The act of "fasting" (by choice) dates back thousand's of years and is a part of most mainstream faiths including Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Jainism and Buddhism among others. Interestingly, fasting isn't just limited to religions, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras (approx. 500 BC) required that his students take a 40 day fast before they could be considered eligible to receive his knowledge. He believed that unless the human body is cleansed of toxic waste and mind is thoroughly cleansed of cravings and aversions, the keen awareness will not happen and thus the higher knowledge will not take hold.
In addition to cleansing the body and mind, fasting can be used as a great tool for healing the body as well. Nature offers us many examples of fasting. Animals including cats, dogs, horses etc. refuse to eat food when they get sick preserving their energy to heal their bodies. Others animals such as bears fast (hibernate) for the whole winter and come out leaner and more alive. Even many trees shed their leaves in winter in order to conserve their energy for rebuilding and growth.
For millennia, humans have used many types of fasting techniques for both healing and spiritual awakening. Forms of fasting that is practiced today include dawn till dusk (as practiced during month of Ramadan), dry fasting, water only fasting, fasting on only fruits and more recently juice fasting and intermittent fasting. The basic premise behind fasting has remained pretty much the same over the millennia. It is to give our body and mind a break from consuming food/drinks or even thinking about them for an extended amount of time so it can cleanse itself from within.
Not many people know, up till 100 years ago there were several places in United States and Europe where water only supervised fasting was used as a tool to help heal from many incurable chronic illnesses. "True North Institute" in Santa Rosa, California is one of the very few medically supervised water fasting place left in United States.
Important Benefits of Fasting:
Aids in weight loss
Improves diabetes
Improves blood pressure
Improves certain auto immune diseases
Improves chronic pain
Improves digestive issues
Reduces stress / anxiety
Reduces cravings
Few years ago, I personally took a 5 1/2 day water only fast (only drinking as and when needed) in a remote organic farm and found it to be truly a mind blowing experience. My hunger disappeared after three days and the surge of energy that I experienced was indescribable. I could have gone on for many more days but terms of stay got over.
Conclusion:
In this day and age, for some, the body and mind have become deeply clogged with too much toxicity & stress. The times that we live in, fasting should be undertaken all around the year ideally few days every month. One of the easiest ways is to do some form of fasting once or twice a week. You will be amazed with the health benefits that can come from making fasting as a part of your lifestyle. If you are new to fasting and would like to try it out, I suggest working with someone who has experience in supervising fasts. There can be unintended consequences such as detox symptoms or worse if advance forms of fasting like "water only fast" is undertaken on your own for a long time.
Fasting either for spiritual or health reasons must be done with a goal of long term health in the mind. One should fast with a serious intention of moving away from the unhealthy habits (e.g. unhealthy diet & lifestyle) that are acquired over many years. Eating as close to a whole foods plant based diet (Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lentils/beans, nuts), avoiding processed foods and greatly minimizing animal based foods is a great way to enhance the healing benefits of any type of fasting.
Tip: The healing/cleansing effects of fasting can be greatly enhanced when combined with "SKY breathing exercise", yoga and "Sahaj Samadhi" meditation. The SKY breathing not only cleanses the body of toxins and stress, it gives lot of energy as well. Sahaj Meditation is the most powerful meditation practice that allows one to go deeper within oneself and feel the deep calm and peace.
Cleansing juice recipe:
This green juice recipe is great during a short juice fast, meal replacer or just as an add-on to your normal daily routine.
Ingredients:
4-5 celery stalks
4-5 stalks of kale
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 Granny smith apple
1 cucumber (optional)
1/2 lemon
1/2 inch ginger
Directions:
Run everything through the juicer and enjoy. Slowly sip it enjoying every sip of this nutritionally powerhouse juice.
Kommentarer