Water Fasting Retreat

“Everyone has a physician inside him or her; we just have to help it in its work.  The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.  Our food should be our medicine.  Our medicine should be our food.  But to eat when you are sick is to feed your sickness.”  – Hippocrates

“Instead of using medicine, rather, fast a day.”    – Plutarch

Fasting for spiritual and health purposes is widely practiced all over the world, and is still a part of every major religion in the world. Jesus, Buddha, Muhammed and Baha’u’llah all shared a common belief in the helpful and productive power of fasting.

We at Heartwood Refuge and Retreat Center feel water fasting is an excellent protocol for rejuvenating body, mind and spirit.

Benefits of Fasting

Fasting has been shown to help people recover from mild to severe health conditions. Some of the most common ones are high blood pressure, asthma, allergies, chronic headaches, inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease), irritable bowel syndrome, adult onset diabetes, heart disease, degenerative arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, acne, uterine fibroids, benign tumors, and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Fasting is a time when the body can devote itself to healing, repairing and strengthening damaged organs eliminating accumulated toxins and waste products. The body is very intelligent. When we fast, the body starts “burning” the trash first…the damaged cells, tumors, waste products, etc.

This is a time when the digestive tract time can completely rest and strengthen its mucosal lining. A healthy mucosal lining is a crucial to the health of the body in general and a preventive or healer of Leaky Gut Syndrome. That is the leakage of incompletely digested proteins into the bloodstream, which are at the root of most autoimmune conditions and food allergies.

Included in the cost of your retreat are the following :

1) one consultation with Dr Hall in person or via Skype depending on where the doctor is working during that particular time.

2) one Bach Flower Remedy consultation (emotional support) and 30ML customized blend prepared by Venerable Pannavati.

3) one consultation with Amy Goldweber for nutrition or life counseling

4) one massage (or body work protocol), or Reiki or other energy healing session provided by one of the on staff practitioners

Self-Applied Health Enhancement Methods Available For Your Use at Heartwood During Your Retreat

6) instruction and 30 minutes daily of meditation w/MUSE bio-feedback system

7) daily 45 minutes yoga or qigong (with audio or video instruction) 

8) daily 30-45 minute full spectrum infrared treatment  (Not available while water fasting but can be used the night before the fast and while re-feeding)

9) daily soft exercise program with bands, light weights, bicycle, walking, elliptical machine, stair master, trampoline

10) daily sound and light therapies

11) daily Bemer micro-circulatory protocol

12) Free copy of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, by Bob Stahl, with exercises to complete

13) CD library and online guided meditations – recommendations are based on personal support needed

14) Structured Water and Color-Infused Water training

Other Free Optional Opportunities

• may attend all dharma talks and group meditations
• may attend the weekly recovery group
• one-on-one counseling session with Pannavati or Pannadipa or others teachers that are on campus during your retreat
• One social group activity organized for retreatants upon request (ex. Music and movement session, walk to the waterfalls in the national forest, etc)

Learn more about what to expect before and after your retreat.

Learn about cancer and water fasting.