I get a ton of spam, so, last week, as I was scanning through my e-mail inbox to weed out the important messages, my eyes fell upon the following subject line:

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in Stow/Canton/Akron—

I was just about to hit the delete button when my eyes were drawn to the remainder of the subject line that read:

Driver HUGE Yoga-Nerd

Now that got my attention! Next, I noticed another e-mail from the same person with this subject line:

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile-Hotdogger Yoga-loving Proof

After seeing that e-mail message, I knew I had to find out what was doing with the yoga nerd driving the Wienermobile around my hood.

First, you should know that the moniker of this yoga nerd is Dyl-icous Dylan and his cohort on the Wienermobile is Kylie Ketchup. Turns out Dylan is a huge yoga aficionado, and all those miles spent driving cross-country, bringing hot dog joy to the world had left him hankering for a different kind of dog. Yes, Dyl-icous Dylan needed a few downward dogs to stretch him out and get him back on the yogic path.

Dylan is a fan of hot yoga, so he was right at home at Yoga Bliss Akron, where he pulled up in the Wienermobile last Thursday night to take a class. Even though I’m a vegetarian, I was thrilled that Dylan chose to come to Yoga Bliss Akron, and although I would have loved for him to take my class, his Wienermobile duties got him to the studio just in time to take a hot Vinyasa Power class from the awesome Amy Boswell-Graves.

After class I got to sit down and chat with Dylan, who commented that no matter how much yoga he tries to squeeze in on his own or with videos while on the road, nothing beats attending a live class! This, quite frankly, is music to any yoga teacher’s ears.

Dyl-icious Dylan showing me the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

Although the job will be full of great adventures, it will also be full of challenges, so I wasn’t surprised when Dylan asked my advice on how to stay on the yogic path.

I gave Dylan a few yoga poses he can do while in the car seat (not driving) to get his body stretched. When he’s off the mat, I told him that he is going to meet a lot of shiny, happy people this year, but it is highly likely that he is going to run into some mean people as well. I went on to explain about The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and Patanjali’s four keys to the four locks. Basically, there are four locks in the world: the happy people, unhappy people, the virtuous, and the wicked. There are four keys we have to deal with these people: friendliness, compassion, delight, and disregard. If we keep these four keys with us at all times, when we come across any one of these four locks, we have the key we need at our disposal. For example:

When you encounter a happy person, use the friendliness key.

When you encounter an unhappy person, have compassion and lend him a helping hand.

For the virtuous (you know, the person with a shiny new car or a big house), instead of feeling envy, appreciate the virtuous and be happy for him.

Finally, for the wicked, look at him with indifference.

This one sutra is said to be one of the most important for keeping peace of mind in our daily life. I have to say that these four keys have helped me get through many a situation, and I’m thinking they will help Dylan in quite a few Wal-Mart parking lots or wherever he is out greeting the public.

I have to admit, I am very impressed with Dylan Hackbarth, a recent University of Minnesota graduate who went up against 1200 talented college students to win one of 12 coveted spots on the Wienermobile team. When he finishes up his 52-week journey, he will have seen a good portion of the United States, great stories to tell, and a hell of an entry to put on his résumé as he heads off to graduate school at Johns Hopkins University to study youth social work.

His trip highlight so far was celebrating the 75th birthday of the Wienermobile in New York City on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Dylan was interviewed live on CNN and gave an exclusive “behind the bun” tour to AOL. And I thought my summer job was cool!

Dylan, here’s hoping you find your way to many more wonderful yoga studios along your journey, and, when you don’t, keep on busting those yoga moves outside the Wienermobile. Oscar Mayer is lucky to have such a balanced yogi and brand ambassador representing them!

I’d like to make a product suggestion to Oscar Mayer, though: How about a veggie-style hot dog?

For those of you who travel a lot, what other advice would you give a road warrior like Dylan to keep him on his yogic path?