Fasting has long been considered an effective way of clarifying mind body and spirit. It has been used by every culture on the planet. When viewed through the lens of Somatics, a discipline that teaches about the dynamic relationship between body and mind and how what you do to the body can impact the mind, it begins to be clear how fasting can be an important compliment to spiritual work. Is it as simple as clearing the body in order to clear the mind? If you ask the many religious practitioners from every persuasion, the answer most often is “yes.”

New Science On An Ancient Subject

Recent discoveries in the brain/body connection are supporting what the ancients have known for thousands of years. With neurons scattered through the human digestive tract equalling the number of neurons in the brain of a cat, it has led researchers to ask why does the stomach have these neurons and what connection do they have to the brain?

The simple answer is that our cognition goes beyond just our brain, including the body. As the body is purged, so too can the mind/brain be purged. The radical implication is that body and mind are linked and cross-connected in amazing ways, lending weight to the ancient maxim, “the body thinks.” When most of the neurons outside the brain are in the gut, how we treat it has an impact on how we are in a holistic sense.


Fasting Particulars

A fast can be short or long. It can involve no food at all, or it can include light foods intended to help cleanse the intestinal track. There are all kinds of fasts depending on your needs.

A fast will produce changes after a three to four day fast from food. The body will go through important changes, changes that many consider to be the body cleansing itself at a deeper level than just of material in the bowel; it is observed that the body begins to throw off toxins by the third to fourth day of a regular no-solid food fast. The breath smell will change, and body odor can change during this time. Depending on the level of cleansing desired, your fast will be adjusted accordingly. One important consideration that you will take into consideration will be your own health; can you handle a fast well?

The advantages beyond physical cleansing will also be a clearing of the mind and energy field. This can lead to insights, increased psychic sensitivity and awareness beyond the physical…
the inner senses are often intensified when used with breath work, inward-seeking, and focus on various key energy centers of the body. In most traditions, fasting is treated like a sacrament, regardless of your religious affiliation. Fasting helps clear body, mind, and soul if allowed to run its course in the right way.

Fasting can sometimes be just what the doctor ordered in dealing with moving energy and reaching into a new place within feeling and awareness.  Fasting was considered one of the must-have’s in spiritual work, and you can see this reflected in the sites that are dedicated to this ancient practice from a variety of cultures and religious affiliations from Hindu, Muslim, Native American, Aboriginal, and Christian, just to name a few.


I have found great merit in using fasting as a way to clear my system, having done it voluntarily in the early part of my awakening experience to involuntarily at a time when my body simply told me it did not want ANY food.  At all.  I will save that story for another time and provide you with a link to a site that is all about fasting.  Just about anything and everything you could ever want to know about fasting is herein contained.  This link came up as I was doing some additional research into the symptoms and challenges that sometimes come with awakening as it impacts the stomach and intestinal track.  I have largely revised the older post about flu symptoms as a result, which is a post that is back by about two from this one.


Best of luck in your work, and if in doubt, check with your health care provider if you are unsure if a fast is right for you!