Should Yoga teachers be Vegetarian

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

In my opinion, Yoga teachers should be Vegetarian. Most Yoga Schools insist that their Yoga teachers are. I would also say that any person in the New Age movement who has ambitions to be a teacher and who talks of love, should also be a Vegetarian. If they are not, I think they haven’t yet fully opened their heart to the suffering of other creatures, they are not aware enough, or if they are, they might still be too selfish and succumb to their desires of wanting to eat meat.

I probably will get many on this forum disagreeing with me, but I just felt I had to say my piece.

Please don’t be shy with your responses, I can handle opposing views!

Kind regards

Elisabeth

#2

I am vegetarian , although I can not remember any teacher that I know , telling me I “should” be vegetarian, Often vegetarianism or a dropping away of animal eating would occur naturally and in a healthy manner rather than forcing it.I appreciate that in ashrams or on retreats vegetarian food would be the only option and that I think, is a good idea.
Bringing the old, already trotted out points. It would be difficult for many Tibetan yogis to be vegetarian, due to difficulty of growing veg crops, what about tantric yogis, and would you say that people who live in artic conditions are any more unaware than some one living in a city surrounded by an excess of shops selling all sorts of product that bears little resemblance to any naturally occuring food.
As I say I am and have been veg for more than twenty years,but recently ,i have wondered about eating fish,I live in a small fishing port. Im sure my body would find it compassionate ,would it improve the quality of my life? would this be the kind thing give to my ageing body? Its difficult because there is now a shortage of fish and I would not be keen to contribute to the decimation fish. Jesus was compassionate ,he was freinds of the fishermen, no?
I dont feel that yoga is part of any new age movement, rather ,its been around a long time, lumping it in to the new age movement does yoga a disservice.
I dont tell people who attend my classes what they should or should not do,Yoga has plenty of pointers to a skillful life, and they can follow the teachings or not. Obviously they expect that I maintain a certain decorum , ethic , but if they all started telling me what I should or should not do, I might question what was going on for them.
Yoga is a tool for self transformation ,we can infuence others by example, this I suspect has more effect.

#3

Instead of an opposing viewpoint, I wish to expand on your viewpoint. well if all yoga teachers should be vegetarian, based on the need to eliminate suffering in animals, then there are other things they should be as well. so to expand from your thought all should be vegetarian, they should also not have cars, for roads are built where animals should be living, the oil we use to fuel them has caused oil spills and many animal deaths. All the teachers should not have computers for making of them and the energy they use helps to pollute the environment.

Never buy plastic, maybe they should not even have clothes, for in some way animals probably suffer in the making of clothes. Yoga teachers should not have a house, for house is built on top of land where animals live. should never watch TV, never buy a bottled drink from a store, have no money for trees, which many animals live in, are cut down to produce paper for money. Also, all yoga teachers should be able to levitate and must do so at all times. This way they do not walk on the ground and possibly step on an ant or other bug. I am sure I left out a million things they should not do.

So elisabeth, when you find this teacher, please send them my way

#4

I am a vegan and I don’t expect any yoga teacher to follow a specific diet.

#5

I agree with justwannabe. (I quite enjoyed reading your reply!) :slight_smile: Vegetarianism/ veganism is only a small part of living without hurting other living beings. I think that a more rounded approach to living while considering our every action on our environment is a better approach.

Starting with food- eating organically and locally as much as possible, as this is better for the earth and the farming community. Even if you eat meat- doing so less frequently and only buying free rang organic, so you are making the best choice for the earth and respecting the animal itself.

Clothing- cotton is such a pesticide laden crop, it’s stripping away at the earth. Read David Suzuki or Adria Vasil to learn more about this. Buy organic cotton clothing, or alternative materials like bamboo and hemp. Try to buy sweat shop free.

Cleaners- make your own cleaners from vinegar and water, better for the environment, less packaging and shipping, cheaper!

I could go on and on… My point is that yes, with yoga many people become more aware of what they eat. Not eating meat anymore is the start of it for some. But it shouldn’t stop there. We should also become aware of what we are wearing, where it came from, it’s impacts, the shampoo we use, the cleaners we use, the paint we use, etc.

Not eating meat but wearing pesticide soaked cotton which is eating away at our earth, and using products full of parabens, which have been shown to cause cancer, etc, doesn’t make sense to me. It’s a much broader picture.

Ps. I have yoga teachers who used to be vegan and now eat meat, I have teachers who have always eaten meat, and I have some who are firm vegan/ vegetarians. They all are equally great teachers.

#6

Eating a mixed diet of meat and vegetation is, and has been, fundamental to human existence since our beginning. To insist otherwise is unhealthy and unnatural. To each their own. I will look to the genuine skill of my teachers as a requisite.

#7

[QUOTE=justwannabe;29638]… maybe they should not even have clothes…[/QUOTE]

I kinda like this idea! :slight_smile:

Anyway, I don’t know what I think about the initial question but let me say that it was one of my old yoga teachers that helped me become vegetarian at the time becasue he gave me a less absolutist answer than many other, more hard-core vegans would have. I was at that age when you think a lot about the choices you make in life (later you just make them) and I had some questions about vegetarianism from an ethical point of view. One of them was that plants are living beings too, aren’t they?

“Well, you’re right” he said. “Everything is in fact alive and being vegetarian doesn’t solve all problems, it’s a compromise. It is the one we make because it makes sense and because it is easy”. He didn’t try to fool me, and that’s what helped me take the step. I’ve been vegetarian since I was 17 basically. I’m vegan now and it fells like a natural step. Had someone at that time told me that I had to become vegetarian I am sure that I would still be eating meat.

#8

[QUOTE=gentle_yogini;30449]Even if you eat meat- doing so less frequently and only buying free rang organic, so you are making the best choice for the earth and respecting the animal itself.[/QUOTE]

It is kind of hard to be respectful and kill at the same time… :wink:

#9

If you’re vegetarian and eating an apple imported from New Zealand with enough embodied energy to kill twelve pelicans, and I’m eating a chicken I raised in my backyard in a sustainable manner, who is practicing ahimsa and love (for this earth) and who is not?

In my opinion, until yogis start to wake up and see how destructive their unsustainable lifestyles are and work to change their ways, they shouldn’t preach love and ahimsa to others.

Agreed. When I kill a chicken, I do so consciously and with awareness that yes, that chicken is in fact suffering as I take its life. You can’t kill with respect but you can kill with gratitude.

#10

Read the book “The World Peace Diet”. If you are a yogi/yogini, you practice Ahimsa, that includes being a vegetarian.
Om Shanti.

#11

[quote=Yogini Lacee;30510]Read the book “The World Peace Diet”. If you are a yogi/yogini, you practice Ahimsa, that includes being a vegetarian.
Om Shanti.[/quote]
It’s just plain not that simple. If your fruits and vegetables aren’t locally grown and organic, make absolutely no mistake, you are NOT practicing ahimsa.

#12

Living off only locally grown vegetables and fruits is going to be either very complicated or lead to a very restricted diet. One that I think for instance Lierre Keith (a former vegan-taliban turned vegan-hater for those who don’t know) tried to live on and nearly killed herself while doing so.

Sometimes I think the problem is that ahimsa is turned into a political system, rather than a personal choice. I don’t want to kill animals because I have done it and I know what it does to me. Something evil in me is nourished by it.

Becoming vegetarian at 17 was a personal choice and one of my oldest and dearest friends from childhood both hunts and catches fish. He also already back then lived much closer to nature than I have ever done. I don’t doubt it for one second that he knows more about ecology than I do and that he knows more about living a sustainable life.

In the end, to me it doesn’t matter. I’m not yet ready to either raise and actually kill animals for food, nor to buy the flesh of animals that others have killed. But I’m still not doing it to save the planet, the animals or anyone else but myself, from myself.

#13

I think everyone should be a vegetarian because it supports sustainable living, live stalk take up some ridiculous amount of yielded crops every year. Just google it you could find some stats.

If you live in a land where you don’t have grocery stores and live off of the land, then, meh, do what you need to adapt to that life style.

#14

Considering that prior to the advent of the combustion engine, people lived pretty much only on local grown food, I’m going to have to call false on that one.

[quote=GreenTree;30536]I think everyone should be a vegetarian because it supports sustainable living, live stalk take up some ridiculous amount of yielded crops every year. Just google it you could find some stats.

If you live in a land where you don’t have grocery stores and live off of the land, then, meh, do what you need to adapt to that life style.[/quote]
Being vegetarian does NOT support sustainable living. If your fruits and vegetables are not locally grown, then they have a considerable amount of embodied energy which is the opposite of sustainable. And if they’re not organic, then the fertilizer and/or pesticides are petroleum based which is not sustainable. And that’s me just simplifying things. It’s all about locally grown food using sustainable practices. It doesn’t matter if it’s meat or veggies, but it must be local and sustainable.

We are at the point where we have to think about the earth, animals, and future generations before we think about ourselves otherwise each of those is going to have big troubles ahead. Our current generations MUST make an enormous transition towards living sustainably. It’s going to happen either way but if we make the conscious decision to live sustainably rather than having it forced upon us by our lack of willingness to change, then it’ll be a much easier transition.

#15

Well Elisabeth you’ve certainly opened Pandora’s Box with this topic. I personally try not to allow myself to slide into opinion but rather remain in the context of yoga so that I can speak from it (not for it). This requires a bit of work because as we all know the tint of our viewpoint can be a very stubborn stain.

Further I think it is important for us to realize that it really doesn’t matter one iota what we think everyone else should do, what we think yoga teachers should do, what we think our neighbor should do. Instead it is perhaps more fruitful to find a position where we can wish for each other that we find the right things for each of us during our very brief stay here AND that we are evolving with the time we are given. In teaching yoga, this concept helps the students to connect with and live from their svadharma or personal mission. It is only when we accept that there is no one answer that we can truly claim an open mind and thus real freedom for ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

It saddens me that we allow a definition of that path of yoga to include telling others how they should live when we could be empowering them and encouraging them to find what resonates in their living. Some should sit on thrones while others should roll in gutters, and all points in between.

I personally have a very limited diet. This is not to laud it above others as superior nor is it to pontificate about the benefits in the hopes there will be other adopters to make ME feel more comfortable. It is simply a matter of knowing myself and finding those things that work for me in my living.

“Should yoga teachers be vegetarian?” allows for a dualistic interpretation. On the one hand this could be saying “eating less meat is likely to be healthier for many human beings” while on the other hand it could be saying “in order to serve yoga as a conduit for its wisdom there cannot be any animal flesh in your body”. I trust that it is obvious how these two play out just on their very sentence structure. The first I can support as it is allowing. The second I cannot, as it is dictatorial, blatantly untrue, and lacks the very compassion (for human beings in addition to animals) we are tossing about on the waters of our dogma - though there’s nothing wrong with having a diet free of meat. It is quite lovely, in fact.

#16

David, that’s easy, for you to say living in Hawaii, eating locally for you is much simpler than eating locally for those of us that live in areas where that simply isn’t possible, we would indeed be malnourished and unable to teach and practice yoga.
It all boils down to doing the very best you can. At each moment, we are all doing our best. period.
But the question was should yoga teachers be vegetarians, it wasn’t a question about sustainable living, buying locally, or if EVERYONE should be vegetarian (which I think we all should but that’s beside my point", it was a question of practicing what you preach, and if you can’t see the difference between eating something that has been slaughtered and buying produce from another state, then you need to reevaluate your thought process.
Blessings.

#17

Well…if thinking globally…do not wash your hands - save a life to bacterias, they are creatures as well and they want to live…

Some people can not take meat, and some people can not live without it.

Remember the principle of ahimsa involves not to hurt yourself too, and vegetarian diet can be harmful to some people.

I was a vegetarian for some time, and I it was awesome, the body feels very light and mind is peaceful.

The path of yoga involves lot of dogmas, and certain rules but at the same time is highly individual.

#18

I had a bunch of things to say about this thread, but then I spent the entire weekend meditating on the concept of upeksha. The time I could offer towards passing judgment on those who pass judgement is much better used in the refinement of the activities of my own mind. I feel better already.

YSP 1.33 for the Win!

#19

[QUOTE=David;30540]Considering that prior to the advent of the combustion engine, people lived pretty much only on local grown food, I’m going to have to call false on that one.[/QUOTE]

Well, here in Sweden people weren’t precisely living only on the veggies and fruits they could grow locally. Vegetarianism came to my part of the world relatively late and without imported fruits and vegetables it simply wouldn’t happen, I’m quite certain of that. So, it does depend on where you live, half false then.

:rolleyes:

Let’s say then that everyone went back to living off locally grown food. What would that do to the world’s economy? While I can see your point I can’t see how we’re ever going to make that transition unless forced to. People who can produce and export and thus earn money and change their lives are going to do that if they get the chance. People who can buy something exotic, tasty or interesting that they do not have around them are going to do that too.

Lierre Keith makes some good points in her book about “the vegetarian myth” all up until she tries to paint the picture of her vision for the world. It’s frightening, she’s asking for a reduction of the human population to about 10 million. 10 million on the whole planet… not even Hitler coming back from the grave could achieve that!

Anyway, it’s already been said but might be worth repeating. I eat what I eat because it makes me feel comfortable, or less uneasy. It’s a comnpromise, it’s not for everyone and it may or may not be good for the world. I think of how early lay buddhists realized that as farmers they’d be digging in the ground killing worms so they simply changed their business to being merchants instead, becasue it involved less direct killing for them. That says something about the concept of ahimsa that I think we often forget here in the west.

#20

Hi David,

[quote]Originally Posted by Yogini Lacee
Read the book “The World Peace Diet”. If you are a yogi/yogini, you practice Ahimsa, that includes being a vegetarian.
Om Shanti.
It’s just plain not that simple. If your fruits and vegetables aren’t locally grown and organic, make absolutely no mistake, you are NOT practicing ahimsa.[/quote]a few thoughts:

Let’s say your fruits and vegetables are locally grown and organic. They’re even transported by horse instead of by car. Everything is perfect. So you’re practicing Ahimsa. Neat.

One day, though, the horse that transports apples accidently steps on a mouse on it’s way. The mouse dies, but you never become aware of that. You eat the apples. Are you or are you not practicing Ahimsa? Tricky, isn’t it.

Let’s say you’re aware of embodied energy and all, but to create yourself a healthy diet, you just cannot obtain all the food you need locally grown and organic, because it simply isn’t offered. What now?

I agree with Yogini Lacee and think that you’re practicing Ahimsa if you do the best you can. If you, for example, are unaware of embodied energy and such, how are you violent? Without a doubt, you won’t find a sound explanation for this. If you are aware and have a choice to get the good apples and then choose to get the apple that kills pelicans, then you’re obviously violent. But if you’re not, the killing that occurs due to feeding yourself is accidently, like the death of the mouse trampled by the horse that delivers your local organic apples. The same counts for killing animals: If you have no other way to feed, then kill the animal. Eskimos have to do so. But - why again would that be impossible? - do so with respect and not violent.

Hi justwannabe,

Instead of an opposing viewpoint, I wish to expand on your viewpoint. well if all yoga teachers should be vegetarian, based on the need to eliminate suffering in animals, then there are other things they should be as well. so to expand from your thought all should be vegetarian, they should also not have cars, for roads are built where animals should be living, the oil we use to fuel them has caused oil spills and many animal deaths. All the teachers should not have computers for making of them and the energy they use helps to pollute the environment.
and so on, quite funny, particularly the segment about levitation.

Let me expand that viewpoint the other way: If it’s not so important to be vegetarian, because then you would have to do the next and the next and the next thing, with which one - from that “expanded” viewpoint - really cannot be bothered, then what should a Yogi do at all? If one does not have to be a vegetarian, because that’d lead to the next thing, why would they not as well smoke 50 cigarettes per day? Or steal? Betray? Rape? And kill? The killing Yoga-teacher could as well say “well, what if I stopped to kill? I would have to become a vegetarian, oh my god! And then I would have to quit driving a car! Stop watching TV! No longer use a computer! Levitate! So no, it’s perfectly allright for me to kill. And rape. And betray. And steal. Smoke 50 cigarettes per day. I don’t even do Asanas and all that stuff! :D”

Absurd, isn’t it.

Hi InnerAthlete,

Well Elisabeth you’ve certainly opened Pandora’s Box with this topic. I personally try not to allow myself to slide into opinion but rather remain in the context of yoga so that I can speak from it (not for it). This requires a bit of work because as we all know the tint of our viewpoint can be a very stubborn stain.

Further I think it is important for us to realize that it really doesn’t matter one iota what we think everyone else should do, what we think yoga teachers should do, what we think our neighbor should do. Instead it is perhaps more fruitful to find a position where we can wish for each other that we find the right things for each of us during our very brief stay here AND that we are evolving with the time we are given. In teaching yoga, this concept helps the students to connect with and live from their svadharma or personal mission. It is only when we accept that there is no one answer that we can truly claim an open mind and thus real freedom for ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

It saddens me that we allow a definition of that path of yoga to include telling others how they should live when we could be empowering them and encouraging them to find what resonates in their living. Some should sit on thrones while others should roll in gutters, and all points in between.
you speak of “us” all the time, maybe you can enlighten me why you, for example, allow a definition of that path of yoga to include telling others how they should live when you could be empowering them and encouraging them to find what resonates in their living. You say it saddens you: Then why don’t you quit your self-saddening behavior? Is it because the tint of your viewpoint is a very stubborn stain…?

Rethorics; gotta love em. :smiley: Hypocrisy…? Not so much. :-/