My compassion journey started 21 years ago. I was 15 and got my first pet, Henry the rabbit. And the day I got him I wondered, how can people eat such a cute animal? And then it dawned on me: isn’t it just wrong to decide about someone's right to life just based on how cute they look? From that very day I became a vegetarian. One day a couple of years later, I came across a video on dairy farming. And that was the final shift to understand that veganism is the way to go. So about 6 years ago I went vegan, yes and honestly I wished I had someone close by who would have helped open my eyes earlier.
My yoga journey started actually about a year later. First as a student, later as a student and teacher. Looking into the yamas, one of the foundations of yoga, I started seeing veganism in every single one of them. Ahimsa seems obvious. But look closely at the other four as well: Satya - truthfulness - are we lying to ourselves about the cruelty and impact of animal farming?
Asteya - not taking anything that is not freely given to us - cows milk ain’t for us, darling.
Bramacharia - right use of sexual energy - artificial insemination doesn’t really work well with that idea either.
Aparigraha - non-greed - taking more than we need, just think about the surface that is required to grow kettle, and if we would just plant plants there how that could feed the planet.
The more yoga I study, the more obvious it is that yoga is vegan and I became passionate about teaching to share love and compassion not only for humans. Within the last year, I started to use my platform as a teacher to speak out for the voiceless by connecting veganism and yoga. Giving talks on the yamas and veganism or hosting vegan yoga brunches and retreats. So let us practice yoga for a better world for all beings. Yoga is vegan.
—Featured Yogi
Julia Gräßer
Instagram: @warriorprincessyoga
Website: warriorprincessyoga.com