Looking for an Honest Mirror? Try Fasting.

Read one person's account of wading through the unpredictable emotional terrain of a fasted mind and body. The writer talks with great candor about the unrelenting light that was shed on the darkest parts of his self during a 40 day fast. 

One of the things I have come to find I dislike about fasting is how predictable it is. There is nothing surprising in it. Those who fast a lot talk about how it causes your emotions to all come to the surface, so the thoughts you would normally suppress come full blown. The thoughts that would normally just think, come out as words and the thoughts and words that would normally just end there, come out as actions. I would like to think I was different, but really, no. Everything seems to come to the surface and yes, it is only day 8, over the next days I have no idea what is going to happen, what mess is going to come out. Because the truth is there is a lot of anger buried in me, a lot of condescending thoughts, a lot of filth, a whole lot of real honest human mess....

And it is not just the harsh emotions that come out, it is not just the sort of human relation mess that surfaces, it is all my emotions. Fasting shows no partiality. So now I find myself a mess of tears and realizing that I am not really good at this, I am not particularly ready for any of this. I think when it comes right down to it this whole fasting thing just digs up all my fears, my inadequacies, the fast that I might not love God enough, or be trendy enough, or smart enough, or passionate enough or spiritual enough, or motivated enough or whatever enough to actually fit in here. Maybe I love the world too much, maybe I want to have a wife too much or kids too much or to matter too much. Maybe I am not cut out for hiddenness or tenderness or the fasted lifestyle.

Read the entire entry here:

Porch and Alter: The Emotional Mess of Fasting

One woman's story of a three day gift

There’s Nothing Wrong with Fast Girls March 2, 2008
Posted by Michele in Living In This Body.

Today I did something I’ve never done before. And I gotta tell ya, I like the way it feels. Today I’m finishing up the last day of a three-day fast.

Those of you who know me are probably asking, “What ever possessed her to fast for three freakin’ days straight?” I thought the same thing when I started toying with the idea a few days ago. Then, last Thursday I went to lunch with a friend and ordered chili topped with cheese. It was the first time I’d eaten beef or dairy in a couple of weeks – the direct result of a cow vs. forklift video I was unfortunate enough to catch on the evening news.

By Thursday night my left eye was swelled up like a balloon. When I woke up Friday morning the eye had gone down some, but the sinus was still inflamed. Allergies? Maybe. But one thing was for sure, I needed to cleanse my system, and this crazy bodily reaction was confirmation that I should go forward with the fast. I needed a fresh start without all the toxins in my body driving cravings and weighing me down.

Now, usually after six or eight hours without food I’m a danger to others. But this weekend I’ve learned that the hunger you experience after a carb and sugar orgy is much more sever than the hunger you have after three days of fasting. Now, if you’d told me this last week, I’d have probably thought you were lying – like when we tell pregnant women that childbirth really isn’t that bad because we don’t want to scare the crap outta them. But I have to admit, I feel pretty damn good.

Now that’s not to say that I didn’t have a few mild headaches back on day one. And, on day two I took a four-hour nap (because of the lack of food, my son and husband were afraid to wake me). And, okay, this morning I did have one minor meltdown – but in my defense my husband was making fried potatoes and they just smelled so good. Anyway, overall I think I did alright.

Besides, what I learned from this fast far outweighs any of the side effects my family might have endured. This weekend I learned what it feels like to fully reside within this body. I felt the simple pleasure of a cup of herbal tea with lemon. I felt the warmth of a hot bath and the softness of baby oil on my skin. I felt the joy of a long nap. I felt the sense of accomplishment in reaching my goal. And I felt the deep satisfaction of caring for and loving my body in ways I’ve never done before.

Introduction to "FastGirls: An Ancient Practice for the Modern Girl"

This is my testimony.

A weekly practice of fasting has made my hair and resolve stronger, skin clearer and the act of peeling back the emotional layers of my life, less painful. It has made my waist slimmer, my periods lighter and turned my temperament from a searing blaze to a warm ember. Fasting allows me creative courage and more complete sleep. Its regular practice has helped me clear the cobwebs from my head and heart and given me discipline to finally finish a book after thirteen years. It has coached me on a better way to speak to my children so that I don’t bruise them with the sharp whip of my loose tongue. It has made me more compassionate towards those who have nothing and less judgmental of those who have, but give nothing. Spending long days dependant on spiritual fuel instead of food has made me sure of my Eternal Self, of the continuous availability of my inner strength. It makes me walk taller – literally and figuratively – and ushers me into more mindful ways of speaking and being. Fasting has helped me shed the weight of my past failings and celebrate the truth that they took place solely to teach. Going without food for twenty-four to thirty-six hours every week allows me to see my self; the parts of me that withhold and those that lash out, and teaches me how to adjust towards right action. Every week when I meet the day with the intention to fast I am saying to myself and to the Infinite, teach me what I need to learn, show me what I need to see, give me the death I need so that I may truly live.

And sometimes it feels like that. Like I am surely going to die. But I don’t. I live. More fully during and after the fast, than ever before.

Gaining Perspective Through Fasting

In Carole Garibaldi Rogers' book "Fasting: Exploring a Great Spiritual Practice," writer Mary Aktay talks about the revelation that came to her while fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

"The rationale in Ramadan is that it's not about giving up food. It's about not doing anything else during the day that would take your mind off God. At first I wondered how that could be since when you're hungry all you can think of is food. Then, as I got older and wiser, I started thinking , well, where does the food come from? The food comes from the grace of God. And then that brought me into justice issues and solidarity with the poor. The food comes from the grace of God, but it also comes from the sweat and labor of people like the migrant farm workers."

Some Words of Encouragement.....

"Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. A wise person should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings." --Hippocrates, 400 years before Christ; famed Greek physician and Father of Western Medicine

"Fasting is the greatest remedy--the physician within!"--Philippus Paracelsus, nearly 500 years ago; famed Swiss physician and alchemical genius of the Middle Ages, considered one of three fathers of Western Medicine, along with Greece's Hippocrates and Galen

"Fasting is a valid experience. It can benefit any otherwise healthy person whose calories now have the upper hand in his or her life."--The New England Journal of Medicine

No healing technique on Earth enjoys greater testimonials. . .from veteran fasters such as Buddha, Moses, Mohammed and Christ (40 days); from the three great fathers of Western Medicine; from the ancient Arab philosopher and physician, Avicenna, who prescribed fasting for ailments; from the great Greeks from whom the West received its math and logic--Socrates, Plato (who often wrote he fasted for "greater mental and physical efficiency"), Aristotle and Pythagoras (who wouldn't even reveal his higher tenets to advanced students until they'd done 40-day fasts); right on down through St. Francis (who did 40-day "epiphany" fasts every year prior to Lent), Gandhi, and all the equally great and noble women, historically, whose fasts and accomplishments went unrecognized and unrecorded by the patriarchal societies they suffered in.

Artists, as well as humanity's greatest doctors, scientists and spiritual teachers, have fasted from time immemorial in every nation under the sun. Writers from Russian Leo Tolstoy and Frenchman Francois Voltaire, to American Upton Sinclair and the Austrian Czech Franz Kafka, have long rhapsodized about fasting's marvelous, self-improvement capabilities. Said Sinclair: "I have found a perfect health, a new state of existence, a feeling of purity and happiness, something unknown to humans." Enthused Tolstoy: "To refuse food and drink is more than a pleasure; it is the joy of the soul!"

Is it possible that all these extraordinary human beings have discovered an age-old secret for enhancing their birthright of human potential that you haven't. . .as yet?