Exercise and Resting (4)

Days 6-10

Today I received thicker gruel than usual. I was enticed by advertisement for a special kind of tea.  The tea was called three-year bancha or evening tea (San Nen Ban Cha).  Unlike most other teas it was warming.  You would think that hot tea is warming, but from the perspective of Chinese medicine, most teas cool the body regardless of the temperature at which they are served. So, I went to the tea party that was held after the morning religious service. The dietary instructor read a story from the Old Testament.  This quiet party atmosphere reminded me of Sunday school as a child.

At the tea party, I was invited by a fellow faster to hike to the bathhouse. I really didn’t feel very strong, but the lady who invited me belonged to hiking club and she was very strong. I am usually inspired by strong people. Also she was a very charming person.  It took us more than two hours to walk the bathhouse. It was about 9 km from the fasting center, AFC. The road was not steep and it was all downhill. As planned, we could go back by bus from the bathhouse.

The next day my rice gruel was very thin. My leg muscles hurt from the long walk the day before. But I decided in the early morning to take an uphill walk. The first kilometer was not so hard, and then the rain began to fall, so walking became more difficult. Also breathing was difficult, so I was glad to take the downhill return trip.

Day 10

In the beginning of the fast,the Fasting Instructor often told me that I should rest more. Now in the morning I wake at 4 AM. I meditate and do my exercises. In the afternoon Ivy around for a little while, but I don’t sleep. Tomorrow, I will go to the bathhouse again by walking there. In the morning I like to walk up the mountain. Today I was able to walk 1.4 km. The difficult part of fast must be over.