The herbal juices fast ended after five days and water fasting began this week. Perhaps the gradual move made the hunger pangs mild and manageable. I could do yoga till day 3 and then the energy started dipping. By day 5 I could only lie in bed. Interestingly the thirst was extreme – I think I was drinking a glass of water every half hour. My digital fast was less successful – time loomed and I wanted to watch movies and documentaries – netflix saved the day. Sleep also increased- On day 5 I think i slept the whole day and the whole night! I must share that the days of herbal drink fasting had me quite buoyant and active. The quality of inner life changes too – more self reflective.
Somewhere on Wednesday/thursday food became an obsession – not to consume it but to savour it in my head – I must have gone to a hundred recipe sites, restaurant in Fort Cochin (where i move tomorrow), painted vegetables and wrote recipes I like in my new raw vegan recipe book. There is a restaurant called Primate that serves raw vegan – I must have looked at its food another 100 times! I fantasised cooking and experimenting, going to some restaurants and dreamt of eating mangoes. I will correct that to organic mangoes.
Breaking the fast yesterday was a decision to leave this place – its morbid and soul less place – almost no one once asked me how I was during the fast… the doctor comes if called and wants to leave as soon as she can… and then I found a beautiful place in Fort Kochi for three nights that came at the price of one day here! That nailed it.
My gains
I have lost 6 kgs, my lip is mending (half of it has new skin) but astonishingly it is my lichen planus tongue that has healed the most. This is delightful- will i be able to eat chillis in the future – quite likely. Not that I miss it so much but its just convenient when I am socialising. My skin is glowing and a lot of the chubbiness is gone.
The other great revival is doing jal neti (pouring water through one nostril and it trickling from the other) – mildly painful at start, it has given me a new breathing apparatus – I find i am breathing more air and it feels light. Yoga claims the maximum nerve ending are in the nostril and jal neti clears up the toxins clogging the passages. Breaking the fast has also cleared up the foul breath I had every morning.
The highlight of the week- eating Mangoes last evening. Despite the pesticides that left an after taste. Thats how clean my palate is.
The learning of the week- fasting can be done at home with a fasting companion- it does not need a clinic. Looking back at the fast with Nandini – it was so much more enjoyable. Also learnt about the advantages of wheatgrass juice why they give every morning.
Next week – I will be in Fort Cochin and Varkala where I have rented a room in a cliffside villa overlooking the sea. I hope to make and experiment with raw vegan and take some nature cure treatment on my own.
There will be pictures for sure- even the journey to Varkala is picturesque I am told. The pic accompanying this post is of Fort Cochin beach with its Gulmohar trees.
