Fasting is a process that has been practiced for thousands of years (perhaps even longer). More recently, all three Fathers of Western Medicine, Hippocrates, Galen and Paraclesus (who concluded, nearly 500 years ago, that: “Fasting is the greatest remedy, the physician within”) practiced and prescribed prolonged fasting. And spiritual adepts from all of the world’s major religions have found fasting to be a profound path to enlightenment on many levels.
In leading juice fasts for groups, and having done several juice fasts per year, for the past 8 or so years, it has become apparent that in the Juice Fasting Journey, we are able to find out what really controls us. One of the great benefits of fasting is a heightened awareness about our lives, and the ability to move us towards a deeper connection with our higher selves, and a willingness to surrender to the process.
Here are some of my favorite sentiments on fasting:
“Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.” Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“Like all the Spiritual Disciplines, fasting hoists the sails of the soul in hopes of experiencing the gracious wind of God’s Spirit. But fasting also adds a unique dimension to your spiritual life and helps you grow in ways that are unavailable through any other means. If this were not so, there would have been no need for Jesus to model and teach fasting.” Donald Whitney
“Juice fasting is, without any doubt, the most effective biological method of treatment. It is the ‘operation without surgery.’ It is a cure involving exudation, reattunement, redirection, loosening up and purified relaxation. While fasting, the patient improves her or his physical health and gains much, but he or she will have neglected the most important thing if the hunger for spiritual nourishment that manifests itself during fasting is not satisfied. When the body fasts, the soul is hungry.” Otto Buchinger, Sr. MD
