Fasting?

Has anyone here ever done a fast to promote spiritual growth?

no, i am too attached to my food...lol...but i know many people who really believe that this is a beneficial practice.

The church that I attend has fasts every so often. We usually just choose 1 or 2 things to give up. Say you drink soda everyday we will give up soda, or say you watch tv everyday we will give that up. Usually the bigger the distraction i.e. tv is if you then use that time for prayer or studying you will find it more valuable.

Another kind of fast that is not so radical is to cut out things that are on the not so good side of the spectrum like coffee, sugar, chocolate, alcohol, and eat more natural foods like fruit and veggies and nuts and beans and yogurt or egg whites cooked. It is hard to say what foods are good and bad, but cutting back on carbos and having protein meals or snacks every 3-4 hours can help stabilize the blood sugar and thus stabilize moods.
Problem with fasting is it can feel good but then after not eating for a day or two, it is tempting to binge and erase the effects of the fasting. Eating good food all the time is a form of fasting that promotes health and well being.

Woman Overboard- Yes I do fast to strengthen my spiritual beliefs. It works like a charm. But it always triggers my anorexic behaviors. But the GOD I find in my starved state is more than I could have ever dreamt possible.

God is awesome when He/She communicates with me directly. The love and eternal peace that I learn more about when I fast is mind blowing. The visions of eternal love chase away my fear of death.

It's better than any drug. It answers all my prayers. I know God better after every episode of anorexia. Provided I don't kill myself seeking the creator. It might be against the rules of my God that gave me this life.

Lauren Ann

Fasting can be part of the Vision Quest.

Have you done it yourself?

Aoo' many times. Here is a YouTube video of one of them in 2009. :



Spirit Mountain Vision Quest

Yes. I only did 2 days. It was great.

Yeah, I used to do monthly fasting. Once a year though, the first day included no water also (THAT SUCKED!).

I've fasted many times. At my church most people do it monthly... Sometimes more. But when we do it we usually fast for two meals. So what I do is fast for breakfast and lunch. Its really important to have a purpose in the fasting. Even if that purpose is just to get closer to God. During that time though I think it's important to pray and read holy scriptures or inspiring words of some sort. How I look at it is that when we fast we are feeding our own spirit with things from God. If that makes sense.

Yeah, our fasting was really complicated. It started with specific meditations. After that the idea was to understand the suffering without attachment and to turn your focus to others. In addition, you got a very minor taste of what it was like to suffer from hunger like many people do daily around the world.

In addition, during the fasting there was no television or electronics or any of that. We had to either be helping other people or studying Dharma and meditating. Lol, we had to be monks/nuns for a day.

Oh that's actually really cool! I may have to try that sometime. Without the electronics. Oh yeah some people also will donate money they would have spent on the meals they fasted for... For those who struggle to get food on the table.