The Fasting Path: The Way to Spiritual, Physical, and Emotional Enlightenment

I read this book after I completed an 18 day Lemonade Fast. I wish I would have read it first though, because it concentrates on Water Fasting, whereas the other books I had previously read where strictly about Lemonade Fasting. Don't get me wrong, Lemonade Fasting has it's place, but water fasting sounds superior and quicker if done properly. This book also covers Lemonade and Juice Fasting, and not only that, it covers in great depth, all the Spiritual, Emotional and Physical benefits of fasting. An excellent book that I would highly recommend to anyone that is on a journey of holistic healing.

...might be my favorite book by Stephen. I appreciate his works so much because he is strongly grounded in the natural world, specifically with plants. He compassionately and lovingly shares the spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects of fasting. He is very straightforward about why fasting is important, what you can learn from a fast, and how your body responds when you willingly choose to suffer. This book is amazing, and if you are thinking of fasting, it will definetly pique your interest.

I have read most, if not all, the books out there on fasting and this one is the best. It looks at fasting through its spiritual, emotional, and physical aspects - in great detail. Fasting has been present in all the world's spiritual traditions and the author shares comments throughout the text about what the adherents of those traditions felt and discovered about fasting. But it is not simply a rehash of old material, the book explores in tremendously poetic language the necessity for return to the wilderness to fast and renew personal vocation and connection with the sacred. However, the book does not stop there. In a first, it also explores the complex emotional aspects of fasting. Because food touches all of us so deeply, some of our earliest memories are of being held by our mothers and being fed, fasting inevitably brings up the many associations we have between food and nurturing. The book goes a long way toward helping sort out the complex feelings that arise during fasting, thus helping lessen any tendency to turn fasting into an emotional unkindness to the self.And finally, The Fasting Path, explores in great detail the physical health benefits from fasting. Citing scores of studies, clinical trials, and physician reports the book shows how fasting has powerful effects on diseases from type 2 diabetes to heart disease. It is perhaps the most effective approach for healing childhood epilepsy for instance and has shown great effects on irritable bowel disease and arthritis. Stephen Buhner maintains a powerfully supportive voice throughout the text of this book, bringing a welcome addition to books on fasting. The book is not strident, as many are. It is not a diatribe by a true believer, but simply a sharing by someone who has traveled the path that we all travel, from someone who suffers the human condition as we all do. Whether you want to simply find out more about fasting, fast by yourself at home, engage in a vision quest (fasting in wilderness or desert), or spend your time in a fasting retreat center you will find this book the best there is. I recommend it very highly.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this book (due out summer of 2003) and cannot say enough. Written by a specialist in cross-cultural contemplative spirituality, psychotherapy, and herbalism, who for the past 30 years has spent regular time in wilderness in fasting retreat, and who's wife Trishuwa - a metis of Cherokee and Irish ancestry - and he have regularly lead fasting retreats, the book's poetry and deeply stirring language evoke the mystery and luminous spirituality of sacred fasting. It includes not only an amazingly comprehensive overview of fasting among all spiritual traditions but also the most comprehensive look at the emotional impacts of fasting in print. Additionally, the book offers the most complete look at the physical aspects and impacts of fasting available, including the most up to date exploration of the clinical trials, studies, and use of fasting for the healing of disease of any book in print. The heart of the book, however, is the author's deep compassion, understanding, and wisdom about the spiritual journey that all of us travel and the ability of fasting to facilitate the maturation and healing of the human soul. Frankly, I have never seen anything like this. It is a truly magnificient work. It will help you on your way, help you in your healing, but most importantly, give companionship when the journey is difficult.