5 Tips for Fasting for the First Time Practicing Mindfulness

What if Mindfulness contributed part of the complete success of a good fast? According to the VII Cinfsalud study “Perception and habits of the Spanish population regarding stress”, 9 out of 10 Spanish citizens, between 18 and 65 years old, have suffered from anxiety. And half of Europeans perceive stress as something common in their work environment.

We live in a time of transition in many fields of our lives: technological transition, climatological transition, work environment transition, transition in education, etc. Everything is going faster every time, and the environment requires us to constantly accelerate despite the fact that the body has its programmed rhythm.

What happens then? We have to learn to slow down while we move forward, something that our environment does not allow us to do in many cases, or we can take a real break by taking advantage of a few days of vacation to disconnect and refocus on ourselves. Fasting helps a lot in this, and in combination with Mindfulness it can be very effective for us to rest “the machine” and being able to re-enter this accelerated routine with another vision and better control over ourselves.

How to complete the fast successfully?

As Damien Carbonnier and Jesús Domínguez, the authors of My Fasting, comment, “a day of fasting is equivalent to a month of well-being.” So, what can we do to fast for the first time in the best possible way? Let’s see it.

To optimize the success of your first fast, follow these tips:

1. Be clear that you are fasting not only with the purpose of losing excess weight

It is clear that during a fast our body will begin to look for the energy necessary for its functioning, what we call its base metabolism. By not having access to the easy-to-use energy that we normally provide through our diet, the body will first use some reserves it has in the muscles and liver, and then it will attack the energy reserves in adipose tissue (fat)

This last process will transform fats into molecules that are easy to use for the body. Therefore, one of the results of fasting is some weight loss, but the overall benefits on your well-being will be much greater

2. Choose a serious company to carry out your first fast

To fast It is important to have trust with the people who are going to accompany you in an experience for which, a priori, you may show a little apprehension or uncertainty. The ideal is for it to be a company run by fasting professionals, which can offer these benefits:

3. Take it as a vacation in which you are going to rest but you are also going to advance

Nowadays we have many demands, both work and personal, and even on vacation there are times when moments of stress arise. On a fasting retreat, you get away from technology, you focus on yourself, you interact with people like you. It is a privileged moment that is increasingly important to take advantage of to optimize your state of health.

4. Be clear that you will have a before and after your first fast

Today’s society is still well anchored in the idea that if we do not eat every day we will not have energy and we will not be able to survive for long. In fact, In our modern societies we usually eat much more than the body needs

If it is your first fast, you are going to experience something new that will surely surprise you. If you have not yet experienced Mindfulness, this experience will help you better understand what is referred to when we talk about acting in full consciousness (translation of Mindfulness in Spanish). Understanding and practicing Mindfulness is a process, it is not a model or method that we apply and that will give results immediately. It is a form of meditation that aims to reduce your stress levels, constantly improving.

5. Enjoy every moment

During a fast it is important to observe what happens outside of you and inside you Make the most of moments of rest, coexistence with the group, walking in nature, relaxation activities that may exist such as yoga, meditation, reiki, massages (relaxing or drainage), etc… This is how mindfulness is discovered.

If you are in a moment of reflection about your life, if you notice that your body lacks energy, your lifestyle does not correspond to the official definition of what we call well-being, and that you have a very stressful life, perhaps it is the Time to take a break and give all the cells in your body a break. Have you thought about fasting?