January 03, 2021

Your Body Says, "Give me some SPACE" (An Introduction To Fasting)

It was a cold winter night of 2017, I was on my way back from Gynaecologist, my mind captivated all through the drive. Even throughout the next day I could think of nothing but the echoing words of gynaec in my head.

My not-so-generous Gynaecologist with a blank face announced that very day that no course of treatment could bring my body back to homeostasis and I had to live with a disease called ENDOMETRIOSIS for my entire life. For the next couple of days, I was trying to come to terms with this reality. But the Universe had something else for me in the store.

God bless the soul who mentioned me about the holistic healing approach of Ayurveda, which made me pay a visit to this clinic. With least amount of faith and zero hope, I entered the Doctor’s cabin. And after a round of questions and pulse examination he told me that my body needed a major cleanse. And on his next statement I nearly jumped out of my skin,

“FOR NEXT 8 DAYS YOU WILL HAVE TO REMAIN ON GINGER WATER”.

This was the most unexpected line of treatment I’d ever come across in my entire life. With a bated breath when I left that place, little did I know that I was leaving only to come back as a new, transformed person after a couple of days.

Yes!! Absolutely, precisely these 8 days of Water Fasting transformed my life and almost 60% of my health problems disappeared.

Wait, did you just hear me say fasting? Oh yeah! I was made to observe water fasting for my highest good, the miracles of which I reap till date.

Fasting is a therapy which has its mention in our scriptures for thousands of years. So, let me unveil the curtain to what, why and how of fasting.

WHAT IS FASTING?

Most of us usually mistake fasting for starvation. Well, it isn’t. Starvation is a state in which your body has to stay hungry in absence of food, whereas when we observe a fast, we take a conscious decision to refrain ourselves from consuming any food group for a given period of time.

According to the ancient word UPAVASA, UPA means “with” and VASA means ”staying or residing”, which together denotes staying with the almighty.

Fasting is an ancient technique associated with daily practices to rest, restore, rejuvenate and heal.

So the next question arises…

WHY DO WE FAST?

According to ancient science, a human body is made up of five elements or mahabhutas. These are Space, Air, Water, Fire and Earth. Fasting therapy signifies space element of our body, which in other words is emptiness and stillness.

Let me explain this with an example.

Imagine that after a long tiring month you get to spend a long weekend. How do you feel? Similarly, all of the sudden a kid gets a day off from school. You know that feeling? Happy and relaxed right!!

Your body (digestive system) is working everyday- working to digest the food by secreting enzymes. So, why not just give it a day off?

This act of keeping your body off food can bring about a lot of healing, both physically and emotionally.

A few of many benefits of fasting are- it fights of inflammation, reverses lifestyle disorders such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiac ailments, skin problems and boosts the sluggish metabolism. Needless to say that weight loss and development of lean muscle-mass come easy as the added benefits of fasting.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that chronic ailments like Alzheimer’s, Dementia and even Cancers* can be reversed if we provide our body with the right amount of space.

Thrilled and surprised to know the benefits of fasting?

Something more interesting is that you can select a method of fasting that fits your lifestyle. So you won’t be hard on yourself, I promise. We will walk step-by-step together on this journey.

Fasting is going to be a series, so gear yourself up to learn and unlearn so much more. In the next blog, I am going to explain the different kinds of fasting and which one will suit best for your body.

Till then, stay happy and healthy.

Love and Light to all.