Happy National Vegetarian week!

People often ask me “aren’t yogis supposed to be vegetarian”?
The answer is yes, a Sattvic diet is a fundamental aspect of yoga. Sattva is the quality of purity and goodness and a sattivc diet is pure vegetarian (no eggs) and only very lightly spiced, abstinence from alcohol or other drugs is included in this diet.  As one progresses in their yoga practice the desire to continue to eat meat and take drugs is lost as the body becomes lighter and the mind brighter.  The heaviness that meat brings and the dullness that drugs especially alcohol brings can no longer be tolerated as the yogi progresses towards the quality of sattva.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t be a yoga practitioner or teacher and eat meat, we all start from different places and have different goals, some people start their yoga practice with a vegetarian diet, some with meditation, some with community work (selfless service) and some with the physical practice of asana.

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