How is seasonal cleansing and fasting beneficial to the body. The body goes through subtle changes at each seasonal change. According to an article in LIVESCIENCE ‘How Change of Seasons Affects Animals and Humans’ there are measurable physiological responses the displays when the seasons change. According to Rene Graber in an article on ‘Fasting And The Seasons’ “There are certain energies that change, certain cycles that happen (during seasonal changes). If we are in tune with these, we then stay in tune with the whole universe around us and this probably makes us more immune”. Fasting during the changing of the seasons is a way to slow down and connect to the energies that actually sustain the body and the cosmos.
On the physical level, the body is allowed time to rejuvenate. The body goes through an initial shock. Ketosis. The body is adjusting to supplying energy from a different source. As the body makes this adjustment, the body energetically transitions; the mind relinquishes this dependence on consumption. There is a calming of the imposition of the sense desires on the body.
On the mental level, dependence on the physical is down regulated. The mind must control the body’s initial urges to consume foodstuff. Modern society is conditioned to consume on a regular and continual basis. People often spend dead time (the times during which they are doing nothing) consuming some type of edible.
On the spiritual level, through fasting, one realizes that food is an attachment to physicality. To do a fast, for a designated period, is to suspend the physical craving and to override the mental attachment. This allows for a riding of the energetic flow that is more easily felt. Food is a drain on the body’s resources. Although the body requires food for life sustaining energy, the processing of this energy requires a constant supply of that same energy. Mental preoccupation with consumption is a distraction. The mind attaches to eating, drinking and other things. Once one settles into a fast, they are more in tune to the universal flow.
To bring these aspects into unity during the seasonal changes creates a situation for the body to be(come) universally harmonious. One takes time to step away from the socialized grasping that takes away from attention to the internal realms. Beings are more than body and more than mind. Those two aspects keep people grounded in the mundane. Fasting is a way to engage the mind to rise to the spiritual realm. The body is given time to rejuvenate. The mind is given time to disassociate from the multitude of distractions. One can experience a overall universal connection that calms the entirety of their being.
Ab-Sutra Wellness and Fitness 