Day 7 of 21 Days without Food.

Most people would think that a week without food would be hard. This past week was actually easier than the week before my fast when I tried to eat 3 meals a day like we’re taught to do!

Adding Qigong to fasting makes fasting a lot easier than trying to fast without a replacement source of energy. By not eating food you are causing your body to connect to Qi on a deeper level.

Today has been an entire week. There’s a nice sense of accomplishment in completing the first week of a 3 week fast. The daily transition of new feelings has turned into a smooth feeling of having gone beyond the need for food. 

I made one decision today that I’m really happy about. I chose to have a cup of chicken broth. The mild nauseous feeling that comes from not having enough salt was intensifying and I decided that I’m doing this entire fast to feel as joyful as possible. I explained the need for salt on day #4.

Listening to and honoring my body, I made a cup of broth. The taste was wonderful. After not eating for 7 days, this was actually quite exquisite. Normally broth would taste very bland during a normal diet, now it had a flavor and complexity that was truly wonderful. It was also nice to have something warm.

While fasting you don’t want to get too fixated on taste. I’m sharing that it tasted wonderful because it did. Even though it tasted great, I didn’t have it for the taste. I felt that my body needed a good dose of sodium. 

I can imagine that some water fasting purists out there might disagree with this decision. I felt it was the right one for me. This little cup of broth completely eliminated any feelings of nausea and was a tremendous boost! Moving forward I will still continue to use this sparingly. 

I feel like this is probably enough for a few days, having gotten a good dose of salt! If in a few days I feel like I need some more sodium, I may choose to have another cup of broth. 

It’s easy to fall into the mindset of deprivation while fasting. The Qigong for Weight Loss program is not about depriving yourself! It’s about opening up to new possibilities and replacing food energy with Qi energy while living joyfully! A little extra salt has had a 200% boost in my overall morale and has dramatically increased my level of happiness, so it’s totally worth it for me!

As I’ve mentioned on previous days of this fast, salt is the one thing that is worth adding to your fast. 

I also cooked my wife dinner! This is an advanced stage in fasting when you can prepare one of your favorite meals as a kind gesture for someone else, without wanting or craving to eat it yourself! 

She appreciated the meal and I had the positive feeling of being able to cook and smell the nice smells without any temptation or threat to my fast. Another added benefit is by cooking for my wife while I’m fasting, she doesn’t feel deprived because I am fasting. I typically will make her favorite meals and even cook more often for her when I’m doing an extended fast. She also appreciated me sitting with her while she ate 😉

At this point I am completely comfortable with not eating anything. I’m not at the next stage yet. The stage I’m in now typically lasts from days 5-11+. When I get there in a few days the idea of eating something will actually become completely unappealing. 

Today I’m in between. I have no desire to eat and am not thinking about it. If I were to think about it (which I deliberately will not do), it would be an appealing thought. My body has adjusted to no food, but it would still want it if I wanted to go in that direction. 

Around day 10-14 the idea of eating actually becomes somewhat unattractive. At the end of longer fasts it has usually taken me many hours to decide to eat something. When I look at any choice that I consider, I think “No, I really don’t want that!” 

This is a good thing that will help you stay on your fast for as long as you choose. Don’t worry it’s not a huge problem. After drinking a little juice when you decide to break your fast, your body will come around and say “Yes” to food again when you choose to go back down that road.

Losing weight is certainly a nice benefit of fasting. Let’s look at some of the healing benefits.

A deeper process of healing known as autophagy takes place while fasting. In 2016 Yoshinori Ohsumi won the nobel prize for his work in discovering this process. 

After we stop eating for a few days, the body will naturally start to break down cells that are broken or unhealthy through this process. Autophagy comes from the Greek words auto meaning self, and phagein meaning eat. Autophagy literally means to eat oneself. While that may sound bad, it’s actually good. 

Since we don’t have new food energy coming in, our body starts to look for it from other sources. It takes all of the damaged and unhealthy cells and breaks them down into raw materials in order to feed the healthy cells. 

Most people don’t know that we produce cancerous cells every day. When we’re healthy our immune system destroys these cells. When we become unhealthy our ability to fight these cells off diminishes and sometimes that causes the cancerous cells to spread. There’s growing evidence to support that fasting may help to cure cancer, as well as diabetes and a host of other health problems. 

Knowing that my body is getting rid of unhealthy & damaged cells is comforting to me. This process is an opportunity for the body to take an inventory of what’s functioning properly and to pinpoint what’s not. Healing occurs deeply at the cellular level while fasting, and through Qigong it also occurs energetically and emotionally as we connect to a renewed and expanded inner strength.

Through the practice of Qigong and being able to connect with and pay more close attention to my body, I can feel the truth of this wisdom. I feel healthier and stronger while fasting, and even after the fast I feel the benefits. 

We covered a lot of material this week. Now is a good time to review any of the exercises that you missed or skipped. Watch the videos for the full explanation of each technique, or view the blog post to refresh your memory.

Day 1: we learned how to center to the tan tien with the palms by aligning three points. 

Day 2: explained the qigong standing posture, one of the main postures for practicing qigong.

Day 3: explained the qigong sitting upright posture, used for many qigong exercises and meditations.

Day 4: a technique of charging the tan tien with our middle fingers was given.

Day 5: a mental technique of connecting to the tan tien with our mind was given.

Day 6: we learned the process of dantian breathing to further connect to and activate the dantian.

Day 7 happened on March 29th, 2020. Today I'm excited about completing an entire week of Fasting! It's been about 6 months since I've fasted longer than 5 days.

Here’s what I did during day 7:

I'm feeling really happy about having the chicken bullion! I was happy before, but this has elevated me to being twice as happy! My Qigong and meditation sessions feel great. My mind is clear and I have an overall feeling of lightness. 

How is your practice progressing? Which one of these initial Qigong lessons is your favorite? What has your progress been so far? 

Leave a comment below and help others by sharing your experience!