Fasting Space

So we've all heard the phrase you are what you eat, right?

And this is a phrase I really like because it's true.

I like to speak a lot of metaphors,
but in this case, you are.

What you eat is real.

You know, we bring a material into our body

that the body deconstructs and reconstructs

to repair and rebuild the system.

And what an incredible process that is.

Total miracle.

And but today we're thinking about, well,
what when we're fasting,

you know, fasting, we're bringing nothing into the body.

And so on the one hand, we think of that

as just like preventing everything from coming in.

But what if we think about it more,

you know, literally bringing nothing into the body?

Like if we're bringing something into the body and it becomes

part of us is kind of an interesting thought.

If we bring nothing into the body,
can it become part of us if we're trying to lose weight

and it's like there's something there that we don't want,
and then it is not there.

It's kind of like we actually brought the
nothing into the body

and replace the something with nothing.

Isn't that interesting to think about for a little bit?

So when we think about making fasting a part of us

make nothing a part of us instead of something all the time.

Like,
I think this is a really interesting space to think about.

Nothing from this point of view is actually something okay.

Nothing really is something.

And, you know, fasting, say it's like the nothing
that is so much.

One thing that it is, is a space.

This is why I call this session for us fasting space.

You know,
sometimes you say fasting isn't something you can buy.

It's something you have to do, but it can be kind of abstract.

But I like to say kind of like a walk.

You can't really buy a walk, but clearly a walk is real.

Something you have to do, something that you practice.

So fasting space is real.

You know, it's like definitely a real thing.

And so when we think about
how do we make fasting a part of us,

we're talking about how do we open up space within ourselves.

I just say, for my part, when we look at a world of constant

consumption always consuming something across every domain,

whether it's buying something,
consuming media of some type, eating something.

It's like there's a lot of consumption.

There's not a lot of space as the default in our lives.

You have to be intentional about it, right?

Like, you have to be intentional to create space and fasting,

giving us a type of space, space in the body.

When you think about if you're on a weight loss path,
that's the thing I want

to help people with the most many benefits to fasting.

Want people to have as many benefits from it as possible.

But space
you think, okay, the way it was there and then it's gone.

That's like a big purpose that we have.

There's like more space there.

So I want to create space very, very valuable.

Think about all the values

that are in a space of nothingness, space

for the digestive system to shut down for a while, rest

and repair, space
for the whole metabolism to just breathe a little bit.

I like to picture I metabolism as a fire.

I've done a couple videos of that where I showed a big bonfire
and think about fasting

as just like the oxygen
that is blowing into that space, right?

Have you have you ever made a fire before?

You know, if you cram it together so tight, no space.

The air can't get in fire, can't breathe, it chokes out.

Metabolism is like that.

Gotta pull those logs apart a little bit like the meals.

Got some.

Have some space.

Then the oxygen can flow in light.

That stuff on fire.

Space for the mind. Whoa!

There's a big one.

Okay. So very, very valuable in the space.

And so for sending our thinking today,

found this beautiful quote I wanted to share with you.

Take a look at this.

Shape clay into a vessel.

It is the space within that makes it useful.

Cut doors and windows for a room.

It's the holes which make it useful.

Therefore, profit comes from what is their usefulness

from what is not from Lao Tzu.

I really thought that is fascinating.

In the context of our modern food system, our agro economy.

You know, profit comes from what is their usefulness from

what is not what is not there is the space.

Is the fasting space very useful?

Now, maybe the analogy breaks down.

There's usefulness in food too. Okay.

There's there's usefulness in, in everything.

But seeing the utility of the space,
I loved that very real fasting.

Real like a window is real like the inner space of a vessel.

Especially liked that.

One of the first ones.

When I went, I started doing the lives weekly.

We had the vessel and the filter.

I loved thinking about the vessel,
what is the space and what are we filling it with?

What is the use that we are actually using the space for?

I think that is really a powerful concept.

Can we think of our life that way?

You know, is our life a vessel?

What are we filling it with? And.

Do we even have to fill it with anything

at any point?

Isn't that getting us into this space doing versus being?

This is very closely maps on with eating and fasting,

a fasting space, a place to be, you know, for a bit,

don't have to fill the vessel with anything.

You find contentment right in that space.

The thing I was thinking about like, okay, empty

vessel space, a fasting space,

say really from a certain point of view and a fasting space,
empty the vessel.

But really, it's not empty, right?

Really, in a fasting space,

we don't stop eating really from a certain point of view,
because the energy is always flowing.

We're just changing the the priority in the body.

Body switches over from external source to internal.

I always tell people, I try to at least remind myself to

to bring this point of view, fasting as empowerment.

Think about the word empowerment, meaning

like realizing power within ourselves.

It's literally there like power.

You see, the energy is the ability to do work.

Latent potential existing inside of us body.

Storing it for us
like a battery has the energy just waiting there for the use.

We got body battery
and so when we open up, a fasting space is just switching

in to the latent potential, the ability

within ourselves to do things, which means to live, you know.

And so I say fasting as activating power for life.

You know, like when you are opening up that space

or saying, I am recognizing our

within myself a miracle, you know, what a blessing.

How incredible is it that we can be in this space
and experience?

It is like having this experience.

You know, to me
it is a miracle and fasting, getting us into a very,

very grounded state where we can start to appreciate that.

How much of the time, you know, I know for me
it was like 20 plus years,

completely take it for granted, you know,

but then fasting, helping us really to see it.

Whoa.

Look at what the body is doing for us.

It's a great way to practice gratitude.

You know, so many times in a weight loss space,
we can be angry at the body.

Have you ever felt that way?

Why is it like this?

Like you would want something to change and right.

That can be okay. Anger has like a good side.

When it's in balance, we can have a we describe

a righteous anger or something
that is passion for a noble cause.

Okay.

But anger can also easily trip

over as line into self-hatred, punishing ourselves. And.

So in a space, especially if we are struggling
with a process, can be very frustrating.

Anger can be a very destructive force in that space.

How do you counteract something like that?

In my experience, a beautiful practice to counteract

a process like that is leaning into gratitude.

So fasting space can bring us into so much gratitude
for the body,

the work that it does for us,
the ways that it provides for us.

In amazingly, that space is an incredible opportunity
to provide care and compassion

for the body, to give it a break
so that the body can take a deep breath.

We talked about that in the session
the other day with the goats.

The autophagy practice, such an incredible practice

in the body that that whole concept,

autophagy, that reality in the body.

Dispose me, you know, scientifically as much as anything.

What the body needs.

You know, what does the body need?

You know, sometimes I have the thought, what would it be like?

baby is born and then you know how it works with a cord.

And then the placenta comes.

Sometimes I wish that placenta.

It was like a biological instruction manual, you know,
I wish it was just delivered.

So you got to do all these things. Exactly.

And it would line like,
here is the perfect diet for this creature.

Here is everything they need step by step.

But then there's there's nothing, right.

It's like we're just here now and it's like we got this life
and everybody is trying to figure it out.

And also I think, like, wouldn't
it be nice, like data on Star Trek,

like just some panel can open and we can get in
and reprogram and, you know, nothing like that either.

No panel where we can get into the internal architecture.

So, so much of the process of the study of medicine

is people trying a lot of stuff out, people
using a scientific process,

trying to understand the reality that we are in
in a better way so that we can make better decisions,

have more knowledge to to share and build our understanding.

What makes a person and how does health flourish?

We have to use our God given reason to

make the best sense of these things.

And so you look at this process,
you just take a as a process,

which I've been thinking a lot about lately,
and you realize some of the things that are happening.

So here we have a space, we say it's nothing,
and we're trying to make nothing a part of ourselves.

And we're trying to think deeply. What does it really mean?

And we say, well, in this space, when we start to do that,

the body has protocols that they that

it follows in every cell in the body has like an instruction
manual

basically is presumably coded in the DNA that says,

like when we are in this space,
then we behave in a certain way.

This is the closest that we can get to the control panel.

To go in and change things.
You have to change the environment.

And when you change the environment,
you change the programs that the body is running.

So if you say, I don't feel like I've been running on exactly

the right program, it's like, well, the only thing we can do

if we want that program to change
would change the environment that the body is operating in.

And then we have the four basic ways to do it.

We can change the programs that the mind is running by

opening up some space for reflection and contemplation
and allowing the thoughts to come out

so they aren't trapped in the emotional body
like the beautiful in a journal can get those out,

and the breathing is what can really send
that parasympathetic signal.

That's a signal to the body.

Programs changing stress response is over.

Fight or flight is getting shut off.

Now we're in a new space called Everything is Okay.

And that's a very beautiful space

to be on this changing the program,
changing the cellular environment.

I read that beautiful passage from that book, Dear Artist,

or saying making ourselves serene, I love that.

Do you want some serenity in the cellular space?

Take a breath.

And that's like walking in the door to something like that.

In our beautiful movement practice, are eating
of the healthiest things and then the fasting space.

All this coming together to change the cellular environment.

You know, to me,
I like this breaking it down to the single cell

because it's like we're getting so deep into the body

and realize that this isn't just an abstract thing.

See, all we can use sciency words

and we can get lost in it
and we can think about all these things.

But if we bring it down into the very cell,
which is kind of a fundamental building

block of our body, is trillions of them,
we got to care for each of these things.

The cell actually does different things in a fasting space.

In a fasting space, a single cell will trip on, flip on DNA

repair enzymes, and it waits for the fasting space.

And most of them, when it's busy working, it's doing things.

It's taking energy from the environment.

It's doing these things.

It's not running DNA repair enzymes, but all of a sudden

you give it a break cycle maintenance mode, start

cleaning up the factory like we are comparing the other day
fasting space to like a chip fab.

Like this high tech factory, sterile, clean and.

But what if that was getting dirty?

What if stuff was building up? It would wreck the process.

It's like if our metabolism
getting gunk up and slowed down and clogged up.

Okay.

Fasting space, like,
take some space, clear that out, burn up the stuff,

throw it into the recycle bin, tune up the DNA

that maybe we've been using a lot to make all the proteins.

What a valuable space. Do you see how valuable that is?

Like if you were a cell like, you try to get into the mind
of a cell, like, wouldn't you want some space like that?

It's like living in your house
without ever having a day to clean it.

Like, have you ever had the super busy season?

And it's like all of a sudden
it's like you finished off some big things or whatever,

and it's like you sat around and it's like,
oh my gosh, like, this place is a mess.

Like it's like, it's like, how are we living here?

And it's like, you take some time and space, clean it back up,

put everything back in its place,
and have you done that and just felt like refreshed?

Even if you were tired after working,
you're like, oh, like the house is clean again.

Like it just feels so good.

And think of ourselves as, like a little cellular

house, like, don't
you want that house to be clean and in good order?

And wouldn't that feel like energy
and health flowing in the body?

This is a type of space
I want people to find in a fasting space.

Nothing. Did you see how far away we are from any thought?

That is like, I'm I'm gonna, you know, gut it out

in some sort of struggle session and.

Fasting space
about finding lightness and openness about doing some,

you know, spring cleaning in the body,
clean the house, just everything feeling good.

Nothing forced, everything open and voluntary
and only turned up to the space

where it is helping life to be better,
which is like less to do.

Take the pressure off.

Bringing in some mental clarity into the situation.

Have you found that sort of space at in a fasting space
that the

the thinking is less distracted, more focused?

We think about making fasting a part of us. Okay.

We can also think about, you know, this difficult flip.

You can have a day.

You're like, oh, we were really on a track.

Life tends to be in a cycle.

Okay. Just recognize recognizing that.

But then we're trying to get into this.

Like sometimes we flow in away and it's not.

And that this can all be okay.

But what if we're really trying to dial in
and stick with something

that's really working for us,
so that can really iron some things out?

It's like, how do we make it a part of us?

The thinking that we're doing in Atomic
Habits have to get back to that one.

Is that the way to leverage our limited ability?

Right.

Don't
we have a limited ability to do things in a day sometimes?

You know, I've gotten up
and I've thought today I'm going to get this done

and this and this,
and it's like I got halfway through the first one,

you know, by the end of the day, I'm like,
oh man, this is so much that we could do.

And so we want to be very careful.

Right.

How do we apply our limited amount of energy?

So we leverage it in the biggest way.

Bringing fasting inside of us, making it part of the identity.

This is who I am here.

Absolutely.

But it's not just like I'm practicing fasting today, right?

Just like I'm bringing some fasting element
in however long that is

like it's
something external to us, but it's building the identity.

This is who I am.

This is the type of thing that I do.

This like not participating.

It doesn't mean obviously we can't fast forever.

And this channel, I'm not talking very much about extended
fasting.

There's great benefit in an extended fasting space.

But they're also enters more complexity difficulty, risk.

As such things should be monitored
as we head, especially out past three days.

And so to me, alternate daily fasting to me

is about the edge of simple fasting.

I say simple fasting.

We're trying to get as much benefit as possible
from the shallow end of the pool because,

you know, this is a very safe space.

You know, somebody wakes up on the weekend and they slept in
and they had brunch, and then they ate dinner.

They're like, oh, you just did 16 eight.

But they never heard of fasting.

They don't know, you know, because like on the low

end of the spectrum, the difference between healthy eating,

normal eating,
I should say what society would deem not fasting

and what fasting is a very blurred,
you know, is such a tiny change.

And I want people to see that now, even shifting

into a 16 eight eating twice in a day.

I love that analogy. Brunch. Dinner could just happen.

You don't even know.

Sometime that happened to show you
what a natural expression that can be for some people.

That also is very, very difficult.

If you are someone who has been eating six times a day,

you know six is very far away from two and so much compassion.

You don't have to jump straight to it.

Go six, five, four, three and then make the jump 3 to 2.

Much easier than 6 to 2 if you have the difficulty with it.

But concepts like that, making that a part of yourself.

This is what I want to encourage people
to do in a fasting space.

Get really comfortable with the concepts like feel like
is this who I am?

Like it doesn't have to be right away. You can experiment.

You can't be something right away, you know?

But you have to spend time with it.

So spending time with anything
like how we spend our time is like a vote.

For what kind of person do we want to be?

Who do we want to be like to bring it down into the identity?

If we are practicing fasting, we do it a couple times.

It's like,
okay, like that doesn't make you a practitioner of something,

but the more that you practice it,
the more that you spend time with it.

Over time.

Can make it a part of us.

Anything that is a skill, right?

You can have seasons
where it's like you jump in, you jump out.

Had says identity is our restful purpose

behind why we do what we do, even with fasting.

I love that there's another book on my list
that's popping in there.

Find your why, you know, that is, yeah.

Getting into this deep level.

I think this is a huge reflection.

Thank you for sharing.

I love that says perhaps many times

we stumble in fasting because we try to be

what others want rather than who we really are.

I think that's true.

I think we were getting into a space like that yesterday

with some of that thinking of like showing up
as we actually are for ourselves

and not showing up for anyone else other than our self,

our purpose, our path. And.

We can feel so much pressure,
like we have so much pressure in our lives.

We feel expectations from other people and other perspectives.

And this is why a space of reflection, fasting,

being a beautiful potential part of that is so powerful
so that we can really get on our own page,

you know, really feel
why are we called to a certain thing or not?

And like I think yesterday or two days ago we were saying,

okay, a weight loss path I really want to help someone on.

But that reading from the mountain is

you was suggesting that most of our problems.

Come from our inability
to be present with ourselves in the present moment,

and that we see surrogate markers, other things

that are just side effects of that.

And so that's what I was trying to say.

Peel back the layers of problems
that we have, negative emotions and experiences.

We have to see what is underneath
and even a weight problem itself.

If you say what is the layer underneath that?

Which is seeing, who are we really and what really are
the deep needs that we have?

I think is a really good way to
to think about it and lean into it.

That's the way I think to really get in the deep level,
because the thing that I want for people the most is to find

a sustainable process, take the cycles and the things

and try to help find the middle path and straighten it out.

And I think this is the the deep work, the difficult process.

And by difficult I mean especially time consuming.

You know, it takes an investment of our time

in order to get into a space like that
and do thinking like that.

But in the long term, is it
the most efficient way to do something in the long term?

You know, I've I've seen many people over time, you know,
lose the weight, gain it back, lose the weight, gain it back.

This is a cycle okay.

So many times cycles like that are driven

by things that have a lot of hype with them
and miss a lot of results very quickly.

And many times they do fulfill that.

You can fulfill something like that, but is it sustainable?

And so for my perspective, maybe something less flashy,

maybe more initial investment, but something that can smooth
that process out over the long term

actually take you to a much better place, faster
but sustainable over time.

So that's where I am trying to lead us.

Really nice to have you here with me today.

Say hi if you're coming through on the replay.

Share thoughts and reflections and I will look forward

to be being back with you tomorrow.

Have a great day everybody. We'll see you.