Fasting for who?

Many Gujarati people will be fasting from today or tomorrow to observe the holy month of Shraavan. Most religions/cultures dedicate a time of the year to fast and rather than it being “a sacrifice to the Gods”, I’ve found that there’s a deeper meaning behind the fast. If you’ve also decided to take on this “challenge”, read on to find some things I’ve learnt and perhaps you can share your ideas too!

Firstly, there are different ways to observe a fast. Suppose you eat way too much junk foods like crisps, chocolates, sweets, colddrinks, etc. and you’d like to cut down – you can decide to avoid eating these for a month. Another way to do it, if you’d like to cut down on your meat intake, is to avoid eating meat for the month. This gives you the opportunity to discover a vast new world of vegetarian dishes and the various benefits of eating plants rather than animals. If you’re already vegetarian, maybe you’d like to find out what vegans eat, so you can go vegan for the month! Others may choose to only eat one meal for the day.

Whatever type of fast you choose, what I’ve come to realise is that fasting is beneficial in order to cleanse our bodies, give it a break from all the digestive processes and allow our bodies to perhaps focus more of its energy on healing some parts of our bodies that may need healing. Fasting is more about detoxing. When our bodies are not working so hard on digestion, our thoughts become clearer, our minds are more settled, and we can easily slip away into a quiet space during meditation. Have you ever tried meditating on a full stomach? It is literal torture trying to quiet the mind!

Whatever form of fast you choose this month, or at any time of the year that you’re fasting, these are some things I’ve learned over the years to make the fast more fulfilling:

1. Hydrate yourself. Your body will be detoxing, meaning it is getting rid of toxins and to assist your body with flushing out the toxins, you need to drink lots of water. Not juices, flavoured water or energy drinks, just good old, plain water.
2. Honour the food that you eat. Before taking a bite of your meal, think of the journey those little bit of grains took to get into your plate. From the person who planted the seed, to the person that watered the seed and nurtured it to grow, to the person that picked and sorted only the best grains, to the packing person, to the delivery truck, to the distributor, to another delivery truck, to the shop-owner, to the person that packed it onto the store shelf, to your hands and then to cook’s pot and finally into your plate. Isn’t it so amazing? All the steps and processes the food had to go through to end up on your plate to provide you with nourishment and to excite your tastebuds!
3. Commit to making those lifestyle changes. If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to change the way you eat, here it is! Do some of your own research, speak to professionals, get advice from trustworthy sources and figure out what it is you need to do to live a healthier, happier lifestyle.
4. Don’t make others feel guilty about not fasting. Each person has their own body type and this will determine what kind of fast they are able to manage. Those with a very high metabolism should avoid not eating for the entire day, as their bodies become too weak. When you’re fasting you should still be able to function fully and do all the daily tasks you set out to do. If anything, fasting done correctly, should make you stronger, not deplete your energy.
5. Don’t waste food. My grandmother told me that her Chinese friends believed that every grain of rice that was wasted on our plates, we would have to pick up in our next lives, with our eyelashes. As a young child, I thought that this was quite a severe punishment and made sure not to waste a single grain on my plate. I later realised that the lesson was more about being grateful for the food we received. So many times people take more food than they can eat, and so much gets wasted this way, and it’s at these times when I am reminded of all the millions that go to sleep with an empty stomach. Rather dish out your food in smaller quantities and eat only as much as you can. If you have any leftovers, you can always give it away to someone in need.
6. Practice patience. Allow your body to go through the changes. You may feel a bit weird, frustrated and out of sorts the first few days. Don’t worry! Your body is just adjusting and finding a new balance, so give it some time. If you’re really not feeling too good, do your research again and see how you can adjust.
7. Eat slowly. Usually in between a busy schedule, we’re just trying to get some food down so the hunger can stop distracting us and we can continue working. Have you ever timed how long it takes you to eat? If you’ve pre-packed your lunch, it probably should take you 5 minutes to warm it and find a nice quiet spot to sit. It would then take another 7 minutes to chew your food slowly and enjoy each bite. You could then take another 3 minutes to just sit and enjoy the scenery, allow your body to rejuvenate and give your food some time to settle in. So 15 minutes? Can you give yourself 15 minutes?
8. Observe your thoughts. While fasting, you may notice that your body starts to feel lighter, which in turn, allows your mind to settle. Less thoughts come or the thoughts don’t rush in all at once. Just observe and be with the present moment.
9. Fasting is not a sacrifice to the Gods. This is a whole topic on its own, but to make any sense of this, the search begins deep within yourself. The search is made easier through meditation and meditation is easier on an empty or light stomach. Thus allowing your body to go through this process, allowing that beautiful energy within you, to be uncovered, that’s the actual reason for the fast – to make the process easier.
10. Meditate or pray during the time you’re fasting. Your clarity of mind during this time is much better and I’m sure we’ve all heard about how intention becomes reality when that intention is pure and some attention is placed on it. So use the clarity of your mind as an advantage and put your attention on things you want to manifest in your life – through prayer or meditation.

I hope these points will make it easier to make a decision on the type of fast you choose to do, whenever you feel like doing it. Fasting helps you to reconnect with your body, so take this time out for you, listen to your body – it usually knows exactly what you need.