My Big Fat Vegan Story!

I often look down on my life right now and am amazed at what I see.  I am a peaceful yogi who lives a vegan lifestyle!  It amazes me and I reflect on it often.  I love how my whole life has been turned upside down.  My yes have been opened and my mind has been expanded! 

 I have tried to have a positive outlook on life and I wasn't really looking for a change when I walked into a Jivamukti Yoga class almost two years ago.  I didn't have any "issues" that I needed to fix.  I was genuinely looking for a great workout and expand my yoga experience.  I had no idea that my whole life would change. 

Next thing I know, I am sweating like crazy, being challenged more than any sport had challenged me before and I was hearing teachings that I have heard in the past, but finally make sense.

I believe that the practice of yoga can heal people.  I am not just talking about the physical act of yoga, although very beneficial for your physical body.  I am talking about living yoga in everything that you do.  Yoga  is a way of life, a conduit to peacefulness and enlightenment that is like no other.  Yoga teaches that all God's beings are one!  That is the key.  That is the freedom of all living in unity.  Yoga gets to the core of who you are.  Yogis are radical, because they look to the root of all problems. 

This leads me to my vegan lifestyle.  I truly believe that God created all beings and that we all have a purpose.  All life is sacred and I want to reduce the suffering as much as I can for all beings!  I would say to myself that I wanted all beings to be free of suffering and then I would go home and eat a steak.  It hit me that I was not living what I believed.  I wanted to make a difference and I could, just by altering the way I live by a little bit.  I gave up eating or using products made from animals.  This has been the most freeing action I could take.  It is said that when you stop harming others, others will stop harming you.  I believe that if we started holding animals lives with importance, than human life may become important again.  Humans kill other humans just as easy as they kill animals.  It is shocking how little the human life is regarded.  Murder is a word that rolls off of children's lips.  Why?  Maybe because their meals come from murder.  We eat three times or more a day.  That is a lot of chances to make non harming choices in the world!  Trust me, these choices carry into your everyday life!  It is something you can not know without experiencing it first hand.  I had no idea how free my body and mind would feel once I stopped harming others. 

I am thankful for this way of living.  I am more compassionate towards my human and animal brothers and sisters.  I feel like I know myself more than I have ever known and that I am comfortable and confident with my life.  I have a sense of happiness that no one can take away. My happiness is not affected by the day to day actions of the world. I can be blissful in non blissful times, I can be sad but my overall happiness is not swayed.  I can truly say that
I LOVE BEING VEGAN!!