Questioner: Is there any benefit to fasting?
提問者：斷食有什麼好處嗎？
Sadhguru: In yoga, the ideal break between one meal and the next meal is eight hours. You can manage these kinds of meals even when you are working outside. But a minimum of five hours is a must for everybody. This is because only when your stomach is empty, your excretory system functions properly.
薩古魯：在瑜伽體系中，兩餐之間最理想的時間間隔為8小時。這種吃法即使在你外出工作時也可以辦到。不過對每個普通人來說，最少5小時的間隔是必須的。這是因為只有當你的胃空著的時候，你的排洩系統才會正常運作。
See, you can do this as an experiment: let us say your measure that you are eating so many calories, or your one meal is this many grams. You make the same meal into two portions and eat it twice a day. If you make the same meal into ten portions and eat ten times a day, you will see when you eat ten times; you will put on more weight. This is simply because the excretory system is not efficient. A lot of garbage, which would have gone out of system, will not go out of the system because constantly the stomach is full. When there is food in the stomach, when the digestive process is happening, the excretory system does not function very efficiently. Only when the stomach is totally empty, the cleansing happens well.
你不妨做個試驗：假設你一頓要吃xx卡路裡（熱量）、或者xx克重的食物。你將這一頓分成兩餐，在一天中分兩次吃完。但如果你將這一頓分成十餐、一天裡吃十次，那麼你會發現，一天吃十餐的時候你的體重會增加。這僅僅是因為排洩系統效率降低了。由於胃裡總有東西在消化著，很多本來必須排除體外的垃圾現在都排不出去了。當胃裡有食物，當消化過程仍在進行時，排洩系統的工作效率就會打折扣。只有當胃是完全空的，清理過程才會順利開始。
Once in every 11 to 14 days, you may not feel like eating. On that day, you should not eat.
你可能每過11~14天就會有一天不想吃東西。在那一天裡，你真的不應該進食。
Have you observed… when you are very sick, very weak, and you get up from the bed, how you walk? Every step in full awareness, isn’t it? As you become less of a body, your awareness of other dimensions within yourself naturally becomes enhanced. When food is served before you, if you are too much of a body, if you are hungry you know, both your hands will go for it. When you are very hungry, all your body wants to do is eat. But now, you could take a moment, before you start eating, to silently express your gratitude to everything that has brought this food to you – the land, the farmer, the vendor, the person who cooked it, the one who served it, and to the food itself for offering its life for yours, before you start eating. A simple act like this loosens you from your body. It reminds you that you are not the body. When you are very hungry, you are the body. Just give it a little space and suddenly you are not that. Hunger is there, you are there, and it is okay. Misunderstanding this has led to simply torturous fasting.
你有沒有觀察過，當你生重病、身體很虛弱的時候，如果這時從床上起來，你會怎樣走路？ - 你會每走一步都全神貫注，對不對？當你的身體感更弱的時候，你對在你之內的其它維度的覺知便自然地得到了增強。別人在你面前上菜時，如果你的身體感太強，如果當時你很餓，你會迫不及待兩隻手都去抓。當你很餓時，身體一心只想著吃這件事。但在這個時刻你可以先停下來，在開始吃之前，花片刻默默感謝那將食物帶到你面前的一切：土地、農夫、商販、做飯的人、上菜的人、還有食物本身 - 感謝它為了你的生命奉獻出自己。單是這樣一個簡單的舉動，便能鬆開你跟身體之間的捆綁。它提醒你，你不是這個身體。當你很餓時，你就是這個身體。但只要騰出一點空間，突然地你便不是身體了。此時，飢餓在那裡，而你在另一處，相安無事。如果不能正確理解這些，只會導致痛苦的斷食。
It is important that you don’t fast forcefully. If you observe the natural cycle of the body, there is something called a mandala. The mandala means that every 40 to 48 days, the system goes through a certain cycle. In every cycle, there are three days when your body does not need food. If you are conscious of how your body functions, you will become aware that on these days, your body does not need food. And without effort, you can go without food on that day.
切勿強行斷食，這點很重要。當你觀察身體的自然循環韻律，有個叫mandala（曼陀羅）的東西。mandala意味著，每過40~48天，人體系統都經歷一個特定的周期。在每個周期裡有三天是你的身體不需要食物的。如果你對身體之運作有足夠的覺察，你便能意識到，身體在那些天裡並不需要食物，而你在那些天裡也能夠毫不費力地、自然而然就不吃東西。
Once in every 11 to 14 days, you may not feel like eating. On that day, you should not eat. You know, even dogs and cats have this awareness? Have you noticed that on particular days, they will not eat? They are aware of their system. On the day the system says 「no food,」 it is a cleaning-up day, they will not eat. Since you don’t have this awareness, they fixed Ekadashi. Ekadashi comes once in every 14 days in the lunar calendar. At least every 14 days, you could go without food. If you are unable to go without food, if your activity levels are such and you don’t have the necessary sadhana to support you, then you could go on a fruit diet. Just observe your own system, and you may notice that on certain days, you do not really need to eat. Forcing food on those days is not a good thing to do.
你可能每過11~14天就會有一天不想吃東西。在那一天裡，你真的不應該進食。你知道嗎，甚至貓狗都保有這份覺知。你有沒有留意到，它們在某些特定的日子裡不吃東西呢？它們對自身系統有覺察。在那個日子裡它們的身體說「不要食物」，這是「大掃除」的日子，於是他們就什麼都不吃了。由於現在你還沒有這份覺知，人們便固定出一個日子：Ekadashi（斷食日)。在印度陰曆中，每14天裡就有一個斷食日。至少每過14天，你就可以有一天不吃東西。如果你在這一天裡無法做到完全不吃，如果你的活動消耗量太大、且沒有必要的練習（sadhana）來支持自己的話，那麼在這一天裡你可以只吃水果。去觀察你的身體系統便可能注意到，在某些日子裡真的無需進食。在那些日子裡強迫自己進食是不明智的。
Suppose one wants to fast for a certain period, it must always be supported with the right kind of spiritual practices or sadhana. If you forcefully fast without preparing your body and mind sufficiently, you will only cause damage to your health. But if your body is properly prepared, if you are mentally also in a certain state, if you are prepared energy-wise, then fasting can be of much benefit to you.
假如你想持續斷食一段時間，則一定要有恰當的靈性練習（sadhana）來給予支持。如果你沒有充分準備好自己的身體和頭腦便強制進行斷食，只會對自身健康造成傷害。但如果你的身體準備恰當了，精神也調整到某種狀態，能量方面也準備充分了，那麼此時斷食將讓你受益頗多。
If you are constantly drinking coffee or tea, then, if you fast, it will become torture for you; fasting will be very difficult. So if you want to fast, first of all prepare the body by eating the right kind of foods. If it is a great torture when you hold back your urge to eat, you will only cause damage to the system. Maybe you are thinking of performing some kind of a feat 「I did not eat for three days,」 and you want to go and tell that to the whole world. Please don’t do such things. It is of no benefit to you. You will just make yourself weak, that is all. Just understanding the body and coming to a deeper understanding of how the system functions and what is the best thing to do, is more important than doing something like this.
如果平日經常飲茶和咖啡，那麼你斷食對你將會成為折磨；斷食將變得非常困難。因此，你若想斷食的話，首先得通過正確的飲食讓身體做好準備。假如你抑制食慾時感到極度痛苦，這只會給身體系統帶來損害。也許你頭腦裡想的是要履行一次「我三天沒吃東西！」的壯舉，你想到外面告訴全世界你做到了。拜託，別做這樣的事情。這對你一點兒好處都沒有。這樣你只會把自己拖垮，僅此而已。你真正需要做的只是理解身體，並對身體系統的運作達成一種更深的領悟，明白什麼是最好的選擇，這比做所有那些傻事來得更重要。
It may not be a good thing for everybody to fast, but it has many benefits if it is done with proper understanding. So finding the right situation for the system and taking off food at that time will be a good thing to do.
斷食也許不一定適用於每一個人，但如果對其有正確的理解，斷食是好處多多的。因此，找到恰當的時候給身體系統斷絕食物，將是一項明智之舉。
英文連結：
http://isha.sadhguru.org/blog/lifestyle/food/is-there-any-benefit-to-fasting/
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