The Kindness Fast

(Originally written March 1, 2013)

I'm embarking on a new kind of fast.

A Kindness Fast...

But let me back up a bit first.

I've been on juice fasts, which I highly recommend. I suppose it's more accurately called a liquid fast. 20 days is my max so far, and mine was a blend of the following: 85% fresh, home-made vegetable juices, 15% raw milk with whey protein to prevent muscle wasting, with as much herbal tea (mostly I drank Dr. Schulze's detox tea to help with the cleanse) and water as I wanted. All organic, of course.

I've done the master cleanse, which is ten days of maple-syrup sweetened, fresh squeezed lemonade, topped off with cayenne pepper! I liked the lemonade recipe and taste, but don't recommend it now that I'm with Marcus and he's explained it can be harmful because it lacks key nutrients our bodies need.

I've given up all carbs for an extended amount of time, which I also highly recommend, especially for women and people with mild to severe hypoglycemia. 

I think I blogged about my carb-free diet. It lasted 60-90 days and I was hornier than a hell cat in heat. I went on it to re-balance my hormones because there were signs that things were off. Inconsistent menstrual cycles, bloating and emotional volatility told me (and Marcus who coached me through this whole thing) that my body could be more well balanced hormonally.

And when I say gave up all carbs, I mean ALL carbs. No bread, pasta, rice, sugar, honey, potatoes. It was difficult, but between the carb fast and juicing a few months later for 20 days, my cycles re-regulated and are now healthy and consistent lengths.

I've gone vegetarian, vegan and raw for periods of time ranging from weeks to years.

I've done yoga for over 200 days straight - rain or shine, in sickness and health, whether ten minutes or an hour. I guess it was a yoga fast.

But I have never, ever done an emotional fast.

It's an idea I came up with recently.

My first idea was to do a stress fast, but unlike a juice or liquid fast (where juice and liquid are all that are consumed), I was thinking of how I could do a stress-free period of time. Like giving up meat for lent, but I'd be giving up stress.

But as my self-imposed start date of March 1st approached, I wasn't convinced that focusing on stress was the best way to go about doing this.

I awoke in the middle of the night feeling some anxiety about a recent big purchase Marcus and I made, and I realized stress or stress-free is not the ideal focus for me to have on this particular cleanse.

Kindness is the focus. 

After all, one of the most insidious ways I am un-kind to myself is in the past when I have filled myself with self-doubt, regret, anxiety, and the mental self-abuse of questioning and berating myself and my choices! And guess what all of that mishegoss creates in the body? STRESS!

So, starting today, March 1st, I'm going on a kindness fast.

Inspired by yesterday's quotes from Joseph Campbell and Baba Amte (KSW blog: The Inspiration Hunter) and by the paraphrase of a Gandhi quote: Be the change you want to see in the world, I'm going on a kindness fast.

Pop culture has paraphrased it to be more succinct, but Gandhi's actual quote is: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do." 

If a Juice Fast is defined as: (noun) a type of fasting and detox diet in which a person consumes only fruit and vegetable juices. These liquid foods are digested rapidly as the juice digestion process expends only a small amount of energy for the purpose of detoxifying and rebalancing the body's digestion, hormones, and vascular system to encourage optimum function. 

A Kindness Fast, for me, is defined as: (noun, verb) A fast where kindness is the primarily consumed emotional and mental action for the purpose of detoxifying the body and mind from the effects of self-criticism, doubt, stress, regret, and unreasonable expectations... to rebalance mental and emotional well being.

In practical terms, this will involve and evolve (with updates on this blog):

60 days of being kind to myself every day, in every moment possible. Yoga, meditation, healthy, tasty foods that help me to feel good (in emotion and digestion), exercise, enjoying nature, loving myself and my loved ones around me. When I notice a lapse or hiccup in consuming only kindness, I will bring my focus to my breath and recommit to my kindness fast.

I will be checking in here to let you know how things are going. Stay tuned!

We need not wait to see what others do...