Lake Constance provides a calm setting during a 21-day fast at Buchinger Wilhelmi, where preconceptions about fasting as mere weight loss are replaced by a sense of inner recalibration. The clinic was founded in the 1950s by Otto Buchinger, a naval doctor who learned fasting in India and attributed recovery from severe rheumatoid arthritis to a 19-day water fast. Buchinger framed fasting as a state of maximum receptiveness capable of profound change. The approach integrates spiritual and cultural influences, including meditation, adoration, time in nature, spiritual reading, good companions, music, art, movement, and humor. The method draws from ancient Greek philosophy and Ayurvedic purification and is woven through Christian, Islamic, and Sufi traditions.
"When a person fasts, they are in a state of maximum receptiveness that can bring about profound and comprehensive change. Buchinger himself was an avowed yet non-dogmatic Christian who integrated a plethora of spiritual and cultural influences into his model of therapeutic fasting. His nine elements of soul nourishment included meditation and adoration, spending time in nature, reading spiritual literature, surrounding oneself with good companions, using music, art, and movement to nourish body and soul; and valuing a God-given sense of humor and self-deprecation."
"For once I'm not worrying about anything. I'm not distracting myself with my phone or a book or a bar of candy. I'm halfway through a 21-day fast at Buchinger Wilhelmi -the spiritual and scientific birthplace of modern fasting-and my preconceptions have all been blown out of the water. For years I'd thought Buchinger was just a weight-loss place, that it simply offered an extension of the intermittent fasting craze that has swept the wellness world."
"The clinic was founded in the 1950s by Otto Buchinger, a naval doctor who learn about fasting in India and was said to have been cured of severe rheumatoid arthritis following a 19-day water fast. He dedicated his life to fasting and yet, right from the start, it was about more than the physical effects of abstinence."
"This spiritual, emotional, and physical reset is a million miles away from the hormone pummeling of current weight-loss drugs, and the aughts' detox ethos. Its origins lie in ancient Greek philosophy and Ayurvedic purification; it is woven through Christian, Islamic, Sufi, and Bu"
#therapeutic-fasting #spiritual-practices #buchinger-wilhelmi #nature-and-meditation #holistic-wellness
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