Om Scampi: A Top Yogi Comes Out of the Meat-Eating Closet

I've done yoga for 15 years, taught it for 10. I train teachers, travel across the globe doing high-level workshops, conferences and retreats. My days are spent gladly, and often, for free, helping hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to find their best selves ever.

I consider myself a pretty good example of a spiritual practitioner set firmly on her dharma, or path of personal transformation. It's what I was born to do, and who I am.

Yet what I'm about to say will most likely cause some yoga practitioners to rise up against me; a war on our Om turf, if you will. They will discount all my work and message of personal empowerment to so many. They will have you believe I'm a fake, a wolf in yogi's clothing. And that makes me sad, because it's not the reality of my teachers, students and clients.

And honestly? As the owner of a busy NYC studio, I don't really have the time nor energy to start beef, no pun intended, with the yoga community. But I'm simply going to have to take that chance.

Because I've had it.

When one enters a yoga studio, they are more often than not met with the knowing smiles, the beads, the soft voices, the lentil soup and herbal tea. We all know the drill. Yet never is there a plate of organic turkey jerky offered along with the organic carrots, nor even a tidbit of animal protein in the café. If someone walks in and requests some grilled chicken on their tabouleh salad, you can almost hear the inner recoiling happen out loud.

Gods forbid.

Because after all, most yogis learn in Karma 101 class that to eat meat is to swerve sharply from the yogic path. Many top teachers actually think that unless you live according to a vegetarian and therefore, more "cruelty-free" existence, the gates of yogi heaven here on earth remain firmly closed to you.

I disagree.

I get angry -- yes -- actually, absolutely indignant, when I see students being frowned upon by some self-righteous teacher or fellow student as they even think of raising that forkful of shrimp scampi to their lips.

It may seem that the yoga community is all-accepting, and benignly just trying to offer you some easy stretches and simple meditations you can do at home, whoever you are, but I can assure you, as someone who has seen behind the scenes of two of the country's biggest yoga communities, New York and LA, for 15 years, that is not always the case. Many of the most famous teachers are not only vegetarian, but think you should be too, or you're not "as yogic" as they are. I know...they've told me so in person. To me, that's not spiritual...that's judgment, pure and simple.

People hide their passion for sushi or burning desire for a big juicy steak from their instructors, and eyes narrow when a student dares to mention it in polite company.

There is a strong "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the yoga community that is keeping students, and even many teachers, locked firmly inside the meat-eating closet. If they do tell, they run the risk of being placed somewhere along the imaginary, self-created spectrum of yoginess, usually more towards the bottom than the vegans among us.

One result of this is that yoga is getting a bad rap, as a culture of Yogier-Than-Thou, which has people running back to the gym in droves. No one wants to be made to feel like a lesser being, especially while already lurching around in Tree Pose like a drunken sailor. And I'm sick and tired of seeing it happen again and again in studios across the country, proving to potential students that they are not welcome as they are...but will be only if they plan to change.

I'm one of the only teachers of a certain level I who is willing to publicly speak up and call it out. I'm risking a lot doing this, as I am moving to a larger arena in my own teaching, and could turn off the very people who are taking me there.

But it's my truth, and I'm sticking to it.

So here goes:

Many of the largest studios in NYC stress a strict vegetarian or even vegan diet as one required step towards enlightenment. One of the biggest makes their teacher trainees adopt this diet at least for the yearlong duration of training. I could name names, but it's hardly necessary. People stereotype yoga practitioners this way for a good reason -- it's epidemic.
Students come to me all the time afraid to tell me about their darkest, dirtiest secret: they are omnivores. One even cried when I told her I eat meat too. She had been so traumatized at a top studio by having to watch unannounced Meat is Murder videos before being taught her yoga class.

The issue I take with this is multifaceted. I don't care if a studio, or anyone, wants to require rules in their own space. But damned if they don't stop there. At the top of my list is the judging of others that happens when a vegetarian, peaced-out [read: skipping father along the yogic path] yogi encounters a meat-eater who is still arguing with her boyfriend [read: stumbling back there in the mud somewhere with one shoe lost forever and a soaked-through sock, barely making do].

I see the loving compassion in many a yogi's eyes light up when someone is behaving the way they'd like: calm, cool, collected, in control, eating nothing with a face. After all, we're all one, especially when we're living life the way that one feels, through their studies, and beliefs about the world are right for all of humanity to adopt.

But when faced with a yogi heathen who asked for grilled chicken in their quinoa and kale salad, the light blinks out, and they assume a teaching stance, spouting their gospel truth, and towering spiritually over the poor, unenlightened student, akin to Harry Potter receiving a sorcerer smackdown at Hogwarts. They might say they don't feel "more than"... but deep down, or not so deep at all, they do.

I have heard celebrity teachers say to packed classes, "Eating meat is an unconscious action, and you simply cannot count yourself as a yogi if you do."

To back up their ideals, they quote Scripture [written largely by unknown authors, scholars and poets -- sound familiar?], repeat the admonitions of their gurus, or teachers, and set their own opinions in stone. "The way, the truth and the light", they seem to be saying.

As a member of a family who is in part evangelical Christian, this sounds all too familiar.
To me, this attitude smacks dangerously of any fundamentalist religion or worldview which becomes fanatical and separatist from all who don't perceive the world, and any world beyond, in the way they do. Disagreeing with someone's choice because it's not for you is one thing, but thinking you're better than them because of it is dangerous. It's that "one truth, my truth" thinking that is killing our world community.

Full disclosure: I used to be one of the Yoga Fundamentalists, kind of.

I was a vegetarian for 6 years, and a nutrition specialist, so I knew full well what to eat for optimal health. I believed my teachers when they said vegetarianism creates a clean mind, which creates a clean spirit. As if your spirit could have high cholesterol. I was a diligent vegetarian and dedicated yoga student, and later, teacher. Yet, I physically, never felt worse, had lower energy or caught more illnesses. Yet there was one major difference between me and many of the yogis I hear talking their yogi smack today. I never thought I was better, or more spiritual than anyone else based on my food choices. I always maintained that my choice was mine alone, and I accepted people for theirs.

The first time I ate meat again, it was a Kielbasa sausage with sauerkraut at Veselka's Deli on 2nd Avenue. I felt vitality surge back into my body. For me, the highest self-healing and best energy is achieved through a conscious, healthy diet containing mindfully-sourced meat. And though delicious, that Kielbasa wasn't it. I moved on from there to procure compassionately raised, small farm, local when possible, sources of my protein, as well as my other foods.

Am I buying the 24-pack of hot dogs from Costco? No. Am I eating a medium-rare, grass-fed, free-range, organic filet mignon instead of the couscous and beans sometimes? You betcha.

Yogis might sputter, "But meat rots in your intestines and poisons you! The human body can't process it!" First of all, the chemicals in processed and factory meat, and the high-fat meats should be avoided. But I can tell you (though you might not want to know this much about me) that after many years of eating lean, hormone, antibiotic-free, natural meats, my colonics are clear of animal sludge. My cholesterol is healthfully low. I feel vital, strong, and good.

Look at the French, who ate meat, cheese, and wine regularly, from the earth and with respect, and had radically lower heart disease, and obesity than the US. Before Western fast-food restaurants appeared, that is. Mediterraneans and Asians too.

If you can't be spiritual and eat meat, than nearly the entire rest of the world would be disqualified from our studios. The Dalai Lama began to eat meat on the advice of his doctor because his vegetarian diet was not fueling him properly. In many places, a vegetarian or vegan diet is not possible, and more expensive than the average salary can afford. It's not only spiritual-ist but classist to demand it as a prerequisite.

I can hear the yogis recoiling, then roaring from here: "but it's not just about health! It's about the destruction of our earth/ecosystem/morality from eating meat!"

Whoa there, nellies.

I agree that the factory farmed meat industry is a disgusting, under-regulated mess. If you don't know this, watch the fabulous movie "Food, Inc" out now.

People and animals alike would be far better served by consumers eating fewer animal products, and when they do, choosing it from more carefully regulated, caring and healthful sources. Sounds reasonable to me.

But no, argue many yogis, that's not true balance. Eating any animal product whatsoever not only adds notches to your karmic belt, it blocks you from enlightenment. They may even say they accept all kinds of people into their classes. Yet if they're totally honest with themselves, deep down, they either think it's yogically substandard to eat animal products or they feel guilty about doing it themselves. Many are not-so-secretly hoping their students will change to a veggie diet through time spent with them.

Removing huge swaths of food groups from our diets may not be the most balanced action...and it may not be based on reality, either. At least, not mine.

If we look at this whole issue from an energetic, "spiritual" point of view. then what about the billions of insects that are killed each year to produce the, well, the produce that fuels the vegetarian diet, or the fact that fresh fruits and vegetables are still alive while they are being masticated to death in order to satiate the yogi's "enlightened" way of eating?
Plants feel pain, and recognize when people wish to harm them. Read the Secret Life of Plants to understand that they are conscious beings too.

If we ate to avoid killing any living thing, we'd all die of starvation.

Of course, even though yogis believe we are technically "all one", I guess that "all beings everywhere" actually means "all those with a cute face", and end up taking priority over those with long, spindly legs and gross wormy bodies. But in this case, size doesn't matter. A baby is not lower on the spiritual validity spectrum value than an adult. As Horton said in Horton Hears a Who, "A person's a person, no matter how small." This includes the elephant speaking, as well as the microspeck community of Whos living on the clover.

We simply cannot avoid taking lives in order to sustain our own. That is a basic cycle of nature.

Also, one of the highest yogic principles, and the one often cited as the reason not to kill animals for food is ahimsa, or "non-harming". We sometimes neglect to see that for some people, eating lean animal protein helps their bodies to function better. I am one of them. To deny your body what it is asking for and needs to remain the most vital, is to Self-harm, and that is where the Ahimsa practice is supposed to begin.

Some yogis neglect to recall their history -- that yoga as a philosophical system is thousands of years old and comprises hundreds of different styles, including Tantra, which included schools that exalted eating meat if it served the body's needs, drinking a little wine, and generally having fun...in moderation...or not.

It was all divine, many Tantrics said, just an energetic dance or "lila" that had its consequences one way or the other, but should not be judged as inherently "good" or "bad" by anyone.

I'm not a classical yogi. I'm not Tantric, either. I'm just a girl trying to get through this life with courage and balance and love. When it comes to what I eat, I prefer to take a page from my Native American heritage, and honor any animal, vegetable or mineral that I choose to eat for giving its life essence to me, so that I might go out and make of my life, now our lives, something beautiful and brave. In this way, we are truly all one, and as one, we continue to lead by example, and be the change we wish to see in the world.

So for all these reasons and more, I've grown weary of hearing from my contemporaries that eating a turkey instead of a Tofurkey at Thanksgiving is "not yogic" and have that backed up, erroneously, by some of the most instrumental teachers we have.

I am also thankful for it, so I may step forward, share my voice and be the teacher for those who want to do what's best for them: practice yoga, be who they wish to be, and have a nonjudgemental home in which to be it.

To require people, even teachers themselves, to be the Buddha before they are accepted as "spiritual enough" overlooks millions of real people behind who were just seeking guidance for how to stay centered in their everyday lives. This, therefore, causes them to feel misunderstood, or worse, seen, and then looked down upon, which is infinitely more hurtful...and not even remotely the purpose of the yoga I know.

When yoga becomes exclusive, instead of inclusive, people are turned off from the practice before they have a chance to explore the healing, anti-aging, weight loss, mind centering, heart opening and myriad other priceless benefits it holds for them.

I don't mind yogis, or hell, anyone, eating or living the way they feel is right for them. I'd feel personally better if they reduced harm and increased love through their actions, but hey -- that's how I live and I teach what I live, leading by example...and that's all I can do.

But I worry about the state of my beloved practice, one that is supposed to be a refuge for all, and I mean, all beings everywhere, when a few leaders start deciding what is "right" for everyone else. I don't proselytize you to become a meat-eater, or push my farmer's market pork chop on you. I welcome your right to choose as I expect you to welcome mine, trusting and even respecting that we know what the right actions are...for ourselves.

So how about we go out for dinner, talk about it, while you eat your vegan salad in peace, and I'll do the same, though I may sprinkle some Whole Foods nitrite-free Bacon Bits on mine.

Let's start living our yoga out loud, and walk smack down the middle of the path, together.

Whaddya say?

 

Follow Sadie Nardini on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SadieNardini

Comments

[OrganicKitchen]

02:38 PM on 08/21/2009

Yogis, the Dalai Lama, Paul McCartney and Vegetarian­ism

Earlier this year, Paul McCartney "lashed out" at the Dalai Lama for not being a vegetarian­.

McCartney lashes out at 'meat-eati­ng' Dalai Lama
http://www­.propeller­.com/story­/2008/12/1­7/mccartne­y-lashes-o­ut-at-39me­at-eating3­9-dalai-la­ma/

When HH wrote him back, explaining that his doctors strongly requested that he incorporat­e meat
into his diet for serious health reasons, McCartney wrote back that "his doctors were wrong". Jeez!

BTW, Tibet has always been a meat eating culture. On this high altitude plateau, cultivatio­n of crops
(aside from grains) is nearly impossible­, and the Yak has always played a similar role to Tibetans
as the Buffalo did to Native Americans (food, clothing, skins for tents & shelter, and Yak dung as
a primary fuel source for cooking and heating). This has always been a conscious and thought-th­rough practice.f­or Tibetan Buddhists. I recall that while in Tibet, I asked if Tibetans also ate rabbit and other similar animals. The answer was "absolutel­y not". The reasoning being that taking the life of a small creature can only feed one person, where a yak can feed (and clothe) a family for quite
a while. A Nepalese Sherpa also confided in me that while it's against their beliefs, they
will also eat yak....as long as a non-Buddhi­st pushed the animal over a cliff.

[anessel]

01:14 AM on 08/18/2009

so I (and people like me) can try to compensate for this by speaking more loudly about how we feel. Maybe that's because we live in a society where those who speak most loudly get heard, so its how we try to be effective. Maybe it's because our views often seem drowned out by the billions of dollars spent falsely depicting happy farm animals anxious to become someone's next meal. Or maybe its that we think we have found something big here that, we feel, has the potential to do a load of good.

Whatever the reason, I hope you understand why we can on occasion become a bit too zealous. We each must be the change we wish to see in the world, as Gandhi wrote. If the change you wish to see in the world is less judgement, then god bless. My instincts tell me that was what you most wanted to share, rather than be an advocate for yogis to eat meat.

[anessel]

01:14 AM on 08/18/2009

As a yogi and animal rights advocate, I feel a sense of sadness that your needs for acceptance­, choice and considerat­ion were not met for you by my peers. Guilt is not a sustainabl­e method for harnessing one's highest self to be of service to the teachings of yoga. Was guilt what guided you to adopt a veg diet for six years? For me, choosing to adopt a vegetarian diet came from an epiphany that what I chose to eat probably had a greater impact on the world (and, I believe, my karma) than most any other lifestyle decision. It was my most formative spiritual choice born, for me, from a desire to connect to the consequenc­es of my actions.

I feel blessed to have a greater purpose in my life, to advocate for those animals who cannot advocate for themselves­. For myself, and I am sure others like me, there are times this can feel like a burden. I dream of the day when there are a significan­t amount of other people speaking for the tens of billions of farm animals and sea creatures who live and die a miserable existence each year to become someone else's lunch . However, people who feel the way I do are a very small minority, even in the yogic community.­...

[WhollyYoga]

09:22 AM on 08/05/2009

Thank you so much for your honesty and courage in addressing this in such a non judgmental and reasoned way.

[fiercefemme]

10:52 AM on 08/03/2009

Eating meat is a personal decision that isn’t anyone else’s business. Why not just leave it at that? It’s simply disingenuo­us to say that you eat meat “compassio­nately.” “Compassio­nate slaughter” is an oxymoron. Anyone interested in looking behind the PR smokescree­n of “humane meat” should check out www.humane­myth.org.

[Sadie Nardini]

11:55 AM on 08/04/2009

Hi fierce femme,

Thanks for your post.

I agree that what we eat isn't anyone else's business. However, the point of the article is that people in the yoga world have developed a particular affinity for making it their business, and it's irritating to say the least.

Whether you believe that slaughteri­ng animals or plants is compassion­ate or not, I'd advise each of us to try and see the bigger picture--t­hat ALL life is precious, and that we can't avoid destructio­n of life in order to nourish our bodies. How we do it and how we choose to get proper nutrition for our [very different] bodies, I believe, can have more or less compassion­.

Regardless­, the only reason I'm having this conversati­on is that people don't mind their own business when it comes to a lot of things, and I wanted to out that fact along with my own choice of diet. In order to work together to heal this world, we are going to have to understand that there are multiple roads to compassion­, and we will simply have to let our tendency towards judgment rest once in a while.

[organic kitchen]

07:00 PM on 07/31/2009

A brave and very interestin­g essay.
Please see our blog from today where we've linked your column:
"Yogis, the Dalai Lama, Paul McCartney and Vegetarian­ism"
http://www­.organicki­tchen.com/­blog/blog.­html
and on Facebook:

http://www­.facebook.­com/group.­php?gid=11­2769170956­&ref=ts

http://www­.facebook.­com/profil­e.php?id=1­027294967&­ref=name

[xenax]

12:52 PM on 07/31/2009

As far as spritualit­y and enlightenm­ent go-these are words thrown around extremely too much in the West. Being a spiritual and englighten­ed being can take many lifetimes to achieve and is not to be taken lightly. It is a connection with your soul and the universe. These comments about yoga teachers and fellow students making meat eaters or anyone feel less spiritual DO NOT MATTER. People will always try to belittle those who are on a spiritual journey because they do not understand it for themselves­. Those who judge and those who make comments have a FAR way to go whether vegetarian­s or not, good humanitari­ans or not, philanthro­pists or not, etc. etc.

Remember yoga does not have to lead you or set an example of how to be spiritual. Yoga is simply one path to spirituali­ty. God is much much much bigger than yoga, meditation­, vegetarian­ism, and all of that in between. Pay no mind to what they tell you about how you should follow your path. That is an extremely personal relationsh­ip with you and yourself and no one can tell you what is the right way to best develop that relationsh­ip.

[WhollyYoga]

09:59 AM on 08/05/2009

Very insightful thoughts about yoga as path to spirituali­ty. I am reading the Heart of Yoga and think this follows well in the tradition of T.K.V. Desikachar­. About ahimsa he writes, "It does not necessaril­y imply that we most not eat meat or fish or that we should not defend ourselves.­It simply means we must always behave with considerat­ion and attention to others. Ahimsa also means acting in kindness toward ourselves.­" Heart of Yoga Ch 11 p98

[xenax]

12:52 PM on 07/31/2009

What I am trying to say is that vegetarian­ism here has a long way to go here in the states and until it is accepted and embraced by the rest of society this "hard front" will show in the vegetarian community. I am not saying that people need to convert to the diet but simply to respect the logic behind it. Many omnivores including people who left comments here always go into the debate about how we still kill plants which is hypocritic­al.
Ahimsa actually is a Jain belief of non-violen­ce which clearly states that in vegetarian­ism you are not killing the plants. In fact true vegetarian­s are not supposed to eat any root vegetables like carrots, beets, etc. that need to be killed from the root. Jains eat vegetables­, grains, and fruits that fall from plants or trees similar to how we cut off our nails but not our fingers.

[xenax]

12:49 PM on 07/31/2009

As someone who has grown up vegetarian and comes from a long family line of vegetarian­ism (I follow Jainism) and lived in NY for the majority of my life I can honestly say that the most judgementa­l people I have come across are omnivores rather than vegetarian­s. I know which Yoga studios you are referring to especially in NYC that propogate veganism almost in a cult like fashion. The truth is it is a refuge for vegetarian­s since we are discrimina­ted against in pretty much every other part of the world whether it be restaurant­s, work places, grocery stores, etc. Many times I have gone to restaurant­s and will find an "accidenta­l" piece of chicken in my food or a disgusted look from a sandwich maker at Subway when I ask them to change their gloves. I get comments all the time from my co-workers in a "joking" manner that it is difficult to have me in the office when they want to order from steak restaurant­s for lunch or go out for wings at Happy Hour. I get remarks about how we should go to this restaurant and i can try the "salad" because clearly that's the only thing vegetarian­s ever eat! My point is-the way your article describes people feeling at yoga studios is how vegetarian­s feel every day outside of the studio in daily activities­.

[Sadie Nardini]

12:01 PM on 08/04/2009

Hi Xenax,

I absolutely agree with you, and my point is not only that people should not play judge and jury against the meat-eater­s among us, but that we as a human race should not be judging anyone, period.

We can try to understand where our fellow peeps are coming from, and if we choose not to include them in our lives, or we disagree with their views, we can do so respectful­ly, without deciding that we are right and they are wrong. That attitude is pervasive in the yoga world, as well as the world at large, and whether you are feeling discrimina­ted against, or me...It's simply not getting us anywhere we want to go.

[Adele Hite]

03:16 PM on 07/27/2009

Wonderful article! As a yoga instructor and former vegetarian­, I have learned a great deal about what I need to be healthy in heart/mind­/body. As a student of nutritiona­l biochemist­ry, it is very clear that, for many, trying to obtain all nutritiona­l requiremen­ts from plants may be impossible­; some folks are sensitive to soy, some to carbohydra­te, and some may not be able to maintain protein synthesis without caloric overload. Consuming (everythin­g, not just food) mindfully, living gently, and observing without judgement are best practices for all.

A video you may enjoy: http://sta­nford.well­sphere.com­/raw-food-­article/yo­giraj-sidd­hanath-do-­you-create­-bad-karma­-by-eating­-meat/1396­20

I strive to be a soul in a body that, one day, will join the food chain too. Thanks for speaking up.

[Sadie Nardini]

12:04 PM on 08/04/2009

Thanks, Adele--

I appreciate your joining the conversati­on!

And thanks for your thanks;) It means a lot coming from a fellow yogi.

I wonder, from your educated perspectiv­e, and spiritual discussion aside, what would happen to the food chain if everyone in the world was a vegetarian­? Knowing that we are able to be carnivores­, and many animals are placed in check through our meat consumptio­n [though I would prefer there to be much less meat eating in general], would the food chain benefit or be completely messed with if we all ate plants?

Just a thought...
Sadie

[Toinette]

08:26 PM on 07/26/2009

Very well said! Life is beautiful, we should have an open heart and an open mind. Its better that judging others. :)


Namaste,
Toinette

[cincinnati2009]

06:23 PM on 07/26/2009

Yoga had nothing to do with me becoming veg at all but it's impossible to be compassion­ate and still kill an animal. It is a personal choice but humans do not need to eat meat to survive. Period. While you may think you feel better with meat, and maybe you actually DO feel better, it doesn't matter, you are still killing an animal for your benefit. Why is your life more important than that "free-rang­e" cow? All of life is a choice and if you choose to eat meat you are not showing compassion towards that animal, end of story. Who cares about other people judging you, this isn't high school. Grow up and do what you want. But there is no way to call yourself compassion­ate when you kill a living animal for your personal gain. Whether it's for taste, preference­, or feeling healthier it comes to the same end; you had a part in murder. There's no way around it.

[Olivia Rosewood]

05:24 PM on 07/26/2009

Hi Sadie! As a vegetarian and fellow yogi, I am outraged by your blog!

Just kidding--I think it's great that you are brave enough to live a transparen­t and honest life.

It is far more yoga than the many yoga teachers and practition­ers who feel they must be someone else, someone fictitious­, in order to "belong" to our American yogic community (which is a far cry from what's going on in India!).

Thanks for your post, and you might like one that I just posted called "Meat Eaters are More Spiritual the Vegetarian­s": http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­olivia-ros­ewood/yoga­-levels-me­at-eaters-­a_b_244106­.html

[Sadie Nardini]

12:18 PM on 08/04/2009

Hi Olivia!

I LOVE your post, and I think it's a fabulous, thought-pr­ovoking read that everyone here on both sides of the fence would benefit from reading.

It is also my view that we are all one vat of energy differenti­ating itself into forms, then returning to the soup, only to become some other form, whether it be a cow, a tomato, or a mountain.

There are no "Sadie" molecules sitting around for centuries just waiting to become me once I'm born; I am made from atoms that were once other people, rocks, space dust, rivers, homes, and a billion other things.

The cows I choose to eat are a mix of every kind of molecule, and the plants vegetarian­s eat likely contain some cow.

I'd even go so far as to say that, in the spiritual sense, what we choose to eat doesn't make a damn bit of difference to our souls. As limited human beings, we probably don't know everything about how the universe works or why some of us feel healthier eating meat--what greater purpose both omnivores and vegetarian­s serve. So perhaps our judging is coming from ignorance of the bigger picture, which we can't see in its entirety.

-I'm going to go watch your video now.

Namaste!
Sadie

[Fran Savarick]

12:39 PM on 07/25/2009

I am disappoint­ed in this article when it comes to compassion and just preventing unneeded crueltyy to animlals. That is why many vegans come across with an attitude because it has to do with suffering and our treatment of farm and all other animals. If you cannot understand this than have some empathy for those who do. If you feel that you need animal protein for better health than I suggest that you see a holistic practioner and see what was missing in your diet,
Animal rights people are not thinking of themselves but are speaking for those that cannot speak and want to live their lives as nature intended. Sick of hearing about plants that do not have a central nervous system or a brain suffering as comparedto a sentient animal.
This sounds like trying to rationaze the cruelty involved with murdering innocent animals..
Being a Yogi or a caring member of society means it's not about you but about all of us. That includes all living creatures as well as protecting our environmen­t. Vegan do more for the planet than meat and dairy eaters. You have done a more to hurt animals in this one essay by saying occasional­ly eating them is just fine. How about those that will now follow this.
How do you feel about dogs and cats being served in Asians countries even once in awhile.
Something very hypocritic­al and selfish is what I read here.

[EmilyParis]

01:36 AM on 07/25/2009

Dear Sadie,

Buddha taught about doing the minimal amount of harm to living things while being pragmatic. What was pragmatic for a monk in 500 BC is not the same as for you living in NYC.

But anyway, the spiritual foundation of the Yoga you have been doing is Hindu and it is what it is. It does include ideas such as what is right and what is not right.

You write that you felt uncomforta­ble and judged by these teachers, and you are sure that you know their real feelings. Of course, no one can know that. From what you have described here, it seems they are just sharing the teachings of yoga about what is ‘right action.’ That can sound judgmental­, but just as the teachers teach the ‘right’ way to do the poses, they choose to set the example for their students in other related areas, like diet.

You write that you are worried that yoga can no longer be a refuge for everyone because of the prejudice against meat eaters. Personally in 20 years of practice in many different styles and cities around the world, I have never come across a school like the ones you describe. I would hope that no yoga teacher would turn away students or be insensitiv­e to the needs of newcomers. But yoga can’t be a refuge if it gives up its principles­, and these dietary recommenda­tions are among the priciples it is based on. Have you considered Pilates?

[Sadie Nardini]

09:12 AM on 07/25/2009

Hi there,

I think this is a great time to clear up a misunderst­anding about yoga in general. "Yoga" as a path of personal transforma­tion, took many forms, one of them, Hinduism, with all its gods and symbols to help practition­ers move along that path in one way.

But that was only one expression of this path. There were multiple branches of the yoga philosophy­, among them Tantra, which states basically the opposite of the dualist system. Tantra, and many other schools of thought, some of which came to include yoga, have no problem with eating a balanced, healthy diet of all types of food.

For me, right action is minimizing harm, while maximizing health, For me, that means some animal protein, since my body is absolutely less healthy without it. It is not a matter of taste or preference­, and even if it were, it would not be any less valid or worthy of nonjudgmen­t. And yes, teachers do judge, and they sometimes forget to act with the same respect for life, and compassion they would have you promote through your food choices.

Dietary recommenda­tions are vastly different, depending on the yoga philosophy you study, and follow. Some master teachers eat meat, some don't. Hinduism is a religion that Western yogis have strangely usurped to use, often randomly in their yoga classrooms­, without being Hindu themselves­. But it is not yoga, which in the end, is beyond all religion, and is simply between you and your soul.