When Fast Meets Misogi

The air temperature in in the 40s F mostly, and the water temperature is 49 degrees.  I have been fasting the last week, I broke fast this morning.  No food, only clear liquids the last 7 whole days.  This morning a crab louie, lots of greens, sliced boil egg and a wee bit of crab protein.

I swam on day two, but figured I should not push swimming when I am fasting.  Age quod agis.

The challenge in fasting is not refusing food for a week, that is simply training.  The big challenges is to refuse to eat a week's worth of food within a few hours of break fast.

First your body can't process that much, second, what would be the point?  I will be three meals a day instead of my usual two for a few days.

Tomorrow I'll feel like Kong Kong, I always do as the nutrition comes running in, but then the appetite wanes and I'll be back to normal.  I'll wait til them to swim, I don't want to underestimate the weakness brought on by fasting, even though I feel fine.

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Misogi Training & Aikido As A Martial Art

Fasting is something I've covered here from time to time as a part of training, and recently I've begun misogi training.  As the term suggests it involves water, and as I am not called to Shintoism, I do not approach it religiously.

I do the breathing exercises naturally enough, and a wee bit of shaking the torso before I dive in, and Speedo even has their version of the ritual fundoshi.  After a couple of laps between buoys, employing side stroke, back stroke and I then do some cycles on the diving board, using the ozzie crawl.

In my version, I have been swimming in Lake Washington every morning, which since I began in July, is not much in the way of training.  But now that the weather has dipped to 55 degrees F it is getting interesting.  The water is no colder than it was in July of course, that will take time to lower, so it is just a matter of being warm on the 3 blocks to the water and warm back, especially when it rains.

In the morning chill air walk to the beach my pores open, no doubt backing up my breathing trying to heat up my body against the cold.  I speak clinically about this because if I thought "o no, cold" I would turn back home.  And when I dive in, certainly the pores open up.

What I notice is like fasting almost all is psychological conditioning.  A kid waiting for his ride to school 2 weeks ago was agog I was heading for the dock.  The kid was swimming in the same water three days ago.  Back to school, the lake is not an option any more.  The people running their dogs in the adjacent park, dressed for the arctic, are astonished at someone swimming when it is not sunny.  Walking back the occasional pedestrian sees from my towel, etc that I've been swimming and wonders at it.  I simply say the water temperature is the same.

Swimming warms you up in the water, and surely when I do the diving routine I am warm when I get out and do not feel the cold until I dive back in.  After getting out of the water, the 55 degrees is fine.  Indeed, I towel off and let the air dry me a bit as I walk off the dock, before putting on my sweatshirt.  Walking home my back heats up.  I find at home I like to air dry so I work naked for a half hour or so, perfectly warm, and oddly, only begin to feel chilled after I dress.  So physiologically something is going on which is defensive.  Probably a good workout.

The Indians around here before the pale face showed up generally wore only a loose hide smock, and were other wise naked nearly year round.  It's what you are used too.  I am not saying we can go naked in the arctic, but we err way too much on overprotection.  If you are working outside, you know you can do with less.

Another thing I find, I was for the first half of the year eating two simple meals a day and rarely anything else, but now I need a third.  A daughter visited from Paris and exclaimed that I was so skinny.  Maybe, but I don't think I've ever been healthier.

In aikido as a martial art you are going to get hurt, and it is important not to worry about it.  Pain is information, not imperative.  Note it, assess it, and then proceed accordingly with what you still have.

Update: Next day, 55 degrees fahrenheit, 60% AH, cloudy.  Lake calm.  Walking toward the lake, looking forward to diving into the warmer water

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Starving Conscientious Objectors

Here is an interesting bit of WWII history:

Each man was in his 80s when interviewed and each spoke passionately when discussing why he chose to be a conscientious objector. The men universally stated a simple, solid conviction not to kill another human being. For some, the conviction was borne of an upbringing in one of the Historic Peace Churches. Others were influenced by pacifist writers such as Wilfred Grenfell (1865–1940), leaders of peace fellowships, or the teachings of the Oxford Movement. Still others saw the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) as a testament to the potential effectiveness of nonviolence. William Anderson put it most succinctly: “No one could make me kill anyone else.” Carlyle Frederick stressed that conscientious objection was not unpatriotic: “[Some] thought conscientious objection would be almost like being a traitor. But I was not objecting to my country as much as what my country was doing. In other words, my definition of patriotism included my refusal to kill.”

Heroics unsung.


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Pope Calls For prayer and Fasting for Syria

USA Bishops have decided to go quiet in the face of U S A aggression around the world, for reasons known only to themselves.  Happily the Pope can talk over their heads to faithful Catholics, indeed to all people of good will.

There are so many conflicts in this world which cause me great suffering and worry, but in these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming. I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from the deep within me. How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed! 

And specifically,

To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative. On 7 September, in Saint Peter’s Square, here, from 19:00 until 24:00, we will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world.

It's a date... put it on your calendar and invite your preacher-man to join in.

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Day Eight, After Fast

Health care starts in the GI tract, the gut, and as I fast I take a lot of acidophilus and drink probiotic kombucha, etc. Lots of liquids are necessary during a fast since all systems are still go, and they need irrigation to clean out the bad stuff.  Whizzing clear after day three or so is a good sign.

 Day seven I feel strong a revived, with the systems light and energetic.  I bought a couple of drinks at an AMPM minimart, popular electrolyte mineral enhanced designer waters.  I've had these many times and always enjoyed them  On day seven two sips of the first one and I am about to experience toxic shock.  So I put that back in the fridge, and tried the other.  Just as bad.

See, even though I eat organic and hippie and all that, as defined by the state, there is still so much nastiness in our food chain that we just adapt.  So when my system was running clean, it told me those designer waters were not for me.  Now I know.

So here I am on day eight, and as I start to eat, with some regret, a crab salad with oil and vinegar and a hard boiled egg, some pugliasi bread, and coffee, easy does it,  my system responds to the incoming nourishment and delivers all of the nutrients to my system.  I feel like I could kick King Kong's ass.

But at the same time, I am in control of my passions, and would instead sit and chat amiably with him should we meet.

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Day Seven of the Fast

I'd forgotten I'd blogged on fasting just over a week ago, sheeesh, it must be harming my memory.  But it has been a busy week.

I'll repeat a point, and that is one point of fasting is to be able to say no to impulses, and not be ruled by them.

I am reminded of this when reading an article on prostitution and the military (click on his google books link) in which an army officer said "If a man won't f*ck, he won't fight."  Well, it depends on what you call f*cking, and what you call fighting, sir.

People love to believe the military protects our way of life, especially right wing Christians.  They putatively acclaim life and family values, but at the same time offer up their children in "sacrifice" into a service that necessarily condones prostitution, substance abuse, violence, killing and all sorts of other vices.  No wonder more service people die at their own hands in suicide than at enemy hands.

So when the officer says "f*ck" he means, as in the book quoted above, the soldier who frequents the prostitute whose quota is 100 men a day. These are men who if not in the military would be courting a young woman, getting married and raising a family.  But since right-wing Christians are driven to worship the military, their children get steeped in prostitution, substance abuse, violence, killing and all sorts of other vices.  They come back and cause problems "unto the third and fourth generation."

If you want a fight, fight yourself and grow up.  Control your food intake, and then control the lesser drive for sex.  And in so doing, come to see war for what it is.   If we want less prostitution, substance abuse, violence, killing and all sorts of other vices we need to teach our children to fast, not sacrifice them.

The officer was implying that any soldier who did not require a prostitute was a degenerate, as the term was once used, but that is arguing from a definition where prostitution, substance abuse, violence, killing and all sorts of other vices is the norm.

There are people who make love with their wives and raise a family and fight the good fight.  But the officer nows nothing of all that.  Because even though on the books the military defends family values and the American way, it really promotes prostitution, substance abuse, violence, killing and all sorts of other vices.

Otherwise, these two officers would be in jail.


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China To Attack India in 2012?

A question for top level diplomats from Indian reporters is on the question as to whether India will be attacked by China in 2012.  India is burying a story about a US Ship that fired on a fishing boat and killed an Indian fisherman.  Strange world.

If there is a war, expect it to be USA/India vs. Pakistan/China.  It does not have to be this way.

Fasting

Day five of my fast.  Time flies when you are having a good time. Days 2 and 3 are the challenge, since those are the days when I actually feel hunger.  After that, it is no problem, I could easily starve myself to death without any challenge.  They say you can go without much problem 30 days without food, 3 days without water and 3 minutes without air... beyond those, you are asking for trouble.  So limiting myself to seven days is to be a lightweight.

The point of a fast is to take something instinctive, like eating and self-preservation, and stopping, holding it in your hand, examining it and saying "no."  When you can do that to food, you can do it to just about anything.  That is the point, to gain liberation through deliberation.

I suppose it will not stop the wars, but what if 50 million USA men fasted this week?  I think then no wars.  It ain't gonna happen, but I do my part.  Heck, if ten men did it the wars would probably stop.

The first time I fasted for one day.  I thought I was going to die.  It was entirely psychological.  Over the years I extended it to 40 hours, that is no eats from 8pm Thursday to noon Saturday.  And these are not daylight fasts, I eat nothing during a fast.  From 8pm Friday Mar 30 to noon Saturday Apr 7.  Seven days with no food.

And by nothing, I mean no fruit smoothies, just clear liquids.  Chicken broth, sure, apple juice, of course, even beer (why do people find that funny?) but nothing solid and nothing pureed from solid food.  24 x 7.

I actually regret finishing the fast.  The energy, the lightness that comes on later in the week is nice, and there are pyschological and metaphysical dimensions.  

Coming off a fast needs be done right, moving from raw greens, to veggies, fruits, seafood and then meat.  I like a nice Crab Louie to break fast.  Another trick is when the fast is over, the body says "let's make up in one day what we missed last week."  Part of the discipline is to make sure that does not happen, the food not eaten is never recovered.

An MD once told me that after a couple of days the body begins to eat itself for support.  And it starts with what is worst and moves on through your body, so fasting is good.  He claimed it is good for checking disease in this way.  Who knows?

Jesus said some demons can be cast out only through prayer and fasting.  We've got demons to cast out from our midst.  Where is the fasting commensurate with the demon's presence?