HOW TO MAKE DELICIOUS PERSIAN RICE AND SURVIVE CANCER WITH SAHEL ANVARINEJAD AND TABAY ATKINS

Sahel Anvarinejad is a yoga teacher, vegan chef, cancer survivor, and Tabay Atkins’ mom. She is a 200 hour certified Vinyasa yoga teacher and now has 18 specialty yoga and reiki certificates. Sahel has always had a passion for cooking. As a child she spent hours cooking with her mom, aunt, and grandmother and her love for cooking continued as she got older. Sahel has taught Tabay how to cook from when he was a few years old, and since the age of 6, Tabay started to cook and bake on his own, too. Together, they enjoy creating new and old dishes, veganized!

At age 32 Sahel was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkins lymphoma cancer. She was misdiagnosed for almost a year, before finally being diagnosed properly. She was within hours of losing her life, had she not been rushed to the ER on April 20, 2012. By the time she was finally diagnosed, the tumors on her neck and chest were the size of softballs and she was not able to breathe. Her son, Tabay was only 6 years old at the time. Sahel received extensive chemotherapy. She lost all of the hair on her body, including all eyelashes and eyebrows. She could barely walk on her own, and needed to have a wheelchair for some time.

Her journey with yoga and veganism started when she was diagnosed with stage three non-Hodgkins lymphoma cancer. She had never done yoga in her life. It wasn’t until she was two weeks cancer free that she discovered yoga (that is a whole story on its own)!
After a few months of yoga she regained her strength, physically and mentally. She was able to walk on her own again, without any assistance. Tabay saw how much yoga helped with the healing process for his mom, and decided that he wanted to become a yoga teacher so that he could help others heal the way Sahel did (he went on to becoming the youngest yoga teacher in America and donating 100% of his proceeds to people with cancer).

After Sahel got the 1st of her 18 certificates, she thought to herself, wow, there are so many yoga studios for adults, and so many great benefits, but you don't ever hear about kids doing yoga or kids yoga studios. If it gives so many tools to help people, imagine having yoga in your life at a young age, how much it would help with every stage of your life. Sahel has always had so much love and passion to help kids, so she decided to continue her yoga education and became a kids yoga teacher. She started to volunteer teaching at Tabay's school, for his PE class, and got so much great feedback. She did that throughout the year for his school, and had a summer yoga and cooking camp for kids. That became a big hit, and she continued doing that multiple summers.

She started teaching more kids yoga classes at many schools throughout Orange County, through the Saddleback College after school programs. She then went on to open up the first kids yoga studio in Orange County called, CARE4YOGA. Sahel and Tabay both taught daily classes (when in California), at their studio from early 2013 until they closed down the studio due to the pandemic. Since 2012 when Sahel became a yoga teacher, she has never charged anyone for a yoga class that has or had cancer. That has and always will be her policy. When in Hawaii, they teach private classes at their clients homes and at the beaches and parks. They have since continued to teach classes via zoom, and when the covid gets better, they plan on traveling again for teaching at different events and have in person classes, again.

In 2017, Sahel and Tabay watched the documentary, What the Health, and made the decision to go Vegan. They started getting more and more creative in the kitchen together and veganizing all the foods they used to eat. They have transitioned and evolved more and more throughout the years since becoming vegan. At first, they became vegan for health reasons, then they became more aware and mindful and understanding of the affects it has on the animals and our planet. Sahel used to buy name brand (leather) shoes and bags, and once she connected those dots, she immediately stopped and has not ever done that again. In fact, she doesn't even care for those things anymore. Her awareness and sensitivity to all beings have become very strong and has made her have these changes in her heart. The more time they have been vegan and more educated they have become, the more aware and more mindful they have become. It has been a great journey, and they both feel so grateful to have made that decision. In addition to being yoga teachers, they are amazing vegan chefs who have inspired millions of people with their story, their journey, and and their amazing cooking! They have also helped hundreds if not thousands of people become vegan. They share videos of both yoga and cooking recipes on Tabay's website, https://www.tabayatkins.com/..

To follow Sahel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sahel_anvarinejad/
To follow Tabay: https://www.instagram.com/tabayatkins/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sahel.anvarinejad