From Iraq-war veteran to Jain monk: How I became nonviolent

NOTE FROM TED: This talk only represents the speaker's personal spiritual views. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedx_content_guidelines.pdf "If you want to change the world, you must first change yourself." It's a cliché and it's true! But changing yourself is no simple task in the face of death, divorce, depression, self-harm, and war. In 2002, Sadhvi Siddhali Shree enlisted in the California Army National Guard looking for discipline, and instead found herself training to shoot & kill strangers. Today, she's an Iraq-war combat veteran, Jain monk, and teacher of non-violence. In this talk, she'll teach you why and how to practice non-violence in your life. Sadhvi Siddhali Shree is the first North American Jain female-monk, a US Army Iraq-war veteran, an international speaker, author, activist, and an award-winning filmmaker. Her first documentary is STOPPING TRAFFIC: The Movement to End Sex Trafficking (2017) and her second documentary is SURVIVING SEX TRAFFICKING, which will be released in March 2022. Driven by her deep-seated devotion to humanity, she uses her talents and skills to raise awareness about violence in the world and ways to change it. She serves as the Spiritual Director of Siddhayatan Tirth & Spiritual Retreat based near Dallas, Texas and is executive director of Stopping Traffic, a non-profit organization which supports survivors of sex trafficking. Sadhvi Siddhali Shree is passionate about social movements that focus on non-violence, human rights, gender equality, and anti-trafficking. She is currently working on a spiritual memoir.