Fast facts & the body

While one is practising yoga, the ideal gap one should allow between meals is eight hours. But a minimum of five hours is a must for everybody. This is because your excretory system functions properly only when your stomach is empty.
As an experiment, split one day’s worth of meals in two portions and eat it over two meals in a day. Then, split the same meal in 10 portions and eat it over 10 meals. You will see that when you eat the same meal broken into 10 parts, you will put on more weight.

This is simply because the excretory system is not efficient. A lot of garbage, which would have otherwise gone out of the system, is still there because the stomach is constantly full and digestion is constantly happening. Only when the stomach is empty, the cleansing happens well.
If you observe the natural cycle of the body, there is something called a mandala of 40 to 48 days. In every cycle there will be three days when your body does not need food. If you are conscious of how your body functions, you will know the day on which the body does not need food, it is a cleaning up day. On that day you should not eat. Without any effort you can go without food on that day.
Since most people do not have this awareness, the day of Ekadesi was fixed, once in every 14 days. If a person is unable to go without food because their activity levels are such and they do not have spiritual practices to support them, they can include fruits in their diet. Those who constantly consume coffee and tea will find that fasting can be very difficult. So before fasting, they should prepare their body by having the right kind of foods. It may not be a good thing for everybody to fast, but it has many benefits if it is done in a proper way.
You may have observed that while you are sick and weak, you walk every step with full awareness when you get up from the bed. As you become less of a body, your awareness of the other dimensions of you naturally gets enhanced. When you are very hungry, all your body wants is food. But at that point pause and say a prayer. Then wait for one moment and then start having food. Just a simple act like this releases you from your body. It brings awareness that you are not the body. When you are very hungry you are the body. Just give it a little space and suddenly you are not that. Hunger is there, you are there and it is okay.
If one wants to fast for a certain period, it must be supported with the right kind of spiritual practices or sadhana. If you fast forcefully, without preparing your body and mind, you will only damage your health. But if your body is prepared in all aspects — mentally and energetically — fasting can be of much benefit to you.

— Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, an internationally renowned spiritual leader, is a visionary, a humanitarian, author and poet.
He can be contacted at www.ishafoundation.org [2]