I had the great pleasure of sitting down with the amazing and beautiful Shandaya, a consciousness-raising personal transformation coach. Check out what she had to say…
Tell me about you.
I have dedicated my life not to political activism, but consciousness activism.
What does consciousness activism mean to you?
Until people see other people, the planet and it’s inhabitants as an integral part of themselves, in that illusion of separateness, they’ll compete with one another and put greed over what is RIGHT for humanity, the planet and it’s creatures. If we saw each other as one, we wouldn’t want to do harm to the planet, animals or other people, because that would mean we were just hurting our own self. Instead, we would work for the greater good. For me, this is the foundation for all truth. So I work towards this, because without it, all other efforts to improve our current situation are like putting a band-aid over a festering wound. Consciousness raising is healing from the inside out. I take a stand by being a living example of this belief.
It seems like many people are on “auto-pilot” when it comes to food choices, what does it take to get people to “wake up” and be more conscious?
I think, again, that it boils down to being a living example. If they see something in you that they want – maybe its your life force, energy, vibrant health or joy… then they are likely to be curious and inspired. Its not just what we’re eating, but also about developing mindfulness in our thoughts and emotions and about being committed to non-harming on this level as well. However, diet is a wonderful entryway to consciousness raising because we all have food in common. When I taught a raw food class, the people who attended were often attracted to my presence and ended up taking my meditation classes as well. Food and eating plant-based provides awesome and immediate transformation. You’re going to feel good when you eliminate foods from animals, like dairy. Because people may have never once had the experience of NOT eating, dairy for example, they would have absolutely no way of knowing that the inflammation in their body or the hacking up mucous, or waking up with that crusty sleep in the eyes is likely due to dairy and their diet. Yet they come to find these irritations they took for granted as “normal” totally disappeared once they got off dairy.
I’ve talked with and even interviewed some people on my blog who have gone vegan and felt a sense of calm or peace – how do you interpret this?
It could be from the energy given off from animals that know they’re going to die. They release stress hormones before they are killed, so when you stop eating those animals, you stop ingesting that fear and stress. I grew up on a small farm and I was quite clear that they didn’t want to die. Those happy chickens and animals you see on packages – this is such a lie! Animals don’t like being killed and certainly aren’t delighted to be eaten.
What about “humane slaughter?” Is there such a thing?
I think people should imagine that they’re going to eat another person, like ‘you know Gigi had a good life, she was fed nutritious food and got to go outside sometimes before we killed her and ate her.’ If they just turned the humane slaughter around to a human, they would realize that that’s just a bunch of bullshit. On the grand scale of delusion, it’s like standing on a scale with your stomach sucked in. It’s self-delusion.
Have you had any interesting reactions from people when they find out you don’t eat animals?
One time I was working as a temporary at a cell phone company and there was a young lady I worked with (a heavy meat eater and chain smoker) that seemed so upset, almost violent about it saying things like “What!? You don’t eat meat? You don’t eat this or that!?!?” But I realized her strong reaction wasn’t so much about me, but that she was curious for herself. It was such a disruption of her status quo and she was putting herself into my shoes which was a total schism in her thought process. She called me years later and told me she became a raw food vegan and was traveling around the world assisting a famous raw food chef! I was completely shocked! I realized from this experience how important it is to go outside of our comfort zone and share what we do with people who are coming from a less conscious place-because you never can know the positive impact you might have on the life of another.
What causes people to make big changes to their diet and lifestyle?
I would say suffering. Suffering and problems are so wonderful because its how you create change and move forward in life. A family member of mine who was a major meat eater and ate a lot of processed foods was diagnosed with cancer, and harbored anger for her ex-husband. After the cancer spread and rounds of chemo, she completely changed her life and adopted a vegan diet, forgave her husband, and now she’s cancer-free and inspiring others.
People are often the creator of their own suffering, diseases or neurosis; and when they realize this, they can take personal responsibility. Your thoughts are very powerful in manifesting illness. There’s a quote I recently learned, “Strong emotions that are not processed thoroughly are stored at the cellular level.” – Candace Pert, PhD. Therefore, it’s important to let go of the diet and thoughts that don’t serve you, so you don’t manifest disease.
Tell me more about your business of personal transformation coaching.
I am a transformation junkie, lol! I love to help people to transform by helping them to let go of anything that no longer serves them on all levels- because transformation can’t really be effective if we only approach it from one angle; it’s holistic-body/mind/spirit. I help people to elevate their consciousness through teaching meditation and mindfulness, and to let go of stored negative emotions through a personal journey process. I also help them transform their physical body through plant based diet and fitness support, and even help people to de-clutter their space as that also can also play a role in health. It’s all about simply letting go of what we aren’t. Underneath all these layers is our divine prototype just waiting to emerge. Michaelango once said that he did nothing but take away the marble that wasn’t the David. I believe each person has their complete beauty intact just waiting to be accessed.