
There is plenty of information out there about fasting. With this piece, I want to share what I have learnt through fasting, as well as give the reader some humble and very general advice from my own experience and perspective.
Since my late 20s, when I was quiet overweight, I have been aware of many benefits of fasting. It was when I started trying for the first time conscious fasting. It took me a while to admit that not eating is good for you. My childhood and early life in general was so deprived of material things that I did not find very jolly going without food when it was available. I did not feel physically or mentally safe to do it.
I After lots of thinking, decided to have a go with fasting, and it has been 10 years of trying different ways to find the one that I feel is the best fasting for me. When I started, I decided to start simplifying what I ate. My first fast was: for one day a month I would eat a small bowl of organic brown rice three times a day, any amount of water I wanted. After about a year, I switched to two days a month in a row with this regime and I was on this for one year.
The time of this regime come to an end when I noticed that on my fasting days I was feeling a bit anxious around meal times, with some exasperation before my bowl of rice. At the same time I felt a bit bore of brown rice….No good. At this time, I have been able to build a good personal discipline of yoga and intense physical work. The habit I had been able to build of having two days of plain brown rice assured me that my body was ready for the next stage.
I was ready to manage without food for a day, I felt safe and healthy. I set my intentions of being very aware of what emotions and how my body would respond when hunger arose. A new face of fasting started for me and it was one day a month with no food but all the wanted water. This evolved to two days in a row every month. It worked very well for about a year, but at the end, I was feeling that two days was a bit long, especially because my work situation become very challenging.
I decided to start fasting only one day but doing it weekly instead of monthly. This has been working well on and off for the last 5 years but consistently for the last two years. The fasting lasts usually between 24 and 36 hours depending on my commitments, season, and my emotional state. Some weeks it's easier than others. From my life style and personal needs, fasting once a week works well. I have built a routine around it and although sometimes is complicated, it has become a good practice that gets easier with the time. I do my working day and free the evenings of activities in case I need to rest or go to bed early.
I think people who fast regularly experience not only the physical journey but the inner journey. Our emotions are deeply linked to food as satisfactory, anxiety suppressor, cover of fear, safety issues, pleasure, sense of lack, family, social endeavours... the list goes on.
The Big Fast
A year ago in 2019, I decided to fast fro 5 days in a row. No food, only water. The process was tough, in day 3rd and 4th I was tempted to break the fast. I did the same this year -2020-, I want to share part of this personal experience.
As I will mention the challenges, I will also tell you what I have gained. The process was very rewarding in different levels, some of which are probably so subtle that I am still not totally aware of them and they are "work on process."
Before starting the fasting, I planned things to do over this week, to keep myself busy but free of demands and/or tasks or deadlines. I would be indoors most of the time, Apart of some gentle walks and stretching in the park, I would have minimum demands from the outside world. I would make time to meditate and to connect with "The Physical and Emotional Body of Mine". I would facilitate resting in bed when my body needed and/or sit down to do some emotional release work, in case my emotional body called. I had a meditation routine in which I will focus on my body sensations, facing mental struggles allowing them to pass on.
Things like this happened:
Day One and Night One: Easy, a bit of tiredness at the end of the day and a headache started after midday. I felt very sleepy and a bit edgy when feeling the hunger and the desire of my body for food.
As I am used to the one day fasting, and familiar with the symptoms and discomforts my body goes through, I knew I would survive happily, I felt very confident with my strength this far. I slept well, not great but acceptable.
Day Two and Night Two: Started well, headache around midday and it become very strong in the evening. I felt extremely hungry and tired in the evening, but kept hydrated, when we do not eat, we also miss the water we get through food. So, good water intake is crucial. I slept much better than the first night. I had amazing and vivid dreams (with food!!!).
Day and nights three and four: Intensity cracks in. These were the most challenging and interesting days for me: When we fast all our inner organs -not only stomach-, get stressed and activates, specially heart, liver and kidneys.
Although Energetically I felt light and mentally very clear, in these days I really felt my heart, my liver and my kidneys as if they were talking to each other, constant pulsing, I could feel and hear all this inner chatter as if my skin is translucent, facing each of these organs in this “organic” conversations: I heard my heart beat as I never had, my liver and kidneys pulsing in and out… I am sure each of them was activating their own specific tasks and mechanisms. At the same time, they were conversing one to another in order to make the orchestra that is my body to play the right melodies in synchronicity.
Feeling all this internal chatter was magic. Although I am a very kinestetic person, I never have had this sense of awareness of few different vital organs singing, dancing, conversing and making arrangements to keep me well, alive. It was a powerful sensation. Although I did not feel immense amount of energy, I knew my body was gathering it on its own way.
These third and fourth day however, were also the most challenging of the whole Journey. I had so much discomfort on my lower back and down through my legs. If the days were difficult, the nights were even more. May be because I was not moving about, the pain and discomfort were very intense, I did not sleep much the nights 3 and 4. On the third night specially the pain was extremely unpleasant and at some point worrying.
I was explained by someone who knows and supported my fasting, that it was nothing like kidney failure (which it felt like), it is part of the reset process going on in the secretor and excretory systems. Basically this is what happens with fasting, the body resets in different levels.
If day 1 and 2 were remarkable to become aware of my emotional body and the feelings that we engaged with when we are hungry, Day 3 and 4 were remarkable to become more aware of my inner organs. I never have felt this discomfort on my lower back and legs.
Day Five: My favourite day. If the previous days allowed me to become aware of emotions and inner organs, in the fifth day I become aware of my energetic body. I felt very content. I suppose it was also a feeling of achievement. Day five brought me a sense of lightness and openness. I did not feel hungry, I did want to eat and I thought about what the meal to break the fast would be, but it was out of wanting to savour, to feel the texture in my mouth, to chew… it was not out of hunger.
I broke the fast with a bowl of boiled kale, carrot and roast courgette with a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt. I so enjoyed and blessed it. It was very tasty and the best texture I could imagine. I slept very well after the fast, felt light, content, physically strong, amazing sense of physical awareness and also an uplifting sense of achievement.
What I learn?
From my journey through fasting I have few lessons:
-To do a 5 day fast is very important to be prepared with previous fastings protocols for at least a year.
-It is also very important to have a mentor and/or professional advice for the preparation process and for the process itself. Fasting for this length has difficult moments apart from the physical stress the body is under, having someone to ask makes you feel more reassured and confident. fasting can also be emotionally overwhelming and having someone to share the experience can be very helpful.
-Before the fasting it is important to set your clear intention and plan ahead. The day before the fasting you need to have light and plain food, not refined food or sugar, no alcohol and caffeine to avoid insulin unbalances.
-Although I lost few pounds in the five days of fasting they were back on again in about a week. From my fasting experience and reading other's peoples experiences I don't recommend this fast if you want to lose weight permanently. This never was my intention, and I know that the weight I lose with the fast come back very soon with my normal eating regime.
-The Power of Meditation: What an Anchor to meditation is when we are fasting.
-To start fasting: Start training your body considering different factor such as: your schedules, food preferences, eating patterns, work demands. Start gentle as if your case study is your fasting body.
Everybody is different and not one type of fast is universal. You need to find your own. It is important to honour and respect the uniqueness of your body and specifics of your life styles. Some people start with intermittent fasting which is having a short window where they eat: say 8,10, 12 eating window 16, 14, 12 fasting window. Some people start simplifying the diet slowly giving the body the chance to reset for a fast. With time, you will find your way of fasting; as you see the benefits, you will feel more encouraged to include fasting in your schedule and make it part of your life style.
-The way to break the fast is very important. Break it with very simple food and small amounts. It can be a small bowl of your favourite grain or vegetable or a plain vegetables soup. It will give time to your body to settle again and it will prepare you emotionally to be even more grateful and enjoy fully the next proper meal.
-Appreciation: I feel much more appreciative with the opportunities I have to choose what l eat, when to eat, where to eat, I have access to clean drinking water. We take it for guarantee and forget how blessed we are with the amount of options we have. There are so many people who go with no food/no choice and/or no clean drinking water. When returning from fasting, I engage with gratitude for the abundance I can afford.
-Fasting has helped me with: better digestion and skin, more sense of alertness with my body sensations.
-The body starts to develop more intelligence, being more sensible about what/when to eat. The body becomes better at choosing food that is healthy and provides one with what is needed nutritionally. The tasting buds and sense of smell comes more sensitive and sharp.
-Food has so many emotional links: like comfort, pleasure, social engagement, belonging. All these emotions and feelings appear ever rower when fasting. Fasting has given me lots of emotional material to work on myself. Anger, sense of lack, fear, insecurity, lack of trust in my body. Fasting provides a physical opportunity to work with other of our bodies. I have faced them with an empty stomach, pain in my back, beating heart and I will take this as a yearly practice to make my body and mind stronger and more resilient.
I hope my experience helps you in some way.
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