Photo by Chino Rocha courtesy of Unsplash.

Veganism and the Yamas: A Yogic Call to Compassion

Yoga is a path of transformation—one that extends far beyond the mat. It is a way of living that aligns our thoughts, words, and actions with our highest ideals. The eight limbs of Raja Yoga, as outlined by Patanjali, provide a roadmap for this journey. At the foundation of this system are the Yamas, ethical principles that guide how we relate to the world.

For many yogis, vegetarianism is an obvious step in practicing nonviolence. However, a deeper examination reveals that continuing to consume dairy products contradicts the very values at the heart of the Yamas. By exploring Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya, and Aparigraha, we can see that choosing a vegan lifestyle is not only an ethical choice but a natural extension of the yogic path.

***SPECIAL NOTE: Fears grow over new bird flu infections in dairy cattle

Ahimsa: Nonviolence in Thought, Word, and Action

Ahimsa, the first and most fundamental Yama, teaches us to avoid causing harm to any living being. It is why many yogis adopt a vegetarian diet, believing that abstaining from meat prevents unnecessary suffering. However, the dairy industry is inherently violent.

Dairy cows are forcibly impregnated to keep them producing milk, only to have their calves taken away shortly after birth. The separation causes deep distress—both for the mother and her baby. Male calves, unable to produce milk, are often sent to slaughter for veal, while female calves are raised to endure the same cycle of exploitation. When we consume dairy, we participate in a system that inflicts pain and suffering on sentient beings. If we are committed to Ahimsa, can we truly justify this? Thankfully, there are now countless plant-based alternatives—nutritious, delicious, and cruelty-free. Shifting to a vegan diet is an act of nonviolence, an extension of our commitment to peace and compassion.

Satya: Living in Truth

Satya calls us to truthfulness—not only in speech but in how we live. It asks us to see reality clearly, even when it challenges our habits or beliefs.

Many of us grew up believing that dairy is necessary for health or that it is harmless. However, the reality is far different. The dairy industry causes suffering to animals, contributes to environmental devastation, and has serious health consequences, including links to heart disease, hormone imbalances, and increased cancer risk. When we continue to consume dairy despite knowing these truths, we contradict the principle of Satya. True integrity comes from aligning our actions with the realities we discover. As yogis, we strive to live in harmony with truth—even when it requires change.

Asteya: Non-Stealing

Asteya, or non-stealing, extends beyond material possessions. It includes not taking what is not freely given.

When we consume dairy, we take what belongs to another. A mother’s milk is intended for her baby, yet in the dairy industry, calves are deprived of their natural nourishment so that humans can consume it instead. Additionally, the environmental cost of dairy production steals resources from future generations. The vast amounts of land, water, and crops used to sustain dairy farming contribute to deforestation, water shortages, and pollution. By choosing plant-based alternatives, we respect the rights of all beings and honor our responsibility to the planet. In doing so, we live in alignment with the principle of Asteya.

Brahmacharya: Moderation and Self-Restraint

Brahmacharya is often interpreted as moderation—using energy wisely and making choices that bring balance. In the context of diet, it encourages us to consume food that nurtures both body and spirit.

The dairy industry thrives on excess—forcing cows into a relentless cycle of reproduction and milk production. This exploitation stands in stark contrast to the yogic ideal of balance and self-restraint. Moreover, consuming dairy contributes to imbalance within our own bodies, as it is linked to inflammation, digestive issues, and hormone disruption. By embracing a plant-based diet, we cultivate a sense of balance, choosing foods that nourish without harm. This is an expression of Brahmacharya in action.

Aparigraha: Non-Possessiveness and Letting Go

Aparigraha teaches us to release attachments—whether to material things, harmful habits, or outdated beliefs. Many of us hold onto dairy out of familiarity, comfort, or convenience, even when we recognize its ethical and environmental consequences.

Letting go of dairy is an opportunity to practice non-attachment, to make choices based on wisdom rather than habit. It is an act of freedom—freeing ourselves from participation in suffering and embracing a diet that reflects our deepest values.

Walking the Yogic Path with Integrity

The Yamas are not abstract concepts; they are principles meant to guide our daily lives. If we truly seek to embody Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya, and Aparigraha, then our dietary choices must reflect these ideals.

Fortunately, we live in a time where plant-based alternatives are abundant and accessible. Choosing a vegan lifestyle is not about restriction but about expansion—expanding our compassion, awareness, and alignment with the teachings of Yoga. As yogis, we have the opportunity to be a force for change, to make choices that uplift all beings. By embracing a diet rooted in kindness, we take another step toward living in harmony with the world—one meal at a time.

In Part 2, we will explore how the Niyamas—the observances that guide our inner life—also support the transition to a plant-based diet.

About the Author:

Meenakshi Angel Honig is dedicated to peace and loving kindness. She has studied with one of the most highly revered and deeply loved Yoga Masters of our time, Sri Swami Satchidananda. Meenakshi is a certified Integral Yoga Instructor & Teacher Trainer with over 50 years of teaching experience and serves as the director of the Integral Yoga Center of Maui. Meenakshi Angel is a licensed minister and an animal rights advocate. She is a highly respected leader in promoting plant-based nutrition for individual and global well-being. She has produced 5 DVDs, 2 CDs and is the author of 11 books including, The Solution: 10 Compelling Reasons to Choose a Plant-based Diet & Lifestyle -The Why & The How. For more info, please visit her website.

The post Ahimsa in Action: Living in Alignment with the Ethical Foundations of Yoga appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

1.   Collagen

Collagen is the body’s most common protein, strengthening our bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Body parts like arteries and digestive organs even have specific types of collagen, with unique functions. It should be an integral part of everyone’s diet, no matter their fitness level or which types of exercise they prefer.

These foods contain high doses of collagen:

• Nuts and nut butters
• Berries
• Broccoli
• Hummus

Collagen consumption also becomes more crucial as we age. Human bodies slowly produce collagen at lower rates once they reach about 60 years old. Among the resulting symptoms are stiffness, loss of mobility, and more frequent muscle aches — not ideal for yogis. A collagen-rich diet will help us stay flexible and practice Yoga.

2.   Silicon

Silicon is a unique metalloid compound that plays a crucial role in collagen production and contributes to connective tissue health. It’s a common supplement for people with osteoporosis and other ailments that cause bone or skin brittleness. Our flexibility can significantly benefit from a sizeable daily supply of collagen and silicon.

Thankfully, silicon is present in many common foods:

• Oats
• Rice
• Wheat
• Cereal
• Green beans
• Root vegetables

3.   Antioxidants

As the name suggests, antioxidants fight against oxidation in our cells. Lower oxidative stress has many impressive benefits, including slowing the aging process and preventing cognitive illnesses. Healthier cells lead to better athletic performance across the board, from strength to flexibility.

Antioxidants can be found in a wide variety of delicious foods:

• Pecans
• Apples
• Blueberries
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Beans
• Avocados
• Leafy greens

Antioxidants are abundant, so incorporating some of these foods into one’s daily diet should be easy and will keep us from missing out on their benefits!

4.   Vitamin C

Vitamin C is another mineral that assists in collagen production. It’s also one of the most powerful antioxidants we can consume, playing an integral role in developing and recovering all body tissue. It’s an absolute must-have for everyone regardless of their lifestyle, but it’s especially important for yogis because of how much we stretch our bodies.

You can find high amounts of Vitamin C in these foods:

• Oranges
• Strawberries
• Pineapple
• Cucumber
• Kiwi
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts

Oranges and other citrus fruits are particularly acidic, which can negatively affect digestion, so be careful not to eat too many acidic foods in one day. We can get our Vitamin C from a wide range of sources.

5.   Glycine

Glycine is an essential amino acid that improves collagen production, acts as a neurotransmitter, and helps with the digestion of other supplements, such as creatine. Our bodies naturally produce it, but not in high enough doses to substantially impact our flexibility. We can increase our glycine intake with these foods:

• Peanuts
• Granola
• Seeds
• Legumes
• Cauliflower

6.   Omega-3s

Omega-3 fatty acids are one of nature’s most versatile nutrients. They promote skin and bone health, assist in preventing certain cancers, and improve cardiovascular function by reducing blood vessel inflammation and platelet aggregation. Stronger blood flow leads to better muscle performance and recovery, which in turn improves your flexibility.

These vegan foods contain high amounts of Omega-3s:

• Seeds
• Walnuts
• Leafy greens

Omega-3 supplements are also popular because of their limited supply in regular foods. Since vegans and vegetarians are not eating tuna or salmon every day, getting a supplement is important.

Diet Is Just As Important As Exercise

Yoga is a solid foundation of an active lifestyle, but practicing different poses isn’t enough to improve our health and well-being. Diet is just as important as exercise, if not more. That’s why as yogis, we need to be sure to get a sizable daily intake of these six nutrients to improve our flexibility and overall performance.

About the Author:
Mia Barnes is a freelance health and wellness writer with a passion for Yoga, mindfulness and nutrition. She is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Body+Mind Magazine, an online healthy living publication. 

The post Six Foods that Work to Improve Flexibility for Yoga Practice appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo: Babita Shrestha, front center, at home in Nepal.

In 2016, Babita Shrestha (chef, photographer, graphic designer) decided to live a vegan lifestyle as much as possible. After cooking delicious and healthy plant-based meals for herself and her friends, she decided to let her creativity blossom, curating her own unique vegan recipes for dinner parties. Her journey began in a small village in the Terai region of Nepal to the Ancient Metropolitan Temple City of Kathmandu, where she was born. Later, she moved to the USA and, as an entrepreneur, started Vegan Nepal in Lexington, Kentucky. While she never had the opportunity to look at a beautiful cookbook until the age of 30, she decided to create one which became the first ever vegan and vegetarian Nepali cookbook: Plant-based Himalaya.

Shrestha believes that cooking is about loving yourself and spreading that love to those around you. She says, “It is great therapy for staying happy and delighting others. Fewer and fewer people cook every day, settling instead for unhealthy processed food. This decreases overall well-being and at the same time increases the wasteful use of plastic packaging, most of which will end up in a river or ocean or polluting our farmland and ruining our natural paradises. Wherever possible, I use plastic-free ingredients in this book. I hope you will enjoy the food that results!”

She handpicked 38 of her favorite recipes to give your taste buds the treat of a lifetime. The photos of the dishes enhance the mouth-watering experience and also provide a short tour of Nepal. Plant-Based Himalaya is designed to inspire you to cook and eat exquisite and unique vegan home-style Nepali cuisines made with passion. She and her publisher have graciously shared two favorite recipes here. Enjoy!

Photo: Pulau rice dish from “Plant-Based Himalaya”

PULAU RICE

SERVES ~ 4
COOK TIME ~ 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
Basmati rice: 1 cup
Water: 2 cups
Green pea: ½ _cup
Carrot: 1 small
Cashew: ½ _cup
Golden raisin: ¼ _cup

Photo: Pilau ingredients, from “Plant-Based Himalaya.”

SPICES
Coconut oil: 2 tbsp
Cumin seed: 1 tsp
Turmeric: ¼ _tsp
Dried red chili: 4
Clove: 6 buds
Cardamom: 8 cloves
Cinnamon: ½ _stick
Cilantro: ½ _cup
Salt: 1 tsp

STEPS
1. Wash the rice and then it soak in a cup of water for 30 minutes.
2. Crush the spices with a mortar and pestle.
3. Heat a pan on medium and add oil. Once the oil heats up, add cumin seeds, temper for few seconds, and lower the heat.
4. Add cashews, raisins, and red chilis. Cook for 30 seconds.
5. Turn the heat to medium. Add green peas, cauliflower, and carrots. Fry until golden brown.
6. Add turmeric and spice blend (cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves). Mix thoroughly.
7. Drain the rice and add it to the pan. Fry for a few minutes until the water dries up.
8. Add salt and 2 cups of water. Mix completely, and cover while continuing to cook on medium heat for 5 more minutes.
9. Take the lid off, stir gently, and then turn the heat to low and cook the pulau for another 5 minutes.
10. Add chopped cilantro and lime on top. Hot and delicious pulau is ready to serve!
• I add whole cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon along with the cashew. However, most people do not like the taste of whole spices, so I suggest grinding them before you add them in the rice.
• Sometimes I add saffron to the pulau for extra flavor and aroma. I soak a half teaspoon of saffron in the water and mix it with the rice.

Musuro Dal, from “Plant-Based Himalaya.”

MUSORO DAL

SERVES ~ 4
COOK TIME ~ 25 minutes
Red lentils: 1 cup
Red onion: ½ small
Tomato: 1 small
Water: 3 cups
Sunflower oil: 2 tsp
Garlic : 1 clove
Fresh green chili: 1 medium
Turmeric: ¼ tsp
Lemon: 1 tsp
Cilantro: ½ cup
Salt: 1 tsp

STEPS
1. Wash the red lentils.
2. In a pressure cooker, combine the lentils with 3 cups of water, turmeric, and salt. Close the lid and boil until it whistles. This usually
takes about 10 minutes.
3. Turn the stove off and let it cool down.
4. Heat a pan on medium and then add oil.
5. Once the oil is hot, add chopped garlic and onion. Fry until they start turning golden brown.
6. Add chopped green chili and tomato. Mix well.
7. Pour boiled lentils to the pan. I usually add a little water to the pressure cooker to get all the remaining dal.
8. Let it simmer on low heat for a minute and then turn the stove off.
9. Garnish with cilantro and a hint of lemon juice on top.
10. Delicious, spicy, and tangy dal is ready.

(All photos courtesy of Red Lightning Books)

The post “Plant-Based Himalaya” from Vegan Nepal appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo by Anna Pelzer on Unsplash.

If you immerse yourself in your Yoga practice, you’ll undoubtedly notice many of your fellow yogis consume a plant-based diet. You may see your relationship with food changing, too. Why do so many yogis give up eating animals? While the practice deeply connects to Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, people from all faiths engage. Religious dietary restrictions may influence some, but it doesn’t explain the whole picture. Are you considering adopting a vegetarian or even a vegan diet since beginning your practice? Learn more about the interconnectedness of Yoga and plant-based diets.

Become Conscious of How Food Affects You Physically

Yoga helps us form a more intimate relationship with your body and physical self. As we breathe and move through various postures, we gain a deeper understanding of how interconnected the different aspects of health are. We also gain a reverence for our flesh and how it allows our spirit to interact with the world around us. We want to nurture and support this sacred vessel to continue learning, growing and contributing to the community.

Therefore, we start tuning into the nutritional benefits of food. Plant-based diets offer superior health benefits in numerous ways. Since Yoga teaches us to treat our bodies with respect and love, we’ll naturally gravitate away from additive-laden snacks and opt for foods close to their natural forms. That means consuming fewer calories overall, making it easier to maintain one’s body weight.

Choosing plants over meat, poultry, fish and dairy isn’t the only waistline-trimming benefit we can enjoy. Such foods are high in fiber, which benefits weight management in two ways. One, it creates bulk in your intestines, helping you feel fuller longer — meaning you’re less tempted to snack between meals and overeat at the table.

Furthermore, this prebiotic stuff nourishes the intestinal microbiome, a series of beneficial bacteria colonies responsible for sending messages to the brain. Folks with healthy microbiomes are more likely to transmit the “I’m comfortably sated” signal, telling your brain to turn off the hunger pangs.

Plant-based diets are also rich in a wide array of phytonutrients. These substances are critical for optimal health—think about lutein and zeaxanthin for eye health and lycopene for preventing prostate cancer in men. Those who primarily consume vegetables are more likely to “eat the rainbow” at each meal, getting a mix of hues to guarantee a full array of nutritional benefits.

Develop Greater Empathy Toward Other Living Beings

Getting in touch with our bodies through our work on the mat will teach us how strong we are. It also reminds us that all living things have innate vulnerabilities—and feelings that can hurt. As we breathe through challenging poses, we develop empathy for the pain sentient beings can experience, which drives our desire not to harm them.

The Buddha condemns eating meat. He says in the Lankavatarua Sutra, “Since all sentient beings are equal to me as my only son, how can I approve my followers to eat the flesh of my son?”

Although not all Buddhists adhere to a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle—even among mystics and teachers—those who practice Yoga gain a greater understanding and appreciation of physiology. We learn how different actions impact our central nervous systems. It doesn’t take a massive leap of empathy to recognize how other living things with similar systems share kindred feelings, making us less likely to cause unnecessary suffering by consuming their flesh.

The word “Yoga” means unity and the practice helps us recognize our oneness with other sentient life forms. Consider how most people would never dream of eating a dog or cat—they recognize them as companions, not mere animals. Yoga extends this feeling of camaraderie and friendliness toward other living beings like cows and chickens, too.

Cultivate Greater Concern for All Life

This heightened concern for other living beings extends beyond individual animals to the world. Climate change is one of the most pressing crises threatening all life on Earth and meat consumption undoubtedly contributes to global warming. Cattle are the number one agricultural source of greenhouse gas worldwide, spewing tons of methane into the air each time they belch or pass gas. This substance is far more damaging than carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

While we realize our actions alone won’t solve the problem, we want to do our part. Therefore, we can decrease demand by reducing or eliminating meat consumption from our diets. Those who believe in the law of karma know it is Yoga in action—taking the lessons learned on the mat and using them to make a positive difference.

Intertwining Yoga and Plant-Based Diets

Have you noticed many Yoga practitioners follow a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle? The connection is no accident. Understanding the interconnectedness of Yoga and a plant-based diet can help us make better food choices. We’ll improve our health and that of the planet.

About the Author:
Mia Barnes is a freelance health and wellness writer with a passion for Yoga, mindfulness and nutrition. She is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Body+Mind Magazine, an online healthy living publication. 

The post The Interconnectedness of Yoga and Plant-Based Diets appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo by Charl Folscher on Unsplash.

In the early 1970s, I was in the dance department at the University of California, Berkeley, and right when I passed from my apartment to the campus, there was the Integral Yoga Institute. I went in there, long story short, to take a Yoga class. The postures were super easy to me. But when I left, I glided out on a wave of peace. I remember, at the age of 16, writing home to my parents that day—and this will bring me to tears—and I said: “Today I found myself.” And what I mean by that is I felt the deep peace of my own true nature.

Integral Yoga is the eight-limb path. That is what true Yoga is. This path includes yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi (abiding in one’s own inner peace). That’s what I try to practice every day so that my entire life is an ongoing Yoga retreat. I live my life, to the best of my ability, in alignment and congruence with that path. And part of that path is choosing a plant-based diet and lifestyle.

I decided to write The Solution, my latest book, because I believe the vegan lifestyle is the solution to every major problem that we’re facing on planet Earth. These problems can be reversed through plant-based nutrition, because the animal industry—meaning meat, dairy, eggs—is based on the consciousness of violence and domination.

 When we replace that consciousness with ahimsa (non-injury) and lovingkindness, with collaboration and cooperation, we can reverse all of the major problems that we’re facing today. I tackle all these with a compelling case that I roll out this very well-substantiated way in which we can reverse the climate crisis, prevent animal cruelty, eradicate pollution, reverse deforestation and pandemics. And all of them remedies are based on ahimsa.

Ahimsa means to do our best to not cause injury in our thoughts, words and actions. Now, in order to live, something has to die. But, we can cause the minimal amount of pain. All animals essentially have the same nervous system and the ability to feel pain and pleasure, hope and joy, and all of the emotions. Right now, there are 72 billion land animals and over a trillion marine creatures that are tortured and killed for food every year. This is a global atrocity that has been normalized, and it’s an abominable violation of ahimsa.

Photo by Adalia Botha on Unsplash.

Yet, for many, this is challenging to hear. The reason I believe it’s so challenging is because from the time we’re infants, we are conditioned—by our parents, relatives, society, community and from the media in all forms—to eat a meat-based diet and so it has been normalized. Dr. Will Tuttle, author of the World Peace Diet, terms this as a “cultural trance.” I would like to extend a loving invitation to all who practice Yoga, to wake up from this cultural trance and to make more kind and compassionate choices, which includes shifting from vegetarian to vegan in the name of ahimsa and in the name of all the yamas and niyamas—the ethical guidelines upon which the entire science of Yoga is based.

A question that often arises is that if yogis are meant to be vegan, why did many of the rishis and yogis of yore in India include dairy in their diets? I’d like to unpack this for a moment. Just because something was done in the past, doesn’t make it the right pathway today. This is where we need to put on our critical thinking caps. I like to call this “yogic discernment.” If we look over the long history of classical Yoga, many Yoga masters made adjustments to the traditions.

For example, it was not a general practice for women to be initiated as sannyasis (renunciate Swamis). Yet, Swami Sivananda (the Guru of Swami Satchidananda) initiated Swami Sivananda Radha as the first Western female swami in this lineage. We can imagine the ridicule he may have been subjected by those who thought, “Who are you to initiate a female Swami, and at that, a Westerner?” Swami Radha went on to become a great teacher who was a beacon illuminating the glorious science of Yoga for countless souls. That was because Swami Sivananda had a greater vision than those who were in the lineage before him.

As Maya Angelou said: “When we know better, we do better.” Swami Sivananda realized that it’s the consciousness of the person, not the gender of the person that counts. If Swami Sivananda had not done that, we would not have many of our female-bodied Integral Yoga Swamis like Swami Karunananda, Swami Divyananda, Swami Premananda, Swami Jyotirmayananda, and so on. It was because of his enlightened vision to make that change in an ancient tradition that all this good has ensued.

We also have the example of how our own beloved Gurudev, Swami Satchidananda, changed the ancient tradition of Guru Poornima. Guru Poornima traditionally was a time to honor one’s Guru. In the 1950s, when he was teaching Yoga in Sri Lanka, he said, “Why just pay tribute to my Guru, Swami Sivananda? Why don’t we honor everybody’s Guru—whatever faith or tradition they follow—on this occasion?” And in this way, he changed an ancient, annual celebration. Swami Satchidananda became a trailblazer in the interfaith movement. He has been greatly honored as one of the pioneers of this movement and the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine is a beautiful manifestation of the teaching that “Truth is one, paths are many.”

I believe that the science of Yoga is evolving by shedding the light of awareness on the vital importance of shifting from a vegetarian to vegan diet. Because if we’re going to live in congruence with the yamas and niyamas—the very first and foremost yama being ahimsa—this shift really should be a no brainer. And I’m going to explain why. Many people live under the illusion, as I did at one time, that it’s okay to eat dairy because the cows are just out in the grass grazing. Their owners give them names and sing to them as they give milk, and it’s a loving, symbiotic relationship. That was the illusion that I was under until the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book Diet for a New America by John Robbins was published in 1987.

Photo by Eilis Garvey on Unsplash.

In that book, Robbins brought to light the horrific cruelty that cows endure in order for us to have milk. Ninety-nine percent of dairy comes from factory farms, which are concentration camps for animals. Cows are routinely dehorned, confined, brutally treated, and cannot even move around in their own stalls. They are impregnated—on what the industry horrifyingly calls a “rape rack”—so that they’re constantly lactating and can give milk. And then when they carry the baby for nine months, just as humans do, their babies are ripped away from them within hours of being born.

If you hear recordings of the anguish of the mother and the calf being ripped apart, that would be enough to make anybody go vegan. Then, twice a day, they milk these cows are hooked up to metal machines that are very painful; they get cuts and bruises and tears and infections. And if it’s an organic farm, they can’t treat them with antibiotics and those cows have to suffer, without any antibiotics. Furthermore, giving cows antibiotics breeds antibiotic resistance because 80 percent of all antibiotics are used in the meat, dairy, and egg industries. So these same antibiotics lose their effectiveness for humans when they really need them.

So if you believe in ahimsa—which means to do your best to not cause injury in your thoughts, words and actions—you can understand the horrific suffering that dairy cows have to go through. Their natural lifespan of  25 years is often reduced to five years because they are so spent. Then, the reward for being tortured is being sent off to slaughter for beef. So that whole industry is the opposite of ahimsa.

Every bite we take, every dollar we spend is a vote—it’s a vote for cruelty or for loving kindness; for devastation or sustainability; for disease or for health. And, most importantly, we’re ingesting the biochemistry of terror and misery. It’s a well-known fact that dairy is the number one allergen of the top three allergens: one is dairy, two is eggs, and three is fish. So we’re not practicing ahimsa when it comes to our own bodies and our own health.

I’m so inspired by a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King who said: “Never, never be afraid to do what is right, especially if the wellbeing of a person or an animal is at stake. The punishments you receive from society are small compared to the wounds that we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.” I take refuge in the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi who said: “Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.” So I’m offering an invitation to reconnect with our intrinsic and intuitive compassion. And when we do so, we will make choices that are kind to the animals, the environment, and to our own health. If we want to be compassionate, we make new choices. I love the quote that says: “It’s better to be one candle than to curse the darkness.”

So if you have an entire society of people who are entrenched in this cultural trance, our role as light workers is to share the light of ahimsa by being living examples—to use our life force energy to spiritually awaken people to the interconnectedness of all life. Three times a day, and snacks in between, we can be practicing ahimsa by choosing a vegan diet. That’s something someone can do instantly. Gurudev said: “When you realize you’re holding a cobra snake, drop it.” When we realize that our actions are causing horrific cruelty and we want to truly embrace ahimsa we will be able to stop immediately.

And maybe I could just close with the prayer that this message will touch the hearts and minds of everyone reading this and create a ripple effect out into the entire universe so that together we can shift cruelty to lovingkindness and ahimsa. As Emerson said: “To know that even one soul has breathed more easily because you have lived is to have succeeded.” So may we all succeed by going vegan. May we live Swami Sivananda’s teachings, “Be good, do good, be kind, and be compassionate.” May we express that in our dietary choices.

About the Author:

Meenakshi Angel Honig is dedicated to peace and loving kindness. She has studied with one of the most highly revered and deeply loved Yoga Masters of our time, Sri Swami Satchidananda. Meenakshi is a certified Integral Yoga Instructor & Teacher Trainer with over 45 years of teaching experience. She served as Mind, Body, Spirit Yoga Instructor and Stress Management Consultant for over 17 years at The Grand Wailea Resort on Maui‚ Hawaii. She currently teaches at the Fairmont Kea Lani Resort and at the Wailea Healing Center, as well as on her national and international teaching tours. She is the author many books, the latest is, The Soulution. For more info, please visit her website.

The post Putting Our Ahimsa Where Our Mouth Is appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

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Photo by Annie Spratt/Unsplash

Religious News Service: Over the course of two centuries, Ayurveda — the ancient philosophy of the Indian subcontinent — has spread West, informing ideas about healthy lifestyles with holistic skin care, diet and exercise. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have propelled Ayurveda further into the mainstream, as housebound yogis, chefs and spa owners — believers, if not Hindus — percolated new techniques and businesses based on the practices developed since it began more than 3,000 years ago.

New York City has become a hub of the Ayurveda trend, where the creative forces behind new Ayurvedic restaurants, spas, health clinics and Yoga studios are collaborating, working out how to apply the philosophy to their disciplines authentically, to avoid turning the trend into a simple marketing gimmick. Read more at source.

The post Ayurveda’s Spiritual Science Makes Inroads with Foodies & Healers appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo by Subhradip Pramanik on Pexels

My father would have been in a coffin when I was 16 years-old had he not noticed subtle changes in his breathing and the way that he felt while running on a treadmill at the gym. My father was an avid runner, and a wonderful example of one who takes care of their health. In the 1980s, for him, that meant exercising regularly by jogging. It’s thanks to his good example that both my parents were successful in pushing my sister and I to swim competitively from grade school through college.

The signs of my father’s ailing health included chest pains. He said it felt as if a heavy weight was tied to his chest, and his left arm squeezed by a blood pressure cuff. Shortly after his complaint he went to a heart doctor who diagnosed the disease of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.  Atherosclerosis is the result of plaque building up in the system that then attaches to the arteries restricting the flow of blood through the body. If left untreated, it could lead to a heart attack or stroke depending on where the arteries are affected.

When I was 14, my maternal grandfather died at the age of 72 from a stroke, most likely because of the hardening of his arteries. My maternal grandmother, while living into her 90s, had heart surgery to prevent the same disease my father had. My paternal grandfather died in his early 50s.  He also died of a stroke due, in part, to atherosclerosis. I never met him.

My father was only 52 years-old when he had bypass surgery, and we could very likely have been attending his funeral had he done nothing. It was a traumatic experience for the whole family. I remember immediately after the completion of surgery, per doctor’s orders, that our family was asked to keep my father awake and upright despite his constant falling asleep. “Dad, wake up!” I think they wanted to keep his heart rate from dropping too drastically, to make sure that everything was working properly. The family took turns watching him for a couple of hours until he was allowed to rest fully.

Because of the family history, my doctor recently suggested I get a stress test despite having normal levels of cholesterol. My feet would be pounding on a treadmill, with wires attached to my chest, giving the doctor the picture of what’s happening to my heart while under pressure.

My father researched condition like Siddhartha seeking enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. He wanted to understand how atherosclerosis happens and what he could do about it—something that all of us in the family learned from: the path leading to the end of suffering via diet, exercise, and stress-management

In his research about the causes of heart disease, my father also found out about, “the cows revenge.” He learned that eating red meat and dairy largely contributed to heart disease. This was a huge insight for the whole family, for red meat and dairy were consumed daily without second thought. For a while my mother stopped cooking red meat because of my father’s insistence.

This practice stayed with me when I went off to college the following year. It wasn’t so much a conscious decision as much as a no-brainer to learn from my father’s lessons, even though everyone around me—my classmates and fellow members of the swim team—was eating meat.  I didn’t completely give up red meat at that time, but I certainly modified my intake and began to choose chicken over beef. I was at a young enough age that my mind was flexible to change deeply ingrained dietary patterns given the right encouragement. It took four more years and the watching of a film on the meat and dairy industry, as well as taking a college class on Buddhism, that had me thinking about becoming a vegetarian—and I do mean thinking about it, not practicing it.

Artwork by Daishin McCabe

I confided in Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker—one of my professors who was a practicing vegetarian—that I was thinking of becoming a vegetarian. She said to me, “You might want to learn more about how to do that before jumping in.” In hindsight, this was sage advice. Too many people jump into being vegetarian and don’t have the slightest idea of how to eat or how to cook for themselves. They often end up eating carb-heavy meals leaving out adequate vegetables and protein sources, and also don’t understand the need for B vitamins.

When I was in college I had no clue how to cook for myself, so for the next several years I resigned myself to eating what was served by my mother (which was by then often red meat and dairy), and by the larger society. When I went to Mount Equity Zendo, at the age of 23, I thought, “Here’s my chance to become vegetarian.” I learned how to cook brown rice, miso soup, and veggies. I learned multiple ways of creating delicious tofu dishes. Gradually, I learned about the importance of protein that comes from eating beans, quinoa, nut butters, and soy products. It took me years to learn how to balance my diet so that I wasn’t just eating carbs like bread and pasta.

While the environment was much more vegetarian-friendly, still, as a priest, I was expected to eat whatever was served. There’s a Zen saying, “A monk’s mouth is like an oven.” In other words, don’t make preferences. If someone brings meat, eat it—don’t call up the mind that picks and chooses. This is how they did things during the Buddha’s time and eating meat was okay if the food was not killed specifically for you, and you did not hear the screams of the animal being slaughtered.

To illustrate the point of the Buddha’s injunction to not eat meat if it was specifically killed for you, I share the following: One time a monk, who had been practicing in the Burmese tradition, came to our Zendo in Pennsylvania to offer a Dharma talk. He disclosed that when he went to stay with his sister, she served him shrimp. Just before he was about to eat it, his sister remarked, “I hope you like it, I bought it just for you.” He stopped and pushed the plate away telling his sister that he wasn’t able to eat the food precisely because she bought it for him. The practice of not eating meat (including fish) within early Buddhism may have been originally about not causing harm to animals unnecessarily. The animal could not be killed for a monk. Killing an animal would incur negative karma for the monk. He would be breaking the first precept, “Do not kill.”

However, if the animal had already been slaughtered, and not for a particular person, then it was acceptable because, in part, it had already been killed. In that case, the monk did not cause the animal to be killed, and therefore was free of the consequences of the karma generated by killing the animal.

Today, in Japan, most monks (and the Japanese as a whole) eat meat, though they eat a rather small portion compared to the average American. They only follow the rules of not eating meat (in most cases) when they are eating formally. But the rule of not eating meat is largely ignored.  Nevertheless, when training in a Japanese Zen monastery, the diet consisted largely of brown or white rice, miso soup, vegetables, sometimes eggs, and tofu. This diet, while an excellent break from the diet of veal parmesan, fettuccini alfredo, and other meals my mother would make for me, wasn’t going to be sustainable for me for the long-term.

After a three-month stint in a Japanese monastery, a test revealed serious deficiencies in my blood. I decided to visit with a Naturopathic doctor. While not going into detail, this doctor helped me to take a much larger perspective on the issues I was having, encouraging among other things, further dietary changes that included eating whole foods and consuming different forms of protein (not animal-sourced), and getting a minimum of nine hours of sleep per day.

He also had me reconsider my meditation practice. Thus far, I had largely neglected using meditation as a means for dealing with stress or to relax. It was more about being attentive, but I wasn’t balancing that attentiveness with rest. My health, thankfully, has improved so much that my allopathic doctor is no longer concerned about my bloodwork. To this day I still find myself learning from the things my naturopath taught, and doing my best to practice good health on the physical, mental, and spiritual planes.

As my health was steadily improving, I asked my teacher for permission to go to Yogaville to go through Yoga Teacher Training. I was moved by the devotion to a plant-based lifestyle that I witnessed at Yogaville. Could I do that? For a variety of reasons I found it impossible to practice and take full responsibility for not eating a vegan diet until years later. When I reflect back, I am deeply grateful for the example set at the Ashram. Yogis like Meenakshi Angel Honig and others from Integral Yoga continue to inspire my eating habits.

More recently, my father has had further complications with his heart.  As I was talking with my mother about my father’s worsening condition all stemming from his heart, she asked me if I had gotten my cholesterol checked recently. I said that I had, and that my levels were totally normal, and that I’m also not worried about heart issues because of the well-documented connection between heart disease and diet. My mother is still of the mindset, along with much of the medical community, that heart disease is purely genetic.

Photo: Daishin’s mother and father, Prudy and Mike McCabe.

When I reminded my mother about “the cow’s revenge” she laughed at me pointing out that my maternal grandfather ate very well his whole life. No doubt he ate well. He exercised well, too.  Still, in a traditional Italian American household there’s no escaping a diet high in animal fats, dairy, and red meat.

I reflect on this now because I feel more and more confident in my choice to move toward a vegan diet. I’ve felt healthier than I ever have in my life, and I am happy that, every time I eat a meal, I am not breaking the very first of the Buddhist precepts: do not take life. Further, the third “Less Grace Precept” of the Brahma Net Sutra, an important writing connected to the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts, explicitly states:

Disciples of the Buddha, should you willingly and knowingly eat flesh, you defile yourself by acting contrary to this less grave Precept….  Anyone who eats flesh is cutting himself off from the great seed of his own merciful and compassionate nature, for which all sentient beings will reject him and flee from him when they see him acting so.

I know that I am benefiting living beings by choosing to be vegan. The first of the four Great Bodhisattva Vows is, “Beings are numberless, I vow to free them.”  What better way to do that then to not eat animals? People often wonder, when they hear about the sorry state of our planet, whether it be the climate crisis or mass migration, what they can do to help. Should they go to Japan to practice? Should they go to a third world country to help out those who are in a dire situation? These are all noble questions, but what often escapes us is how our food choices, something we can change in any moment, can potentially free all beings. Do our actions need to be dramatic to save all beings? Can we not see the courage in the act not to eat meat?

What escapes us is the fact that in every meal we make choices that can better the planet. We don’t need to go anywhere. We need to look at how we use the almighty dollar in the grocery store. Diet is perhaps one of the easiest places to turn to when we think of improving the state of the world. The food choices we make have ripple effects on the well-being of the earth. Many of the fish in the oceans are disappearing. We do great harm to factory farm animals like chickens and cows that are penned up for their whole lives. We ingest not just their meat, but their anxiety of having to live such a life. The lungs of the planet, the forests, are being destroyed for human profit. Simultaneously, humanity gets a lung disease called Covid-19. We tear baby cows away from their mothers, and we think very little of tearing migrant families apart from each other at our southern border. Can we see the parallels that what we do to the planet we do to ourselves.  Our choices have far reaching consequences. Can we see them?

About the Author:

Daishin McCabe of Zen Fields in Ames is a 200-RYT Integral Yoga teacher, which he completed in 2011, and a Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga facilitator (TCTSY-F). He is a dharma heir of Dai-en Bennage Roshi, with whom he trained in monastic residence for 15 years; he has also practiced in Japan at several training temples and with Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh in France. He has a  B.A. in Religion and Biology from Bucknell University. Daishin also teaches at the Shogaku Zen Institute and World Religions at the Des Moines Area Community College. He is grateful to be a member of the Pure Land of Iowa community in Clive, Iowa, where he also offers meditation retreats.

The post The Heart of the Matter appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

Photo: Interfaith service during a Yoga retreat at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville.

The idea of Cosmic Consciousness is spoken of in both scriptures and in scientific journals. If we only quote the scriptures some may not accept this idea of a universal, all-pervading Consciousness. If we quote a scientist, all are ready to accept it! Modern science has found and shown that there is Consciousness, even within an atom. Without Consciousness, the atom could not function; the electron would not be running around the neutron. That is why we say that God is Omnipresent—God is present as Consciousness everywhere and in everything.

Our understanding of God as Cosmic Consciousness is limited and so we limit the unlimited God by thinking that God has only one particular form. It’s just like what happens when you melt chocolate. First, it has no solid form or name. But when you pour it into molds, you give the chocolate different names. All the forms are the same chocolate. When children go to a candy store, one child will like the square chocolate, another may like the round chocolate, and a third one will like chocolate in the shape of a kitten.

The child that buys the square chocolate licks it and says, “My chocolate is very good.” The child that bought the round chocolate says, “That’s nonsense. No. Yours is not good. Mine is much better.” The child with the kitten-shaped chocolate might even say, “Only kitten-shaped chocolate will be accepted here!” Each child will create a “philosophy” of why their form of chocolate is the best. Then they will fight with one another in the name of chocolate!  That means that none of them have understood the one essential substance of chocolate. If they understood the basic substance they would not fight. But because they forgot the essential stuff, they only see the different forms. When you come across people who fight in the name of religion and say, “Oh, my religion is the only good one and not that one,” know they are behaving as children.

But in our ten-day Yoga and interfaith retreats, we invited more than thirty-five religious sects from various denominations. They were all together for ten days caring and sharing with each other. On the final day of the retreat we had an interfaith service. A representative of each faith is seated around a table. In the middle of the table is a large candle that represents the one God. A Jewish Rabbi, a Benedictine monk, a Muslim Imam, a Jesuit priest, a Japanese Roshi, a Hindu monk, and others are all sitting around the table. One by one, each representative offers prayers to the One Light, in their own traditional way. That shows that people are beginning to understand the true Spirit of any one faith and that they want to come together. I often tell people we need to enjoy and appreciate the unity in the diversity. That is the reason why Yoga is spreading all over the world. Yoga teaches us to develop the same fundamental virtues that are found in almost every religion.

Another yogic teaching is that every individual is a representation of God, or is created in the image of God. Somehow, by living a self-centered life, we have lost sight of our True Nature. But once we begin to lead a dedicated life, a selfless life, our minds become calm and our thoughts become pure, thus we are able to realize the true divinity within each and every one of us. We see this message in almost every faith. Not one faith asks us to be selfish. The terminology used may differ, but the principle is the same: renounce selfishness.

The idea of offering oneself to God is in almost every religion. What is being offered or sacrificed is our personal desire, the expectation of some personal reward from whatever we say or do. That is what must be let go of. When we think of only “I, me, mine, we are thinking in terms of separateness from God and from one another. The phrase “Love thy neighbor as thyself” means that everything belongs to God and we want to offer it back to God. All the spiritual practices exist to help us. The practices themselves will differ but the purpose of any spiritual practice is the same—to realize our inner peace and joy.

One of our yogic practices consists of physical postures. But that is a very small part of Yoga. People can be yogis even without those physical postures. Still, if it is possible for you to do even one or two, we recommend that because it helps to keep the body and mind in good health. We cannot experience our true, divine nature without keeping our bodies and our minds clean and calm. In the Bible it is written, “Blessed are the pure in heart; they shall see God.” Pure in heart means, a calm mind. The Bible didn’t say, “Blessed are those who print a million Bibles and distribute them for free.” Or, “Blessed are people who build a number of churches; they shall see God.” Any businessperson could do that. The important requirement to recognize your essential nature, your divine nature, is pure thought. Purity of thought or purity of mind is always connected with living a peaceful and balanced life, without excesses or extremes which affect the mind in a negative way.

Photo: Hatha Yoga outdoors in Yogaville.

So, we do recommend some Hatha Yoga to take care of the body. And again, the physical postures alone will not make your body healthy and clean. One should also take care of what goes into the body. Realize what makes you unwell. It is all the undesirable foods and drinks that you put into your body that can create illnesses. Yoga teaches you to cultivate very basic good habits.

You may sit in meditation for hours and hours, but if you don’t take care of your body, your food cannot be well-digested. It is not only food that goes into the body but liquids, air, sights and sounds go into the body through the sense organs. What you see goes in through the eyes and what you hear goes through the ears. Even thoughts can be said to “enter” into the mind. So one should be very, very careful about what goes into the body and mind through the senses.

Some common habits that are unhelpful, can be easily corrected through Yoga practice. You might think that having some wine is the best way to relax. And when you take a puff of marijuana or even nicotine, you think you will feel calm. There’s no way that drugs or alcohol will result in true relaxation. So one has to be very, very careful.

Another important point is that non-vegetarian food and compassion can never go together. Even medical science has shown that most of our physical ailments are caused by eating meat. One reason is because the meat is more susceptible to viruses than plant food and it and takes a longer time for the meat to be digested. Once an animal is killed, immediately its flesh becomes dead matter; it begins to decay. That is why when all that decayed food goes in it becomes toxins in your system and comes out as foul matter. That is the reason why most of the meat-eating people have to use lots of deodorant!

When there are plenty of vegetables, beans, rice and so on, you don’t need to eat animals for nutrition. Statistics show that to produce one pound of meat, the animal has to be fed fifty pounds of grain. That means, when a person eats one pound of meat, they are indirectly eating fifty pounds of grain. If you just eat the grain directly, there will also be enough food for at least ten other people. This all makes sense from an economical and environmental standpoint. When we all become vegetarian there will be more food for more people. We will have plenty to eat if everyone eats the natural way.

So you can see, that many problems in this world could be solved through a yogic lifestyle. Having plenty of food to feed the world, good health for all people, and a life of harmony and happiness for all is possible.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

The post The Benefits of a Yogic Lifestyle appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.

In Yoga, we come across that idea in the practice of pratyahara. You learn to have a more balanced and harmonious relationship with the senses by refraining from constantly satisfying them.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “We should eat to live; we should not live to eat.” But so many of us live to eat! You can see how various advertising companies take advantage of our need for constant sense gratification. Businesses understand how much people are involved in satisfying their senses. So many things in the present day world encourage the satisfaction this. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying sensory pleasures as long as you are not attached to those pleasures or are continually running after them.

If day and night, night and day, we are always trying to satisfy our senses they will create more and more demands on us. But as spiritual seekers, we should learn that calming and mastering the senses—as well as any desires—can calm the mind. If we can calm the body, we can calm the mind. People should learn to be content with a simple life. The spiritual practices are there to help you to discipline and balance your mind rather than allowing every thought and desire to control you. If you can do that you have cultivated self-mastery.

In the ancient times, it was said that when a seeker learned to sit in one asana during meditation, without making any movement, that was known as the asana siddhi. Mantra siddhi was attained when the seeker was given a mantra and stuck to that mantra. The idea was that no matter what practice was given to you, you should stick to that practice. That kind of discipline requires a sattvic or pure faith. Discipline and faith go together. It is your faith and your constant repetition of a mantra that brings you the benefit—not just the mantra by itself. If you don’t have faith, no matter what you repeat and how much you repeat it you won’t get the benefit. That’s why many seekers give up and say “This mantra is not the right mantra. I must go to another teacher and get the get a better one.”

All the mantras are good, but if you don’t have faith in the mantra, you will be continually changing and that is a mistake. It’s like digging shallow wells all over the place. If you only dig a bit and then move on you will never get to the water. But if you keep on digging, without giving up, then wherever you dig, if you dig deep, you’ll get water. The seeker should stick to one thing, one place, one mantra, and one teacher. That’s the way to achieve success and to become accomplished in whatever you do.

 Karma Yoga can be helpful in this pursuit because there is no egoism in it. You are doing something, but at the same time, you are not. To others, it looks as though you are involved in some dynamic action, but inside you are quiet and calm. An example of this is an actor. If the actor is playing the part of someone who is sad, they must cry. But at the same time, they must remain calm because if they are really crying they will forget their lines! A yogi is like the actor.

We don’t say that you should not experience nice things in this life. You should enjoy the life. But at the same time, do not let not your mind run after the things it is enjoying. Then you are keeping yourself steady and you are experiencing things as they come to you. There will be joy in getting something and there will also be joy in losing it. If you get a million dollars you will say, “Great.” If you lose a million dollars, you will say, “Wonderful.” That is Yoga.

Whether you are thinking about money, people, friends, partners, children, or whatever it is, if they want to come, let them come. If they want to go, let them go. Nothing is permanent. Everything comes when it’s supposed to come, and then there has to be a time to go. If I sit here in a conference hall and never leave, I will never get another invitation to come again. But if I go when it is time, when I come back again there will be a nice welcome. So let things come and let things go. Don’t allow your mind to depend on anything.

What should be most important to you in this life? What is the something you should never lose? You should never, ever lose your peace. But, if you continue to depend on things to make you happy, you certainly will lose your peace. Remember, your money, your name, fame are all worth nothing compared to your peace. You must always think, I care more for my peace than anything else. Protect your peace at any cost.

By Sri Swami Satchidananda

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Many modern Yogis may not be aware of the importance of veganism (or vegetarianism) or know how to implement it into their lives. The purpose of this gathering is to help Yoga practitioners move gently in this direction.

This content-packed, full-day retreat will provide a wealth of reasons why this is important, and suggestions for how to make the switch—healthfully, affordably, and seamlessly. As this is not without controversy, we invite Yoga teachers and students who are vegan and feel a bit ostracized in their Yoga communities to be re-energized by this global vegan movement. This will be a great day for “coming out” by vegan Yogis, and for inviting others in.

The retreat is a co-production of the Integral Yoga Institute of New York, YogaIsVegan.com and the Yoga Is Vegan podcast, and MainStreetVegan.net and the Main Street Vegan podcast. We have gathered a diverse array of presenters and will also include times for small group-gatherings to share your own process. The schedule is below, all times given as U.S. Eastern Standard

Time:
Agenda: Yoga Goes Vegan Gathering and Retreat
45th Annual Meatout Day, March 20, 2021

• 9:30–9:45 a.m. Welcome with Chandra/Jo Sgammato
• 9:45–10:30 a.m. Integral Yoga Class with Chandra/Jo Sgammato
• 10:30–11:15 a.m. The Nuts and Bolts (and Grains and Beans) of Being a Vegan Yogi with Victoria Moran, Main Street Vegan
• 11:15–11:30 a.m. Break
• 11:30–11:40 a.m. The Symbolism of Krishna’s Love of Butter Video with Sailesh Rao, Ph.D., ClimateHealers.org
• 11:40 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Why Are You Here Today? Breakout sessions
• 12:15–1:00 p.m. Vegan Yoga and Ayurveda with Sujatha Menon, Five Seasons Yoga, UK
• 1:00–2:00 p.m. Lunch break
• 2:00–4:00 p.m. Yoga, Ahimsa, and Real Life: A Vegan Yogis’ Panel with Carole Kalyani Baral (ed., The Yoga Way: Food for Body, Mind & Spirit by Sri Swami Satchidananda), joined by panel members Holly Skodis (Yoga Is Vegan and Yoga Is Vegan Podcast), Jess Gumkowski (YogiTriathlete Podcast), Christina Gdisis (Compassionate Filled Life)
• 4:00–4:15 p.m. Break
• 4:15–5:00 p.m. Yoga, Veganism, Kids, and Our Future with Rep. Jeremy Gray, Alabama state representative
• 5:00–5:30 p.m. How Will You Further Embody Ahimsa in Your Practice and in Your Life? Breakout sessions
• 5:30–6:00 p.m. Closing and Meditation with Chandra

The post Yoga Goes Vegan: Virtual Retreat March 20 appeared first on Integral Yoga® Magazine.