I have practiced yoga in a lot of places, but never in a retail store—until last Saturday. Lululemon, the city's famous one-stop shop for yoga clothing, cleared the floor of their Marina store to make space for a charitable yoga class that was part of their new Practice for a Cause program. This class was being held to raise money for the Healing & Yoga Foundation of San Francisco.

One one level, it seems a little weird to be doing yoga while surrounded by a seemingly endless array of hot yoga shorts, low-waisted reversible pants, and brightly colored tank tops that cross in the front, cross in the back, and have new removable boob pads. On another level, practicing together is about community and meditation, not incense-burning or Shiva statues. The class energy was great, the students were excited about the cause, and if you're going to practice at a clothing store, it may as well be Lululemon.

Community outreach is a big part of Lululemon's operation. Lululemon community leader Elizabeth Brotz's entire job is to bring the yoga community together through recruiting store ambassadors (local teachers who represent the company like ambassador Deborah Burkman who taught this class), as well as product testers and fitness experts who provide feedback on new clothing designs. Lululemon gives Elizabeth $150 a month to donate to a charity; she developed these monthly charitable yoga classes to raise more. On Saturday, students donated $225 which, coupled with the monthly $150 from the store, resulted in a $375 donation to the Healing & Yoga Foundation.

Combining yoga with giving is a brilliant idea—in some ways, it's really the whole point. I took a class once with yoga teacher Patricia Walden in which she said that there were five words you need to know to lead a happy life: "Be good. Be of service." Mission accomplished.

And yeah . . . I did some shopping, too.

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Upcoming dates for more charitable yoga classes at Lululemon: August 25 (with Pete Chandonnet), September 22 (teacher TBA), and October 27 (with Les Leventhal). All classes are at the Union Square store at 8:30 AM.