June 6th - 9th, 2024

Where is the Fasting?

All of our Water Fasts are conducted live through Zoom you can sign up through the buttons above.

What is Water Fasting?

People practice different types of fasting for different reasons. Some do it for religious purposes. Others do it to lose or maintain their weight. What the QiGong Research Society teaches is a 4-Day Water Fast designed to help purge your body of Toxins and reset your Immune System.

The QRS has taught this three times a year in the United States since 1995, and we continue to have great success helping students with their addictions, their weight control, their allergies, liver dysfunction, diabetes, high blood pressure, digestion problems, insomnia, Lyme Disease and mystery disease, and many more.

Why do you call it a QiGong Water Fast?
One of the keys of this fasting is that Master Hou teaches you different exercises to detoxify your different organs. These special QiGong exercises for fasting are quick, daily, low-impact movements. They are a very important component of this fast.

By occasionally pausing in your day to perform these breathing and stretching movements, you will experience relief from common symptoms of the fast—headaches, weakness, lethargy, different types of pain—and maintain your physical energy.

How can Fasting help your QiGong practice?

Master Hou’s Fasting can help increase your energy power and help students who have trouble connecting with qi to recognize this powerful Life Energy.

What are the benefits of Fasting?

When we do a Water Fast, we completely purify the body. We increase our energy network, and our immune system function. Fasting restores the free movement of your vital qi. That in turn makes the other organs more active, so you will be able to absorb more nutrition through them as well.

Many of Master Hou’s students and patients have cured themselves of food and environmental allergies through fasting. Many have stopped smoking and drinking alcohol. In addition to a host of important long-term health issues, there are physical and emotional improvements, too, such as clear skin, a flat stomach, increased sexual and reproductive function, and a new positive outlook on life.

Frankly, it is amazing what fasting can do for a person’s health. Naturally there is the sense of accomplishment and the fact that your clothes suddenly fit better, but most people also feel lighter, calmer, and more focused, and actually understand what it means to have balanced qi because they can sense it.

What does the Medical Community say about Fasting?
In China we have known these benefits for centuries, and recent studies from Johns Hopkins University verify that it helps kill infections and early cancer cells, deter Alzheimer’s disease, relieve allergies, cleans the kidneys and bladder, helps the heart, and eliminates chronic disease. There are many more research studies that support this. In addition to the health benefits, you feel so good after a fast.

Why do you Fast for 4 Days?
Normally, after about 5 hours of no food, you begin feeling hungry. At this time, your body will start searching for energy, and when you don’t feed it nutrients, it will start to burn fat after about 10 hours. After 20-24 hours of no food, your body will then also start to release toxins. After 48 hours you no longer feel that you have to eat — your body’s aches and pains dissipate, and you are able to manage the symptoms more easily. These toxins do not release all at once. Doing a longer fast can continue to increase your energy even more. Each person’s fast is different, and we each follow our own personal timeline where we experience different symptoms as our different organs release these toxins.

People frequently ask if the fast can be done for fewer than three days, and the answer is no. It takes at least 72 hours for each organ to eliminate the different toxins that effect it. For example, it takes that long for the liver to release toxins left over from drinking alcohol or smoking pot. Fasting without total release may actually do more harm than good, since you’re simply moving toxins throughout the body without eliminating them.

Fasting longer is okay, I sometimes do 5-7 days, and some of my students have gone 2-3 weeks without food, but the minimum amount of time is 72 Hours.

How many times a year do you fast?
Ideally we suggest doing a 4-Day water fast four times a year, but Master Hou has found that his own busy schedule, and those of his students, simply cannot accommodate a fourth at this time. Still, three times a year—in January, June, and October—the QRS family detoxifies our bodies by consuming plenty of room-temperature spring water and nothing else for a minimum of 72 hours. You can fast at any time of the year, especially if you are a new beginner, but I suggest using fasting as a way to mark the changing of seasons in a positive way.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, the change of seasons is significant for general health maintenance, and we should eat certain foods during each season to ensure physical health during the time of year that follows. This wisdom has been proven through the centuries. Fasting in different seasons will cause different effects on how your body detoxifies its organs based on the five elements. This is why each fast is different, as we detoxify different organs. For example, in the late spring fast I teach how you can focus on detoxifying the liver in order to protect our heart from the heat of summer.

Right now especially, with everyone home and quarantined, this is a great time to help us boost our immune system function, and relieve toxins. It is my personal, expert opinion that everyone should be doing this fast.

Is it okay to drink tea or juice, or take vitamins during the fast?
Normally, when we do a water fast we only use water. And we use a lot of water. At a minimum we need to drink 4-5 water bottles per day, so we can flush all of the toxins from our system. We stop taking vitamins because we don’t want to ingest any form of nutrition, or really anything besides water. The theory is that we don’t want to feed our organs with any type of energy, even from vitamins or healthy food, because once you do those organs will stop releasing toxins.

Some people ask me if a fast of organic juices isn’t just as good a way to detoxify. To someone who’s never fasted before, the idea of a juice fast is much less intimidating than a water fast, but the answer to that question is also no. Water fasting is a treatment—it’s training for your body that makes its complex systems stronger. Fruit juice has a high amount of sugars and no beneficial carbohydrates or fiber. I sometimes recommend wheatgrass juice to overweight clients because it is good for losing weight, but not for fasting. Juice does not allow the organs to detoxify.

Will I be able to work and drive during the fast?
Yes, most people continue all of their normal activities. You may move a little slower but you will be able to keep up your normal routine. Many people have increased levels of energy and accomplish more during a fast. Remember, you are not taking time to eat, so that gives you 2-3 extra hours each day.  We recommend starting on Thursday so that Friday is the only day you are working without food.  Also, it is suggested to resist doing extreme workouts during this time replacing intense workouts with the simple fasting exercises you will learn in class, and additionally to refrain from having sex as this takes too much Kidney energy.

I am already very skinny, will I lose a lot of weight?
You may lose some weight during fasting, but after you gain some of it back. Do not worry about losing too much weight because of a fast; if you are a very thin person you will be able to maintain your optimum weight level. Fasting is not about weight loss, it is about purifying the body by cleansing the blood and organs of toxins. During the classes, Master Hou will tell you how you can put on weight or keep off weight after the fast.

I am addicted to caffeine. Will I get a headache?
Chronic users of caffeine may likely experience headaches when they go off caffeine suddenly.  This is a completely normal reaction and not something to worry about.

How do I Break the Fast?
Once you eat, and begin to feed your individual organs, those organs will stop releasing the toxins. This is why when we break a fast, we do so in a very special way, following very specific instructions. Actually, we say doing the fast is great, but how we break the fast is even more important. Master Hou will talk more about breaking the fast when you come to class.

Is it okay to take Medications during the Fast?

Normally, we don’t want to take any food, pills, or other medications during a fast, but this can depend on the situation, and it is recommended for you to speak with your doctor. If you are concerned about a particular health issue or medication you can contact Master Hou at his office before the fast and he will advise you. If you have any concerns during the fast Master Hou is available at all times