NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 27: Rachel Brathen attends AOL BUILD Speaker Series: Rachel Brathen Discusses Her Book "Yoga Girl" at AOL Studios In New York on March 27, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)
Rachel Brathen took to Instagram in 2012, and despite receiving zero likes for her first shared image – an image of her dog Ringo – she now boasts 2.1 million followers.
In an Instagram post yesterday, the public figure, yoga instructor, business owner and author shared the exciting news that she has newly become vegan!
This came as a result of her newest podcast episode, which she described as “a smack in the face and the heart all at once” as she interviewed vegan activist legend James Aspey.
Brathen goes on to say of Aspey and the interview: “this man will school you on how you show up the world. In his episode I call myself out on: 1 – being a total hypocrite when it comes to my dietary choices [and] 2 – not living a life aligned with my core values (this realization was HUGE for me).”
After giving a brief introduction to her followers about who James Aspey is and explaining his history from cancer to drugs to bulimia to veganism, Brathen goes on to explain that the podcast discusses health, veganism, animals and “what it means to live a life that aligns with loving kindness.”
For anyone who follows ‘yoga_girl’ on social media, you will know that she constantly stresses the importance of love and appreciation for nature and the beauty found in life. She also tries to practice the principle of ahimsa, and notes in her podcast how her eating habits may not be in line with this. She has also been open about breastfeeding her seven month old daughter, Lea Luna.
All of this was considered by Brathen in her podcast, as she admits how she was vegan previously for three years but fell back into eating cheese – and how this has affected her life for the worse.
She then makes the exciting revelation, “I HAVE NOT HAD A SINGLE ANIMAL PRODUCT OF ANY KIND SINCE RECORDING THIS EPISODE.”
She explains that “it’s just not possible” and how “while talking about dairy I literally started crying and covered my boobs with my arms – I have somehow failed to connect with the fact that as I am breastfeeding my baby (the most scared thing I’ve ever done) I am also contributing to the immense suffering of mothers having their babies taken away from…”
She added, before encouraging everyone to listen to her podcast, “[g]etting conscious about this stuff is so important.”
Brathen currently describes herself in her Insta bio as “Yogi. Writer. Entrepreneur. MOM!” and now she can proudly add the achievement ‘Vegan!’ to the list!
You can check out the podcast here.
Image credit: yoga_girl
This post was last modified on October 6, 2021 9:06 pm