The Healing Crisis - A Natural Expression of Elimination

All sorts of SEEMINGLY adverse reactions occur to one's body during a cleanse/detox/fast. I say they are 'seemingly' adverse, because, for the most part, they are not detrimental at all. They are a normal, beneficial part of the cleansing process. For example, you may feel some aches and pains as the 'new you' begins to reorganize itself. It also stands to reason that, as your body begins to discharge toxins, you may sometimes feel a little nauseous and other times downright sick. 

Other signs that the body is cleansing are an inability to sleep; headache; irritability; aching muscles; coated tongue; bad breath; and restlessness. Again, It's all part of the cleanse /detoxification process.

Also, it is very important to keep in mind that these 'Healing Crisis' reactions recur in the detox process. You can go through a period of time of eating the detox diet and suddenly you begin to feel wonderful. You may think to yourself that your symptoms have abated, you have finally gone through the detox battle, and you have solved all of your health problems. You go through a few days or a few weeks of this heavenly bliss, then BAM!, your ill-health symptoms return in full force. 

What has happened is that you have pushed through a plateau in the detox process, and you are incurring yet another level of detoxification. THIS IS GOOD! KEEP ONWARD!!! 

Remember, it isn't that the detox process isn't working, it is that symptom recurrence is part of the normal cleansing process. You may go through many, many periods of symptom / wellness / symptom / wellness / symptom / wellness until you finally arrive at total and vibrant health.

"Almost all fasting attempts fail on account of the ignorance of the fact that with the beginning of [the] muculess diet, the old mucus is being excreted so much more forcibly until that person is absolutely clean and healthy. Thus, the seemingly most healthy person has first to go through a condition of sickness (cleansing), or to go through an intermediate stage of illness to a higher level of health." - Professor Arnold Ehret - Rational Fasting Regeneration Diet and Natural Cure for All Diseases

The following information is derived verbatim from an e-book entitled 'Life Style Without Food' by Joachim M. Werdin. Who would know better about the various 'withdrawal' reactions that might occur during a fast than a breatharian? (My thanks to Mr. Werdin for the use of this material.)

The discussion covers the subjects of Symptoms, Fear, Weakness, Dehydration, Dizziness and Fainting, Nausea and Vomiting, Weight Loss, Emaciation, Pain, Mental or Emotional Instability, Different Reality, Changes on Skin, Feeling Cold, Fever, Loose Teeth, Hair Loss, Swelling Joints, and 'Others'.

page 108 SYMPTOMS

When referring to a symptom here I mean a usually unpleasant reaction of the body or psyche caused by the changes in nourishment. When you are changing the diet, fasting or adapting the body to living without food, symptoms may appear, especially if this is done quickly.

Writing about symptoms herewith, by mentioning the words "fast" I refer to either or all of the following situations: diet change, heal fasting, adapting the body to living without food. So when you read "fast(ing)" you will understand that it can also apply to a diet change or adapting to living without food.

The following descriptions are quite general and they have exceptions, because every person is a different world. General description, recommendations and procedures are not completely suited for most people, thus it is advisable to consider them as frames only. Treating every person individually gives the best results, conclusions and indications.

The intuition is the best adviser. If you can hear it well, you need no advices. If you cannot yet, then judgement is your best adviser. Descriptions below may have a bunch of valuable information.

First of all, do not fight against the body. Fighting results in casualties. When you fight against the body, who is the casualty? Instead, Love your body and keep it in discipline.

I will not describe all the symptoms here, only those experienced most often. Many things may occur because every person reacts in a different manner. If you are not afraid, there is a very small probability that something endangering your life will happen. Properly conducted fasting never causes any illness.

If you have any doubts during fasting, stay in touch with a competent person. The best is to be in touch with a doctor, who is experienced enough in healing by fasting. It results from my observation that no more than one percent of doctors have sufficient knowledge about heal fasting. Even among those doctors who prescribe fasting for healing there are some who sometimes give harmful recommendations. Of course, it is better to find such doctor instead of falling into hands of another one, who would know nothing or too little about this most efficient physical healing method known on Earth.

The symptoms listed above are temporary, they last from a few seconds to a few weeks maximum; they may manifest constantly or in bouts, changing intensity. Some people almost do not notice them, so they have no relating problems. However there are persons who feel so overwhelmed that it seems to them they may be dying. But with most people, who are generally regarded as having "normal health," only some symptoms appear for a short time. The observed regularity makes for a general rule that the more ill is the person, the more symptoms may appear, they will last longer and be more ailing. It so happens because the symptoms are direct results of cleansing and healing of the body and mind, which takes place during the fast.

page 110 FEAR

For a fasting person fear may be the biggest problem. When fasting (or in other life situations) there is nothing more frightening than the fear itself, which also becomes the biggest danger for the fasting person.

If you are afraid to fast -- either do not do it (in order not to harm yourself) or do it with a person whom you trust so much that you lose your fear. There are so many people who having been suddenly deprived of food, diet just after a few days, when the real fasting process had not even started. Forcing a person to fast, when he/she is afraid of fasting, is dangerous for the body life, not because of the lack of food, but solely because of their fear.

If you start to feel fear during your fast, then the more you fear for your health and life because of the fast, the sooner you should stop fasting. Fear about other things also has the power to damage. The human is more sensitive when fasting, so any fear may cause more damage.

Fear is the state of complete absence of Love (the power creating Life -- as described earlier). This state causes Life to vanish. Therefore, the less Love manifests itself through a being, the more the being feels the lack of energy creating Life, thus the being feels more fear. So if you feel fear, it means that you are inhibiting / suppressing Love, the only source of life for your mind and body. If you allow Love, of which precisely you are the source, to manifest itself more, then fear will vanish. Fear and Love never co-exist.

If you decide to get rid of the approaching fear, you may use this exercise, which frees love from within you.

Sit or lay down in a relaxed position and make yourself silent. Breathing freely and calmly, concentrate on feeling Love, of which you are the source and which naturally emanates from you. Feel that in the center of the being that you are, the source of your life is present. This source always emanates as intensively as your mind allows it. So now let it manifest itself fully. Let it shine like a sun, warming the whole of you and the surrounding. Allow completely, and feel Love. Feel, feel... how Love overwhelms you and everything around you. Do not create Love, do not create something of which you are the source -- Love manifests itself if you just allow it.

page 111 WEAKNESS

A feeling of physical weakness is one of the most common symptoms. One can even say that to feel weak is normal. Some people strongly bounded to eating (addicts) feel weakness after just a few hours of fasting. This feeling of weakness indicates that the body began to feel the difference in delivery of nourishment in the form of food. The rhythm is disturbed so the

body starts to react.

In one group of people the weakness may never happen (this is rare), in another group it happens once or just a few times during the whole fast, for the third group the weakness is a full time companion. Regardless of the cause and duration, the weakness indicates low level of life energy of the person in question.

How to deal with this? Well, it depends on the situation and the person. If somebody is too active physically, it is better for him/her to rest or even to lie down. Also the opposite may happen, that somebody is resting, sitting, not moving all day -- then he/she should go for a walk cycle a little, swim, or exercise.

During fasting time mild physical and energizing exercises are highly recommended. The movement and better energy flow allows the body to clean itself deeper and faster. Doing energetic and exhausting exercises is not recommended. Moderate gymnastics and exercises, during which the mind is concentrated on feeling the energy instead of making the muscles tire, have much better influence on the body. Isometric exercises, yoga, qigong and taj-ji influence humans very beneficially and are even salutary. It is worthwhile to do them everyday except the times when the body clearly needs rest through sleeping.

During fasting there may be hours or even entire days when the body feels so weak that the person does not have the strength to walk and he/she feels like doing nothing but resting. These are the times when the body requires rest, preferably sleep. It may be caused by a toxin induced disease.

It is good to be able to feel whether the body requires rest, or grew lazy and needs exercising. It would be wrong to sleep when the body needs exercising. Exercising would be too big a load when the body needs rest. 

Judgment and ability to distinguish are valuable qualities of a fasting person. When the real need for resting arises, it is worth (it) to go to bed and sleep. However if this state lasts for too long (say, for over three days) and you do not find any illness in you, it is worth it to discipline yourself and do some energizing exercises.

Too much of laying down and sleeping makes the body weaker instead of giving it energy, which the person needs so much at this time. The blood pressure goes down, the blood circulates slower, the metabolism slows down. This makes both the eliminations of toxins from the body and the self-healing process slower. In such a situation the energizing exercises help a lot and make the person feel better.

If the weakness lasts too long, especially after the first three weeks of fasting are passed (for a person with normal weight), this indicates that the time to resume eating is approaching. But not always, because there may be other reasons, for example, serious illness, lack of fresh air, too high air temperature, too much physical work or weakening agents. So to take the decision whether to stop the fasting or to continue it, depends individually on the cause and the health state of the person.

page 112 DEHYDRATION

When you decide to give up drinking, you begin dry fasting or dry non-eating. Statistically the human body can live without water for over a dozen days. For how long you can stay without water, depends on several factors, the main one being reaction of the instinct, but also air humidity, temperature, physical activity, amount of minerals (that is salt and other substances to be washed out) and fat reserve. The safe period in optimal conditions is about four days.

During dry fasting in optimal conditions the body uses between 0,1 and 1 kg of fat to produce water. This is the approximate daily loss of weight. An overweight person can survive longer without any drinks than a thin person, assuming that their bodies are in roughly similar condition, have similar quantities of minerals to be removed, and the persons have the same amount of life energy. The body of an overweight person has more fat tissue, which is used to produce water during dry fasting.

If a person is not prepared for dry fasting or does it for too long, he/she may dehydrate the body too much. Excessive dehydration causes many abnormalities in the body functions, which may result in its death.

Therefore, when dry fasting one needs to check often, whether the body shows signs of too much dehydration. Dehydration level of as little as 2% is clearly felt as strong thirst. When dehydration exceeds 10%, it becomes life threatening and should therefore be warded off. Visions, hallucinations, faltering caused by dehydration, clearly indicates that the person is balancing on the life edge. In such case one immediately needs to thoroughly hydrate the body as soon as possible.

If life threatening occurs, one must immediately drink water, take a bath, pour water into the large intestine and consult a doctor.

Dehydration that went beyond a critical point is irreversible. This means that attempt to hydrate the body does not rectify the situation and the body is incapable of absorbing enough water. This leads to the arrest of bodily functions.

If you do not have enough experience to ascertain the level of body hydration, you won't know when dehydration becomes dangerous. In this case it is more secure to stay in touch with an expert in this area during your dry fast.

page 113 DIZZINESS AND FAINTING

These are frequently experienced symptoms; only a few of those fasting or a long time can say that they had not experienced them. Especially persons with low blood pressure may experience unpleasant situations. These persons need to take special care not to allow the blood pressure to fall too much, because it may be hazardous for the proper work of the body. If you are one of these persons, you better start with some fasting training consisting of a series of gradually extended fasts. In this way the body will partly cleanse itself and learn to react with lesser drop(s) in blood pressure.

Another solution (not really a good one) is to drink herbs during the fast -- in much smaller doses and only when the real need arises. A lot better solution is doing energizing exercises, acupressure, acupuncture, massage and similar treatments that increase the blood pressure.

Many people give up fasting because of dizziness and fainting. These symptom look grave enough to shake even a selfconfident faster and make him/her apprehensive about the state of their body. Dizziness or fainting are not as dangerous as the consequences they entail, so this is where attention must be directed. The most important is to make sure that the person suffering dizziness or fainting does not fall down because they may wound themselves.

Dizziness, ranging from slight to loss of consciousness, is most often caused by too low blood pressure and/or too low blood sugar level. When fasting the body undergoes many truly revolutionary changes. One of the symptoms of these changes is fluctuation of the blood pressure (especially dropping).

The lowered blood pressure is mostly felt between the first and the fifth weeks of fasting, with changing intensity. Later, with self-cleaning of the body and its adaptation to living without food, the blood pressure stabilizes at the optimal level for the fasting person. Fluctuating blood pressure episodes may also come later. For each individual it will happen differently and will depend on the amount and type of consumed liquids, temperature, atmospheric pressure, among others.

Changes in blood pressure per se are not as dangerous as the movements done by the person. For the sake of personal safety, it is very important that the person avoids sudden position changes from lying or sitting to standing. When rising, lean against something or support yourself by placing your hands on (a) chair, table etc. and slowly erect the body to the standing position. When you feel dizziness coming, stop rising or sit back. Do not move too fast to avoid blackouts.

It is a good idea to learn how to behave at the times of experiencing dizziness with blackouts. Blackout is a symptom of a sudden blood outflow from the brain, causing fainting. In this case adopt the low bending position, that is, the head lower than the trunk and the hands put down in front of the head. If you feel worse, squatting will help in most cases, so put your hands firmly on the floor (lean on them) and lower the head down freely between the shoulders.

If the dizziness persists, rest for a while. lie down and the(n) raise the legs leaning against the wall or a chair.

If the fluctuations of the blood pressure persist, cause frequent fainting or last for too long, consider carefully whether you want to continue the fast and consult a competent doctor. It is also very advisable to check your blood sugar level.

page 114 NAUSEA AND VOMITING

These are common symptoms of the body undergoing the self cleansing process. The body of a fasting person does not use energy for digesting, therefore it can use the energy for self-cleansing. In the process of dissolving and eliminating old concretions, accumulated toxins and excess fat, the body releases different substances into the blood. The blood, circulating through the whole body, passes also through the brain center, which controls nausea and vomiting reactions. So the toxins circulating in the blood cause the unpleasant symptoms, like pain, nausea or even vomiting.

Other reasons of such acute reactions may include ulcer, abscess, cyst, improperly healed wound, accumulated and crusted (glued with mucus) substance, tumor -- about which the fasting person might even have no knowledge. The body opens all such things and tries to get rid of them in different possible ways. This is the reason why it is better to help the body with fasting in such situations. Starting to eat when such situations arise means stopping the cleansing and hence the healing.

As an example let me tell you of the case of a man, about 40 years of age, who in his childhood was treated with "medicines" containing mercury compounds. On his 9th day of fasting he suddenly felt so bad, that he fell down and started vomiting. Immediately after this he felt much better. In the vomit he collected a quarter of a glass of mercury. The conclusions from this story is that the body accumulated and stored the mercury in his childhood and decades later, during the fast, the body opened the box in order to throw the contents out.

Usually there is no big need to be concerned about nausea and vomiting, because waiting from a few hours to a few days (in rare cases) solves the problem. It is helpful to walk in the woods, near a lake or to do some energizing exercises, because movement helps the body to detoxify faster.

Also, if you prefer, you can drink warm water to induce vomiting. If you feel nausea, and your intestine has not been cleaned with water, enema will probably help a lot.

If vomiting happens often or if it contains gall or blood, consulting a competent doctor could be useful. It is worth remembering that such vomiting indicates that the body needs longer fasting.

After vomiting one feels relief because the body got rid of poison. Then sensible inflow of energy occurs and one feels much better (cleaner inside).

page 116 WEIGHT LOSS

Also the process of weight loss, being one of the symptoms, should be considered individually. When an obese person loses weight, it is a very beneficial process of getting rid of the excess and restoring the proper weight to the body. However, when a person who is already thin is still slimming down, emaciation may be occurring. In the former to continue the fast is more beneficial for the person. For the latter it is better to start eating again.

Also the rate at which weight loss is occurring, is an individual matter. It usually stabilizes after the first few days of fasting. The decreasing weight, occurring in the first fasting days, is primarily caused by the body emptying the intestine and removing the excess water, which is even more noticeable during dry fasting. If, for example, the body loses two pounds a day in the first week of fasting, in the next weeks it may lose only two pounds a week.

In some extreme cases the weight loss may be as big as thirty pounds a day. - I know of two persons whose bodies responded in this way. There are also people whose bodies lost only a few pounds during the whole long fast. So, as you can conclude, there are no strict rules about how and how much body weight has to change during fasting.

During dry fasting the daily weight loss of an obese person may amount to two pounds (or more) because excess fat is used faster by the body to produce water. Such rapid loss of weight in a slim or underweight person may be hazardous for the body.

Experiencing weight loss as well as other symptoms accompanying fasting, first of all one should be guided by reason. Typically a person of normal constitution is able to keep the power of life in the body for up to two months without any food. If the body weight is constantly going down during this time, it clearly shows that the instinct is not yet able to run the body properly without food.

A person who constantly sees his/her body as too fat despite it being too thin already, is considered anorexic. Fasting or adapting the body to non-eating is not for anorexics. These people should first address and cure their mental disorders (which are the main disease factors causing anorexia).

page 117 EMACIATION

Emaciation can be caused by forcing the body to fast for too long -- in such case emaciation is caused by too big of loss of the body weight and building material deficiency. Then also the life energy level is too low for the human to function normally.

Emaciation can be compared to the state that describes a person "with one leg in the grave." The next step is leaving the body (that is, death). If the person does not intend to do this, then the earlier he/she resumes eating, the more advantageous it is for them.

Statistically, in case of a "normally" nourished, not too thin and not too overweight person, fasting for the period of up to seven weeks does not cause damage to the body. But after this period the deficiency of the building material may become too big for the body to continue to function well. The process, which can be described as the body-eating-itself, begins. This means that cells die, they get removed but are not replaced by new ones. When the building material for nerve cells (including the brain) is in shortage, body life functions begin to switch off.

So, if more than a month has passed and your body is still very weak, you have "no strength" for physical activity, you cannot get up from the bed in the morning, you are not emanating happiness and optimism -- this is a clear indication that you should end the fast. The instinct has not yet learned to power the body from non-material sources. In this case do not fight against your body, do not harm it. A more advantageous and more wiser act is to gradually resume "normal" eating. In the future, you can try again, having more experience, with the instinct programed better.

page 117 PAIN

You may feel pain in any area of the body, although it usually does not happen all at the same time. Headache is most frequent, and usually appears first. Other aches, in the region of the heart, stomach, liver, kidneys, joints, spine, intestine and muscle, may occur at any time and may last from a second to a few days (longer lasting pain is quite rare).

Pain during fasting indicates that the body is eliminating the cause of disease in the organ concerned, that is, it repairs it (restores the organ's perfect state and function). So, this is a reason to be happy rather than to be afraid. The bigger the organ' problem, the more it can ache and the longer last the repair. It happens quite often that an organ aches although the fasting person considered it healthy. Until the pain appeared the person was unaware of the organ's disease.

The longer the person is fasting, the fewer aches appear -- this is the result of the self cleansing and self repairing processes in the body. But it may also happen, that after a few months of happy life without any food, a piercing heartache suddenly appears. In this instance most often it is an indication of an energetic change taking place (for example, increasing activity of the chakra), reaction to higher perception in non-material dimension, self-cleaning of the aura. This pain is not caused by a physical change in material body organ.

Other frequent pain causes which happened during fasting are physical movements of body organs. During fasting some organs shrink and fat tissues are eliminated. This causes changes in the muscle tone and the relative position of the body organs. This may be clearly felt especially in the abdomen.

I recall having pain in my abdomen, in July 2001, lasting for about two weeks. It was quite unpleasant because it was difficult for me to sit upright or lie down straight for more than just a few minutes. Only when I bent the body, the pain stopped. The cause was the increase of space under the diaphragm. This was caused by factors such as full emptying of the intestine, shrinking of the intestine, liver and kidneys, eliminating of fat tissues from this area. Thus the diaphragm was forced to work harder, because it was not supported from below as much as before.

Apart from the pain occurring due to energetic changes or those caused by the movement of internal body organs, another strong pain may suddenly appear. In such case you may need to consult a doctor. As an example let me relate to you another experience of mine.

In the fourth month of non-eating I suddenly started to feel a strong, piercing (to the point of fainting) pain, in the right part of the abdomen and the dorsum (which I could only compare to the type of pain felt by a woman giving birth). I went to a hospital begging for an immediate strong analgetic. Later, after a few hours of examination, the doctor said that it was caused by something which clogged the ureter. My conclusion was that only after four months of non-eating, the stone that I had in my kidney had fallen into the ureter. Because it was larger in size, it caused so much pain when moving down.

So as you can see, this or other kinds of pain surprises are entirely possible. In some rare situations an unexpected thing may happen that may be dangerous for the health of the body, to which the body will react with a strong pain. In this case it is advisable to consult a doctor. But most often it is not a reason to resume eating.

page 119 MENTAL or EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY

Among fasting people there are persons who ask me: "Why does so much anger, hatred, irritability etc. manifest itself during fasting?" The fasting person wonders where does this huge flow of negative emotions come from and why. On the other hand, family members agree that it is difficult to bear such a person. That is plausible because a fasting person going through such a process may be unpredictable. For example, he/she can "without any reason" throw a jam jar against a wall, explode with shouting at another person, burst into tears. The mood of this person may change in an instant.

Other fasting persons feel psychical reactions manifesting itself through sadness, resignation, lack of interest in anything. To these people the feeling of "meaninglessness of everything" becomes familiar. On the one hand the person feels like doing nothing, on the other hand the person feels remorse because of his/her laziness, and also sees "the meaninglessness of life." Some of these people say that they have had enough of this life, they see it without purpose and they do not want to live any longer or they prefer not to exist at all.

The described reactions come to pass because the psyche is being cleansed. Fasting cleanses not only the physical body, it does the same to all other human bodies. Therefore also the mind is cleansed, its toxins come to the surface and blockages get released.

By the way, this mind cleansing makes the person to perceive things as they truly are. That's why the person can realize the true sense of life, that is... that it is just a game, that it has no sense unless you create it in your mind. What can feel a person who just discovered the true sense of life?

 Another cause of psychical instability may be non-material (also known as astral or mental) parasites attached to the person. Such a parasite is a non-material being who feeds on emotions and thoughts of the person. Most inhabitants of Earth feed such kind of creatures on themselves.

Most often these parasites attach themselves to people full of fear, anger, hatred and other destructive emotions. Such a parasite nourishes itself precisely with this kind of emotions. The more often and the stronger one reacts emotionally, the better the parasites feel and the more parasites this individual can feed. When the person stabilizes him/herself emotionally so that they do not emanate any bad emotions and thoughts, his/her parasites are starving and feeling unwell. Fasting leads to softening of emotional outbursts. The parasite then will push the person to manifest bad emotions, because it is hungry for them. If the fasting person will not give in for a sufficiently long time, the parasites will leave and the person will be cleared. Dry fasting, combined with contemplation of Love and Light, is extraordinarily efficient in this case.

Another reason for different emotional reactions is increased sensitivity to stimuli. The fasting person will gradually cleanse his/her bodies and their senses. When the purity of the physical and non-physical senses increases, the level of stimulus required for perception to happen, decreases. Clearer senses are more sensitive for stimuli and they function in a larger spectrum of perception.

The person may not be prepared for this, so the usual intensity of stimuli may be too strong. Too strong stimuli may irritate the person. For example, what was perceived as conversation of ordinary/normal loudness until now, during fasting may be perceived as clamor or even shouting; this may irritate.

Besides these emotions, the fasting person may experience also the opposite e.g. sudden appearance (i.e. as if without any reason) of happiness, feeling of ease (no-problem-ness) of life, Love emanating from the inside.

During fasting different pleasant and unpleasant emotions, accompanied by certain reactions, may appear. It happens differently with each individual. In every case it is the beneficial cleansing process, so it is one more reason to be happy rather than to be worried.

Some people may exhibit so called paranormal abilities during the fast. In this case the person perceives information from dimensions other than just this material one. If the person is unprepared, he/she may think that something is wrong with their psyche. Depending on his/her behavior, others may consider the person mentally ill, and even use their case to prove "how harmful" fasting is.

Psychiatric hospitals are full of extra sensitive people. Doctors do not understand what is happening to those people and prescribe chemicals reducing activity of the brain (they are mudding it). Additionally, doctors make those persons believe that they re mentally ill (the family joins this hypnosis), creating suggestion which influences these persons so badly. These "ill people" need instructions about the world's dimensions other than this material one, not chemical and mental poisons. Many of these persons are extraordinarily developed individuals, who got lost and now need to learn more in order to understand and use their abilities.

Psychical instability may last for a long time, a few months or even years. Individually selected mental exercises are very useful to make the person to control the mind and senses better.

If during fasting you experience emotions accompanied by reactions, which you want to get rid of, you can practice the contemplation of Light and Love. It is, in fact, the contemplation of passiveness, in which you prepare yourself for feeling and manifesting Light and Love (of which you are the source in your essence). The more you allow Light and Love to manifest itself through your mind and body, the earlier so called negative emotions will stop tormenting you and the sooner immaterial parasites will leave.

page 121 DIFFERENT REALITY

After a few weeks of fasting (or earlier) you may notice that the way you see and understand the world has changed. Also your thinking and acting in this world has changed. Some matters, objects and actions have changed their values (in your opinion, of course).

There are many possible ways of experiencing this new perception. You look at people and at what they do as if you were watching them in a theater, because you feel yourself as if you were not present here, as if you were not partaking in the existence of this world.

Somethings that you used to do and some subjects that you were interested in became unimportant or even worthless, although they used to be valuable and useful to you before. You have the impression that some things you are gain learning from the beginning, so activities like driving a car, ironing, typing, may be felt as a new experience. Things which used to be done automatically may now demand special attention - as if you had forgotten how to do them.

Other things, which used to require concentration, you can now do easier, they become more natural. You take notice of and pay attention to sights, sounds and smells which did not draw your attention before. You can notice many more psychical changes. You may get the impression that this state is similar to being under drug influence.

Generally speaking, the perception and understanding of the reality of the world have hanged. You may even suspect that something is wrong with your psyche. Your family members and friends may also notice your other "strange" reactions.

So what has happened? Many changes have occurred. The parts making up your mind have changed their activities, for example, the intellect became calmer. Also the endocrine glands work differently, for example, more endorphins and less adrenaline are excreted.

This state may last for some time, the length of which depends on an individual. It is a good time for observing yourself and learning from it. There is no reason to worry, if the body is not in the state of emaciation or exhaustion. So you can enjoy the new experience.

page 122 CHANGES ON SKIN

The skin is the place where the cleansing and eliminatory functions of the body can be observed. The sebum and sweat contain substances unwanted by the body, which are harmful to it, and are therefore eliminated (this is where different odors come from).

To put it simply, the skin is linked with the intestine through the liver. There is even a saying that the skin of a person reflects the state of the large intestine and the liver. Of course, the full picture of skin condition consists of more factors.

When the body expels a poison, it can do so through the skin, which then reacts with reddening, rash, eczema, etc. If a person has skin problems, it is quite likely that they will re-appear when the person is fasting, because the body is getting rid of the toxins which cause the problem.

Changes on the skin during fasting may also be caused by an activation of an old disease. However, a new disease coinciding in time with the fast, may also cause skin changes. In the majority of such cases the best solution will be to continue the fast, so that the disease will leave sooner.

In extreme cases, when a person continues to fast despite emaciation of their body, skin changes may indicate a disease, which the person will not be able to get rid of. In this case the body and its immunology system is too weak, so the better solution would be to begin eating again.

Summing up, allergy, rash or other skin problems appearing during the fast are not a reason to stop, but rather to continue fasting (except in the said case).

page 123 FEELING COLD

If you or your relatives have ever fasted, you probably know what it means to feel cold during fasting. Although it is warm outside, the fasting person has cold hands, feet, nose and even ears. The person may even be sniffling as if he/she had a cold. All this can happen despite the person being warmly dressed.

I have seen with my own eyes, and have been told about "non-eaters" who were dressed so warmly as if it was winter, although the temperature was 25 degrees Celsius. Their hands were blue with cold, their face was suffering, and their body was covered up because of the cold they were feeling. One of my acquaintances has even said: "It is difficult, but quite usual, to feel cold when fasting."

The human feels cold not because of insufficient clothes or low temperature. Of course, the society suggestion has formed some human reactions which result in the body feeling "cold" or "warm" depending on the temperature.

The main factor in feeling the temperature is the amount and the way of using energy in the human body. To put it simply, if there is enough energy, the person does not feel cold even if it is frosty outside, and similarly, does not feel hot in the heat. The person will feel well in a much larger range of temperatures. But if energy is lacking, or the person does not know how to use it to control temperature perception, then he/she feels too cold or too hot.

You can conclude from this that if, during fasting you are suffering because of feeling cold, you can help yourself by concentrating on releasing the internal energy. To make it happen, things like energizing exercises, visualization and alternate shower (with cold and hot water, described below) are useful. Doing them regularly will make the person free from susceptibility to cold.

Drinking a lot of hot drinks is not a good solution. At the time of drinking and shortly afterwards you feel warm, but at the same time the body is loaded with too much water, which overloads the eliminatory system.

The flow of energy (and resulting susceptibility to temperature) causes what we call feeling cold or warm. You can easily learn that feeling cold or warm is subjective and depends on managing your internal energy. If you concentrate on releasing warmth, after a while you can feel a difference. So when you practice the contemplation of the warmth, this will allow you to reprogram the instinct in the way that will enable you to always feel comfortable regardless of the temperature.

The physical factors most affecting your feeling of external temperature are mainly the functions of the intestine, liver and spleen. So if these organs do not function perfectly, they block the circulation of energy. By simply cleaning the large intestine, which will clean the liver automatically, makes the person feel the energy better, not feel so cold in the winter and perspire less in hot summer.

page 124 FEVER

The body increases its temperature when it is coping with (killing, removing) parasites -- this is one of its self defensive functions. As happens during fasting, the body eliminates disease causing loci by opening a concentration of, for example, bacterias. They consequently circulate in the bloodstream through the entire body, causing the fever. So a natural healing process of the human body is taking place.

If fever occurs during fasting, usually the best solution is to wait until it is gone. Drink more warm water (no tea, no coffee, no juice), go to bed, rest, sleep more. Usually the body will get well within between a few hours and a few days.

To take a drug lowering the body temperature is almost always a mistake, because it harms the body's natural mechanism of temperature control and poisons the body with chemicals. However, when having acute and very high fever, it is advisable to call a doctor with sufficient knowledge about heal fasting.

page 125 LOOSE TEETH

After a few to more than a dozen days of fasting you may start to feel that the teeth are fixed much looser. It is easier to move them with fingers and, as it seems, to pull them out. Furthermore, you feel that something is oozing (pus) from between your teeth (particularly the upper ones), and it has a very unpleasant odor.

This is also a result of the body's self-cleansing function. Usually sinuses cleanse themselves in this way. Many people do not even know that their sinuses are clogged with mucus, because it only shows up when they start to clean themselves out.

After a few to more than a dozen days, the loose teeth get back to the previous state and are fixed in the jaw even stronger than before. However, secretion of mucus and pus stops earlier and so does the unpleasant odor associated with it. So there is no need to be afraid that your teeth will fall out.

If the gum or a tooth are diseased with caries or broken filling, they can cause loose teeth with blood trickling from the gum or from the inside of a broken tooth. For teeth in this case, the assistance of a dentist is advisable. For the gum it is better to wait a little longer, because it will most probably heal itself after full cleaning is completed.

page 125 HAIR FALLING OUT

This happens more often to women than to men. The concern is about losing more than 50 to 100 individual hairs a day (depending on the person). If, in the first 40 days of fasting, hair falls out more than "normally," there is no need to worry unless the body is emaciated. Even if a lot of hair falls out, later you may  notice that they have grown back stronger and maybe even thicker.

If the body is thin and hair starts to fall out after the 6th week of fasting, it can very well mean that the body is in the process of emaciation. If a gaunt person is fasting and notices losing a lot of hair, it may be a clear indication that the fast does no well benefit the person.

For an obese body there is no danger of emaciation until the perfect body weight is restored. During this time, losing a lot of hair is a temporary phenomenon. Later, new hair will grow in place of the lost one.

page 126 SWELLING JOINTS

This occurs during the first or second month of fasting. Joints are swelling up but there is no pain. This mainly happens to the knees and tarsal joints. You can also feel pain if the joint was ill before, because now it is being cleaned and repaired as much as the body can do it.

Swelling of joints may also be caused by drinking water containing salt (e.g. pickled cucumber or sauerkraut brine) or even by drinking too much water during fasting.

When joints are swelling even though the person drinks very little or is dry fasting, it means that the body is cleansing the joints from accumulated salt deposits. So there is nothing that needs to be done, just wait, because the swelling will dissipate after a few to over a dozen days. To take in chemicals (called medicines) against swelling in such a situation most often is a mistake.

page 126 OTHERS

Every person goes through fasting in different ways. There are many possible symptoms in the spheres of psyche and body which may manifest during fasting.

It is more important and beneficial for the fasting person to keep in mind a favorable picture, in which perfect well-being and health dominates (right visualization). Concentrating thoughts on a symptom may exaggerate it in the mind, that is, create visualization damaging the person.

In case of most symptoms you may just wait until they pass, because they are caused by the self-cleansing of the body. The body needs time to eliminate the toxic material that had been retained in it. But all the time you should "keep your eyes open," act with reason and do not allow any fear to prevail.

Doug's notes: 

The category 'Others' may include cold and flu-like symptoms, depression, skin rashes and eruptions (breaking open), pimples, tumor expulsion, sore throat, headaches, diarrhea, mouth ulcerations and/or sores, poor memory, sneezing and coughing, aches and pains, lethargy, fatigue, sleepiness, vaginal itching and discharge, urine and stool color change, eye symptoms such as tearing, puffy eyes and pinkeye, body odor, bad breath, halitosis, abscess, heart burn, acid reflux, anal itch, bleeding gums, bloating, bloody stools and urine, burning sensations, chills, cramping, dandruff, general fatigue and lethargy, appetite loss, ringing in the ears, sinus drain, sneezing, trembling, twitching, nose bleed, flatulence and stomach pain.

Sounds like fun doesn't it? Just keep your goal in mind... you've got to let your body go though whatever process it needs to go through to eventually heal itself and come to full health and vibrancy.

There will also be emotional effects to the cleansing process. While stirring up toxins in your body, you may find yourself stirring up toxins in your mind. You may experience periods of sadness or anger. You may suddenly feel like crying. You may have bad dreams. Just remember that all of these feelings are natural by-products of the cleansing process. Always keep in mind that you have intentionally begun a journey back to better health.