Fasting

Fasting teaches us how to care for our bodies and what food is all about.

Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that procedeth out of the mouth of God. Jesus Christ.

The whole body consists of 80% liquid and 20% solids. It is a fact of physiology. Fasting is used by many spiritual disciplines and cultures as a purification technique. Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights without food or water. I recommend that one fast on water alone for two to five days once every month.

The best days for fasting are the four days prior to either the new moon or full moon, or, alternatively, directly on the full moon or new moon. Fasting on these particular days helps you to encounter the disturbing influence of the moon's attraction which has been shown to peak on the new moon and the fool moon days. Your physical body and common sense are the best teachers. Never push yourself or your body. Your psycho-physical organism must be lovingly trained.

Gentleness is the operative word. The goal is neither hunger nor weakness. Fasting is an intuitive art and that takes a lot of experience to master. The body's digestive systems are large, bulky, and their operations consume large amounts of the body's energy. Fasting enables the digestive system to cleanse itself of toxins which have built up over a lifetime.

Fasting ensures rest and rejuvenation of every level of mind, body and spirit. Fasting allows our bodies to assimilate cosmic energy rather than biochemical energy. Fasting rests the entire body and frees up much energy for the body to heal itself. Proper fasting means consuming water only. Consuming fruit or fruit juice is not fasting in its most complete form.

The mind is a foolish thing. It can delude you. The goal of fasting is to heal the deluded mind, not to be deluded by it. Fasting brings up suppressed pain and emotion. It opens up many new worlds of mind and body.

Fasting cleans the blood, the cells, and the memory. It can heal anything. Fasting alters consciousness and physiology and is an effective means of preventing buildup of toxins and other accumulated wastes. Regular fasting reduces the possibility of intestinal diseases and is a good home remedy for colds, flu, infectious illness and toxic conditions of all kinds.

The best days for fasting are on the new and full moon days as well as eleven days (Eakadasi) before the Full Moon and the New Moon. Fasting on these days helps one's body benefit from the influence of the moon's attraction to the earth and human body. This attraction between the moon and the human body is strongest on the new and full moon days.

Like the earth, a humans body is 80% liquid and 20% solid. This biological fact helps one understand the scientific principles of fasting. Science tells us of high tide on new moon and full moon days and low tide on the seventh day of the lunar cycle as the sun comes nearer to the earth. The earth and moon's attraction to each other is greater on certain days because of the bodies' gravitational effect on each other. The gravitation force of the moon exerts an influence on the water in the human ody as well as on the oceans, but does so in various strengths throughout the month.

Dr. Arnold Lieber, MD a psychiatrist from Miami, Florida, discovered biological tides can affect moods and behaviors. Many psychiatric hospitals report that on full or new moon days, some patients' behavior becomes more disturbed and erratic. Dr. Edgar Ziegler MD, of Phoenix, Arizona, wrote in an article, entitled 'Does the Moon Control your Moods?', that the fire department receives 25 to 30 additional calls on nights of the full moon. On tidal days, as the moon moves closest to the earth, people experience physiological and psychological changes.

Studies show the influence of celestial bodies on human physiology does cause imbalances in hormones. Fluids in the body play a major role in the onset of disease and psychologically disturbed behavior. Glands and hormones are the physical and psychic causes of various mental expressions known as Vrittis or propensities such as lust fear and passion. If glands become imbalanced, their secretions become abnormal, either hypo or hyper.

Human skin is a semi-permeable membrane that will permit movement of electromagnetic forces to come and go in and out of the body. This movement is normal and helps one maintain a dynamic equilibrium. Dr. Lieber sys that each nerve impulse generates a small aura of energy, which is like a miniature solar system producing its own faint electromagnetic field. The gross electromagnetic forces originating from celestial bodies affect the balance of our microscopic cellular worlds. During extreme tides, an increase in the surrounding electromagnetic activity occurs due to an electromagnetic bombardment from the moon. This bombardment causes irritation to the nervous system and weakens the nerve fibers. The onset or increase of depression, restlessness, insomnia or rapid heart beat occurs during these periods.

It is commonly found that filarial attacks are more frequent on the tidal days and this effect is from the eleventh day of the new and full moon (Ekadasi) to the new moon days or full moon days. Fasting means consuming nothing that might create a vacuum in the digestive tract. The tidal effect is strongest during the period from Ekadasi (4 days before and after) to full moon or new moon as the sun comes nearer to the earth and the moon comes nearer the earth during the new moon.

The body needs three days to regain its normal fluid level after a one day fast. The body needs three days to regain its normal fluid level after a one day fast. Thus, the counteraction of Ekadasi fast will last through most of the tidal period. With this balancing effect, the fast has numerous benefits for our body and mind. A primary benefit is to control the balance of hormones and secretions in the glands and cells. Fasting helps control the functions of all organs, chemical changes, cellular growth and other biological changes.

With regular fasting, the bombardment of celestial electromagnetic forces on our cells has no effect at all, which helps maintain psychic and physical equilibrium. Anger, passion, fear and tension are sublimated and controlled efficiently. A day's fast rests the body's machinery and helps it to function better in the future. Fasting helps in the transmutation of the body's chemicals into subtle factors like electroplasmic stuff, a good mental state, a sense of mental and physical calmness, and a clearing the mind of cognitive and emotional distress. One feels like a new person, with sharper senses, a lighter body and more energy.

Meditation during a fast is deep and blissful. Because it helps to manufacture brain neurotransmitters called norepinepherine and dopamine. These natural brain 'uppers' bring your brain to full attention, helping you to perform mental activities such as concentrating under stress. Fasting has been known to alleviate various diseases by practitioners for over 5000 years. Fasting produces complete remission of some diseases such as bronchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, cancers, and diabetes that have resisted other treatments.

Fasting brings relief from pain to people with hypoglycemia, as well as women because it reduces menstrual cramping and premenstrual water retention by affecting the smooth muscles and proper hormone secretion. It frees up energy for body healing that is ordinarily consumed by the digestive system. It is a healthy way to lose weight. Because of these and other beneficial effects, the yogis, sages and saints of ancient India and many great spiritual teachers fasted. This list includes Moses, Jesus, Elijah, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Zarathushtra, Confucius, and Leonardo da Vinci.

I advocate the observance of four days of fasting each and every month instead of the longer multiple day fasts in order to keep and maintain general health and to keep a healthy mind free from all sorts of physical and mental sickness. But you must fast on liquids. It gets easy after a while and your body loves it. Food tastes at least twice as good on the other days you will say I love to fast. Fasting in one's life is not too much to ask to make people conscious of spirit, mind and body. Fasting teaches you how to care for your body and what food is all about. Obviously, every intelligent person should fast.

• avoid eating heavily before and after the fast
• Excessive fasting may be dangerous, but for certain individuals long fasts may be necessary to cure certain diseases.
• The best way to break a fast is by taking water with the juice from a whole lemon and a teaspoon of salt the following morning.
• Eat a ripe banana to lubricate the digestive tract and then eat a light breakfast with fruit and yogurt.