you don’t spend time online in the fasting world (which I’ve been doing for awhile now) without running into breatharians, esp on youtube
i kinda knew the premise, but not much more than that, so this most recent time i thought of it, i decided to actually do some research. see what it’s about
think OF the word “inedible”
the latin word for fasting is inedia and this appears to be one of the terms assigned to describe this practice. essentially breatharians believe that instead of needing food and water to live, a person can survive on prana (life force in Hinduism) – a great deal of which comes from the sun and deep breathing. i’m not being flippant, but this sounds a lot like photosynthesis
i’m reading multiple sources and writing this at the same time and, as quite the marker of my personality, i’m coming into this with an open mind. why? because i don’t really subscribe to western medicine anymore (for myself for myself for myself*), and that opens the door for lots of other things about health to be true. and also because the way i currently live – fasting-focused – gets alot of flack from others who don’t understand it, so who am i to judge?
(about an hour later)
still reading. i’m growing less open, but mostly because many of the ppl who claim to practice this way of life don’t appear to ACTUALLY do it. they’re just saying they are. hmm.
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on one hand there do seem to be a few ppl – ray maor is one, camilla castillo is another – who live healthily by incorporating a great deal of fasting (some dry, some not) into their lifestyle, with infrequent rounds of eating small amounts. there is also alot of focused breathing and reflective meditation
as a recovering food addict, this doesn’t sound so bad to me. (it would be liberating not to have to think about food all them time and it’s part of the reason why i fast as much as i do.) if lots of fasting and breathing plus a little eating is what they consider to be a true breatharian lifestyle, then they are living it.
but i would submit that you don’t have to convert to hinduism or live a pranic lifestyle to make that work. i don’t think prana is necessary for enlighted extended fasting, and not just because i’m not hindu
on the other hand, i don’t think it’s possible to live for months or years without any food or water at all, as some who practice(d) this lifestyle have claimed.
but i would certainly believe someone who said they could go a week or two on nothing, since i myself have gone for nine days (in the summer of 2019). it was challenging yes, but i didn’t get sick from it, and i agree that deep spiritual enhancement can come from putting aside focus on the corporeal. i felt great pretty much the entire time, and when i stopped feeling good, i knew it was time to end it.
(you can watch me break that fast below and there’s also a daily recap of the journey on the whereschloe media youtube channel)
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if you want to stay alive, you have to eat and drink at least sometimes, and that means that the purest foundation of inedia (no food, no water, only sustenance from sunlight air and prana) is not possible, no matter how much breatharian literature might purport otherwise.
but i see the draw, i really do. not eating “uncomplicates” life. it gives you more time and energy and money to devote to other things. and for those who believe that it is a pathway to a higher ideal, it becomes even more attractive. heck, if it was possible to truly live on air and sunlight alone, i would proly move out to the desert and strive for it too.
my life has been greatly improved*, however, by adding moderate serial fasting to it. as i’m writing this, hardly a week goes by where i don’t spend 1-4 days doing some kind of food abatement: dry fasting and “liquids only” being two of my personal faves.
so, no to the strict breatharian lifestyle, but yes to the fasting-focused lifestyle. for me, anyway
*Disclaimer: I AM NOT A DOCTOR AND THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. These are my experiences and opinions.