Creating the empty space of fasting

Our first step in Asia
Check in at SFO - Very tired in Tokyo-Narita







Leaving Manhattan the morning of January 28th, we spent 22 hours on planes and 10 hours in airports, as well as a night layover in California, before arriving at the Atlanta hotel in Bangkok at 1:30 am on the 30th. We had made it! And our adventure was starting with no travel reservations whatsoever beyond the 2 nights in Bangkok…

Richard checking in Atlanta lobby at 1:30 am - Kamala in bedroom 2:30 am



On our way to our retreat
The Atlanta is a retro 1950’s haven in the midst of one of Bangkok’s thriving areas, Sukhumvit Road. The hotel is simple and clean, and hosts a delicious organic, no MSG Thai restaurant. We took our next day to regroup, discover the neighborhood, get a well deserved Thai massage, taste a Thai curry or two and make plans to head the next day to Koh Samui, www.kohsamui-info.com, the island on the South East coast where we were due for our fasting retreat.


Sunset from boat to Koh Samui - Daybreak at 5:30 am on North shore




After taking a taxi, a plane, a bus, a boat and a minivan, we arrived late the next evening on the island and settled at the Sandy Resort, a low budget bungalow outfit. The following morning we were up at 5:00 am and admired the day rising on island’s the North Bay. We spent the next two days on a strict fruit diet and discovered the area before transferring to our final destination, www.baanwasana-resort.com, that would be our home for the next 2 weeks.


Our bungalow for 2 weeks at Wasana -Richard journaling on the porch



You said fasting, cleansing?
Kamala had been aware of Hillary Hitt’s Dharma Healing fasting center www.dharmahealingintl.com for several years. We had decided to start our journey with a two week fast to strengthen our bodies and cleanse ourselves from toxins accumulated in our California life-style, as well as educate ourselves extensively on healthy nutrition.
I had practiced the "master cleanse" a few times, based on drinking as only food a mix of dark maple syrup, lemon juice and water (1 part, 1 part, 8 parts), as much as desired. After getting past the first day of craving and the second of stomach shrinkage, I had regretted stopping after a week –each time for social reasons-, when feeling at my very best. The sense of lightness and agility, my increased level of physical and moral energy and a unique mind-body-spirit congruence were the repeated prizes for my discipline. And shedding extra pounds was the icing on the cake! A "real" cleanse, such as a Liver cleanse or the one we were about to start, involves taking medicinal herbal preparations to cleanse your entire system from within as well as the practice of intestinal irrigations called enemas -or colonics- to increase the flushing of old, accumulated dry matter from the colon.

Hillary’s center is a simple bungalow and porch on the Bay of Peace, a deserted beach South of Na Thon, where a shallow coral reef has prohibited all resort development. The small house serves as base camp for the daily courses/workshops and as logistics hub for all needed products, colonic preparations, drinking water, herb tea,... This is one place among a handful around the world that provide the environment, the process and supervision as well as extensive information to adequately undertake a fast and reset one’s health.

Dharma Healing Intl corporate headquarters




A fasting-cleanse is no vacation!
Despite the paradisiacal setting and the relaxed atmosphere the daily process was demanding and quite humbling. We started our daily activities around 7:00 am with a coffee colonic, followed by Chinese herbs and later some Vitamin C and fresh coconut water. Yoga class was around 9:30 for an hour or so, followed by the morning instruction until 1:00. The afternoon was open until 6:30, allowing us to rest and tend to our travel needs such as journaling, correspondence or email and web access at the hotel next door. In the evening we had more instruction and a bowl of light vegetable broth, as a mineral supplement needed during the fast, before heading home for the second session of daily colonics. By the time we were done, around 9:30, we would drop in bed, until around 5:00 or 6:00 the next morning.


Yoga under the coconut trees - Hilary leading the Raw "cooking" class


The effects over two weeks
As time passed, we went from the sensation of a shrinking stomach the first couple of days to a lightness and peacefulness, to a very slow pace into the second week, mainly focused on our bodies and our thoughts, a more spiritual space created by the lack of activities, entertainment, stimulations and food. The last couple of days we were feeling weaker and with limited physical stamina, such as during yoga classes, however totally functioning.

Fasters at end of week 1

We drank more coconut water to respond to the need for nutrients/minerals and even got around and about the island on the motorbike. This requires a high level of focus and reflexes given the number of hazards in the island’s chaotic traffic. Our mental abilities were fine at all times, though our mind was much, much calmer and more insightful. For hundreds of years many religions have prescribed fasting as an ascetic practice, with main goal to pacify the charnel needs and free the body and mind of stimulations.


Day 15: feeling very, very, very, VERY good

Before: Atlanta hotel Bangkok - After: Na Thon boat pier Koh Samui


We broke the fast after 15 days, and ate only fruit for the first 3 days. Hillary had prepared enzyme and pro-biotic loaded foods to take with us such as cashew yogurt, kimchi (naturally fermented vegetables), to rebuild intestinal flora before having cooked and more processed foods served in restaurants.

Coming out of the fast has been a refreshing, energizing and exhilarating experience. Our minds and bodies are clear and sharp; we are contented by the simplest things: drinking a cup of green tea, contemplating a landscape or tasting a ripe fruit. Having "so little" has led us to "experience more".

Like walking the labyrinth, living through this fast has taken us to our center and back. We have paid a visit to our guts, literally.

We have gone within and confronted ourselves in the most basic ways. Physically and morally.

And we have taken time to experience emptiness.

Emptiness that creates the space to receive…