Fasting Space

Invite you grab a coffee, gravity.

Grab some beautiful, pure water.

Join me in a little fasting space today.

If you already had something to eat, if you are,

not fasting, hang out with me anyway.

Here.

Fasting and open space in the body without food.

Okay? It's also an open space in the mind.

From my perspective, a fasting space

is as much mental as it is physical.

The mindset, a space of openness

in the mind, in the being, and where

I'm going to try to lead us today, say in the heart.

Also.

I'm not a politician or a geopolitical strategist.

Okay? I'm a doctor, a human being.

And I look at what is happening in the world.

Another war and.

So I just I don't have words for it, really.

You know.

I want health for people. A big goal, fasting space.

What I'm doing here,
I want health for people in my medical practice.

Over the last 15 or so years, I've seen a fasting practice
bring health and healing to people.

I want to share that with people.

As I've leaned into a fasting practice,
I've seen okay, metabolic health

and healing, a path to lose weight,
a path to burn blood sugar.

But it's so much deeper.

Because fasting is sitting
at the core of our metabolic health, which is really the core

of the functioning of the body, very deep into the physiology
and the emotional space of the body.

People throughout history have known this,
and in periods of great difficulty and struggle.

People have found benefit from a fasting practice.

For emotional cleansing.

For times of times of contemplation and reflection.

Fasting in my view, a grounding and centering practice.

Help us flow through a space.

Of sadness.

Loss. Lament. So what I would ask today.

Wherever you are, whatever you are, going through

and whatever your perspectives are on any political thing.

Maybe focus on this word grounding

in this space, in this moment.

Let's set aside every division, okay?

That separates people and leads to hatred and hostility.

In the midst of conflict and killing.

Set aside every social media perspective
and every regular media

perspective that is trying to dehumanize people.

And let's take some space
and just think of the actual human beings

already in like one, one day of another war

on top of other wars that are going on on this planet.

We see the great difficulty,
the human tragedy of this, experience.

Strip away the politics and just think about

one news story that can so easily flow over us.

A girl school in Iran blown up.

Who knows how many little girls and their teachers
obliterated and crushed?

Is that?

Does a story like that
mean anything to us in this digital age?

We're just we're bombarded with thing after thing

that it's, oh, we hear a terrible thing, right?

Oh, that's how it is. Okay.

Can we just take a moment and pause and just think?

Open our heart for a moment about.

What does it mean to be in this world,
you know, to be here in this moment?

It makes me sick.

I'll just tell you what's happening. It does make me sick.

And that's the sort of thing

today is a day for fasting, if there ever is one.

In my view.

For me, I'm not. Tell anybody what to do.

Check out all the disclaimers.

Learn about fasting if you have medical conditions.

If you have experiences things, say talk with a health care
professional.

This is a space to learn about fasting.

You have any questions about fasting you ask?

I've been personally practicing

intermittently fasting for many, many years.

I've sat with hundreds and hundreds of people

going through fasting practice to learn about it.

Okay, so if you have any questions
about your ability to do it, certainly can ask here.

You want actual medical advice, talk with your medical team
about it.

Head to simple fasting.com.

It's the resource I put together.

Got many articles
there, including a medical provider resource.

If you're a medical team not too knowledgeable about fasting,

I've got research articles, other things referenced.

Everybody should learn about it.

In my view, we've got major problems.

Okay, we can see it today.

More war breaking out across the world.

See, we see problems in society.

A big theme that I talk about on the channel.

We label people as diseased.

When really what is happening?

Our body is mirroring society.
There is dysfunction in society.

We bring it into our body because we have dysfunctional food,

we have dysfunctional ideas of constant consumption.

Right. There's not helping us metabolically.

And we see, okay, great dysfunction

manifested in society, a big part of medicine to me.

How do we move toward group solutions?

You know, it's like not just a pill for a problem

that could be solved by changing our way of being.

So few things that we can actually control in this life.

We do not have control over this.

One of the things that can be so frustrating,
we hear something is happening like modern media.

And as great as it is, be informed.

I'm not opposed to people being informed, but all of a sudden

all the burdens of the entire planet are brought upon us.

And then we can feel small, powerless.

What can we do in the face of gigantic systems of.

Hatred and exploitation,
that is everyone in whatever side of people.

People very excited about what's happening,
people mortified of what's happening.

Wherever you find yourself in this space. Okay.

Who can even know?

I can't I can't comprehend what people are experiencing
who are going through all of these things.

The burdens of of all the decisions.

One can only hope that people are trying to make.

Decisions that they're feel are best.

But we can look
and we can just look at two simple sides of the same thing.

Remember, we're trying to strip away every political thing
and just see human beings here.

So we're sitting I'm sitting here in America
in my little basement in Wisconsin.

Say American servicemembers already killed in this process.

Those are somebodies kids, you know, who aren't coming back.

And you look on the other side of the world.

Many, many, many Iranian children

also, you know, a lot of parents mourning the loss of people.

You know, people.

What do we do in this life?

You know, we're trying to raise our kids.

It's like a path.

People want to serve their country.

People patriotic on every side of every thing.

You want to serve.

You want to help.

You're young and strong
and now you know, people put into places, positions

and, you know, we can just to me,
when we get into a fasting space is they open our heart

and just realize, whatever you whatever the political reality

is, we can grieve for people who are suffering and struggling

like your children was just blown to bits
and a bomb fell on their school.

You know, just.

Want to share a few quotes with you to center,
some of this thinking today?

That changes the way you look.

Hopefully you say that's the goal of fast changes.

The way you see. Lisa vivir.

I say a fast can change the way you look, too.

I mean, if you're practicing fasting, you want to lose weight.

I want to help people to do it.

Okay, but the idea of a fasting.

But I'm trying to show in this space so much bigger.

Like, we're not just trying to lose weight in a space.

If you're trying to do it. Beautiful fasting can help you.

But all right, fasting can get into such a deeper place.

Change the way we see things, open up our heart to,

hopefully kinder and more compassionate view.

I think we could all use this.

I want to see this.
I mean, in the biggest vision in the world.

I mean, I don't.

I know what is, what is the path forward.

So we don't know.

We look at history,
we just see the never ending cycles of things like this.

We keep perpetuating it.

Always in a moment
someone feels, you know, this is the right thing to do.

I say.

Open up the fasting space.

Queen of Heaven says, cry out. Pray.

Okay, whatever a prayer means to you

and your physical, emotional, spiritual space.

Whether that's just sending your human emotion
out into the universe, sending the positive energy out

whether you have a spiritual tradition
that believes in the divine, a higher power God.

Okay, people across every cultural tradition,
basically that I'm aware of anyway,

have some practice of fasting that helps

to connect to a space of openness.

It's a space where people would pray

to bring sincerity to something like, there's a word.

We don't hear a lot in our society today, right?

Sincerity.

Do we have like honest,
sincere compassion and concern for people?

Do we personally do it? Do we want it?

I just tell you, if you want it,
if you want to develop something

like that, a fasting practice
is something that can change the way you see.

Help you move toward love and light and not the type of love

that is something superficial, but something that is deep.

It is worth, you know, struggling for or sacrificing for.

On this quote from Pope Francis, I'm I'm not a Catholic.

You can think whatever you will of, the Pope.

I just completely agree with this, perspective.

We're always march.

The failure of peace is always a defeat for humanity.

I say it is.

It certainly feels that way to me today.

Certainly feels that way today. The dialog has stopped.

The conversation has gone
just simply just kill each other again.

This is the cycle of humanity.

This is what I would really love to
to cast a vision into the future.

Say, can we find a way as human beings
to stop defeating ourselves?

You know?

To find a way to overcome the insane levels

of generational hatred that have led to violence.

I mean, my entire life, this country basically
been dropping bombs across this area of the world.

In a cycle.

How do we how do we show love to people?

Remember we did the session?

Is love the answer right?

Who has an answer to something like this?

I'm not sitting here saying that I have an answer to.

Millennia of conflict in a region.

I just sit here and I fast for one day, in solidarity
with people whose children have been killed and

and the terror that people are experiencing
on both sides of this everywhere.

You know what I'm what a catastrophe.

I'm sitting here in my basement in Wisconsin.

Pretty safe.

Like I'm not in some imminent violence.

You know, I just. It's just terrible, you know?

And so.

What can you do?

Here's Pope John Paul the second.

See, I appreciate this coming from a Christian perspective
in a conflict to have, you know, this

every time you're in the Middle East, everything's everything
got these religious,

you know, overtones of people, Islam and Israel

and the incredible conflict and, and,

I don't know how all this fits together, but,
I agree with this.

Fasting helps us to understand better
the difficulties and sufferings

of so many of our brothers and sisters who are oppressed

by hunger, severe poverty, and war.

Say, can we really understand what is going on?

It's like we're sitting here. We're far removed from it.

You know.

I was sitting here today or even yesterday
as I was reading quotes and thinking about what's going on.

But we've had years of war going on, you know,

in Ukraine, and you know, you're here.

You're not you're not doing a fasting for peace
this whole, time.

It's all terrible.

Okay.

We can we can fast and reflect on the entire thing,

help open our eyes to it, connect
with the suffering of so many people.

It's just we can live our lives

disconnected from it, like terrible things aren't happening.

And, you know, sometimes I advise that.

Sometimes I do that.

I was like,
we don't want to bring every stress of the entire world

into our existence if we're trying to move forward in health.

So we have got to have a barrier somewhere.

I've got to create a line to.

Find a space of peace and contentment.

But we don't want to be blind to the reality of the situation
either.

Say like if we're moving toward health, I mean, war

and conflict is the complete opposite of health
is like the complete lack of health.

And so if we truly want to move toward health, I.

I say we need to be the type of people

that have a mindset to help end these cycles,

to break cycles of violence
that are leading to the most profound dissolve possible.

Sucking up all of our resources that could fund actual health.

Blowing them up and destroying.

This is not a cycle
that is going to lead to, human flourishing.

I have to say.

In a move toward health, what I would see
we want to bring health to ourselves.

This is the, way out of so many of the cycles.

Dysfunctional society bringing dysfunction

into our body, creating this health, a negative cycle.

We want to turn that around.

A fasting space
helping to open us up, giving the body space to heal,

healing our body mind, spirit,

the heart from a place of love and compassion.

We radiate out love and compassion however we can

in our small way, from our tiny

little life to those who are oppressed and suffering.

And we help to.

Love on those people.

Wise person once said, love even our enemies.

I think greatly about that today. Love even your enemies. If.

That's certainly a mindset that is nowhere to be found.

In society today, to me, that's the type of mindset

that could break cycles, that we send love out.

We stop responding to hatred with more hatred.

And these are the types of things.

When I open up a fasting space that I personally feel.

Wherever you are in the world,
I wish you, a thoughtful day, a peaceful day.

I hope that you are safe. I hope that you are well.

I hope that these thoughts can, be an encouragement.

If you are open to a fasting practice, spend some time.

There's no nobody's signing a contract some amount of time.

If it is helpful to open up a space for some thoughtful

purpose, maybe it's just to connect a little bit.

Like the quote said, bring a little bit of connection

to people who are suffering on all sides of this situation.

Maybe it's a personal practice.

Say, I'm trying to lose some weight here.

I'm going to take this opportunity.

Say it's okay.

Kill two birds with one stone.

You know. Open up a little space for the mind.

Contemplate, the difficulty that so many are facing.

Also, open up some space in the body, say, hey,
I'm going to burn up some blood sugar here.

It's all right.

You know, I'm going to help out my own insulin resistance.

Just stay hydrated, give the body some space.

Release some of the toxins.

Right.

So, like when we are out of toxic stuff,
it's stored up in the body fat.

We start releasing that.

We can get that out,
stay hydrated, try to flush this stuff out of the system.

And this is how we start.

We see a natural process of catharsis and healing in the body.

You want to model that for the world.

Give space. Be patient.

This is what fasting is. Fasting is patience.

Don't be so hasty to drop the bombs right?

Give space.

Give patients space healing happens in space.

Give things space.

Let the toxic stuff flow out.

Let it flow out. And then in that space.

That remains.

Let it fill up with love and light.

Health and healing.

Ultimately, I believe health is a unifying force.

All people the same.

We got the same human bodies, people on every side
of every conflict on every side of every division.

Everybody is people.

Everybody want to be healthy
and have health and flourishing for their kids.

Focus on a health practice today,
in the midst of the suffering

and the division and the hatred in the world,
focusing on health,

good for ourselves, help us to be the best, strongest,
healthiest version of ourselves.

Something that everybody can agree on.

What division is there
that doesn't believe that people should be healthier?

That they don't at least want health for themselves
and their families?

This this sort of thing that should bring all people together.

Hey, can we can we start looking beyond every division?

Every ideology of every kind that is keeping us separated,
that is dehumanizing and.

Move toward health and healing.

That's what I would say as a doctor