Re: How to promote full evacuation of bowel while entering on a long water fast

Hi Chiron and thanks for your informative response.
First, Vipassana:
- I'm glad to be reminded of this, as I once tried to do a V.R, only to be barred because at the time (and still currently) I was on an anti-depressant
- since applying, years ago, I have evolved away from spirituality/religion/transcendentalism of any kind, though I am a daily practitioner of meditation, and I do an hour's hatha yoga; both these practices are *this*-worldly bound: meditation, because of the growing scientific consensus that the practise has some amazing neurological and body spin-offs; yoga, because nothing I've ever encountered in life makes me feel so light and lithe.
- despite not having any transcendent beliefs (I am a resolute anti-theist, but never fear, I'm not a prosyletiser) I think the VR would suit me just fine, so, following your advice, I'm going to see if there is a center which is close enough for me to attend

Second, 21 or 29 (as against the idea of complete fast, till I gain some experience)
- this is really excellent! given me something to think about, and, on the face of it, what you write seems to very sound indeed
- I am still interested in getting more clarification about the physiology of the complete fast. It seems to me that it is simply a matter of medical Science to know exactly what takes place in the body of the fully fasted person, you know, in what order and to what extent the starving body will absorb scar tissue off lungs and liver BEFORE, say, dissolving healthy muscle, let alone healthy lung tissue. And this is the subject on which I wish to be informed. You see, the whole idea of "the healing crisis" turns on this physiology: people foolishly think that they are going to heal, say, a lifetime of ecsema, or dermititis or the effects of 40 years of smoking, after just 21 or 30 days, whereas, it seems to me obvious that such dramatic healing, if possible at all!, could only come when the snow-bound farmer, the fasting body, has already turned all the pictures and furniture into the fire (the metabolism), only when he is about to start pulling down planks of the wall interiors (and thus begin the decline into death by cold), only then, that he would say, tear off little bits, here and there (bits of scar tissue, so, so, so close to vital organs), in order to keep the fires going.
This is to use an image from that book I alluded to, without giving an author, in my OP

thirdly, the practical pre-fast tips: all noted and all sound excellent; thanks again

fourth, "conventional medical thinking"
- As you might have gleaned from what I have written above, I am a rationalist, a Science enthusiast, and very, very skeptical of most New Age claims, and just about all and any religious and/or spiritual and/or transcendentalist beliefs.
- I consider myself so lucky to be alive, just for a blink of an eye, without any hope of heaven or re-incarnation, just to behold this awesome universe, and at a time when we are actually getting somewhere in understanding the cosmos, rather than the myths of our collective childhood, in the mists of pre-scientific times.
- so, my interest in the complete fast is totally bound by the laws of physics and the facts of human physiology; and I regard my doctor as a medical authority, to whom I defer in most things, always, of course, reserving my skepticism, especially with regard to "edgy" measures like fasting, especially complete fasting, which my doc would probably regard with grave misgivings.

Finally, thanks again for taking the time.
I hope to be able to report on my fast from time to time, and sincerely hope that I hear from you again, if and when I post some question or observation concerning my experience.

warm regs,
Tex

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