A Healthy Dose of Ahimsa

I suppose there is no better place for me to start than with a treatise on yoga and veganism. The two do not necessarily intersect, especially in the lululemon infused, Westernized dilution that is so popular these days. And don't get me wrong- I enjoy cultivating my yoga butt as much as the next spoiled member of the boomerang generation. But it's the yogic philosophy, based on compassion, which keeps me coming back to the mat.

So, what is all this philosophical compassion business? I was an intermittent yoga practitioner for years before I learned about meditation and pranayama. I suspected that there was something more, something mystical about the whole thing, because when I was in a yoga class,I felt inspired, alive, tuned-in to something that went beyond my body and mind. And eventually, I learned that yoga means "union", that the aim of an integrated yoga practice is to overcome the separation we experience in our daily lives. In so doing, we are able to act compassionately for all beings because we recognize that we are all the same. It sounds like a tall order, I know.

If I perfected the ability to feel compassion for all beings at all times, then I would be enlightened! Haha. Far from it. But that is why yoga is a practice; compassion is something that we must consciously strive for. And that is, mostly, what I hope this blog will be about- my far from perfect attempts at living compassionately, and the various successes and failures which I am sure will follow.

The first step, and so far the most important step for me, in the practice of compassion is ahimsa, which means nonviolence. The concept of ahimsa is extended not only to abstaining from violence against other humans, but against all beings. To put it bluntly (and reductively, I might add, in this highly complex world)- I consider killing or otherwise harming animals for food to be an unnecessary act of violence. And so I don't consume, to the best of my ability, any animal products. That was a very long-winded way of saying that this blog will also be about food. Vegan food. Lot's of it!

So you can expect me to babble on about restaurants I visit, recipes I make, yoga classes I take (and hopefully teach), other...um...compassionate things, and anything else that catches my fancy. Enjoy, whoever you are!