“Fasting gives you a path to understanding. You can start to discover things in your yoga practice you wouldn’t discover otherwise.”
Importance of Fasting
- Fasting is an essential part of life and the healing process needed to maintain good health. Many philosophers, scientists and physicians believed in fasting therapy.
- Fasting is an effective cleaning and detoxifying process of the body. It also provides ample time and space to rejuvenate and refresh the system. Everyone should do one day fasting at-least in a week for a healthy body and peaceful mind.
- Yoga and Ayurveda discourages long term fasting as the sense of deprivation created by a long-term fasting encourages the person to follow it up with a spell of indulgence in overeating.
- According to me one day fasting in a week is ideal, but it should be followed by intake of juices and liquid.
- When the physical toxins are cleared not only from the body but also the mind-brain, the mind-brain functions significantly improve.
Conditions in which fasting is beneficial
- Whatever the conditions may be, during the fever, and such other illness, one needs more liquids than usual, due to the high temperatures and sweating and should fast as long as there is no real desire for fasting. As we can see the animals when they are sick ,they don’t have intention to take food and so that body concentrate to heal the sickness.
- Some cases of fatigue will respond well to fasting, particularly when it results from congested organs and energy.
- Obesity may be remedied by some degree of fasting.
- Fasting can be followed in colds, bronchitis, headaches, hypertension, constipation, diabetes, indigestion, diarrhea, fatigue, food allergies, back pains, asthma, insomnia.
On a practical level, fasting lets the body’s digestive functions rest and reinvigorate. For many of us, digestion is a 24/7 process and just as our minds appreciate a holiday, so too do our internal organs.
On a physical level, going without solid food clears the intestines and allows students to explore yoga postures that aren’t as accessible when the gut is full.
On a more subtle level, fasting can markedly increase flexibility and help energy flow better.
So how to start?
“Try giving up one meal a week,”
“Then gradually toward one day a month.”
“Then become one day a week.”
In India, fasting is enshrined in the lunar calendar. Ekadashi occurs on the 11th day after new and full moons.
Then there are devotional fasts for each spiritual tradition. On nearly every day of the week, he said, someone in India is doing Upavasa, a practice that translates to “dwelling closer.”
Should not attempt any sort of fast unless you have been properly instructed by a respected authority on yoga, physiology, diet and fasting.