Sharon Gannon is the celebrity yogi, we don’t mean self-proclaimed yoga girls with nose jobs and birkin bags who do one yoga course and call themselves yogis as they sip champagne and guzzle fois gras, we mean Sharon is the utlimate, the real deal, the Godmother of American yoga. She (along with her life partner David Life) have taught most of NYC the past decade and a half. Sharon has been a devoted yogini and the co-founder (along with David) of the Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York City, where she developed and continues to teach the Jivamukti method of Hatha Yoga, which combines the intense physical postures of the Ashtanga tradition with the teachings of ancient yogic texts. Theirs is a vigorous form of yoga, taking literally the definition of Hatha Yoga as God-realization through forceful means.
Sharon has written a number of incredible books, but she’s blown the lid (and fear) off vegan cooking and eating with her simply lovely new cookbook, Simple Recipes for Joy: More Than 200 Delicious Vegan Recipes.
Full of deliciously simple and recognizable basics that will leave you nourished and delighted, this is a bookshelf must.
But forget about her pedigree for a moment and let’s just focus on her energy. Sharon Gannon walks like a Queen, looks like a Fairy Princess, and talks like a Guru. She’s energetically on another plane, one we all wish we could attain.
As I said in my endorsement (on the inside cover) for Sharon’s new book Simple Recipes for Joy,
All one needs is to do is be around Sharon Gannon for mere moments to realize, she’s figured out the secret to happiness. Sharon glows with good karma, optimal wellness, and a joyful, blissful life. Therefore, whatever she is eating, doing, teaching – we must perk up and take notice. How and what we eat is not only integral to health, but to what life brings us energetically. This cookbook is a call to tasty karmic eating, to revitalize our dulled taste buds and get our depressed palates in shape. Whole foods, fresh foods, foods alive with rich vitamin properties.. these are the keys to turning our life around from the inside out. Unlike many vegan cookbooks, Sharon’s recipes aren’t riddled with substitutions for meat and ice cream. Sharon serves us healthy realness, the truth behind what our bodies really need (one look at hers tells us to listen up!) and what will fill us and warm us in the long term. Sharon’s recipes are simple, tasty, and most importantly recipes you will make again and again. Sharon keeps her ingredient lists short, which makes life for busy Moms (like me!) committed to healthful family eating, easier. This is a book all vegan-curious, committed plant-eaters, and anyone looking to up their health ante and notice a quick difference should have handy. You don’t have to be a patchouli swinging back bender to eat these foods, any novice or Mom next door can learn endless nutritional truths and tips with this book within reach. The truth in the diet Sharon extols is in the raw cacao pudding, it works. If you could live healthfully without resorting to pharmaceuticals, help the environment by eating sustainably, be in fabulous shape, feel wonderful, and be committed to ahimsa – to not participating in the brutal treatment of animals on factory farms – non harming… why on earth wouldn’t you? This is the truth in Sharon’s message. It’s a simple decision to make. Try this diet. Eat this delicious food. The transformation in your body and mind will be dramatic, and you’ll ride the sexy changes deliciously on this treasure tomb of plant powered tastiness!
And I meant every word. This is the basic vegan cookbook every busy person afraid of strange ingredients and time consuming recipes needs on their shelf. If you want to look as good, and be as happy as Sharon, your first step is to pre-order this book now.