Offers Community, Opens Dialogue

What lies at the intersection of spiritual health and ethical choices? How can diet speak to our beliefs and our holistic health? What are the connections between spirituality and a sense of community? These are questions the growing Vegan Spirituality movement seeks to answer by providing monthly events and annual retreats where vegans can gather to explore and discuss their vegan practices and beliefs with one another. As the name suggests, Vegan Spirituality focuses on the spiritual implications of a vegan lifestyle — the connections between mind, body, and spirit that manifest in vegan living with respect and compassion for all life.

Annual Vegan Spirituality Retreats offer a place for ethical vegans to gather and enjoy a day of focused activities together, including spiritual speakers, yoga classes, guided meditations, catered vegan food, a nature hike, and an animal blessing. The 5th Annual Vegan Spirituality Retreat in Philadelphia takes place on Saturday, October 11th. You can register for the Retreat at www.veganspirituality.com/retreat-registration.html.

“Peace To All Beings” author and Grassroots Activist of the Year award recipient, Judy Carman, the featured speaker at the October Retreat, said recently, “I am so looking forward to spending the day together exploring the beauty and peace of vegan spirituality. We will look at how such a practice helps us personally and how it helps the animals of earth about whom we care so much. We’ll consider the spiritual roots of veganism and discuss how it empowers us to take actions for the animals and to hold the vision of a transformed world in which all beings are finally liberated and free to live their lives as they were always meant to do.”

Vegan Spirituality Groups are regional monthly gatherings designed to build community among spiritual vegans. These member-hosted groups offer vegan potlucks, meal blessings, guided meditations, and discussions on vegan themes. Special events include visits to animal sanctuaries, nature hikes, and guest presentations. Activist Sandi Herman coined the term “Vegan Spirituality,” inspiring her friend Lisa Levinson to start the first Vegan Spirituality Group in Philadelphia. Now there are many Vegan Spirituality Groups offered via Meetup.com in cities across the country. Visit www.VeganSpirituality.com to find a Vegan Spirituality Group near you!

Herman says it has been a blessing to find understanding and sense of community at the monthly Vegan Spirituality Groups and annual Retreats. A longtime vegan, Herman has been a part animal rescues that share her compassion for animals and Reiki circles that value spirituality, but it wasn’t until she found other spiritual vegans that she felt like she truly belonged. “Finding people who share my beliefs is really important. It’s wonderful to be able to get together with people and create rituals, in the same way that all cultures have rituals, and connect with other beings,” says Herman. The annual Retreat is an opportunity to create the vegan rituals Herman mentions.

Dr. Will Tuttle, author of “The World Peace Diet” and 2013 Retreat speaker, believes his spiritual journey led him to a place of compassion, a compassion he sees manifesting in veganism. Along with practicing meditation and being a part of meditation retreats, he is a renowned speaker on the topic of compassion for animals, as well as an accomplished musician. Dr. Tuttle says his original piano concerts are spirituality-based and designed to help people see music as a spiritual consciousness. “I realized, along the way, that most people did not have an understanding of the connection between veganism and spirituality,” Dr. Tuttle says of his engagement efforts.

With his work, Dr. Tuttle seeks to demonstrate that connection, helping people view their decisions more holistically. The upcoming Retreat will be a chance to do just that. “I see it as an opportunity to inspire people. We come to this planet and we are each other’s teachers,” Dr. Tuttle says, “For me, the Retreat is an opportunity to explore together with the other participants the deeper reasons (why we practice veganism), to go as far as we can with understanding the interconnectedness of all life.”

Founder of Plant Peace Daily and 2012 Retreat Speaker Rae Sikora agrees that the event is a rare opportunity to foster community, “Sometimes, I just want to be with a bunch of other people who are on the same page. It feeds me to get together with chosen family for the best family reunion you can imagine!” Sikora, a vegetarian since she was a teen and a vegan for nearly as long, found her compassion for animals early in life and allowed it slowly to grow and affect her. She recalls never having met another non-meat-eater when she decided to eschew meat from her diet. When she finally met others who called themselves vegans, it was the first time she had a name, a word to describe herself and her beliefs.

Retreat-goers can expect a supportive atmosphere of understanding and empathy, surrounded by others who share in the cause of compassion. Herman points out the common misconception that vegans only care about animals and not other humans. In fact, she says, it’s quite the opposite. Her compassion extends to all living things, human, plant, and animal. Building a community with other people who feel that connection, is what makes her feel whole, “All of us probably like to feel part of something.”

The sense of community comes from being in the presence of others who feel the spiritual connection between a vegan lifestyle and a love for animals. Many participants see veganism as their calling. “[My veganism] just evolved over time,” explains Sikora, “If you do something in your work that is a spiritual path, it’s hard to pick one particular event that set you on it.” Herman agrees, “To me, spirituality is a connectedness to all things. Veganism touches a part of me in my essence. It’s hard to explain, but it feels like it’s beyond just being ‘an ethical vegan’.”

That indescribable piece, to which both Sikora and Herman allude, is what fuels events like the Vegan Spirituality Retreat. Ultimately, attendees are not discussing their dietary choices, but their core philosophies, putting their beliefs into words, actions, and collective meditations. As Dr. Tuttle concludes: “I see veganism not as [dietary]; to me, that is just the first tiny little baby step. Veganism is…a glorious spiritual path that takes us to the highest level of spiritual awakening.”

Prarthana Jayaram is a nonprofit consultant and freelance writer working and living in Philadelphia, PA. She graduated from Haverford College and has lived in the area for the last 6 years. Her website can be found here: http://wordgrown.wordpress.com/work/