Hello All!

Not much to report today on the fast and cleanse but a nasty coat on my tongue that feels like a slick and tacky everglades born moss – ewe. And a little athlete’s foot (not on the tongue thankfully but the foot). I’ve had a few skin break-outs but nothing too horrific. I’m still passing some things (sorry to mention that but hey, we’re all grown ups, right?) and I can’t believe it! You would think after almost a full week of not eating that you would be pretty much emptied out. Apparently that’s not the case for yours truly. I have taken a picture of what I’ve been consuming over the last six days not including the salt water flush that I drink in the morning (10 ounces of filtered water and 1/2 a teaspoon of sea salt)

The drink consists of filtered water that I’m getting from our neighborhood Whole Foods and a truly delicious grade B maple syrup that I received as a Christmas present from my brother-in-law Aron (thank you Aron!). Now I must warn you if you want to try this out, though you may be tempted to use that old bottle of Aunt Jemima with the crusted screw off top, don’t do it. You really need this grade B syrup for this fast because it’s not as processed as grade A syrup and not all corn syrup as Aunty’s is. Therefore it has more of the good stuff like minerals and vitamins that you really need while on this fast. I’m also using organic California grown lemons as I can acquire them (some recently stolen from a friend’s house – thanks Tak!) and a good pinch of cayenne pepper to turn up the heat and get the old furnaces blowing nicely. No doubt some of you may find this recipe very familiar and know it by it’s name “Master Cleanse“. (I wholeheartedly recommend getting the book and doing a little research on your own to get a better feel for what happens when you cleanse.) It’s been around for years and as a matter of fact, this was my first introduction to cleansing about fifteen years ago. But that is not where I had first heard about fasting. My Dad had done it years ago when he had been inspired by Werner Erhard’s “The Hunger Project”. I know the guy got tons of bad press but that was one thing that made a very lasting impression on a young kid. Not so much Werner but seeing my Dad go without food so that he could better relate to those that had no choice and went without food because they had none to eat. Thanks Dad. I remember.

So getting back to my first fast. At the time I was living in Sedona, Arizona and I was reading a fantastic book about Frank Fools Crow that inspired me to do my first sweat lodge ceremony (more on that in a later post). As I researched more and began to meet people that did these ceremonies, I found out that much of the ceremony is in the preparation. It includes a fast of three days (not the same with all tribes ) and a bit of reflection on what you can release. I thought long and hard about this commitment to starve myself willingly and many things surfaced around that. One thought that kept coming up for me was how can I possibly go without eating for one day, let alone three. I’m going to go crazy and lose my mind, I’ll never make it, and, can you die from fasting? Well I had proof of that being false because my Dad was still very much alive. I had gone without food before but never of my own free will. Unfortunately for me, poverty had forced me to go without food at times. I therefore had empathy and understanding for those who had to go without unwillingly (not nice). A close friend at the time recommend the Master Cleanse and promised me that I would not perish and that I had plenty of fat store to hold me through the lean times. So in my naivety that has so many times led me into the most amazing and memorable times in my life, I leapt in with both feet and began the fast.

Again I notice I’m carrying on a bit so I must steer myself back to the present moment which brings me to the big question some of you may be asking: Why fast now? Well I learned many things from that first fast and if or when you read the latest post to the blog “Happy New Year”you will already know the why. If you have not attempted to read what I have named the longest post yet, I will paraphrase here. Basically I just need to un-cloud my head and get centered and fasting is a great way to do that. I can highly recommend fasting if you see yourself as stuck or constipated (bad joke) in your life. It’s a fantastic way of ridding yourself of mind, body and spirit toxins and getting things moving and flowing again.

I’m going to try and post about this as much as I can over the next few days as I expect the fast to last at least that long. I will also work on getting more details on the effects it’s having with my type II diabetes as well if folks are interested in that. So far so good. I must say I’m not checking my glucose level as often as I should be on this fast so knowing that it can help you out if you have type II, I’ll start checking more often to see the results. Happy fasting and remember; be careful and use common sense when starting a fast or cleanse. Do your research and check forums for what to expect along the way.

Yours in service,

robert

Technorati Tags:
self help, spirituality, peace, meditation, happiness, cleanse, fast