My Vegan Journey
I am an animal loving, vegan runner who practices and teaches Kundalini Yoga and loves to cook and eat flavorful plant-based food.
I grew up in a typical meat-and-potatoes Midwestern town about 45 miles outside of Chicago, where words like vegetarianism and veganism were not in my vocabulary.
My first exposure to vegetarian food was in college.
A friend invited me over for dinner, which was vegetarian chili with something called Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP). It looked like meat and tasted like nothing. It was weird!
I didn't understand why anyone would eat something that looks like meat if they don't eat meat...
I didn't get it and I certainly didn't like it. I also didn't give it much of a chance.
In 2007, I fell in love with and began practicing Kundalini Yoga & Meditation. The practice changed my life.
For the first time, I started processing and expressing my emotions in a healthy and compassionate way.
Almost immediately, I dove into a daily yoga & meditation practice.
By the time I began Teacher Training in 2009, my personal sadhana (daily practice) was very strong.
In Kundalini Yoga, vegetarian diet (including dairy, but no eggs) is recommended.
The philosophy is that this diet aids the meditative experience. Because we are able to digest plant foods more efficiently than meat, during the early morning hours we can use our energy to meditate and digest emotions and experiences rather than last night's meal. Yoga also teaches the concept of ahimsa which means do no harm, making a vegetarian (and ultimately a plant-based) lifestyle the more compassionate choice.
But, I can be quite stubborn and with my strong sadhana, I didn't feel a vegetarian diet was necessary for me.
So I continued to eat meat.
Then, in 2013, our beloved cat Sasha became terminally ill.
As we cared for her in her final flickering days of life, I felt honored to be sharing this time with her.
When it was time to say goodbye to my dear friend, I played special music and held her lovingly as her soul left her body.
After this experience, I thought, if I believe Sasha has a soul and feels love, pain and comfort, why don't I believe this about all animals?
And with that, on August 4, 2013, I became a vegetarian. Armed with this belief about animals, giving up meat was surprisingly easy.
Fast forward to December 2, 2015 (funny how we remember these dates) when I sat down to watch Racing Extinction on the Discovery Channel. The movie begins with the song of the last living male Kauai O'o bird singing for the female bird who never comes.
As tears flowed down my cheeks, I knew something in me changed. By the end of the film, I was vegan.
Cowspiracy was the next film I watched and I was resolved. Seeing the impact of the animal agriculture industry on our planet, on human beings, and of course, on the animals, made eliminating all animal products an easy choice.
I started to experience shifts in my physical and emotional wellbeing with this new lifestyle.
Heart disease is rampant in my family and after having high cholesterol for years, moving to a plant based diet brought my cholesterol into a normal range for the first time in my adult life.
Also, I noticed I have less pain and inflammation in my body after long runs, making my recovery time shorter,
allowing me to train for longer distances with more energy.
My digestion has improved significantly with this lifestyle, especially since I started incorporating principles of Ayurveda into my life. Learning how to prepare and eat my food in a loving and mindful way has taught me how to enjoy it in a whole new way.
And on a spiritual level, I find eating a more compassionate diet reminds me to be more compassionate with myself and others.
Change didn't come from someone else pushing an agenda or guilting me about my choices.
For me, when information makes sense, the choice to change is simple.
We each make decisions for ourselves in our own time and food is an important part of our lives.
Food is social. It is nurturing. It is often ingrained in our family gatherings memories. All of this can make change challenging.
This is why I want to share how tasty, inexpensive, easy and healthful it can be to cook and eat this way.
I want to inspire you to eat more veggies and consume fewer animal products while learning to prepare
and enjoy food in a loving and mindful way.
I want you to experience how delicious plant based food can be.
This is the foundation for the plant based cooking classes I teach at Urban Yoga Chicago
and for the plant based cookbook we are developing.
With grace & gratitude,
Jodh Kaur
The Plant Powered Warrior
Jodh Kaur means Princess of God who is an undaunted and brave warrior for truth and righteousness.
I grew up in a typical meat-and-potatoes Midwestern town about 45 miles outside of Chicago, where words like vegetarianism and veganism were not in my vocabulary.
My first exposure to vegetarian food was in college.
A friend invited me over for dinner, which was vegetarian chili with something called Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP). It looked like meat and tasted like nothing. It was weird!
I didn't understand why anyone would eat something that looks like meat if they don't eat meat...
I didn't get it and I certainly didn't like it. I also didn't give it much of a chance.
In 2007, I fell in love with and began practicing Kundalini Yoga & Meditation. The practice changed my life.
For the first time, I started processing and expressing my emotions in a healthy and compassionate way.
Almost immediately, I dove into a daily yoga & meditation practice.
By the time I began Teacher Training in 2009, my personal sadhana (daily practice) was very strong.
In Kundalini Yoga, vegetarian diet (including dairy, but no eggs) is recommended.
The philosophy is that this diet aids the meditative experience. Because we are able to digest plant foods more efficiently than meat, during the early morning hours we can use our energy to meditate and digest emotions and experiences rather than last night's meal. Yoga also teaches the concept of ahimsa which means do no harm, making a vegetarian (and ultimately a plant-based) lifestyle the more compassionate choice.
But, I can be quite stubborn and with my strong sadhana, I didn't feel a vegetarian diet was necessary for me.
So I continued to eat meat.
Then, in 2013, our beloved cat Sasha became terminally ill.
As we cared for her in her final flickering days of life, I felt honored to be sharing this time with her.
When it was time to say goodbye to my dear friend, I played special music and held her lovingly as her soul left her body.
After this experience, I thought, if I believe Sasha has a soul and feels love, pain and comfort, why don't I believe this about all animals?
And with that, on August 4, 2013, I became a vegetarian. Armed with this belief about animals, giving up meat was surprisingly easy.
Fast forward to December 2, 2015 (funny how we remember these dates) when I sat down to watch Racing Extinction on the Discovery Channel. The movie begins with the song of the last living male Kauai O'o bird singing for the female bird who never comes.
As tears flowed down my cheeks, I knew something in me changed. By the end of the film, I was vegan.
Cowspiracy was the next film I watched and I was resolved. Seeing the impact of the animal agriculture industry on our planet, on human beings, and of course, on the animals, made eliminating all animal products an easy choice.
I started to experience shifts in my physical and emotional wellbeing with this new lifestyle.
Heart disease is rampant in my family and after having high cholesterol for years, moving to a plant based diet brought my cholesterol into a normal range for the first time in my adult life.
Also, I noticed I have less pain and inflammation in my body after long runs, making my recovery time shorter,
allowing me to train for longer distances with more energy.
My digestion has improved significantly with this lifestyle, especially since I started incorporating principles of Ayurveda into my life. Learning how to prepare and eat my food in a loving and mindful way has taught me how to enjoy it in a whole new way.
And on a spiritual level, I find eating a more compassionate diet reminds me to be more compassionate with myself and others.
Change didn't come from someone else pushing an agenda or guilting me about my choices.
For me, when information makes sense, the choice to change is simple.
We each make decisions for ourselves in our own time and food is an important part of our lives.
Food is social. It is nurturing. It is often ingrained in our family gatherings memories. All of this can make change challenging.
This is why I want to share how tasty, inexpensive, easy and healthful it can be to cook and eat this way.
I want to inspire you to eat more veggies and consume fewer animal products while learning to prepare
and enjoy food in a loving and mindful way.
I want you to experience how delicious plant based food can be.
This is the foundation for the plant based cooking classes I teach at Urban Yoga Chicago
and for the plant based cookbook we are developing.
With grace & gratitude,
Jodh Kaur
The Plant Powered Warrior
Jodh Kaur means Princess of God who is an undaunted and brave warrior for truth and righteousness.
