#7 Cleansing again

[andybuildz]

It's been over a year and a half since I did my last cleansing. The last time I think I went about 12 days. I'm looking to go between 10 & 14 days this time...we shall see.

Tonight I'm ending day 5.

Three cups of rice a day and three cups of tea.
One cup of dry OrBR(short grain) and Kukicha tea.
I remember reading somewhere a ways back to use short grain rice but I'm not sure why. I'm wondering if its a seasonal thing but I wasn't clear about that. Should it be long grain in the summer? I'm guessing it doesn't matter all that much but I'd like to know.

One of the many reasons I decided to do this again was because I felt I was getting off track in my MB regiment and thought it to be a good way to revitalize my regiment/routine. I've actually been pretty good but found myself cheating with a few things and I could see that getting out of hand.

My cheating foods became a very delicous home made health bread and most everything in it was macro other than the yeast and maybe a lil' something else...but it was so good I think I was overdoing it. Also I discovered Paul Newman's Fri Diablo tomatoe Sauce...mannnnnnn is that good. I needed to stop...ugh. and lastly was coffee w/unsweetened soy milk.

Thing was...one thing led to another.

I'll tell you what I relate this to...the bad ol' daze when I was drinking.
I've got a pretty addictive personality and when i do something I do it really big which can be good and bad.
Thats where MB came in...or should I say, comes in. what better way to mirror yourself to get back on track to a more harmonious and balanced life.
I've done quite a bit of meditating in my life to calm my busy mind but my body needed some of the same so....macrobiotics it was/is.

I so relate the #7 cleansing to how it was to a degree in getting sober. The discipline involved is enormous...for me it is anyway. Delicious food is all around you all day long and I'm eating like I live in a prison camp...lol.

The cleansing I find to be incredable in so many ways and I wonder if people understand what it does for you besides cleanse your body.

There's so many lessons in it. the discipline for one. Doing something not "just" through discipline but through understanding why you've made this "choice". Its so applicable to all the things in your life.
You really can't tel your children to do something "because I told you so". You need to instill the understanding. It makes things so much more paletable and that makes even the most difficult things enjoyable in many ways.
And understanding that this bowl of rice is in fact no way a representation of a prison camp but more about the wonders of life!

Anyway...guess I've been rambling a bit so I'll say Namaste' for now
Namaste' and Be Well~~
Avi yama pain in the Dass : )~ aka andy

[Manymoons]

Andy

You've struck on a really important point. Understanding is the the yin. I have found the more understanding I have the less I am compelled to yinnize with food and drink. A whole person is a balance of body and spirit (yang and yin). When understanding is lacking, the body is less justified and one is compelled to undermine the body and hence compelled to eat in ways that, in effect, negate the body. At least this is how it appears to me from my experience so far in this life.

I have known many persons who indulged in extremes of food and drink--drugs and alcohol. Without exception, their family history consisted of mother and/or father that were heavy on the yang side---more in the body with less spirit. I suspect that "because I said so" was a common input for them, implicitly if not explicitly. Not having yin-understanding input created a natural pressure to search for yin from the outside in the form of eat and drink. The 60's cultural reaction to the 50's ridged mechanicality was therefore a very natural course of events-dare I say an en masse cry for understanding. This is a very good thing, but to the degree of the extremes involved, reflects how disintegrated the over all yin and yang has become. We have our work cut out for us individually and then together. Fortunately the bigger the front- the bigger the back.

My #7 fast consists of roasted sweet brown rice ground into powder and cooked as creme. A few drops of roasted sesame oil adds a delectable nutty flavor. I do this, on average, one day per week, usually Saturday or Sunday.
For myself I find even,consistent patterns easier to deal with than sudden extreme changes. Perhaps this allows for a more gradual incline so understanding has time to sprout and grow.

May your yin and yang always be together
Manymoons

[Klara]

Nu, Andy,

How did it go???? And also the slow re-entering after the fast??


Klara

[aussiegal]

Hi Manymoons,

Im just wondering do you mean you do just a 1 day rice fast each week? as i have been thinking about doing a short rice fast first just to see how i feel on it before i decided to go all the way. do you feel alot different in 1 day?

thanks

[Manymoons]

Aussiegal

G'day

Generally the less I eat the better I feel. One rice fast per week has become a sort of tradition for me. In the early days of my MB I have done extended rice fasts for up to 6 weeks. They were painful and revealing. It has proven to be more viable for me to be consistent and steady in eating patterns. The bigger the front, the bigger the back. By avoiding extreme fluctuations, the food seems to function better when given the time needed for the body to acclimate to and assimilate changes.

#7 diet is the "Master class" to be respected as such and not used as a magic wand for instant gratification. It can be as damaging as it can be healing - a very yin/yang thing. You are interested in doing a #7, and I can fully appreciate your desire. #7 is a powerful tool. Try it once a week, or every 10 days, a day at a time, at first. Even that will reveal things and help prepare you for even deeper experiences. Then down the road, you can do 2 days, then 3 days, etc. as your body adjusts, and eventually seven, ten and more days becomes relatively easy. Unfortunately we do not live in a #7 world, so it would take a profound Master to sustain #7 for any substantial length of time.
Your body will appreciate having the time to keep up with the changes, which can be subtle at times, and minimally discernible. That is also reason to go slow and avoid failing to register the little changes that ultimately sum up to the big changes.

If one does not "dirty" oneself, cleansing is not so compelling. Keeping clean has equal import in the attitude one maintains as well as the diet one consumes. Again yin/yang strikes with bewildering menace. Attitude effects the food as food effects attitude. Chicken before the egg, or was it a pregnant chicken? I emphasize going slowly and steadily so as to afford the time to be discriminating--to develop better judgment.

Yes I can feel a difference with but one day of #7. I can also feel the difference of a few too many grains on salt, or a few too many mouths full of food. Give yourself time to become sensitive, and aware of the subtleties that are critical and much too easily overlooked or disregarded.


There is so much to see and learn

Manymoons

[aussiegal]

HI Manymoons,

what a wonderful reply! I have only been macro for 4 months now, so it is very very early days yet, and I am intensely aware that restricting myself too much is not a good thing for me, having come from a very restrictive background in terms of eating disorders and things, so at this point i time i know that having and allowing wide variety of wholseome macro foods is essential to my healing, even including the occasional non-macro sweet every now and then, and allowing myself to enjoy its taste, texture and nourishment. And yes sometimes i feel i eat too much, or had too much sweet food for comfort, and my mind does like to go into overdrive telling me how silly i am, and that i need to restrict what i eat for the next day etc etc - but I am also AWARE that it does this and why - i think its the combination of past patterns being triggered and the yin, exapansive energy - and in this way I am becoming more and more sensitive to how i feel after ive eaten, and to what ive eaten, and can now even recognise which foods calm me down and mellow me out, and which ones leave me not been able to sleep....and despite all these feelings, to me being macro has really opened up a sense of freedom within me, freedom to eat as much as i feel i want to and not feel guilty about it as I know it is all such nourishing food, freedom around food, well for the most part anyway! im still working on that of course.....arn't we all?!

anyway so about the #7 - when the time comes when i feel i am in the state to be able to handle what comes up, i will do it as you said, one day at a time and just go from there, i really resonate with how you explained it to me. Thank you so much

Aussiegal

[Manymoons]

Aussiegal

Your more than welcome.

I am going to add, what you might expect to come up against when you do #7---is yourself. Have no fear, be open and aware.

You have been MB for 4 months but living with yin/yang your entire life. Choosing to be MB simply is to be conscious of the fact. We most often are compelled to eat yin/yang that reflects our own yin/yang needs as a person. When doing #7, yin/yang in the food is reduced to a very minimal fine lined balance. Our needs are then exposed because we are not then compensating for them with extreme foods. Our needs are not shameful. They are our truth. It would be shameful to deny them, but I grant that what we see may not necessarily be what we would expect ourselves to be. That is OK! We are human beings and are continuing to grow and evolve. The more we can contain our own yin/yang, the less we are compelled to take it from the outside, at which point we gain more of the freedom of self mastery.

I can think of nothing as rewarding or more exciting than discovering ones own truth and self mastery. Be full!

Manymoons