the fast track?
recently i undertook a self-directed experiement in something western culture has dubious regaurd for, the lesser known ( in this country ) practice or observance of fasting.
for the last 24 hours, i have done a trial run on fasting. or, i voluntarily stopped eating any solid food for this period. i drank only water and a little (6 oz.) fresh carrot juice during this time. this is not the first time i have fasted, however it has been many years now since i have done this. after much research on the subject i decided to try fasting again. needless to say, i have felt a need for some cleansing and purification.
based on everything i have read on the topic of fasting, (and there is substantial material on this topic) it is the bodys natural way to accomplish a cleaning internally. it is also a widely known healing practice in many parts of the world and something largely missing from western style medicine. i believe a large portion of what ails north america is due to overconsumption. fasting is a way to give the body a rest from its internal processes and/or digesting sometimes difficult foodstuffs.
i undertook this fast for a very brief period of only 24 hours as a means to test the waters so to speak. the last time i fasted, i did so for several days and although it was several years ago now, i had rather interesting results. my body seemed to go through a kind of elimation cycle then. or ratherdespite not eating anythingit was flushing itself out. it seems the physical body is a highly intelligent machine.
i wanted to try this fasting process again. here are my observations from the last 24 hours of my experiment. the main question beingsurprizingly, i did not feel hungry or weak. quite unexpectedly i felt rather a moderate sense of euphoriathis part was interesting and unexpected to me as i didnt recall feeling this sensation in times past. i will note here that the most recent excersize in this manner i have undertaken proir to this 24 hour period was a total abstanance from sugar and simple carbohydrates. (not as easy as it sounds!)
another sensation i made note of was a significant decrease in mental chatter, or my mind got a lot quieter as i was able to tune in a bit more. with this tunning in, there were other observations i made. while i was out walking, colors appeared sharper and clearer to me and i took a more careful observation of everything surrounding me. this happened quite spontaneously and increased feelings of quiet euphoria. i felt a stronger connection to life for some unfathomable reason as well as enhanced compassion for all living beings. i took notice of smells in a deeper way. it seems when deprived of food, the body also makes an effort to feast on other sources. in my instance, colors and smells. it is worth mentioning that my small effort instilled a sense of personal discipline in me as well. furthermore, these combined senstations made the idea of meditation very appealing to me.
it seems that fasting even for a short experimental period acts as a sort of tunning fork to the more subtle energies.
these are my findings so far and it has primarily served to inspire more curiosity in this natural healing ritual and rite. i am now interested in longer and more extensive fasts. i am reading as much as i can on this topic currently.
here is wikipedias entry:
wikipedias entry on fasting
recently i undertook a self-directed experiement in something western culture has dubious regaurd for, the lesser known ( in this country ) practice or observance of fasting.
for the last 24 hours, i have done a trial run on fasting. or, i voluntarily stopped eating any solid food for this period. i drank only water and a little (6 oz.) fresh carrot juice during this time. this is not the first time i have fasted, however it has been many years now since i have done this. after much research on the subject i decided to try fasting again. needless to say, i have felt a need for some cleansing and purification.
based on everything i have read on the topic of fasting, (and there is substantial material on this topic) it is the bodys natural way to accomplish a cleaning internally. it is also a widely known healing practice in many parts of the world and something largely missing from western style medicine. i believe a large portion of what ails north america is due to overconsumption. fasting is a way to give the body a rest from its internal processes and/or digesting sometimes difficult foodstuffs.
i undertook this fast for a very brief period of only 24 hours as a means to test the waters so to speak. the last time i fasted, i did so for several days and although it was several years ago now, i had rather interesting results. my body seemed to go through a kind of elimation cycle then. or ratherdespite not eating anythingit was flushing itself out. it seems the physical body is a highly intelligent machine.
i wanted to try this fasting process again. here are my observations from the last 24 hours of my experiment. the main question beingsurprizingly, i did not feel hungry or weak. quite unexpectedly i felt rather a moderate sense of euphoriathis part was interesting and unexpected to me as i didnt recall feeling this sensation in times past. i will note here that the most recent excersize in this manner i have undertaken proir to this 24 hour period was a total abstanance from sugar and simple carbohydrates. (not as easy as it sounds!)
another sensation i made note of was a significant decrease in mental chatter, or my mind got a lot quieter as i was able to tune in a bit more. with this tunning in, there were other observations i made. while i was out walking, colors appeared sharper and clearer to me and i took a more careful observation of everything surrounding me. this happened quite spontaneously and increased feelings of quiet euphoria. i felt a stronger connection to life for some unfathomable reason as well as enhanced compassion for all living beings. i took notice of smells in a deeper way. it seems when deprived of food, the body also makes an effort to feast on other sources. in my instance, colors and smells. it is worth mentioning that my small effort instilled a sense of personal discipline in me as well. furthermore, these combined senstations made the idea of meditation very appealing to me.
it seems that fasting even for a short experimental period acts as a sort of tunning fork to the more subtle energies.
these are my findings so far and it has primarily served to inspire more curiosity in this natural healing ritual and rite. i am now interested in longer and more extensive fasts. i am reading as much as i can on this topic currently.
here is wikipedias entry:
wikipedias entry on fasting
VIEW 14 of 14 COMMENTS
kore:
i have a crush on your brain.
ma2:
fasting is great. it can be a very rewarding -if someone difficult to describe -experience. doing it for long periods requires some prep and consideration though. a day or two is a good start though. there's been interesting material lately on how the body actually needs to fast in order to function properly.