4 days/nights No water No food! Courage or Insanity?

Always in the search for new experiences, I just came back from a very extreme one. I was in the mountain without food and water for four complete days, including 4 nights. At the mountain I was by myrself, no tent, no food, no water, no light, no phone and no speaking. It is not a survivol experience. I could not leave a delimited area with 5 to 6 square meters. The experience is designed to eliminate all the distractions and take you to think and rethink your whole life. Four days without any sort of distraction, not even water or food, is a long time. For some people this experience sounds insane. For others it may be an act of courage.

My family was kind of scared. My brother which is a cardiovascular doctor was mad at me for trying this extreme experience. However, there are no healthy issues. If you are not feeling well you can at any time give up and go down to the camp walking for 10 minutes. Also, it is not a competition. The Staff will receive you at the camp with the same care and love either if you had completed the experience or not.

It is a 4 year program called “Red path”, which refers to a nature spirituality inspired by the Lakota Sioux tradition, a native american Indian tribe. It has been recommended as a way of spiritual healing in the therapeutic circuits of New Agers. Its rituals are promoted as alternative techniques for attaining physical, mental, and spiritual health. For me, it was a very strong tool for personal development and physical and mental detox.

In the day I was going up, there was a cerimony before I was planted in the mountain, where the right to speak was taken from me. So I was not allowed to speak during this four days, which was very good for me. When I came back from the four days, I received back my right to speak after smoking a sacred tobacco. The tobacco was in the mountain with me all the time and after the four days it held all my prayers. In order to go up to the mountain I had to prepare 365 prayers made of cotton tissue and tobacco inside mixed with some herbs of my choice. These prayers in form of little bags were attached to the cotton line and this line marked my space at the mountain.

I was allowed to bring a plastic cover, a small mattress, a sleeping bag, a strong jacket or a blanket and a backpack with some clothes. I improvised a tent with the plastic cover, a rope and some rocks. I covered the floor with a camping cover, a small camping mattress and a sheep fur. Just like the picture I posted below, but change the tent for a piece of plastic cover.

Exactly a week after coming back from the mountain I can say I feel great. My muscular and joints pain were gone. Actually, the pain was gone unitl past friday when I fell from the dirtbike during an enduro practice with some friends. Apart from the motorbike fall, my body feels younger and healthier. I was also able to change my whole diet. I respect more my body and I am more selective on what to eat. I guess once you feel the pain of the detox proccess you give more attention to what you put inside.

In terms of mind work, well, up there I was fighting to resist the temptation of giving up. It is hard being hungry and thirsty while fighting for will power. The mind is doubting the process and some times I felt ridiculous and insane. Other times, I felt strong and confident. Being alone by yourself is challeging. The silence and solitude is hard on you and take you to places your mind is constantly avoinding. There is why we keep looking at our mobile phones, it is our mind finding distractions to keep going superficial. It was actually the first time in my life I was really able to think deep of my decisions, values and priorities. Overthere, I made sense of what is important for me and what is not. I guess this is the beauty of the proccess and the food and water fasting is just a catalyst to take you further.