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Online Exclusive from NYSpirit magazine (January, 2011)

Recognizing the Divine Within

By Sri Shyamji Bhatnagar

Man the world over has sought to discover the purpose and meaning of life. In this pursuit he has created mythology, astrology, philosophy, religion, god, worship, Tantra, Samadhi and liberation. The yogis desire to know the nature of the Self led them to experience the Divine within themselves. The experience of Divinity caused their behavior to be ethical by nature.

They realized we have not just one lifetime, but many in a continuing chain of evolution. Each lifetime we take birth in order to satisfy particular desires and to resolve certain chakra drives.

It has been said that the cause of life is ignorance, the purpose of life is to be free, the tool of life is knowledge, the method of life is perseverance, the joy of life is bliss and the height of life is in stillness.

We can briefly discuss these concepts. The cause of life is ignorance; ignorance of one’s past, of the karmic seeds that are resulting in our present experience; ignorance of the forces that are operating at this present moment on earth and throughout the universe; ignorance of what makes us feel the emotions the way we do, what makes us feel the pains we do, what gives us the loved ones we have and then takes them away; ignorance of how to live in a human body and survive, love, accomplish, give and evolve spiritually in an often times difficult world.

The purpose of life is to be free. Not the pseudo freedom to simply be able to act out one’s desires as they bubble up in the mind one after another, but the genuine and lasting freedom of being able to transcend personal wants and desires. Mother Earth produces enough for her sons and daughters but fails to provide all one human being can desire.

To achieve an objective awareness to witness how the forces push and pull ourselves as they push and pull those around us; to be free to accept and tolerate the passing waves of emotions and energies and fix one’s mind on the absolute, to be free to let go of attachments to youth, to pleasures, to the body, to life itself. For the ancient yogis, the highest of all human virtues was the virtue of absolute un-attachment.

If a man be thoroughly un-attached, all other virtues will necessarily find a place in him. He will, thus by nature, be truthful, honest, just, upright, generous and charitable, for there is nothing to which he is attached. There is no interest uppermost in his mind other than duty (dharma). He will naturally be thoroughly selfless in his action and conduct towards others. He is above all earthly joys and sufferings, above all attachments to worldly things. Nothing can swerve him from the path of uprightness and virtue; no interest can distract his mind. He is thus far above all others. The great god Shiva is the highest personification of the virtue of unattachment. He is the highest ideal of all yogis.

To be free is to also be free of the fear of dying, not struggling to survive just a few moments longer. Rather than dying in a state of fear of what is beyond, or dying while regretting all the things one was not able to accomplish, one may die in a peaceful, accepting way. One is able to experience faith in the divine and full awareness of the transition process as it occurs out of the body into subtler realms of consciousness.

The tool of life is knowledge. Knowledge of what is required at each age and stage in life. Knowledge of what is the dharmic role for which one is best suited in this life. Knowledge of what kind of food should be eaten for health and clarity of awareness. How to use sex, how to relate to people, how to rear children, how to do Sadhana (spiritual work), to experience higher states of awareness.

The method of how to attain this knowledge is perseverance; following daily disciplines for retraining, developing and reconditioning old habit patterns of the mind and body to sensitize it and allow unfoldment of its vast potentials.

And what is the result of such spiritual perseverance-the joy of life. It is a feeling of deeper contentment and bliss than can be attained through any victory, achievement, vacation, sex or drug. Everyone seeks that state of inner peace and harmony whether consciously or not. The most pleasurable things are done again and again to get a brief glimpse or experience of that feeling of “Ahh! Hhaa!.” In that wonderful instant one feels satisfied and content. But quickly it passes and the next desire wells up-and we are off again to satisfy it.

Microchakra Psychology™ does not encourage renunciation from the world. In fact, the opposite is true. It is one of the most sophisticated and elaborately detailed systems for explaining how to optimize and enrich living in the world, in order to fulfill all of one’s duties to parents, to children, to friends, to society and to the planet as a whole.

Working in the world but maintaining a nonattached attitude and following a regular spiritual discipline brings contentment. When one reaches old age, the remaining years of life can be a very extraordinary experience. Instead of ending one’s life in loneliness and senility and fear of the approaching death, one is able to elevate and expand one’s awareness to planes of bliss detached from physical and emotional suffering. In India such persons are not uncommon and are sought out with the greatest respect and reverence for guidance and advice. By fulfilling all of one’s worldly responsibilities and duties while young, one has a clear conscience to sustain the highest awareness possible for the remainder of one’s years. For the height of life lies in the stillness of meditation, returning to the source within.

ELSON M. HAAS M.D.

(Excerpted from Staying Healthy with Nutrition, Celestial Arts)

Fasting is the single greatest natural healing therapy. It is nature’s ancient, universal “remedy” for many problems. Animals instinctively fast when ill. When I first discovered fasting, 15 years ago, I felt as if it had saved my life and transformed my illnesses into health. My stagnant energies began flowing, and I became more creative and vitally alive. I still find fasting both a useful personal tool and an important therapy for many medical and life problems.
Of course, most of the problems for which I recommend fasting as treatment are ones that result from overnutrition rather than malnutrition. Dietary abuse problems, more common in the Western world than in Third World countries, generate many of the chronic degenerative diseases that I have written so much about; these include atherosclerosis, hypertension and heart disease, allergies, diabetes, and cancer. I believe that fasting is therapeutic and, more importantly, preventive for many of these conditions and more.

As I use the term here, fasting is the avoidance of solid food and the intake of liquids only (true fasting would be the total avoidance of anything by mouth). The most stringent form of fasting is taking only water; more liberally, fasting includes the use of fresh juices made from fruits and vegetables as well as herbal teas. All of these limited diets generate varying degrees of detoxification—that is, elimination of toxins from the body. Individual experiences with fasting depend on the condition of the body (also mind and attitude). Detoxification might be intense and temporarily increase sickness or might be immediately helpful and uplifting.

Fasting (cleansing, detoxification) is one part of the triology of nutrition; balancing and building (toning) are the others. I believe that fasting is the “missing link” in the Western diet. Most people overeat, eat too often, and eat a high-protein, high-fat, rich-food, building and congesting diet more consistently than they need. If we regularly eat a more balanced and well-combined diet, such as my Ideal Diet, we will have less need for fasting and toning plans, although both would still be required at certain intervals throughout the year.
In a sense, detoxification is an important corrective and rejuvenative process in our cycle of nutrition. It is a time when we allow our cells and organs to breathe out, become current, and restore themselves. We do not necessarily need to fast to experience some cleansing, however. Minor shifts in the diet such as including more fluids, more raw foods, and fewer congesting foods will allow for better detoxification; for a carnivore, for example, a vegetarian or macrobiotic diet will be cleansing and purifying. The general process of detoxification is discussed thoroughly in the General Detoxification program; here we focus on fluid fasting—its history, therapeutic use, benefits, contraindications, and, of course, how to do it, along with other aspects of lifestyle that support fasting.

Fasting is a time-proven remedy. Its use goes back many thousands of years, really to the beginning of life forms. As a healing process and spiritual-religious process, it has continued to be more intelligently applied, we hope, in the last several thousand years.

Voluntary abstinence from food has been a tradition in most religions and is clearly a spiritual purification rite. Many religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and the Eastern religions, have encouraged fasting for a variety of reasons, such as penitence, preparation for ceremony, purification, mourning, sacrifice and union with God, and the enhancement of knowledge and powers. From Moses, Elijah, and Daniel to Christ, the Bible is filled with fasters, who employed it to assist their purification and communion with God. Fasts as long as 40 days were employed to cleanse people of sins and the “devil.”

The Essenes, authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls, also advocated fasting to purify themselves and commune with God. This was one of their primary healing methods. The Essene Gospel of Peace, transcribed by Edmond Bordeaux Szekely from the third-century Aramaic manuscript, suggests that Satan, his evil spirits, and his plagues will be cast out of our being by fasting and prayer. The Essenes believed that disease came from Satan (they claimed that it took three days without food to starve Satan) and from sins upon our body—the temple, which must be purified for God to reside there. To bring God into our life more completely, we would fast on water and “go to the waters (stream, lake) and find a hollow reed, insert it in our rear ends and flush the evils from our bowels.”

For many philosophers, scientists, and physicians, fasting was an essential part of life, health, and the healing process needed to recreate health where there was sickness. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Paracelsus, and Hippocrates all used and believed in fasting therapy. Most spiritual teachers also recommend fasting as a useful tool. In a booklet from the 1947 lecture entitled Healing by God’s Unlimited Power, Paramahansa Yogananda suggested that fasting is a way to increase our natural resistance to disease, stating that “Fasting is a natural method of healing. When animals or savages are sick, they fast.” He continued, “Most diseases can be cured by judicious fasting. Unless one has a weak heart, regular short fasts have been recommended by the yogis as an excellent health measure.” Yogananda referred to an Armenian doctor, Grant Sarkisyan, who had treated many patients successfully with fasting therapy for such disorders as asthma, skin diseases, digestive problems, and early stages of atherosclerosis and hypertension.

Throughout the centuries, many doctors have treated a variety of patients and maladies with fasting, acknowledging that ignorance (of how to live in accordance with nature) may be our greatest disease. Knowledge, not necessarily from books, but our inherent and experienced knowing of how to live according to the natural laws and spiritual truth, leads to the sacred wisdom of life and subsequent good health. Knowing when and how long to fast is part of this knowledge. Through fasting, we can turn our energies inward, where we can use them for healing, clarity, and change.

Physicians with a spiritual orientation tend to be more inclined than others to employ fasting, both personally and medically. Many of my life transitions were acknowledged, stimulated, and supported through fasting; and when I felt blocked or needed creative juice in my writing, fasting would be very useful. In Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet, Gabriel Cousens, M.D., a California physician and spiritual teacher, includes an excellent chapter on fasting in which he describes his concepts of fasting and his own 40-day fast. According to Dr. Cousens,
. . . fasting in a larger context, means to abstain from that which is toxic to mind, body, and soul. A way to understand this is that fasting is the elimination of physical, emotional, and mental toxins from our organism, rather than simply cutting down on or stopping food intake. Fasting for spiritual purposes usually involves some degree of removal of oneself from worldly responsibilities. It can mean complete silence and social isolation during the fast which can be a great revival to those of us who have been putting our energy outward.

From a medical point of view, I believe that fasting is not utilized often enough. We go on vacations from work to relax, recharge, and to gain new perspectives on our life; why not take occasional breaks from food? Or, for that matter, we might consider fasts from phones, cars, computers, talking, or from whatever activity/consumption we feel is excessive. Most people cannot break out of the conditioned pattern of eating three meals daily. Eating is a habit, an addiction. Most of us do not need nearly the amounts (and types) of food we consume. I have discussed allergy-addiction in many sections of this book; in a sense, eating itself is an allergy-addiction. When we stop and let our stomach remain empty, our body goes into an elimination cycle, and most people, especially when toxicity exists, will experience some “withdrawal” symptoms, such as headaches, irritability, or fatigue (only pure hunger is a clear sign of need for food). When they eat again, their withdrawal symptoms subside, and they feel better. This situation is worse when it involves allergic people eating allergenic foods.

I believe that fasting is one of the best overall healing methods because it can be applied to so many conditions and people. Those who are acid, sympathetic, or yang types, who tend to develop congestive symptoms and diseases rather than those of deficiency, do better on fasting than do other types. Some acid conditions, including colds, flus, bronchitis, mucus congestion, and constipation, can lead to headaches, other intestinal problems, skin conditions, and many other ailments. Those who follow a basic, wholesome, and balanced diet such as outlined in this book have less need to fast or detoxify, although on occasion it is a good idea for anyone, provided that they are not undernourished. Most of us living in Western, industrialized nations are mixed types, with both overnutrition and undernutrition. We may take in excessive amounts of potentially toxic nutrients, such as fats and chemicals, and inadequate amounts of many essential vitamins and minerals. Juice fasting supplies some of these needed nutrients and allows the elimination of toxins. Excess mucus and clogging of the eliminative systems constitute the basic process of congestive diseases; deficiency problems result from poor nourishment or ineffective digestion/assimilation.

Conditions for which Fasting May Be Beneficial
colds
skin conditions
hypertension
constipation
diabetes
fatigue
food allergies
back pains
environmental allergies
asthma
obesity
insomnia
flu
coronary artery disease
bronchitis
angina pectoris
headaches
indigestion
fever
diarrhea
cancer
mental illness
epilepsy

The use of fasting to treat fevers is controversial. Eastern medicine thinks of fasting as increasing body fire, so that it might worsen fever. In actuality, when we consume liquids, we generate less heat, so this really helps to cool the body. With fever, we need more liquids than usual; with high temperatures and sweating, we need even more.

Some cases of fatigue will respond well to fasting, particularly when the fatigue results from congested organs and energy. With fatigue that results from chronic infection, nutritional deficiency, or serious disease, more nourishment is probably needed, rather than fasting.

Back pains that are due to muscular tightness and stress rather than from bone disease or osteoporosis are usually alleviated with a lighter diet or juice fasting. Many tight muscles and sore areas along the back may result from referred pain from colon or other organ congestion. In my experience, poor bowel function and constipation are fairly commonly associated with back pains.

Many patients with mental illness, from anxiety to schizophrenia, may be helped by fasting. The purpose of fasting in this case, however, is not to cure these problems but to help understand the relationship of foods, chemicals, or drugs to the mental difficulties. Allergies and hypersensitive environmental reactions are not at all uncommon in people with mental illness. Care must be exercised with the use of fasting in mental patients as the toxicity or lack of nourishment may worsen their problems. If, however, the patient is strong and congested, fasting may be indicated.

Obesity can be remedied by fasting. Obesity is the problem for which fasting is currently most often used (mainly protein drinks) in the traditional medical system, although it is not the best use of this healing technique. Fasting is not even a good treatment for those who are overweight; it is too temporary and may generate feasting reactions in people coming off the fast. Better would be a change of diet and a longer-term weight-release plan; something that will allow new dietary habits and food choices to replace the old ones. A short fast, perhaps of five to ten days, can be useful as a motivator and catalyst for making these necessary dietary changes and new commitments and to help release a pound or two daily.

Some very obese patients have been monitored by doctors while on water fasts done in hospitals for months at a time to shed weights of a hundred pounds or more. With other patients, the jaws have been wired shut so that they can take in only fluids drunk through straws. Newer fasting programs substitute a variety of protein-rich powders for meals. These are usually medically supervised programs for people who are at least 30-50 pounds overweight and make use of a prepackaged, low-calorie powder, such as Optifast or Medifast. This high-protein, low-calorie diet allows patients to burn more fat. These programs are not nearly as healthful as vital juice fasts, but they are nutritionally supportive over a longer time period and can be used on a outpatient basis fairly safely if people are monitored regularly. They provide all the needed vitamins, minerals, and amino acids to sustain life and help many obese people to lower their weight, blood fats, blood pressures, and blood sugars. However, as with any weight-loss program, if it does not motivate the participants to change their diets and habits, they then may stay in the “yo-yo” syndrome (weight going up and down and up), which may actually be more harmful than just remaining overweight.

A balanced, low-calorie diet with lots of exercise is still the best way to reduce and maintain a good weight and figure. Many obese people are also deficient in nutrients because they eat a highly refined, fatty, sweet diet. Often, these obese people are fatigued, and they need to be nourished first before they will do well on any fast.

The Process and Benefits of Fasting
Although the process of fasting may generate various results, depending on the individual condition of the faster, there are clearly a number of common metabolic changes and experiences. First, fasting is a catalyst for change and an essential part of transformational medicine. It promotes relaxation and energization of the body, mind and emotions, and supports a greater spiritual awareness. Many fasters feel a letting go of past actions and experiences and develop a positive attitude toward the present. Having energy to get things done and clean up old areas, both personal and environmental, without the usual procrastination is also a common experience. Fasting clearly improves motivation and creative energy; it also enhances health and vitality and lets many of the body systems rest.

In other words, fasting is a multidimensional experience. Physiologically, refraining from eating minimizes the work done by the digestive organs, including the stomach, intestines, pancreas, gallbladder, and liver. Most important here is that our liver, our body’s large production and metabolic factory, can spend more time during fasting cleaning up and creating its many new substances for our use. Breakdown of stored or circulating chemicals is the basic process of detoxification. The blood and lymph also have the opportunity to be cleaned of toxins as all the eliminative functions are enhanced with fasting. Each cell has the opportunity to catch up on its work; with fewer new demands, it can repair itself and dump its waste for the garbage pickup. Most fasters also experience a new vibrancy of their skin and clarity of mind and body.

Initially, the reduction of calories allows the liver to convert glycogen stores to glucose and energy. Body fat can be used for energy (ATP) but it cannot generate or reform glucose; although many cells can metabolize fatty acids for energy, the brain and central nervous system need direct glucose. Proteins can be broken down into amino acids; of these, alanine and serine can be used to produce glucose. With fasting, some protein breakdown occurs, less if calories are provided by juices. When there is no stored glycogen left, our body will convert protein to amino acids and to energy. Fatty acids can also be a fair source of energy, usually after being converted to ketones. With total fasting, ketosis occurs as an adaptation by the body to prevent protein loss by burning fats. Still, protein and fats can be used to provide energy for brain cell function. With juice fasting, there is less ketosis, and the simple carbohydrates in the juices are easily used for energy and cellular function. The high-protein diets and fasts do burn fat and generate ketosis and weight loss, but they also add more toxin buildup in the body from the foods or powders used. Also, they do not rest and cleanse the digestive tract and other organs as well.

Fasting increases the process of elimination and the release of toxins from the colon, kidneys and bladder, lungs and sinuses, and skin. This process can generate discharge such as mucus from the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, sinuses, or in the urine. This is helpful to clear out the problems that have arisen from overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. Much of aging and disease, I believe, results from “biochemical suffocation,” where our cells do not get enough oxygen and nutrients or cannot adequately eliminate their wastes. Fasting helps us decrease this suffocation by allowing the cells to eliminate and clear the old products.

Some Benefits of Fasting

Purification More energy
Rejuvenation Better sleep
Revitalization More relaxation
Rest for digestive organs Better attitude
Clearer skin More clarity, mentally and emotionally
Antiaging effects Improved senses—vision, hearing, taste
Inspiration Creativity
Reduction of allergies New ideas
Weight loss Clearer planning
Drug detoxification Change of habits
Better resistance to disease Diet changes
Spiritual awareness Right use of will

This physiological rest and concentration on cleanup can also generate a number of toxicity symptoms. Hunger is usually present for two or three days and then departs, leaving many people with a surprising feeling of deep abdominal peace; yet, others may feel really hungry. It is good to ask ourselves, “What are we hungry for?” Fasting is an excellent time to work on our psychological connections to consumption.

A doctor or knowledgeable practitioner should supervise anyone for whom fasting is questionable—that is, anyone in poor health or without fasting experience. If the fast is extended for more than three to five days, regular monitoring, including physical examination and blood work should be done, probably about weekly. Fasting may reduce blood protein levels and will definitely lower blood fats. Uric acid levels may rise secondary to protein breakdown, while levels of some minerals, such as potassium, sodium, calcium, or magnesium, may drop. Iron levels are usually lower, and the red blood count may also drop during this time.

Nutritionally, fasting helps us appreciate the more subtle aspects of diet, since less food and simple flavors become more satisfying. My early fasts definitely reawakened my taste buds and allowed me to appreciate and desire more natural foods. Mentally, fasting improves clarity and attentiveness; emotionally, it may make us more sensitive and aware of feelings. I have seen on several occasions individuals making decisions based on new clarities brought out during fasts. Fasting clearly supports the transformational evolutionary process. For example, when we really “get” that our spouse is not going to change his or her habits of eating, watching TV, or being too busy to really relate to us—that the priority of the relationship is very low and the love is clearly not there—it may be time to make a change. With fasting, we can feel empowered to do things we only thought about before. Fasting can precipitate emotional cleansing as well. Attitude and general motivation are usually uplifted with cleansing. Spiritually, juice fasting offers a lesson in self-restraint and control of passions, which help us in many avenues of life.

Fasting is a simple process of self-cleansing. We do not need any special medicines to do it; our body knows how. Provided that we are basically well-nourished, systematic undereating and fasting are likely the most important contributors to health and longevity. Fasting is even more important to balance the autointoxication that results from common dietary and drug indiscretions.

I look at fasting as “taking a week off work” to handle the other aspects of life for which there is often little time. With fasting we can take time to nurture ourselves and rest. Fasting is also like turning off and cleaning a complex and valuable machine so that it will function better and longer. Resting the gastrointestinal tract, letting the cells and tissues repair themselves, and allowing the lymph, blood, and organs to clear out old, defective, or diseased cells and unneeded chemicals all lead to less degeneration and sickness. As healthy cell growth is stimulated, so is our level of vitality, immune function and disease resistance, and our potential for greater longevity.

If fasting is overused, it may create depletion and weakness, lower resistance, and allow diseases to begin. Certain people are not good candidates for fasting or cleansing. Others may enjoy fasting so much that they overindulge in it and take it beyond the limits of normal elimination, resulting in protein and other nutritional deficits, reduced immunity, and loss of energy. While fasting allows the organs, tissues, and cells to rest, clean house, and handle excesses, the body needs the nourishment provided by food to function after it has used its stores.

Many people of the world are involuntary fasters, while those of the Western nations are more likely to be feasters. In Third World countries, many starvation deaths result from the disease of protein deficiency, termed kwashiorkor, and protein-calorie malnutrition, known as marasmus. What happens to these people is what happens with chronic fasting—loss of muscle mass, weight, and energy, and finally swelling and death.

Malnourished people should definitely not fast, nor should some overweight people who are undernourished. Others who should not fast include people with fatigue resulting from nutrient deficiency, those with chronic degenerative disease of the muscles or bones, or those who are underweight. Diseases associated with clogged or toxic organs respond better to fasting. Sluggish men or women who retain water or whose weight is concentrated in their hips and legs often do poorly with fasting. Those with low daytime energy and more vitality at night (more yin or alkaline types) may not enjoy fasting, either.

Contraindications for Fasting
Underweight Pregnancy
Fatigue Nursing
Fatigue Nursing
Alkaline type Pre- and postsurgery
Low immunity Mental illness
Weak heart Cancer
Low blood pressure Peptic ulcers
Cardiac arrhythmias Nutritional deficiencies
Cold weather

The side effects of fasting involves its transformative aspects and how they relate to personal life changes. Often we maintain certain relationships and attitudes toward other people or our careers by resisting inner guidance, feelings, and desires to do something new. Divorce, job changes, and moves are all more likely after fasts, because fasting often stimulates self-realization and change, enhances our potential, and leads us to focus on where we are going, rather than where we have been. During fasting transitions, many people question all aspects of their lives and make new plans for the future. They also have new sensitivity to and awareness of their job, mate, home, and so on. I warn fasters before they begin that these experiences may arise and their lives may change, especially when I sense that they are not really committed to or believe in what they are doing. Even though these insights and changes may be traumatic, my belief is that they are ultimately positive, as they support the evolutionary purpose of the human being. In this way, fasting helps us follow our true nature.
Other Aspects of Healthy Fasting

* Fresh air—plenty is needed to support cleansing and oxygenation of the cells and tissues.
* Sunshine—also needed to revitalize our body; avoid excessive exposure.
* Water—bathing is very important to cleanse the skin at least twice daily. Steams and saunas are also good for giving warmth as well as supporting detoxification.
* Skin brushing—with a dry, soft brush prior to bathing; this will help clear toxins from the skin. This is a good year-round practice as well.
* Exercise—very important to support the cleansing process. It helps to relax the body, clear wastes, and prevent toxicity symptoms. Walking, bicycling, swimming, or other usual exercises can usually be done during a fast, although more dangerous or contact sports might be avoided.
* No drugs—none should be used during fasts except mandatory prescription drugs. Particularly, avoidance of alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine is wise.
* Vitamin supplements—these are not used during fasting; thus, no program of nutrients will follow at the end of this section. Some supplemental fiber, such as psyllium husks, can be part of a colon detox program. Special chlorophyll foods, such as green barley, chlorella, and spirulina, may also be vitality enhancers and purifiers during cleanses. Occasionally, some mineral support, especially potassium, calcium, and magnesium, or vitamin C will be suggested, usually in powdered or liquid forms (pills are not suggested) to help in preventing cramps, if there is a lot of physical activity, sweating, and fluid and mineral losses, or for an extended fast. Some people even use amino acid powders and other vitamin powders with some benefit during cleanses. In general, most of these supplemental nutrients are best used with foods.

* Colon cleansing—an essential part of healthy fasting. Some form of bowel stimulation is recommended.
* Work and be creative—and make plans for your life. Staying busy is helpful in breaking our ties to food. We also need time for ourselves. Most fasters experience greater work energy and more creativity and, naturally, find lots to do.
* Cleanup—a motto during fasting. As we clean our body, we want to clean our room, desk, office, closet, and home—just like “spring cleaning.” It clearly brings us into harmony with the cleansing process of nutrition. If we want to get ready for the new, we need to make space by clearing out the old.
* Joining others in fasting can generate strong bonds and provide an added spiritual lift. It opens up new supportive relationships and new levels of existing ones. It will also provide support if we feel down or want to quit. Most people feel better as their fast progresses—more vital, lighter, less blocked, more flexible, clearer, and more spiritually attuned. For many, it is nice to have someone with whom to share this. Call our clinic or another that offers this service.
* Avoid the negative influence of others who may not understand or support us. There are many fears and misconceptions about fasting, and they may affect us. We need to listen to our own inner guidance and not to others’ limitations, but we also need to maintain awareness and insight into any problems should they arise. Being in contact with fasters will provide us with the positive support we need.
* The economy of fasting allows us to save time, money, and future health care costs. While we may be worried about not having enough, we may already have too much. Many of us are inspired to share more of ourselves when we are freed from food.
* Meditation and relaxation are also an important aspect of fasting to help attune us to deeper levels of ourselves and clear the stresses that we have carried with us.
* Spiritual practice and prayer will affirm our positive attitude toward ourselves and life in general. This supports our meditation and relaxation and provides us with the inner fuel to carry on our life with purpose and passion.

Conclusion
Fasting can easily become a way of life and an effective dietary practice. Over a period of time (different for each of us), through newly gained clarity, we can go from symptom cleansing to prevention fasting. Ideally, we should fast at specific times to treat symptoms and/or to enhance our vitality and spiritual practice. Otherwise, we should support ourselves regularly with a balanced, wholesome diet. This diet may change somewhat through the year as we experience different needs, and occasional fasting or feasting may be valuable. We also must maintain good digestion and elimination.

Fasting is needed more frequently by those who have abused themselves with foods or other agents so readily available these days. We all need to return to the cycle of a daily fast of 12-14 hours overnight until our morning “break-fast,” and then find our own natural pattern of food consumption. This usually means one main meal and two lighter ones. For low-weight, high-metabolism people, two larger or three moderately sized meals are probably needed. If we eat a heavier evening meal, we need only a light breakfast, and vice versa. Through awareness and experience, we can find our individual nutritional needs and listen to that inner nutritionist, our body.

Choosing healthful foods, chewing well, and maintaining good colon function minimize our need for fasting. However, if we do get out of balance, we can employ the oldest treatment known to us, the instinctive therapy for many illnesses, nature’s doctor and knifeless surgeon, the great therapist and tool for preventing disease—fasting!