First Days of Fasting I Feel Sick (2)

Day 1: September 3^rd

I am not at all bothered by not eating.

Day 2:  I feel Sick

This morning and everyone else is up but I am in bed. The administrator is at my door knocking.  I stand up swaying back and forth. She has come to deliver Japanese sour plums. I grope inside the little box that she offers me because I can’t see what’s inside because of the sparks of light in my eyes. This was the worst day of the fast for me.  I have low blood pressure, that’s why I’m dizzy.  The salt in the plums always makes me feel better, so I am very greedy for the sour plums.  Next days I get my plums from the office.   For the next two days I just sleep. 

On the second day of my fast, rode on a the bus that leaves for the bathhouse everyday after lunch.  I poured so much hot water on myself, that I felt dizzy. I was warned not to soak in the hot tub (ofuro) because there are other people like me.  I always feel very cold and I am hoping that fasting will cure me.  So, at first I was unhappy about not being able to soak in hot water, but since I was dizzy from a mere hot shower, I reconsider.

Usually when I go to a strange place, I can’t sleep.  But I never had trouble sleeping at AFC.  Also, usually, I have many itching places on my skin.  But during the fast I never have this problem.  The coldness, and my skin problems reappeared when I returned home to from the fast.  So I will need to fast again.

There was only one day when I couldn’t sleep. On that day, I drank miso soup.  Apparently I couldn’t digest the protein.  When I stopped the fast, I also had to be careful of protein.  So I know that I am sensitive to protein digestion.  One of my purposes of fasting is to learn about my sensitivities. 

Evaluating Strength

From the evening of the 2^nd day,I am invited to the dining room to drink a small bowl of thin soup made from boiled rice. This is called half fasting. With this small amount of carbohydrates, I finally feel a bit more strength.

However, where ever I went, I could hear someone telling me to walk more slowly. On the next day, I met the Fasting Instructor on the road. He said, “Good, by looking at your eyes, I can see that you are doing fine.  I always look at everyone’s eyes to judge their condition.”

“During their fast, a healthy person should be able to walk at least an hour, he explained.” I reflected that I could hardly walk 10 minutes.

“Most people come here believing that the definition of a fast is eating nothing. Actually, a fast has to be adjusted to the individual. If you don’t have enough energy to walk, you won’t be able to detoxify,” he explained.

“More importantly, if your body is weak, fasting can be dangerous. For example, at another fasting center someone about your age could not walk and had no strength. The fasting instructor at that center ignored this person’s condition. He thought it’s better for everyone to follow standard procedure. One day several days later this person was found on her bed dead,” he explained.

I feel as if I had been sick. I can only walk for 10 minutes at a time. To get 30 minutes of walking, I divide my walks into three parts.  On my first walk up the mountain, I was careful to go up first. That way, the return trip would always be easy. The road up the mountain is completely covered by trees. So I can rarely see the surrounding mountains. Strangely, every little plant along the road seems so interesting.