Video: Why a Yogi Should Be Vegan
Sharon Gannon is a Yoga Teacher who has become an animal rights activist and spiritual revolutionary. She is also vegan and promotes the activism of ethical veganism and that the philosophy of Yoga extends not just to the physical postures, but to ethical and moral practices.
Sharon and her life partner, David Life, have studied Yoga extensively in India under the guidance of K. Pattabhi Jois, and developed their own method of Yoga called Jivamukti Yoga in New York City.
Some of Sharon Gannon’s celebrities students included: Sting, Russell Simmons, Madonna, and Uma Thurman.
The Teachings on Non-Violence
One of the eight limbs of Yoga are the Yamas, the first limb that focuses on moral and ethical principles. Within the Yamas is the philosophy of Ahimsa, which is the practice of non-violence, and non-harming of all sentient beings.
Ahimsa translates to non-violence, of not causing harm to other living sentient beings. And this extends to not exploiting other living beings, not causing them pain and suffering, and not killing them.
Sharon Gannon explains why a yogi (one who practices yoga) should be a vegan, based on the principles of Ahimsa, non-violence and non-harming of all animals.
This video is destined to become one of my favorites, because she explains veganism from the point of spiritual activism, being that an activist fights for the rights of others, and in the case of veganism, the rights of animals.
So, it appears that yoga and veganism go hand-in-hand, b e c a u s e …yoga supports the rights of all living sentient beings through the practice of animal rights and spiritual activism… being motivated by the divine, through the love and compassion for other living beings.
