http://www.prostatitis.org/myofascial.html

While this is a common problem, finding appropriate treatment can be difficult.

But yogis take the teachings broadly, especially in the West, and I know some who hold ahimsa to be the practice of not taking on the dualistic view that self and other exist at all in any real way, and since they don’t, “killing” is just an illusion! (This is one of the arguments Krishna gives Arjuna in the Gita in favor of going to war.) My feeling about whether a practitioner is in integrity around ahimsa depends on how they’ve committed to work with that principle.

For myself, I do feel that I can’t simultaneously make a vow of ahimsa, or non-harming, without also making the intention to take or harm life as little as possible. And I can’t see how to live in that vow while causing animals’ deaths. I acknowledge that the circle of birth and death is everywhere, and that all my actions have effects, some harmful. This is karma, and is unavoidable. It’s partly why some early teachings emphasized stopping action as the way to stop karma. Some Jains have taken this to its extreme. But since it’s relatively easy in this culture and climate to eat a rich vegetarian diet, I am willing to work with whatever discomforts result, for the greater good of living within my precepts. I’m thin, vata predominant, and sleepy/low energy a lot. Would meat shift all these things in a positive direction? Maybe. But it’s not worth it for me. If I had a more intense imbalance, it might be a harder decision, but at the root of the issue for me is that my physical comfort isn’t the most important thing in my yoga practice, as desirable as it is.

Modern western yoga is deeply tied to the desire to be healthy and strong in our bodies. If this is one of our core goals in being yogis, then meat eating might be the most yogic thing for some bodies. Early Buddhist and Raja yoga are not about personal health in this way – far from it, often – and so the ideal of ahimsa is cultivated as a greater good (and a deeper training of the heart) than the radiance of the physical body which is seen as impermanent (and selfless) anyway. Later Tantric and Hatha teachings rebelled against this austerity (which was taken to ridiculous extremes as times) by declaring all 5 forbidden substances (the 5 M’s: meat, grain, alcohol, fish, sex) to be allowed and necessary for the non dual practitioner in a ritual setting. In practice, the 5 were still mostly avoided by yogis. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, like Patanjali and the Buddha, lists ahimsa as the first yama, or ethical training. There’s no evidence that the Tantric tradition suggests a daily, habitual meat diet as appropriate for yogis, even if meat is used in ritual and as a practice of being beyond society’s mores. One teaching says that the ingestion of the 5 M’s should only happen when one’s equanimity is so deep that eating the most delicious meal and a pile of shit would be – in terms of desire generated – effectively the same.

Of course, most western yogis are not going to the texts and trying to justify their diets based on ancient ascetic suggestions! Most folks are just trying to live in a way that’s healthy and sustainable, for their own bodies and for the planet. The yogis who push vegetarianism rightly claim precedence in the texts, and I think rightly point to the big picture of harm on a global agricultural level, not just to the individual animals, but to the whole ecosystem. But individual health is important and respectable, and if a yogis intention is to nourish their body through practice of all kinds, making a conducive space for the hard work of inner freedom, and they find that meat eating supports their practice in a way that nothing else does, then it could be said to be “yogic” to do so.

Lastly, I want to bow to all my yogi friends who wrestle with this issue. I don’t want my argument in favor of yogic vegetarianism to cause any guilt or be read as criticism. That would defeat my hope to not cause harm. I myself am emotional about the issue partly because the precepts (yama) have been so important to me in my practice. (When I was a monk, my name translated as “protected by ethics”!) Given my love for ahimsa, and the safety it gives rise to in my heart, I simply can’t eat meat. Health isn’t in the equation much for me (& gratefully, I’m healthy). But that’s my own vow. We each have to find our own. And if your vow is to take care of this body you’ve been given in the best way you know how – if that’s ahimsa for you – then maybe meat is your medicine. The thing that’s not yogic is habit. If we’re awake to what we’re doing, what we’re eating, honest with ourselves, and not in denial about the effects of our actions, as wide as our minds can see them, then we’re doing our yoga.

May everyone find their way, and may all beings be safe and happy.

(Sorry to go on so long, Karen! A subject close to my heart…)

I’m a yoga teacher & i see strength and beauty in different shapes.

The athletic wear industry makes & markets clothes for an “ideal” healthy female body.

I’m about to change all that

Stay tuned. My line launches Spring ’12