“We are spiritual beings having a human experience”, quoted from Loren Lockman, owner of Tanglewood Wellness Centre. How is fasting connected to spiritual awakening?
Most people think that fasting is mostly to heal the physical body, however, fasting may allow you to go into a new state of consciousness. Let’s first talk about the body. The human being is made up of three “bodies” emanating from Soul. The moment we understand that the soul is different from these three bodies were awake on the path of freedom and liberation. Fasting helps us to overcome spiritual smugness. Until our consciousness rise above our ambitions and hopes, we remain stuck to insignificant behavior and the shallow of low expectations.
Chakras
They three bodies are,
GROSS BODY
SUBTLE BODY OR ASTRAL BODY
CAUSAL BODY
The Gross body is a physical body that is made up of the five elements, air, fire, water, earth and is subject to a sixfold change in birth, growth, subsistence, maturity, and death. The gross body is the vehicle of all other bodies during our physical incarnation. The gross body needs gross food, drink, and air. At death, the physical body perishes and the elements are dissolved.
A subtle body is one of a series of psycho-spiritual constituents of living beings, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. According to such beliefs each subtle body corresponds to a subtle plane of existence, in a hierarchy or great chain of being that culminates in the physical form. Wikipedia
The Subtle or the astral body is where live mind and intellect. Movement of the pranic force directs our physical and mental activities. This movement happens through channels or Nadis, conductors of energy which are controlled by the chakras. As long as the vital energy exists in the organism’s, life continues.
The subtle body surrounds the physical body and is also known as the aura field of energy. This is the “vital body” and the reflection of the physical body. It comes into existence before the physical body as it si built and formed around it.
Chakras
From earliest times, fasting has been a traditional means of increasing spiritual awareness. It is one of the oldest methods by which shamans alter their consciousness. It is mentioned repeatedly in the Bible and is practiced in some form by nearly every mystical discipline. Eastern traditions teach their disciples to fast as a means of purifying their bodies and attaining mastery of physical urges. In Western religions, fasts are observed as a counterpoint to feasts and celebrations, and as a form of penance and self-mortification. Mystics and saints combined intensive fasting with isolation and other practices to achieve ecstatic states in which they believed they attained union with God.
There is a tremendous opportunity to experience a higher state consciousness by fasting if one is willing to look at their shadow and be with himself. It’s by going through the fire that one can be cleansed and step out of our comfort zone that one can grow and heal and awaken.
Aura
Fasting is one of the most primal of the challenges we can set for ourselves. It outlines the limitations of our own self-control and shows us the degree we are slaves to our own self-control and eating habits. To fast is to recognize the vulnerability of our life. Fasting deepens our appreciation of food as a gift and as a pleasure. It also demonstrates our dependence on structures such as mealtimes. Fasting very quickly produces an altered state of consciousness through physical stress, by following a pattern common in shamanic practices. Fasting alters our spirits, opening us to journey in other realms and radically different forms of perception. We are told by the Western society that fasting is dangerous but in truth, they instill doubt and fear so we stay stuck in lower consciousness.
It [fasting] is simply a way to make clear that we sufficiently reverence the amazing opportunity to ask help from the everlasting God, the Creator of the universe, to choose to put everything else aside and concentrate on worshiping, asking forgiveness, and making our requests known – considering His help more important than anything we could do ourselves in our own strength and with our own ideas. [Edith Schaeffer].
Fasting helps us to get rid of arrogance, it helps us to see ourselves more clearly and let go of the illusions clogging our consciousness. When we fast we are more aware of the spiritual imperfections accumulated by our own soul. Our awaken conscience recognize them and we begin our journey of awakening toward higher states of consciousness.
If you would like to learn more about fasting and detox then join Loren Lockman from Tanglewood Wellness Centre for a Jungle Detox Retreat in Costa Rica.
Detox Retreat
