Spiritual benefits of water fasting are commonly known in most religions. Water fasting is one of the oldest used healing practices. Spiritual seekers use water fasting as a means to inner purification. Besides, providing several health benefits, fasting continues to unveil numerous spiritual benefits. In this article, we discuss the Spiritual benefits of water fasting in detail.
What is Fasting?
In a simple language, fasting is abstaining from all food. There are several purposes one perform fasting, which includes certain medical condition, weight loss, religious observances and traditions, and so on so forth.
Types of Fasting
One can fast in many ways or forms, such as:
- Dry fasting: People in dry fasting abstain from all foods and drinks including water for a certain period of time like 12 hours or 24 hours or maybe more.
- Wet fasting: In this type of fasting person will abstain from all food and drink besides water, tea and coffee.
- Intermittant fasting: It is comparatively a less restrictive fasting in which people fast for a specific time period and can eat after that.
- Water fasting: Complete abstinence of food items including drinks, except water, for a period of time – ranging from 12 hours to even 21 days or more.
Water fasting is gaining popularity as an effective way to maintain health and vigor. Also, it is the finest way to give a break to the digestive system. Water fasting frees up energy, thereby allowing the system to repair itself. It promotes internal healing in the body and bring back the ability to digest any food. Therefore, water fasting if done for a longer period or on regular basis, can even cure or prevent any disease that may manifest in the future. Let’s move on to the spiritual benefits of water fasting.
Water Fasting in Various Religions
Water fasting is one of the historically used method of purification and detoxification. There are a number of religions including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islamism, and Christianity that practice their own form of fasting. Spiritual benefits of water fasting are well known. Fasting once a week, is a common religious practice in many communities especially done for spiritual purposes. In Hinduism, people perform fasts in festivals (such as Navratra, Shivaratri, Krishna Janmashtmi) as well as astronomical events including solar, lunar eclipses, Purnamashi, Ekadashi day, etc. In Christianity, the long 21-day fast is well known. Whereas, Islam emphasizes fasts on the Ramzan festival. In Jainism, water fast is performed to purify the soul from past karma and to attain salvation.
Benefits of Water Fasting
Water fasting has vast benefits. Besides, maintaining vigor and optimum body weight, water fast do cure from chronic health problems such as loss of appetite, inflammation of bowels, sinusitis, allergies, skin problems, diabetes, migraine, joint pains, dyspepsia, gastritis, constipation, etc. It also improves immunity, and promotes longevity.
A regular practice of water fasting can tremendously improve your digestive efficiency, increase mental clarity, remove toxins, improve vision, delay ageing, improvise skin texture and promote a general feeling of well-being.
Due to the varied benefits of water fasting, people have started performing intermittent water fasts. Moreover, many Naturopathy centers throughout the world are promoting health benefits of water fasting and guiding their patients to take up the water fast to combat health issues. Apart from this, the spiritual benefits of water fasting are also significant.
The Spiritual Benefits of Water Fasting
When it comes to water fasting benefits, spiritual gain is prominent of all. There are many people who practice long term fasts for spiritual reasons. However, a one day water fast has been followed by many religions for thousands of years, for their spiritual benefits. Here are some specific spiritual rewards of water fasting:
Fasting helps to introspect
Fasting helps one to introspect and know about himself/herself better. During fasting one can maintain the witness attitude and watch the various thoughts and emotions coming from the subconscious mind. Witness attitude make one to release all the blocked energies.
Water fasting helps to cleanse the soul
Fasting helps in emotional cleansing. Lot of impressions come into surface for which one has to be stable and be aware, which is possible in fasting. When one is aware, it becomes easy to cleanse or erase all those negative impressions from the mind and feel fresh.
Fasting helps to become aware
Fasting helps one learn to live in awareness which is a must for spiritual life. Actually, awareness promotes the witness state of the mind. Without being aware spiritual growth is impossible.
Fasting promotes mindful eating
During fasting quality of food changes. When fasting, we eat only pure or Sattvic food, which promotes mindful eating along with the quality of mind.
Fasting helps control food addictions
Fasting helps one learn to control food addictions, by controlling the food intake one can combat food addictions such as Tea/Coffee, Meat, alcohol, and many more.
Water fasting promotes mindfulness and conscious living
We humans need limited food intake for our survival, eating also needs to be disciplined. Unnecessary eating not only affects our physical health, but also adversely affect our mental and emotional health. Thus, for spiritual growth mental and emotional balance is required. Mindfulness and conscious living comes through fasting.
Fasting promotes steadiness
Water fasting helps maintain optimum weight which is good for meditation and for classical yoga positions. As steadiness of the body promotes steadiness of mind. Optimum body weight not only helps in steady posture, but also sitting in meditation for longer hours become easy with that.
Fasting promotes inner strength
Fasting gives inner strength, confidence and make one realize that he/she is the spirit and is not just limited to the body. Further, one learns to live more abundantly and acknowledge the reality of life more clearly.
Spiritual benefits of water asting includes introspection
During fasting our body’s focus shift from digesting food to a deeper level of rest. We become sensitive to our inner voice due to which going within and knowing ourselves becomes easy.
Fasting rejuvenates and empower faith
When we end the fast, we feel rejuvenated, full of energy, detoxed and empowered with new desires and faith. Regular practice of water fasting can help you know yourself better and grow spiritually faster.
Thus, the spiritual benefits of water fasting are numerous. Spiritual seekers use water fasting as an inner cleansing technique.
Hari Om
Thank you for this document.
Regards
Arun Kumar.R