bypass, you continue to cause deep harm. I can’t speak for all South Asians, but I’m sure I speak for many. You have a long way to go to doing better. Intention does not equal impact. And to be frank, I do not even see an intention here to be truly inclusive of all peoples, especially the ones whose culture you are appropriating.

You are a company that was literally founded on yoga, and continues to make (per your own website) billions of dollars of annual profit. You now have a “social impact” and “diversity and inclusion” section on your website, and while I see your efforts in leveraging your platform to amplify diverse voices, and even provide anti-bias/anti-racism training to your employees, I see NOTHING on your website about honoring the roots of yoga in your branding, philosophies, company culture, etc. or acknowledging your MAJOR part in cultural appropriation. Where are your South Asian senior leaders? I don’t see any. Your South Asian ambassadors? I got exhausted from scrolling through, but of the few hundred I looked through, I saw mostly white, some black, a few Latinx and Asian and one male Crossfitter who appeared to be South Asian. It’s not only about representation, nor should that be the end goal for anyone, but if it’s a gauge, as I suspected, it looks pretty bleak. All browns and blacks are not monolithic, even an individual race/racial construct is not monolithic, so please take the time to truly digest that. Where are your South Asian board members? I don’t see any there either, but please correct me if I am wrong.

How can you live into your “core value” of creating real relationships with people and a community when you are so badly disparaging an entire people — South Asians and their place of origin, their wisdom traditions, that are at the core of your entire global business?

Bottom line: lululemon, you have profited off of South Asian wisdom traditions (whether it be yoga, or “mindfulness”) since 1998. Today, India is in a humanitarian crisis and you have said and done nothing to help. Until last night, when you pledged to donate 200K to India. Sure, it’s a start, but it is in no thanks to any labor you put forth. It is thanks to the heavy lifting done by Mira Jacob, an author of South Asian origin, and other folks in her sphere — who called you out repeatedly. 200K is very little compared to the billions of dollars of profit you made last year. You profit off the culture, but ignore the people. Pledging to do something 10 days after this crisis began does not mean you’re “standing with your South Asian community” which is what you commented back to Mira. It means that once someone who is brown rallied the people to call you out, you responded. Who is on your “South Asian Employee Resource Group” that you allude to in your comment thread? And how will the public know once you have given your pledged amount, that you are accountable to your word?

South Asians are certainly not represented in your company on any significant level, nor your social impact. For years, you have done nothing to give any credit to the roots of yoga and its people. Instead, you have caused harm after harm. If you’re aware that you are causing harm on many levels, then doing better should not be a luxury, but a necessity.

If you want to dig deep beyond a donation, to really address who is not in at the table much less in the room; if you want to do better or engage in any further discussion as to how you can shape up from the inside out, leaving no stone unturned, then I would love to help you in that endeavor. If you truly are a pioneer, then SHOW UP.

There were a lot of things I didn’t know in 2010, even just a few years ago. Maybe you didn’t either. Today you remain one of few companies that are projected to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis stronger than when the crisis began. Simply put, it is 2021, and you are a multi-billion dollar publicly traded company with power and positionality. What the f*ck is your excuse?

Call to action: If you are an ambassador for lululemon, an employee of lululemon, or a yoga teacher in the United States that is not South Asian and you make profit from teaching yoga— here’s your opportunity to dig deep into your humanness and your soul. If you do care about what’s happening in India and are doing what you can to support the people who are suffering, thank you. It appears you do place some value on the people that kept a tradition alive (traditions don’t stay alive without people)… despite oppression and colonial influence and extraction of its resources for hundreds of years that severely changed the society, especially on a socioeconomic level. Thank you for being humble enough to engage in reciprocity for an incredibly healing practice and enriching tradition that you benefit from in a myriad of ways. I ask— what else can you do with your platform to help the Western misunderstanding around the roots of yoga and entirety of the yoga practice? Whatever it is, go out and do it — act now, and don’t stop until you’re dead. If you’ve done nothing and your social media is filled with posts about your upcoming classes and workshops, you might need to sit for a while to figure out why you haven’t done a damn thing before now. If you are a yoga teacher, you must also be a yoga practitioner, so please practice some viveka and get your head on straight. Maybe being a yoga teacher isn’t really for you after all. If you’re a former coworker or colleague of mine, I earnestly hope you’ll take into consideration these words as well, and advocate accordingly.