My entire spiritual journey started with a fast. I combined the 3-day water fast with meditation, yoga and focus on keeping my thoughts and actions pure. The results were amazing. During the kirtan (chanting) portion of the yoga class I attended (first ever) I started feeling really intense vibration in all my chakras - nothing subtle about it at all, more like being in one of those Sharper Image massage chairs. At that point I no longer had to decide whether or not to believe in chakras 
and it ended up being the first of many steps away from any kind of a belief system towards a knowledge system. This being my first ever yoga session, I naively assumed this was an occurrence that happened with some frequency and the instructor would be able to explain it to me!
I continued doing 2-3 day water fasts every few weeks for years afterwards. The key, I always found, was to use the time exclusively for mental, physical, and emotional purification - whether by meditating, praying, doing reiki, yoga, whatever - the trick was to focus my intention at all times on the spiritual and the highest.
Dramatic changes occurred in my life after the very first fast. In those 3 days, I forever quit cigarettes, alcohol, weed, and became a vegetarian. I found that every subsequent fast gave me a huge boost in happiness, and that happiness would slowly dissipate over the subsequent weeks until the next fast. I discovered that negative thoughts were the cause of the dissipation - each nasty, mean or just plain unhappy thought would take a little tiny bit of happiness away, exactly like spending the balance on an emotional debit card until the next recharge. At that point, the concept of "living meditation" or life as meditation became extremely helpful.
Most recently, I had the most extraordinary experience during a fast. I walked through a little tiny patch of forest, maybe 100 yards square with a bench and one path through it. But everything was alive! I could see the energy within each tree. I hugged a tree and saw a huge stream of golden energy shooting upward through it in a continuous torrent. This may sound completely absurd, but I felt what it was like to be enormously tall and leafy. Yes, it's possible to feel leafy. No, I would not have previously guessed this to be the case.
I came across another tree and wrapped my arms around it, and suddenly knew that it was dying. It felt weary, as if it was breathing with difficulty. But it was peaceful nonetheless, and knowing that I could do nothing for it, I wished it a peaceful and comfortable passing. Later, I was told it was "not dying - graduating."
When I walked down the path, it felt like being in the magical forest in Avatar. I could feel and connect to the living force within every plant, animal, and insect around me. I had been planning to break the fast that evening, but suddenly my guides started telling me to go and eat (later, I discovered that when they started saying this, the only eatery nearby had been about to close in 15 minutes), but I kept replying, "what, and leave this magic and wonder behind? No way!".
About half an hour later, I happened to be standing in front of a mirror and couldn't understand why I seemed so oddly short and squat (I am not a short person). It was only the next day that I made the mental connection between that experience, and my empathic bonding with the tree that had obviously rubbed off on me in some way.
So yes, fasting. With pure intent and focus on the love and goodness of the Creator of this universe!
and it ended up being the first of many steps away from any kind of a belief system towards a knowledge system. This being my first ever yoga session, I naively assumed this was an occurrence that happened with some frequency and the instructor would be able to explain it to me!I continued doing 2-3 day water fasts every few weeks for years afterwards. The key, I always found, was to use the time exclusively for mental, physical, and emotional purification - whether by meditating, praying, doing reiki, yoga, whatever - the trick was to focus my intention at all times on the spiritual and the highest.
Dramatic changes occurred in my life after the very first fast. In those 3 days, I forever quit cigarettes, alcohol, weed, and became a vegetarian. I found that every subsequent fast gave me a huge boost in happiness, and that happiness would slowly dissipate over the subsequent weeks until the next fast. I discovered that negative thoughts were the cause of the dissipation - each nasty, mean or just plain unhappy thought would take a little tiny bit of happiness away, exactly like spending the balance on an emotional debit card until the next recharge. At that point, the concept of "living meditation" or life as meditation became extremely helpful.
Most recently, I had the most extraordinary experience during a fast. I walked through a little tiny patch of forest, maybe 100 yards square with a bench and one path through it. But everything was alive! I could see the energy within each tree. I hugged a tree and saw a huge stream of golden energy shooting upward through it in a continuous torrent. This may sound completely absurd, but I felt what it was like to be enormously tall and leafy. Yes, it's possible to feel leafy. No, I would not have previously guessed this to be the case.
I came across another tree and wrapped my arms around it, and suddenly knew that it was dying. It felt weary, as if it was breathing with difficulty. But it was peaceful nonetheless, and knowing that I could do nothing for it, I wished it a peaceful and comfortable passing. Later, I was told it was "not dying - graduating."
When I walked down the path, it felt like being in the magical forest in Avatar. I could feel and connect to the living force within every plant, animal, and insect around me. I had been planning to break the fast that evening, but suddenly my guides started telling me to go and eat (later, I discovered that when they started saying this, the only eatery nearby had been about to close in 15 minutes), but I kept replying, "what, and leave this magic and wonder behind? No way!".
About half an hour later, I happened to be standing in front of a mirror and couldn't understand why I seemed so oddly short and squat (I am not a short person). It was only the next day that I made the mental connection between that experience, and my empathic bonding with the tree that had obviously rubbed off on me in some way.
So yes, fasting. With pure intent and focus on the love and goodness of the Creator of this universe!
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