Fasting

[Guest guest]

Dear Sadhant Singh

 

I really appreciated your posting about fasting as it jolted me into getting

back into it. I fasted for years using the Indian "ekadashi" system but

began experiencing problems after a while. Perhaps you know something about

dry fasting and you can assist me. Actually the real reason I stopped was

not because of the "problems" but because of slackness. So your posting was

the perfect cue to get back into it.

 

I've been doing KY for about 10 years now and along the way this system of

fasting made sense because of the benefits it gave to my meditation: we

would fast 4 times a month, 3 days before new moon (which happens to be 11

days after full), on new moon, three days before full moon (most always 11

days after new) and on full moon.

 

However, we were told, by the guiding acaryas, that if we had no health

problems we should dry fast ie nothing not even water to pass the lips for

24 hours. So after the evening meal on the night before the fasting day,

we'd have nothing until breakfast of the day after the fasting day. The

benefits for meditation were spectacular but I experienced a "backlash"

response to it in that on the day of breaking fast, I couldn't stop eating!!

Defeated the purpose somewhat, I thought. I latered the fasting to include

water, which I found more difficult to sustain than dry fasting and

gradually I stopped doing it.

 

This time I intend to restart doing just fruit. Would be interested in your

response.

 

Ravi Kaur

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam Ravi Kaur:

 

I don't know about dry fasting - and feel it has to be pretty tough

on the body to go without water. YB only (AFAIK) talks about fasting

in the context of just water, or with a restricted diet. The way I

fast includes plenty of water and as much yogi tea as seems right (I

drink at least 1 or 2 cups of yogi tea on my fasting days).

 

It is a 24-hour fast, in the same fashion as you describe, and

certainly breaking the fast can be challenging sometimes (even though

I drink plenty of water). I like to start with melon, because I know

I shouldn't eat anything for half an hour after that - usually by

then my massive urge to eat has subsided

 

YB's book Foods for Health and Healing talks about various

specialized fasts (just fruit, just melon, just bananas, etc.).

These are especially for longer periods (the melon fast has a

schedule for a month!). I haven't tried any of these longer fasts

yet (he suggests doing them in the spring, btw), but I have a friend

who does them pretty regularly and says they are great.

 

Even for a single day, I am sure these restricted diet fasts will

provide a distinct benefit. One of the points of doing this is that

when the body is caught up in digesting food, energy is being used

for that which isn't available for higher purposes, like meditation.

All these restricted diets, like fruit only, are extremely digestable.

 

I hope your fasts go well!

 

Love & blessings,

Sadhant Singh

[Guest guest]

Hi Sadhant!

 

Do you fast four times a month according to the moon or once in a week?

I heard it is also good to fast on Thursdays (Jupiter's day).

 

Love & blessings

Sat Sarbat Kaur

[Guest guest]

Dear Sat Sarbat Kaur:

 

I fast 2 or three times per lunar cycle - always on the full and new

moon, sometimes on the 11th day after the new moon. This is

according to the advice from Gurunam's "Lifting the Veil", which

combines Kabbalah and KY.

 

He recommends being moderate with food on Thursdays, but also points

out that Thursday might not mean Thursday on the calendar - that is,

everyone has a personal week according to the day of the week that

one is born - you should consider the actual day you were born to be

your personal Sunday and calculate your week accordingly - for

example, since I was born on a Tuesday, my personal Thursday is

actually Saturday on the calendar.

 

Love & light,

Sadhant

[Guest guest]

Hello

I think fruit or juice fasting is much easier to do. After all, the

difficulty and discomfort you go thru when you fast is directly

proportional to how toxic you are, and most of us are quite toxic.

With a fruit fast, you are keeping the colon moving by ingesting fiber,

and the nature of the fruit is detoxifying. There are lots of

antioxidants, etc in fruit that meet and neutralize the wastes you are

eliminating at an accelerated rate.

You feel a lot better also. For a beginner, it can be nearly

impossible to fulfill one's normal work obligations during a water

only fast, or no water fast. If you are on a fruit fast however, you

can always just eat some fruit when you start to freak out, and will

immediately feel better, and in this way get thru the day.

 

Nobody has mentioned colonics and enemas, but many people feel they are

necesary and unavoidable if you are doing a water fast.

 

By the way, does anyone have a recipe for Yogi Tea they can share.

 

lilith

[Guest guest]

Hi Lilith!

 

What are colonics and enemas?..

Thanks,

sat sarbat k.

 

> Nobody has mentioned colonics and enemas, but many people feel they

> are

> necesary and unavoidable if you are doing a water fast.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

HELLO!

 

>

> What are colonics and enemas?..

> Thanks,

> sat sarbat k.

>

 

You really don't know? Oh. Ahhh. I really have to tell you?

They are means to cleanse the colon through water irrigation. Enemas

can easily be done at home with a bag purchased from any drugstore, and

cleanse only the lower bowel. You need a special board and equipment

for doing a colonic, and often they are done at a healing center. With

them, the water goes all the way up to the small intestine, and are

thus more thorough.

 

There are some oriental medecine schools of thought that highly

discourage their use, and believe them to be harmful and unnatural at

all times. I knew someone who could no longer have normal bowel

movements after years of weekly use of colonics, although she claimed

her colon wasn't functioning properly before either.

There are other schools of thought that glorify them, and make them out

to be the cure for almost everything. In moderation, I believe in

they have their place.

 

It is an old faster's trick, that just when you feel like you are going

absolutely insane and can't go another minute without eating, you do an

enema, and then you will feel OK. It's because toxins being released

into the colon during the fast are being reabsorbed into the blood

stream. So the discomfort you feel when you fast is not so much a case

of low blood sugar as it is of being poisoned.

Lilith

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam!

 

Here is a link for a vedic calendar with the Ekadasi fast schedule,

including times to break the fast for New York city and the surrounding area

of the US: http://www.harekrishna.com/la/calny.txt. It differs for

different regions. So, here is a link to a website where you can download a

program to determine just what the vaishnava calendar is for your area:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Cyprus/3108/.

 

Hari Bol!

 

littlebird Leslie

 

56>

> ingrid mundari [ijm+]

> Sunday, August 12, 2001 12:12 PM

> littlebird108

> RE: Fasting

>

>

> Daer Seva Simran,

> Would you please post the info on this "ideal time frame"

> during which to

> break a fast. It would be greatly appreciated.

> Thank You

> Jiwan Mukta Kaur

>

> --On Wednesday, August 8, 2001 11:57 AM -0400 littlebird108

> <littlebird108 wrote:r

> >

> Oh, and by the way,

> > there is also an ideal time frame for breaking ekadashi the following

> > day. If anyone is interested in trying it I could get the calendar

> > resource my husband has used.

> >

> >>

> >> mark terrell [mark.terrell]

> >> Wednesday, August 08, 2001 12:47 AM

> >> Kundaliniyoga

> >> Re: Planets and days

> >>

> >>

> >> Traditionally the best days to fast are thursday (jupiter) or

> >> monday (moon). In kundalini yoga the 11th day of the new moon is

> >> also said to be

> >> good because the glandular secretions are said to be particularly

> >> strong that day. Full moon and new moon are good too.

> >>

> >> Seva Simran

> >

> >

> >

> >

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