Nai Davina co-runs Back 2 Roots which is an organization where she teaches young people to accept and love themselves through arts, travel, media and culture, highlighting the positive aspects of our history. She is also a registered and certified yoga teacher and astrology consultant, assisting others on their journey to self evolution. She is based in Manchester, England.

My name is Nai (Naomi) and becoming vegan? Well that was a journey, a very isolating but super rewarding one. Being a dancer/teacher at the time and understanding the importance of what was going on in my body should have been the main reason for this revolutionary movement taking place inside me. But it wasn’t.

It all started on a trip to Egypt. I was reading a book at the time which spoke on particular foods that are harmful to people from black and ethnic backgrounds, and also discussed the principles of a yogic lifestyle, something i was very attracted to since one of my passions was to become a yoga teacher and to incorporate what I do with young people and my peers into my daily work regime, organically. My mother became really ill from a young age and watching her experience made me even more health conscious. Between the knowledge I gained as well as being on such an amazing highly energetic part of the earth, I had a light bulb moment.

Although it was a physical, mental, and spiritual transition, I found something in my later stages that made this transition very easy for me. The effects it was having on our globe, the state of the food industry and the impacts of what was taking place in these slaughter houses helped me to become vegan.

I planned to cut meat out of my diet for one week which was more for a cleansing exercise I was doing. Nine years later and I’m proudly writing this for Black Vegans Rock!

What a liberating feeling it is to let go of something I knew was no good for me and that everyone was telling me was just a phase. A couple months into my transition the questioning started, and yet I was aware that these questions and statements made no sense but at the time they were questions I didn’t confidently have answers to. All I knew was that it felt as though there was a switch in me that permanently went off...almost like it wasn’t even my call. All urges and cravings for meat, chicken, fish, dairy and even sugar disappeared. I stepped into a new world and my whole perspective on life changed.

I’ve made room in my body and life and the energy I embody is super charged. My body is in its natural flow. The bounce in my step has way more spring than before, my nervous system makes sure my immunity is on point and them skin issues, well they packed up and left.

My kitchen and I became best friends. I love creating dishes that leave an essence of compete satisfaction. No meat necessary! Even Grandma loves a nice Vegan Caribbean Saturday Soup every now and again.

Here is a video from Nai's organization "Back 2 Roots":