Fasting
2020-08-19
If you are curious why I fast and/or what my fasting day looks like, I’d encourage you to read my blogpost Why Do I fast?.
Friday December 6, 2013
This was the first time in my life that I fasted without a medical reason. On the Friday I was in St George, UT taking an intensive five day personal development course through Higher Laws. The course had started earlier that week on the the Monday. By this point my head was absolutely full of new knowledge about leadership principles and exercises, ultimate weatlh, and fundamentals for ultimate health that we had gone over. This was the final day of the course and I was feeling grateful for the new knowledge and new connections made with various people, as well as re-connecting with others that I had met at previous courses. I was also feeling inspired, creative, expanded, focused, and tired all at the same time. In addition I had an action plan of various items from the course to start working through when I got home which would both stretch and serve me well moving forward.
That day we did a debrief of an experiential exercise that we finished with the night before, a review of material that we had covered during the course, and went over various new material. I learned a ton during that Friday. Throughout the day I was constantly getting chills down my spine. I get this feeling whenever my intuition is telling me something. I’ve had different friends tell me various body reactions they get in similar situations. By having so many of these sensations on this day, I viewed it as the Universe telling me that I was in the right place at the right time. This five day course that I took was the best course that I’ve ever taken in my life. That includes formal education and a number of other courses I’ve completed.
Even though I felt a little weak throughout the day, I was energized by the environment that I was in – the material we were covering, an incredible facilitator, the other participants, and the location (private country club). This energy propelled me during the whole day. Despite not eating anything and only having one drink at the start of the day, I thought very little about either all day even though I was very hungry and thirsty. My intuition gave me so many signs that day, and I had some great conversations with other course participants at various times on that Friday.
I did the course with a friend and we shared a hotel room. On the way back to the hotel after the course wrapped up mid-evening, I stopped in at a restaurant to grab something to eat back in the hotel room. I was starving and decided to buy two meals. The employee I was talking with was super nice and she ended up giving me two meals at a discounted rate! Back at the hotel I truly savoured the food and was very thankful for the day.
Saturday Dec 7, 2013
As aforementioned in my Why Do I Fast? blog post, I had learned that there are many potential benefits to consciously doing a fast. On the day after my fast I had a lot of synchronicities and fantastic interactions with strangers…
My friend and I grabbed some food to go at the free hotel breakfast and left St George just after 7 am. We were driving the two hours to Las Vegas that morning. During the drive my friend and I talked a lot about many things including what we had learned during the course, and also how we could support each other moving forward. I shared with her that I had some real estate investments going through lawsuits. She is much more knowledgeable in that area than myself. She offered to help investigate one of them for me, which was very helpful. Just as we drove into Vegas on the I-15 there was a car in front of us with the license plate “POORDAD”. My friend and I are both familiar with Robert Kiyosaki and his “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” book and concepts. We had a laugh and I got her to take this photo below for me.
I dropped her off at the airport and I then drove to the Palazzo hotel parkade. It was my intention to spend the day at Canyon Ranch Spa in that hotel before flying out of Vegas in the early evening. Since I’d be spending so much time at the spa, I loaded up a lot of stuff into bags before leaving the hotel parkade. I had organic apples and bananas, some Larabars, almonds, my laptop, some books, the coursebook and all my notes in it from the Higher Laws course that I had just attended, and my shaving kit. Needless to say it was a lot of stuff! I was well prepared to spend a day at the spa. A hotel employee in uniform got into the parkade elevator and I got chatting with him. I asked him how to get to Canyon Ranch, and he stated that he wasn’t busy so he took me there! He walked me through the whole casino and went up the elevator with me to the spa level, and took me to within 100 feet of the spa entrance. After paying $40 for spa access at the entrance, I went to the men’s reception area. When the employee saw that I had so much stuff he asked if I wanted a long locker. I said sure. He then walked me through the main men’s change room and opened a door to small room with long lockers (picture below). I truly felt like a VIP! I spent the next few hours at the spa exploring the multiple areas in both the men’s and co-ed areas in the 134,000 foot spa. It’s a very easy place to spend a day if you are someone who enjoys spas!
Canyon Ranch offers free classes if you pay for spa access, and I had noticed that they offered a meditation class at 10:30 am. It was on the other side of the spa, a five minute walk away. I went there early to make sure I could find the location as there were many fitness facilities in the spa including a climbing wall (picture below), full gym with weights and cardio equipment, and rooms for a variety of classes. I got to the room shortly after 10, and the sole person in there asked if I was there for the foot health class. I said no, that I hadn’t heard about it, and that I was there for the meditation class at 10:30. She said that she teaches both that and the meditation class, and if I was open to learning about foot health that she could start the class right away. I learned a lot about foot health during that class! She guided me through many foot specific exercises and we used a foot massage product called “Sole Energizers”. My feet felt incredible after the class. At 10:30 she checked and no one else was there for the meditation class. She got me to lay down on a yoga mat, gave me a pillow for under my head, a blanket for over top of me, and an cloth eye mask with some essential oils in it. She then verbally did a guided meditation for me with some relaxing music in the background. It was truly a relaxing experience and I’m grateful that I got to have a private guided meditation! Again, I honestly felt like a VIP.
After the meditation class I checked out the Canyon Ranch dedicated foot fitness store and decided to buy a pair of “Sole Energizers”. When I was paying there was a manager and a cashier. The cashier had a strong Parkinsons-like tick and a huge smile. I got the sense that the cashier is not comfortable with technology as the manager assisted her with the purchase. He was so patient with her and I was very impressed by his kind and gentle manner with her. I then went and grabbed a freshly made fruit smoothie before making the five minute saunter back to the other section of the spa.
The men’s area had these super comfortable extended lounger chairs in a quiet, dimly lit area. Each of them had a reading light and a curtain in between the other chairs. I relaxed on one and ate some snacks, read a little, and used my laptop for a while. My recurring thought was that I can foresee the day when I have one of these chairs in my home! It was so relaxing and comfortable. I then had a number of hours in both the men’s and co-ed spa areas, spending time in a variety of the rooms and pools.
One time I was sitting in men’s common area reading and I could overhear some guys complaining that they couldn’t find the remote for the big TV to change to channel to watch college football. And no one was getting up to look for it! So I got up and started looking around. Once I did others joined in. It was a group effort and no one could find the remote! I went up to the TV and started changing channels manually. I flipped through many channels and couldn’t find any college football games, so I left it on a channel during a commercial. I went back to a chair on the far side of the room and continued reading. It turns out that I left it on A&E and there was a dramatic movie on. After a few minutes some of the guys started getting pissed off, and one of them FINALLY took the initiative to find a staff member about which channel had football on and where the remote was!
I was in and out of the long locker room all day, either getting things out or putting them back. At some of the times I was by myself and really felt like a VIP! One time when I went back to the room there was an immaculately dressed older gentleman with very fancy and shiny shoes. Turns out that he’s one of the barbers in the spa. He was very personable and taught me a lot about what tools I need on hand for a top quality shave at home. Another time in the long locker room I was getting a still-labelled apple out of a Whole Foods bag, and there was a guy in the room who looked like a Men’s Fitness or GQ model. I asked if he wanted an apple and he said no. I bumped into him an hour or so later and jokingly asked if he changed his mind on the apple. He laughed and again said no. Just before leaving the spa I was getting my things together in the long locker room and there were two guys in there. The same model guy and another guy who could have also easily been a model. I was starting to wonder if I was part of some secret photo shoot!? Anyways, we all got talking during which time I offered the apples one last time. They both said no.
I left the spa feeling as though I had been there for a few days. I was so grateful to have decided to spend the day there as it was time very well spent! I’m glad that I didn’t worry about checking out other places along the strip in Vegas. I had been to Vegas three times before, including two years ago, so it wasn’t new for me…
After leaving the spa I returned the rental car. When I was doing so I got chatting to the employee inspecting the car. I offered him the organic apples and bananas (which were still labelled and in the Whole Foods bag), and he gladly took them! He profusely thanked me. It felt good knowing that someone was so appreciative of receiving the fruit, and also that it was not getting thrown out.
When I was going through airport security, they searched my carry on bag. It had a few bags of really good organic tea that I had gotten at Canyon Ranch. One of the TSA people joked about the picture on the vanilla tea pouch looking like marijuana, and that it appeared to be a good crop!? I was honestly shocked and surprised that they said such a thing in a very high security area! I didn’t say anything…
After going through security I went to a place in the airport terminal to grab a snack. When I was looking through what they had to offer, I couldn’t help but notice that the cashier looked very pissed off and really didn’t want to be there. I got a few things and when I was paying I started asking her about where she was from, as she had a very strong eastern European accent. We only talked for a few minutes however she started smiling and was very pleasant. While I was eating at the tables in front of her, she then started wiping and cleaning the surrounding tables with a big smile on her face. I’m not sure if it is something I said or the mere fact that I took a few minutes to find out a little about her…all I know is that her mood shifted.
When I was waiting in the gate area for my flight I got talking to a man from Calgary. He had just attended his brother’s funeral in the Vegas area, and somehow we got chatting about long drives. He told me that he does the long drives in silence without music, caffeine or any other stimulants. It’s nothing for him to do a day trip to Fort McMurray from Calgary for a meeting, which is around five to six hours each way. He also said that he’s driven from Calgary to Phoenix, AZ essentially non-stop, only stopping for gas and food! I asked him what he does while driving. He stated that he plans out a variety of work and personal tasks. I was very impressed by what he shared with me – it truly highlighted the power of the mind and focus.
On the plane I sat beside a Calgary couple who had immigrated from South Korea. Their English was not very good. The man beside me did not seem at all happy to be leaving the warm Vegas area where they had been golfing, and going back to the cold! It turns out that he loves to hike. I asked if he wanted to see some pictures and videos on my phone of National Parks that I had visited on this trip (Death Valley, Zion, and Bryce Canyon). He was very interested, so I went through them while showing him the associated maps of each which were in my carry on bag. He really enjoyed looking at them and was surprised at how close some of those areas are to Vegas (Zion picture below). We ended up chatting about a variety of things and the flight went very quickly for me. Hopefully it felt the same for him!
After landing in Calgary it was very quick and easy for me going through customs, getting my checked bag, and taking the shuttle to where my car was parked. My head hit the pillow about 1 am after a very full day.
I’m grateful for the fantastic experiences and the people I met during my first fasting experience. While I realize that I will not often be traveling on the 6th of the month (my fasting day), I am greatly looking forward to future lessons and experiences from doing so!