I need this checklist as a reminder for the ongoing water only annual fasting. Hope it will be a good information for everybody who intends to start fasting or to enrich their on-going experience…
Why
This section is to keep mind focused on the goal. Sometimes mind gets somewhat destructed as it is not getting satisfied with a new schedule. So, why we do this…
To create new “me” I have to drop old “me”…
To get reborn anew means to die first…
To clean myself of all the levels from contaminations of junk food, junk thoughts and junk emotions (what Yogis call “samskaras”) – I need to clean not only body but, more importantly, my mind – that is fasting…
To reduce ego to where it belongs, I need to fast. The more ego is reduced, – the more my Ultimate Self/ God/Creator/Atman/Consciousness shines…
The process must not be a struggle but a celebration…
Duration
I can only find out this from my inside awareness. Body knows and lets me know if I listen. I will feel it during the fast. It is important to have the estimate or a plan… for example 10 days and try to discipline that this is how long I will go for, but still, while in the process, awareness of the body must be there to know what’s going on…
The teachers of fasting say that a right feel for the end of fasting is, when, after the days of normal fasting with no desire for food, suddenly a strong desire comes back … Yet, beware, this perceived “normal return” might be accidentally induced as you will see below…
Entry
If not a vegetarian – become the one couple of days preceding the fast. Eat last food not later than 5pm.
Beginning of fast is nothing else but stop eating. Hunger is a fake sense coming from mind. Actually it is a thought. Mentally you tell your mind that you continue eating, but whenever eating urge comes you take a water to drink and if mind continues mumbling fill the stomach with water:=)
Use a distilled water only. All the speculations about “nutritious value” of the spring water can be debatable only when talking about diet, but those debates are meaningless when it come to fasting.
For the sake of faking the mind (as in above), when hunger feeling starts, dissolve a 1/3 tsp of honey and a tsp of lemon (or orange) juice into the water, suck it slowly and enjoy it. This does not provide a “nutritious value” to the body… it only provides “fake” value to the mind :=) Many “how to” sources credit this method to a better purification for the struggling body. I found that body does not need any help… it is not struggling at all. It is fine without “add-ons”… Yet it is my mind who is struggling and making stomach upset and needs fake satisfaction for the same reason as explained above :=) Another possible trick to treat mind is to dissolve a heavily colored 1 tsp of grape juice in a glass of water. Again – mind will treat it as if it were a real drink…
In the process…
After 2-3 days you won’t have craving for food any more… but be careful … Once during the fast I decided to go shopping groceries being confident that NOTHING can have effect on me, yet, while in grocery shop I experienced a flush of phantasy related to the eating… I couldn’t stop and I had to break fast as soon as I came home (fast shortened to 7 days instead of 10)… so better don’t provoke the mind-devil…
Overall weakness will come after 2-3 days and will be increasing gradually – it is a norm. Don’t be afraid if you need to spend most of the time in bed… A lot is going on inside of you… all the energy you used to spend outside of you now moved into action inside of you… Same applies to Yoga – if you cannot do any of it – feel even no energy for Pranayama – still try it but don’t think bad about it if you have to let it go… it will come back with the power of the ocean tide after the exit…you will be overwhelmed… Consider this – you are dying to a some degree… that’s what it is… in order to be reborn again in a renewed body/mind… It is like a reincarnation within the same body… Weakness means you need more sleep, more time in horizontal position, more cloths to keep you worm, etc… Remember – newborns arrive very vulnerable and weak! This is who you are now…
On awareness: awareness of the body should be growing. Yet, we must focus on what we want to focus on. Don’t focus on weaknesses, pains or any negative sensations… Just observe and let them go as you know their nature and reason… It’s OK to have them but not OK to focus on them. Instead, focus on what you anticipate: body lightness… calmness of mind, some separation from the worldly matters (very much welcomed), detachment from many rigid, subconscious attachments, unwillingness to judge anything or anybody (finally!), etc… The more you anticipate certain positive changes, the faster they come as a new reality.
Exit
This is the most critical part and the most difficult. Errors bring either overall “no results” from fast or even worse…
Main rule –
gradual controlled exit…
not a break of fasting but a slow gradual exit.
The difference is like between a total failure versus a success which feels NOTHING LESS THAN A MIRACLE!
Not eating is easy. Starting eating is the hardest. The reason is, again, in the mind. Once you tell your mind “we are going to break the fast” the mind kicks in the old samskaras related to your eating habits which you were trying to eradicate … bringing whole process to a failure… and it does it with … with a new powerful force it gained from your fast as if it kept a low profile all these days just for this moment to arrive!!!
You have to clearly understand this problem before you start fasting!
How to deal with this? The answer – Right mental attitude even from the beginning – don’t let mind think that you are breaking the fast at all…
Example (just to give you idea only):
let say you have 7 days fast…
Don’t allow your mind to think that 8th day is the “exit” from fasting. No. It is not. Instead – it is a day of … eating one tomato in the morning and one in the evening…
mind says – but isn’t it the same as breaking? Answer – NO it is not…
2nd day 1 tomato in the morning, one tomato in the evening and one apple in the middle of the day … mind says – but isn’t it a break? The answer is NO it is not… If mind starts pushing for suggestions… then fill your stomach with water!
3rd day you introduce garden salad (such as lettuce, cabbage, carrots, dill, etc.. but not onions, no spices) in the middle of the day…
On the 4th day add steamed potatoes and beets to your salad during the day time but no more than your usual one serving…
And end result after 4-5 days – no more volume of food than you decided upon to be your NEW NORM AFTER THE FAST! That decision was made even before your fast started.
In 4 to 5 days of gradual step by step increase of food up to your new norm, your mind will get it’s own “new norm” impressed in it! – This is your goal.
Right understanding of the gradual exit is this –
it is a process of reintroduction of food with such pace which allows re-training of the mind for a new set of thinking about food! The process is nothing else but a replacement of the old habits (samskaras) related to eating with new ones you consciously designed for yourself!
IN term of the kind of food to eat upon exit, there are different opinions and experiences but all agree to the following:
- Gradual process
- light vegetables + carrots + fruits preferred – tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage,celery, dill, rutabaga, carrots, apples, oranges, pears, watermelon, peaches,nectarines, etc…
- heavier vegetables (like potatoes and beets) go next
- freshly cooked oat cereal
- Nothing fried
- no or very little salt and sugars
- no onions, no garlic, no spices
- no oils or butter in your first days of exit
- General rule – no heavily digestible food
- there are different views on drinking concentrated juices but all agree that fresh fruits are the best and preferred!
- Remember – pure water still is and forever will be the King of drinks!
When exit process is going on – increase (or gradually start if you had to stop it completely) your Yoga or Buddhist practice whatever you did before. How is it?
Surprise?
That’s what fasting is for…
01.09.19 Note : I changed somewhat the most recommended ways for the first days to exit fast : The best is to start with good ripe watermelon or fruit smoothies and continue with them at least 5-7 days minimum and at maximum as long as half of your fast . Then after that as per my post – very slow gradual introduction of vegetables. This my discovery of the fruit smoothies is remarkable in many ways – it is a Divine food which gives you much but takes barely energy to digest. Fruit Smoothies are perfect for the exit from fast.