This past Sunday a friend and I drove from NYC in our Zipcar to Woodstock for the annual “Thanksliving” banquet at the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary (Find link below). Mesmerized by the colors of the leaves, every year I make my way upstate to appreciate the changes that surround us. With every year I am awe-inspired by Earth Mother and the vibrant colors that are the backdrop in the mountains, Mmm my voyeurism is alive & in connection with the earth :).
When we arrived to the sanctuary goats, chickens & turkeys are in view as well as the continued visual of a breathtaking mix of every shade of the colors orange, red, yellow & green. We made our way under a tent that held a couple hundred people coming together to support the beings that cannot speak up for themselves. The cruelty of animals is rampant in our world and I am proud to be able to use my voice and my compassion to honor them.
My journey into not eating animal flesh or fluids has been over the last two years as my deeper immersion into the practice of Yoga began. I became more mindful of food and how it affected my mental and physical being. I started my experiment to see what my body needed not what just "tasted" good. I noticed my bending and twisting in my asana practice when I ate an animal versus food that was grown from the earth. About nine months later, I went to the Bramananda Ashram in California to do my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Certification Training, so I decided to experiment the “Pure” vegetarian life. After 32 days I felt clearer which I thought was because I was living in the Ashram and away from the movement and energy of everyday life.
That was 14 months ago and since then what was once an experiment became an adventure into every day, to listen to my truth and so I began to choose what I wanted due to my experience not what information I had heard from another. I no longer eat anything from an animal but I only have today, this moment.
I looked closer into what is really going on in factory farms, and how appalling it is to see the way animals are being treated and what ends up on our plate. It is NOT the cow on the carton of milk grazing in the green meadow eating grass or the chickens free to walk on the earth awaiting a painless death. I spoke with people that went into the farms and who brought some of the video of the Truth to fruition. It was hard to watch as it is for so many people, the less we know , the less we have to change what we are doing, the more it is OK. I understand that, I was similar to that thought process BUT it is happening and I can longer ignore it.
I would never tell anyone not to eat meat as that is a choice I made for myself. I offer to you the information you may not now that could give you the possibility of a healthier lifestyle and compassion to the cow, chicken or steer you might see when you pass by a farm.
Below is a video narrated by Paul McCartney, it is important we are aware of what is happening to the food we eat. These beings feel and are social and how we keep them from the time they are born to the time of there painful death, it is hard to call it a life.
We all do the best we can, the more knowledge that we attain gives us more possibilities to live in our truth and have the best lives we can possibly have.
Blessed Be!
Ahimsa - Non violence is the first Yama which is the 1st limb out of the 8 limbs of Yoga (Ashtanga means 8 limbs)
(will give more elaboration in an upcoming blog)
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu.
May All Beings Everywhere Be Happy.
The Sanctuary: http://www.woodstocksanctuary.org/news-events/events/thanksliving-details/
Glass Walls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4YX_iVWIe0
Book Suggestion: http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Diet-Chronic-Disease-Prevention/dp/1590560388/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287073472&sr=8-1
