Ahimsa 101 – Suzie Muchnick, with Michael Spencer

Photo: Felix Muzquiz

AHIMSA 101: DOES EATING MEAT INTERFERE WITH THE DEEPENING OF OUR YOGA PRACTICE?

By Suzie Muchnick, with Michael Spencer

Science reveals the stunning benefits of a plant-based

diet—in fact, the claimed effects of veganism seem impossible sometimes. Will avoiding meat actually help save the planet and reduce pollution, all the while helping us dodge diabetes, cancer, and heart disease? Actually, yes, the claims are true, and more: Eliminating animal flesh from our diets could dramatically reduce global hunger, and it honors animals.

Despite all of these claims, many people continue to eat meat. Why? People do things for many reasons. Frequently, we do things against our own self-interest, balancing the desire of the moment against a long, healthy life. Or we convince ourselves, despite the evidence, that eating meat is the only way to get the nutrition we need. And sometimes even our doctors tell us we need meat to stay healthy. There’s an inexplicable streak of individualism in all of us that sometimes makes no sense whatsoever, and yet without it, the magic of being human would be gone. Indeed, we must make these choices for ourselves as individuals.

But as yogis, how does the food we eat affect our practice? And does eating meat actually go against the first Yama— ahimsa, or nonviolence?

While the Iyengars have not published extensively on the topic, Guruji makes it clear in Light on Yoga that a vegetarian diet is essential for practicing yoga. In his introductory discussion of ahimsa, he writes, “Men either kill for food or to protect themselves from danger. But merely because a man is a vegetarian, it does not necessarily follow that he is nonviolent by temperament or that he is a yogi, though a vegetarian diet is a necessity for the practice of yoga. Blood-thirsty tyrants may be vegetarians, but violence is a state of mind, not of diet.” Guruji and Prashantji have both said that they do not demand that their students be vegetarian. They know that time and yoga practice will naturally lead to vegetarianism. In the introduction to Light on Yoga, Guruji writes, “Whether or not to be a vegetarian is a purely personal matter… But, in the course of time, the practitioner of yoga has to adopt a vegetarian diet, in order to attain one-pointed attention and spiritual evolution.” Digest that as you will.

The notion that yoga practice brings vegetarianism isn’t unique to Guruji. Hindu scholar Edwin Bryant’s extensive commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali paraphrases Hariharananda, head of the Kriya Yoga Institute in the U.S., stating that the fifth limb of yoga, Dharana or concentration, is essential for perfecting the Yamas and Niyamas. While ahimsa is presented in the sutras as the very first Yama that a practitioner must follow, Dharana deepens our ability to practice the earlier limbs. And so as our practice deepens, our understanding of ahimsa will also broaden and may come to include practicing vegetarianism.

In Volume 4 of Astadala Yogamala, Guruji graphically illustrates another reason to consciously choose what you eat: “A nonvegetarian diet is not conducive to the mental and spiritual aspects of yoga. When an animal is lead to a slaughterhouse, does anyone study the terror, fear, and anguish before it is slaughtered? This consequently changes the chemical composition of the animal’s body, which is very disturbed. When one eats this disturbed, perturbed, frightened, and chemically changed flesh of the animal, naturally it affects the system and disturbs the harmony of one’s body and mind.” As Guruji framed the process, does it really matter if the meat was “factory farmed” or “free-range”?

My Own Journey to Veganism One of life’s punctuation marks came as a rebuke from a student in March 1975 upon learning that I was not vegetarian. I thought little of it at the time, but a seed was planted those 40 years ago, a benign seed lying quietly close to a ready heart. But I had eyes that would not see.

Why would I even think about diet and yoga? My life was all about food—I’m Jewish, after all. I was a latch-key kid growing up in a traditional Jewish family. My first-generation American parents both worked. Meals centered around beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, milk, and Mrs. Paul’s Fish sticks. Yes, I also ate the usual vegetables, and there was a sense that “healthiness” was important.

Mommy and “Ma” (my grandmother) cooked for all the holidays. How I loved the Challah bread (and the French toast made with leftovers) and the stuffed cabbage! There was chicken soup with knaidlach (eggs), and of course, they made kugel (with cheese). A holiday kitchen atmosphere was thick as a steam bath. Pots and ovens were mere tools in the hands of those two ladies, practicing the magic of traditional Jewish cooking.

And we loved Chinese and Italian food. Every Sunday was Chinese takeout night. Other times, Mom would make the best spaghetti and meatballs. I recall all of those dishes fondly. Fastforward to 2014, and I’m still making my favorite childhood dishes—but vegan versions!

Growing up, and even after I’d started practicing yoga to some degree, I didn’t think about what animals went through to feed us, the cruelty that was perpetrated on them. It never occurred to me that the chicken breast I was eating was the muscle of a chicken. And it wasn’t that I didn’t have an understanding of anatomy. But meat is … meat, right? Not an animal! We live in a state of disconnection (bhrantidarsana) from the animals we eat. My husband mutters, “dead body parts” as we shuffle past the meat department at the grocery store. Truer words were never spoken.

My journey started not with diet but with a nascent animal activism. I was so against animal experimentation that during my graduate work in physical education I asked my anatomy and physiology teacher to lower my grade in an attempt to avoid animal dissection. The university wouldn’t agree; I did the dissection. But I honored that cat with meticulous surgery and respectfully buried her. All my classmates used my cat as an example for their dissections. Students now have choices thanks to the work of the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) and The National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS).

So does eating meat interfere with our practice? Each of us must decide that for ourselves.

Eventually, I began to believe that eating meat—and ultimately all animal products—interfered with my yoga practice, blocking my spiritual path. For me, a nonvegetarian diet did not fit in with my desire to go deeper. My husband, Michael, had a similar experience: Starting his yoga life in Louisiana, he came to realize one day that he was not eating meat.

My yoga practice forms the framework of my life, and that means much more than getting down on the mat. Practice encompasses the whole of yoga: the Yamas and the Niyamas; Sirsasana and the effects of Sirsasana; practicing maitri and learning discrimination; and dharma, duty. Is it also necessary to be vegan? Is it incumbent on me to observe ahimsa toward all sentient beings?

When we practice asana, our efforts affect not only our muscles and bones but also our organic body parts: our heart and lungs and so on. We have methods to help menstrual cramps, anxiety, depression, Parkinson’s disease—the list goes on. But we also affect our “abode” by what we eat (or don’t eat). Recently, I read one of the first pages on the IYNAUS website about Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga:

The first two limbs of yoga, Yama and Niyama, give us guidance for our conduct. One of the most essential of these rules is ahimsa, nonviolence—sometimes translated as love for others. This idea is too complex to be easily understood, but in Iyengar Yoga students learn to practice ahimsa while practicing asana.

One example: Performed incorrectly, a yoga asana may cause pain in the knee. When the student learns the remedy—correct alignment, as directed by an Iyengar Yoga instructor—the pose is done without pain, without doing violence to the self. The student then begins to understand nonviolence and how to apply it, first in yoga, then “off the mat,” in life.

Again, it’s a reference to that deepening of practice.

So does one have to become a vegan to practice ahimsa? Would I give up honey, leather shoes and belts, all of the animal products that pervade our environment? This question haunted me for many years as I continued to grow in my yoga practice and in my life. Maturation and reflection failed to yield a clear answer. The question plagued me until a teacher training in 1996 with Manouso Manos in New York. Manouso was teaching

headstand—long headstand, the kind of headstand where the sweat drips and the hands slip with wetness. Why did clarity come at that time? Who knows? In fact, who cares?! Gratefully, the way forward was clear. To know what I had learned about animal agriculture (yes, even pasture-raised and organic agriculture) and to still support animal-based industries, including pharmaceutical and cosmetic, was shameful to me. I definitely cannot practice ahimsa and support those industries.

I Encourage My Students Knowing about my plant-based diet, students look to me for leadership in the way they naturally look to teachers. It is a serious responsibility. They know many of my life choices. They know that I am an animal activist and that I have a totally vegan diet. When they ask, “Why?” I tell them. Some are daunted by the prospect of trying to make dietary changes or are concerned that becoming a vegetarian will require more hours in the kitchen. Each journey is unique. All of us come to terms with unwanted behaviors and releasing old habits on our own. We deepen our yoga practice individually and at a pace that seems right. Still, the move away from consuming animals is important beyond the level of the individual. I urge them where I can, nudge them when I must.

The studio offers literature about research in the science of nutrition and disease. In the same way that I share “my yoga” with interested students, I also share my life choices like eating a totally plant-based diet for the spiritual reasons as well as the known benefits.

I know that not all of my students practice the lessons I share from the Yoga Sutras and The Bhagavad Gita, and I know that some of my students will not practice veganism even after I share my experiences with them. As I know well, a seed planted near a willing heart will abide, waiting for the eyes to open. I do fret when a student develops a condition like diabetes or heart disease, and I know that they eat animal-based foods (even if they are not overweight).

Many of my students say they are simply too busy to make the change, that they don’t have time to chop all those vegetables. The thing is, adopting a plant-based diet does not require extra time. I know because I have a busy life myself. Neither Michael nor I want to spend extra time in the kitchen. Most of the meals we cook at home don’t take any longer to make than if we were having meat.

We both know that approaching the kitchen with a bad attitude yields bad food, so we try to use cooking time as a respite, not a chore. We use meal times to step away from the fray to nurture our bodies. We keep it simple when we are busy, just like a meat-eater would, and reach for familiar recipes that we can pull together easily.

When someone is interested in vegetarianism or veganism but just can’t make the leap, it’s really about overcoming obstacles—the same obstacles that get in the way of our practice in general, as outlined in Sutra I:30:

vyadhi (disease) styana (mental laziness) samsaya (doubt, indecision) pramada (negligence) alasya (physical laziness) avirati (lacking moderation) bhrantidarsana (living in an illusion) alabdhabhumikatva (missing the mark) anavasthitatvani (back-sliding) cittaviksepah (scattered, distracted mind)

So does eating meat interfere with our practice? Each of us must decide that for ourselves. Adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet is just one possibility along the yogic journey. And it’s up to us to decide what our yoga journey means to us and how far we’d like to take it. Regardless where we are along this path, it’s useful to look at the obstacles that block our deepening. We always have choices.

Vegan Resources

One way that some meat-eaters make the transition to veganism is to use “faux meat” in familiar recipes. Made to resemble meat products and often heavily processed, faux meat is a bit controversial. It’s wonderfully useful, though, because frequently a simple one-for-one substitution can be made in any recipe that calls for meat.

Inform yourself. The Internet offers loads of nutritional information and recipes on vegetarianism and veganism. Here are a few useful sites:

http://pcrm.org/health/diets/recipes http://www.forksoverknives.com/category/recipes http://engine2diet.com/recipes/favorites/ http://www.veganricha.com/search/label/main%20course http://www.peacefuldumpling.com/category/food/recipes

Suzie Muchnick (Intermediate Junior III) is the director of Postures, also known as The Yoga Workshop, in New York and Coconut Grove, Fla. Michael Spencer is a landscape architect and garden writer.