Fasting Journal
Day Before
10:38 p.m.

I've been preparing for a water fast this past week by having smoothies and fruit. Tonight I had a cup of herb tea with senna in it, and around 11:30 I'll have my 'last supper' of mango/clementine/kiwi smoothie. I will miss the frozen banana pieces I've been eating lately (with a little too much abandon!), but this is good-- it's time and I'm as ready and committed as I ever will be. I plan for this to be a long fasat, but I am sensible enough not to put the number of days in writing, because my body is the final arbiter and it deserves an equal say in determining the length of anything as grueling as a fast. But I really hope I can coax it into going the full distance with me. The purpose of my fast is equal parts spiritual and physical. My 14 day fast last summer was such an intensely satisfying experience on all levels that I'm really looking forward to this experience. More tomorrow. . .

Day 1
Day One 11:47 a.m.
Well, the senna herb tea certainly did its job. I had several eliminations this morning and I'm not hungry at all. Usually the first couple of days are pretty uneventful. I'm really hoping that day three is easier this time, as well-- that's where I've gotten snagged in the past. Day three WILL be easier this time. I'm sure of it. I've been thinking quite a bit lately about whether to rest or engage in some specific forms of exercise every day on this fast. I am still torn: some experts recommend complete bed rest, while others recommend deliberately pushing it when you feel weak in order to get the blood and lymph moving and thus get toxins moving out of the body. In the past I've been pretty inert on a water fast; I may try to do a daily long walk and maybe some qigong. I'm not sure about the walking, but the qigong is something I will try to do every day.

Day 1
5:23pm
As I settled into sleep last night at the beginning of my fast (which began at 12 midnight) I had a little insight that I think will be a major touchstone for me on this fasting journey: When we're flowing with the Current (the Tao, the Spirit...), surrendering to Its wisdom, everything clicks. We still have challenges, but harmony prevails and we know what to do and we are able to persevere. When we're not that connected to the flow, it's as if we're bobbing around in a sea of chaos or confusion and we can easily be led this way and that on the lesser currents and waves of random human circumstance.

Day 1
10:45 p.m.
Wow, this is really nice: Usually it takes me 3-6 days to get into the 'feeling' of fasting-- that unmistakably mellow, soft, loving, flowing kind of energy that envelops you as you move deeper into a fast. But it's been less than 24 hours and I'm definitely feeling it already, and it's a wonderful thing, a distinct energy that I only feel when I fast. I'm usually a little too restless, a little too busy in my mind, with too much background anxiety about what's happening in our world right now. Fasting is like a soothing, calming lotion that pours itself-- almost unnoticed at first, and never in an unbalancing or overly powerful way-- first into and around the edges of your thoughts, and as the fast progresses it deepens sometimes to a point where you're thinking less thoughts or even no thoughts, and that's when it's really blissful. Oh-- and the great thing I notice about fasting, too, is that it doesn't numb me out or make me uncaring or apathetic about 'what is' in the world around me. Fasting has depened my spiritual activism and given me a focus on one or two priorities (for me it's been about promoting peace and protecting the food supply) rather than allowing me to let my head spin unproductively over a litany of things that need fixing in the world.