Fasting Traditions

The animal world has taught us for millennia that fasting is a way to self-healing.
For example, sick cats stop eating so that the energy which would have been used for digestion temporarily serves for healing.
Every child sick with high fever refuses food out of the same instinct.
Since living memory, we have fasted whether as the result of religious beliefs or according to the natural rhythm of the seasons. In the case of religious fasts, fasting is experienced as a way to reflect upon inner order and purification.

Fasting periods exist in all cultures.
In earlier times the winter months were also a natural time to stop eating in our part of the world.
The life of the oft-quoted Hunzas serves as a good example: In the central Himalayas they had to wait up to two months for the barley to ripen and they were unable to bridge the gap with anything else.
Nevertheless, during this time they carried on working quite happily in their fields and enjoyed remarkable health.
Nowadays, without these breaks they suffer the very same diseases of civilization as we do.