Yoga, Ahimsa and Consuming Animals: UK Yoga Teachers’ Beliefs about Farmed Animals and Attitudes to Plant-Based Diets

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Yoga is a holistic discipline originating in ancient India. Yoga has links with Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism based on a shared philosophical framework of unity with all beings and belief in ahimsa, meaning non-harming. There is debate in the international yoga community about the spiritual, ethical and health-related links between yoga and plant-based diets. This questionnaire-based research investigates the beliefs about the moral status of farmed animals and attitudes towards plant-based diets of UK yoga teachers. The research found that: (i) UK yoga teachers have very progressive beliefs about farmed animals; (ii) around 30% of UK yoga teachers follow a plant-based diet, which is 25 times the proportion in the general UK population; (iii) nearly 75% desire to follow a plant-based diet; (iv) over two thirds regard plant-based diets as best aligned to their yogic practice; and (v) UK yoga teachers with more progressive beliefs about farmed animals and greater knowledge of agriculture abstain from consuming animal products to a greater extent. The high proportions of UK yoga teachers following vegetarian and plant-based diets, relative to the wider population, are likely based on applying the principle of ahimsa, or non-harming, to farmed animals and abstaining from consuming their products. ABSTRACT: Yoga is a holistic discipline originating in ancient India. Yoga has links with Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism based on a shared philosophical framework of unity with all beings and belief in ahimsa, meaning non-harming. There is debate in the international yoga community about the spiritual, ethical and health-related links between yoga and plant-based diets. This mixed methodology research investigates the beliefs about the moral status of farmed animals and attitudes towards plant-based diets of UK yoga teachers. A sequential mixed-methods design employing a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews is used. This paper focuses on the questionnaire-based phase of the research. Key results are: (i) UK yoga teachers have very progressive beliefs about the moral status of farmed animals; (ii) 29.6% of UK yoga teachers follow a plant-based diet (n = 446), which is 25-fold the proportion in the wider UK population; (iii) 73.9% desire to follow a plant-based diet; (iv) 68.6% regard plant-based diets as best aligned to their yogic practice; and (v) UK yoga teachers with more progressive beliefs about farmed animals and with more self-reported knowledge of agriculture abstain from consuming animal products to a greater extent. The far higher proportions of UK yoga teachers following vegetarian and plant-based diets, relative to the wider population, are likely based on applying yogic teachings such as the principle of ahimsa through abstaining from the consumption of animal products.