Client’s Question:

When, for example, you feel afraid of something… how do you practice inner fasting in that situation?

My Response:

True abstinence begins when emotion appears… not when you stop eating.

Fear, in particular, is the moment when attachment becomes visible:

the mind tries to protect an image, an outcome, a sense of security.

That is where inner fasting begins.

What does fasting mean here?

Fasting does not mean abstaining from food, but:

abstaining from feeding the thought that creates fear.

Fear only lives if you feed it:

  • What will happen?
  • What if I lose?
  • Why me?
  • How will I handle this?

Each question of this kind is a bite offered to fear.

Fasting means stopping the mental chewing.

How do I practice it in the moment of fear?

1) I immediately stop the inner dialogue

I do not argue with the thought.

I do not reassure myself.

I do not look for a solution.

I simply notice:

there is fear moving through the body.

I do not resolve it… I allow it to exist without giving it a story.

The body may tremble, but I do not turn the trembling into a narrative.

Here, fasting begins.

2) I do not flee and I do not react impulsively

Fear immediately pushes toward:

  • calling
  • texting
  • deciding
  • justifying
  • defending

Every impulsive reaction is nourishment.

I remain internally still,

even if outwardly I act normally.

The difference:

the movement is not an escape from the feeling.

3) I return to presence (this is the prayer within fasting)

I feel the breath,

the feet,

the body.

Not to calm myself,

but to step out of the head.

When I step out of the mind… the feeding of fear stops.

What happens next?

Fear does not disappear instantly.

It passes like a wave.

And then the surprise appears:

the problem that seemed enormous

loses much of its solidity.

Because most of it

was being produced within you, not in the outer world.

Deeper Meaning

Fasting from food reveals the body’s attachment.

Fasting from thoughts reveals the identity’s attachment.

When you stop feeding fear,

you discover it was not a warning from reality…

but an attempt by the mind to remain at the center.