Yoga Is Vegan

The greatest changes in my life have always come out of the darkest moments. It feels awful going through it but with time and reflection, life’s adversities are necessary for personal growth.

If any year is going to be a catalyst for global change in my lifetime, I’m guessing it’s going to be 2020. We have suffered collectively and yet each one of us have had vastly different experiences. 2021 is our opportunity to make great change. It’s our duty as yogis to not only live by example, but to recognize each one of our talents and use them to help guide others on their search for enlightenment. My hope is that through the alignment of ahimsa and veganism we can teach others that the unnecessary suffering and slaughter of other beings is at the root of our own suffering.

This episode includes some of the most influential yogi and animal activists that I interviewed in 2020. I hope their words inspire others to begin their vegan journey,

The following are excerpts from these episodes:

Episode 62- Boho Beautiful’s Juliana and Mark Spiculok
Episode 41- Seane Corn
Episode 39- Mathieu Boldron
Episode 71- John Joseph
Episode 60- James Aspey
Episode 47- Ray Ippolito
Episode 36- Ana Forrest & Jose Calarco
Episode 55- Tabay Atkins & Sahel Anvarinejad

Elsa Lagache is kind of a New Yorker. She has been living in the city for 7 years, biking every day no matter the weather conditions and practicing yoga as much as needed.


Elsa’s original plan was to bike from NYC to San Francisco. She wanted to stay along the way in ashrams and practice yoga in very diverse yoga studios across the United States. With covid shutting down most places, she decided to bike nonstop to Denver. When she arrived in San Francisco, she continued and went to San Diego.


Elsa embarked on this crazy adventure of 3,772 miles to show that we can always go further. We don’t have to take a plane to discover amazing places and being vegan doesn’t stop you from discovering local food. During this solo cross-country trip biking, she wanted to prove that it was easy to be vegan everywhere in the US.


Elsa is an environmental activist, trying her best to make this planet a better place for everyone. During her cycling adventure she raised funds for the non profit organizations, Keeping a Child Alive, Oceanic Global and World Bicycle Relief.

In this episode YIV's Holly Skodis and Elsa Lagache discuss the following:

Acro Bike
Warm Showers Bike Tour Hosting
Anonymous for the Voiceless
Living a zero waste lifestyle and steps to getting there
*To enter the Yoga Is Vegan Giveaway see below
Connect with Elsa:
Website: healmyplanet.com
Instagram: @healmyplanet

* Yoga is Vegan Giveaway Rules:

1. Leave a rating and a review. Go to ratethispodcast.com/yogaisvegan You must leave a review to be entered into the giveaway. (If you have already left a review, skip to step 2) See the link in bio for where to do it.

2. For an additional entry, share your favorite Yoga Is Vegan podcast episode on IG and tag 1 or more friends you think would like the podcast. Use the tag #YIVGiveawayJan2021 (you may do this as much as you like to increase your chances).

If you would like to enter and haven’t listened to the podcast, give it a listen and then go to step 1 above.

You have until January 1st to enter. In the meantime, I will read some of the reviews on the podcast! January 3rd, one lucky winner will be randomly selected. The winner will receive their choice of an available Yoga Is Vegan t-shirt or tank top.



Good luck! Together we can help inspire others to go vegan. 💚🙏🐮

Jay Mac, the founder and chef of the Kind Kitchen in Cape Town has proudly lived a vegan lifestyle since 2010. His yoga journey and the understanding that change in the world can only happen from within, inspired him to embark on his culinary journey. He studied at the Natural Epicurean School of Culinary Arts in Austin Texas in 2013, under the tutelage of fellow South African Inge Bothma. Jay is also the writer and director of the documentary, What is Real? The Story of Jivamukti Yoga.

In this episode, Yoga Vegan's Holly Skodis and Jay Mac discuss the following:

Fallen Gurus & Yogis
Karo Tak YIV Podcast Episode 25
Earthlings Documentary
Jivamukti Yoga
Vegan comfort food
What is Real? The Story of Jivamukti Yoga
Satsang Yoga with Andrea Boyd and Jeffrey Cohen
Kip Anderson and Cowspiracy
Keegan Kuhn
Teacher trainings and opportunities for growth
Filming What Is Real with Sharon Gannon and David Life
Lady Ruth and Russell Simmons
Austin Sanderson YIV episode 77
Alan Watts
Connect with Jay:


Instagram @thekindkitchen
Facebook: @tkkwoodstock
Website: thekindtichen.co.za
Film: What is Real? The Story of Jivamukti Yoga

Jake Conroy is a long-time activist, designer, and writer currently residing in Seattle, WA USA. He helped organize and participated in successful local, regional, national and international pressure campaigns. He also helped build the foundation of SHAC USA, considered one of the most successful grassroots animal rights campaigns in history. He and his co-organizers were subsequently arrested by the US government for their roles and dubbed the SHAC7. Jake and his codefendants were found guilty after a lengthy trial and he was sentenced to 4 years in federal prison. In 2019, the Joaquin Phoenix produced documentary, The Animal People, was released detailing the campaign and the controversial court case.
Currently, Jake works at the Rainforest Action Network, an international organization using pressure campaigns to stop rainforest deforestation, fossil fuel extraction, and support human rights. He can be found pontificating online as the Cranky Vegan, where he irritates everyone with his thoughts on the tactics, strategies and optics of the grassroots animal rights movement.
In this episode Yoga Is Vegan's Holly Skodis and Jake Conroy discuss the following:
The Animal People Documentary
SHAC Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty
Pressure Campaigns
The grassroots Animal Rights Movement
Animal Enterprise Protection Act
Eating in prison as a vegan
The prison black market
Taking and teaching yoga in prisons
The Rainforest Action Network
Effective Activism
Connect with Jake:

YouTube: @thecrankyvegan
Instagram: @thecrankyvegan
Facebook: @thecranklyvegan
Email: [email protected]

Helen Wilson turned to yoga in her mid-twenties, towards the end of a high-pressure career in the news media, as a way to help cope with stress, anxiety and depression. What followed was a 12 year journey of self-discovery and personal development at which yoga is at the heart.

She began yoga teacher training under Indian yoga master Yogacharya Jnandev at Yoga Satsanga Ashram, West Wales, in 2013. After attaining her 200hr certificate, Helen went on to be awarded her 500hr YTT certificate in 2016 alongside 80hr certification in Pregnancy Yoga. Helen has undertaken a further 150hr training with Yoga Elder, Sama Fabian at The Green House School of Yoga. As Womankind Yoga, she now runs the UK's largest Beach Yoga Class which takes place every summer on the South Coast of Wales and she also teaches Paddleboard Yoga. Helen has a weekly online yoga class that broadcasts from Facebook every Tuesday.

An animal lover from childhood - Helen turned vegetarian at the age of 10 and went on to become vegan in 2007 when she started work at UK vegan charity, Viva! She has spent the last 12 years promoting, teaching and creating vegan food and has delivered dozens of talks and cookery demonstrations across the UK and online. As a self-taught vegan chef, her recipes have appeared in many major food magazines, books and websites. Her current project is the opening of a new plant-based coffee shop in her home city of Swansea.

Helen is also a freelance writer for vegan charity Viva! and host and producer of The Viva! Vegan Podcast.
In this episode Yoga Is Vegan's Holly Skodis and Helen Wilson discuss the following:

Viva! UK’s leading vegan campaigning charity, specialising in undercover investigations and high-profile animal campaigns
Helen’a vegan/yoga journey
Why eggs are cruel
Helen's experience at the Yoga Satsanga Ashram Wales teacher training and her karma work in the kitchen
Helen's new vegan coffee shop the Great Green Kitchen
Cooking demos as vegan activism
Woman Kind Yoga

Paul Rodney Turner, the “Food Yogi” is the international director of Food for Life and the co-founder of Food for Life Global, the world headquarters for the charity. Food for Life is the largest plant-based food relief in the world with 211 projects in 60 countries that serve up to 2 million meals daily.

Paul spent 14 years as a Hare Krishna monk. During that time he took a vow of celibacy and studied the ancient teachings of the Vedas as taught by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. In the years of Paul’s life as a monk, he learned gourmet vegetarian cooking and was soon cooking the Sunday feasts for the Sunday Hare Krishna temple. His desire to focus exclusively on India’s Vedic culture of hospitality inspired him to start his own outreach project.

Over the last 33 years, Paul has traveled to 70 countries throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas, helping to inspire and set up new Food for Life projects and train volunteers. He has raised millions of dollars in funds: gave hundreds of public lectures, appeared on television and radio and met with numerous government officials.

Paul is the author of FOOD YOGA and SOUL POWER, Five Noble Truths for a Successful Life.

In this episode Yoga Is Vegan's Holly Skodis and Paul Rodney Turner discuss the following:

Food for Life Global
Food Yoga, Nourishing Body, Mind & Soul by Paul Rodney Turner
Hare Krisha & Krishna Consciousness
Krishna devotees and the relationship to milk
Life Comes from Life: Morning Walks with A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Paul's experiences as a monk
The role of food in raising your awareness and consciousness
Conscious Eating by Gabriel Cousens M.D.
Bhagavad Gita
The Ayurvedic Diet
Connect with Paul Rodney Turner

Blog: paulrodneyturner.com
Linkedin
Food For Life Global
The Om Guarantee
Julianas Animal Sanctuary

Meg and Komie Vora- are ecopreneurs, the co-founders and designers behind Delikate Rayne (DR)- an award-winning, ethical, eco-friendly, cruelty-free women's label that produces in made to order/limited quantities to ensure zero waste whenever possible. The Vora sisters are disturbing the fashion industry by being a voice for the voiceless, empowering other females to go after their passion and pushing boundaries as brown creatives. The Vora sisters are first generation born and raised in the USA. They are going against the grain- forgoing their traditional cultural and gender expectations, by using their upbringing (Jain + Hindi roots plus born & raised vegetarian- now vegan) alongside their adoration of animals, to create green luxury- definitive and progressive vegan designs with a purpose into existence. DR also serves as a platform to bring awareness to the many overlooked issues in fashion including sustainability, cruelty and ethics. Plus making compassion cool by redefining luxury through changing the preconceived notions of what "lux" is. They also curate a conscious sanctuary through DR Diary which focuses on and educates about vegan/sustainable fashion, beauty, food, travel, wellness, mindfulness & more for your higher self.

The Vora sisters had no formal industry experience or contacts, but their willingness not to conform to others expectations outweighed their fears and obstacles. Through their unstoppable drive and determinism to follow their desires, they set out to do whatever they could to make their dream a reality. What's particularly interesting about the Vora sisters is turning the things that they were once alienated and made fun of for while growing up resulted into making a remarkable impact later in their life. As a result, the sisters have become one of the pioneers of the kind fashion movement and are leading examples of how their unconventional upbringing and values led them to discover their passion which ultimately led to uncovering their purpose which is now channeled through the creation of Delikate Rayne. To date, the sisters and their company were on the front page in both digital and print of Colombia based Be Vegan Magazine and India West. Other notable interviews/features include: Forbes, NBC, Miss Bish, Galore, The Zoe Report, WWD, E! Online, The Los Angeles Times, StyleCaster, BuzzFeed, VegNews, Sakara, The Hindustan Times, Cheddar, Business Rockstars, The Orange County Register and many more. In addition, the Vora sisters have been guests on several podcasts, TV shows, radio segments and conferences/panels. The sisters have also conceptualized and served as creative directors for multiple fashion for good projects including PETA USA, NYLON magazine, PETA India, The Animal Hope and Wellness Center and others. They are also guest writers/features for 3 books on vegan style, living, and green business acumen. Today, Meg and Komie have built Delikate Rayne into a leading platform of bringing awareness all while paving the way for other compassionate companies.
In this episode Yoga Is Vegan's Holly Skodis and Meg and Komie Vora discuss the following:
Growing up in a Hindi and Jain household and how Ahimsa entered into their lives.
Meg & Komie's vegan story
Building their ethical, eco-friendly, cruelty-free women's label, Delikate Rayne.
The impacts of fast fashion on the environment
Connect with Meg & Komie Vora:

Website: Delikaterayne.com
Twitter: @delikaterayne
Facebook: @Delikaterayne
Pinterest: @delikaterayne
Instagram: @delikaterayne

Mary Farrell was one of the first Candians certified in the Jivamukti Yoga lineage in 2003. Jivamukti Yoga, rooted in ethical vegetarianism, veganism, has inspired every aspect of Mary's life. She founded Blossoming Lotus Yoga is 2011, where she introduced people to the authentic practices of Yoga. She was a founding member of Windsor's Vegfest, which hosted such notable speakers as Dr, Neal Barnard and Peta's own Ingrid Newkirk, and she is part owner of Windsor's first fully vegan comfort food restaurant, Nooch. She hopes to encourage people to embrace veganism through the delicious food she serves or the inspirational classes she teaches.

In this episode Yoga Is Vegan's Holly Skodis and Mary Farrell discuss the following:
Running her restaurant, Nooch during a pandemic
Finding compassion for people who fall during their vegan journey
Resistance or acceptance of the word GOD
Closing her studio, Blossoming Lotus Yoga due to COVID
Connect with Mary:

Instagram @maryfarrellyoga
Facebook: @maryfarrellyoga

Nooch Restaurant
Instagram: @noochwindsor
Facebook: @noochwindsor

Austin K. Sanderson moved to NYC in 1998 to attend New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Design and Production Department. After graduating with his Masters degree in set and costume design, he spent the next twenty-two years working as a designer in the American theater. In 2008 he was introduced to Jivamukti Yoga in a yoga class at a local neighborhood gym in Jersey City New Jersey. As he continued to take Jivamukti classes both locally and at the Jivamukti Yoga School NYC. Austin wanted to learn more about yoga and share with others his life changing experience brought about while practicing the Jivamukti Yoga Method. In 2011, Austin attended the Jivamukti 300+ hour teacher training program at the Omega Institute. In 2012, he continued his studies and completed his 800-hour Jivamukti Teacher Certification at The Jivamukti Yoga School NYC. In 2013, Austin and his partner Bob opened a 3000 square foot Jivamukti Yoga Center in downtown Jersey City, two blocks away from where he took his first Jivamukti yoga class. Austin is extremely grateful to his teachers, Sharon Gannon and David Life. Austin views Gannon and Life as his upa-guru, a teacher who points you in the right direction. Without them Austin would have never had a full understanding of why veganism is so crucial to a yoga practice. While Austin ran the Jivamukti Center in Jersey City he continued to seek deeper teachings outside the Jivamukti method, ones that would offer a deeper understanding of the ancient teaching of yoga from its roots. It was at this point that Shri Yogishri Sudarshan Kannan came into Austin’s life as a teacher and Sat-Guru. In 2020, Austin founded the Urban Sadhu Yoga Method, “a method of applying ancient yogic wisdom in a contemporary context.” He and his partner Bob are the co-owners of Urban Sadhu Yoga Shala, formally Jivamukti Yoga Center Jersey City. Austin is also if the co-founder and co-producer of Yoga Fest Jersey City, a free public yoga, music and vegan food festival held in the heart of downtown Jersey City NJ during the summer equinox.

In this episode Austin Sanderson & Holly Skodis discuss the following:

The business of yoga
Jivamukti Yoga
Leather for sexual pleasure
Yoga and Politics
Yoga and Capitalism
Paramahansa Yogananda
The sale of Jivamukti Yoga
Will Tuttle author of the World Peace Diet
Urban Sadhu Yoga
Connect with Austin Sanderson:

Website: urbansadhuyoga.com
Instagram:@urbansadhujerseycity and @urban.sadhu
Facebook: @UrbanSadhuJerseyCity

Erika Mitchener is a personal trainer and founder of Plant Power Boot Camp. She coaches both men and women, from beginners to seasoned athletes with a focus on following a plant-based diet. Erika draws from her martial arts background, mindfulness and plant-based nutrition with her clients. After being introduced to martial arts in 1992, she has gone on to study, karate, jiu jjitsu, judo, weapons, and tai chi. In 2007 she became certified as a personal trainer. As a passionate vegan, in 2012 Erika went on to study nutrition and become certified through T. Colin Campbell's Center for Nutrition Studies, Plant-based Nutrition Course. In March of 2020 Plant Power Boot Camp released their signature program, VeganFit Challenge, a 6 week program focussed on strength training and vegan nutrition that incorporates mindfulness and meditation.

In this episode, Yoga Is Vegan's Holly Skodis and Erika Michener discuss the following:

Why yoga is vegan and how to relate to yogis who are not.
Erika's decision to only work with people interested in a plant-based diet.
Buddhist Food Meditation
Connect with Erika:
Website: plantpowerbootcamp.com
Instagram: @erika.plantpowerbootcamp