Fasting Wilderness Quest
Solo Fasting Quest
Indigenous wisdom, modern neuropsychology, and our own intuition, all tell us the same thing; transformation can occur when we take ourselves out of time, space, and mind. Used by many cultures and given shape in many ways, Solo Fasting Quest, often also called “Vision Quest”, “Rite of Passage”, and, “Wilderness Quest”, is a time of deep reflection, transformation, healing, and consolidation.
In Solo Fasting Quest we take ourselves out of time by shedding the typical indicators of the day’s passages such as phones, watches, and meal and sleep times. We take ourselves out of our usual surroundings and go to places that are unfamiliar and feel strange to us, such as the wilderness. We allow ourselves to “lose” our minds through prolonged solitude and by preparing ourselves through the practice of meditation, mindfulness, going inward, and suspending judgment.
What is a Solo Fasting quest?
Solo Fasting Quests are used by individuals for personal transformation and when they are acknowledging the transition of completing a phase of life and honoring the movement into a new phase of life. Solo Fasting Quests are helpful when looking for personal direction or purpose, facing life challenges, and as a way to come closer to spirit and nature. In fact, people in any life stage and with any personal growth goal can find meaning in the powerful process of a Solo Fasting Quest. Some individuals even incorporate a Solo Fasting Quest into their yearly spiritual journey.
Typical transformative goals that people bring to Solo Fasting Quest are: moving into confidence, shedding negative self-judgment, stepping away from past trauma, solidifying sobriety, stepping into self-compassion, developing a deeper relationship with themselves, nature, and Spirit…and more. Typical life transitions are: moving from young adult to full adult status, marriage, divorce, becoming a parent, losing an important person, starting or making a new commitment, moving into retirement or elder status….and more. Solo Fasting Quest is also used for those life events that do not have culturally established ways of being acknowledged such as: releasing a “dead” name, transitioning gender, loss of an affair, identifying as gay or asexual, becoming a healer, committing to a life without children… and more.
Sacred Journeys honors the need for support, preparation, guidance, and encouragement during transformation and life transitions as well as when undertaking a Solo Fasting Quest. This is especially true if we have been cut off from nature-either from our own nature or from the natural land. Therefore, the preparation phase of a Solo Fasting Quest is given time and attention. For some, that preparation phase has already been completed prior to contacting Sacred Journeys. For others, there is a benefit to taking a few weeks to a few months to learn and practice what will enhance the Solo Fasting Quest experience. When you contact me and we begin our initial conversations about joining a Solo Fasting Quest, we can review the elements that help someone have the best experience possible during that important journey. I can be available for assisting you in finding and exploring those important elements. Ultimately, however, my role in this process is that of a guide and facilitator. Solo Fasting Quest is a journey between Spirit and Soul, however, you define those things. and so it truly is your own personal journey.
Details
Solo Fasting Quest site: Our Questing site is in the Missouri Ozarks, an oft-forgotten and overlooked pocket of beauty and settled majesty in the central region of the nation. Rare indeed are portions of land where real wilderness resides, but deep in the ancient mountains of the Missouri Ozarks is a tract of very lightly trafficked recreational land.
Here is a seemingly secret piece of heaven with over 60,000 continuous acres of heavily timbered forest providing the solitude and magnitude of nature in which soul work can thrive.
Hardwood forests and sparkling streams dominate the landscape which is home to a massive array of wildflowers, and forest animals. Limestone bluffs alternate with rolling hills, criss-crossed by small stream and “hollers” where time is easily forgotten.
Experience the heart-beat of the earth, listen in while the roots of white oak, short leaf pine, sycamores and cottonwood gather information about their neighbor and the state of the health of trees three states away, enjoy the stunning colors of the red bud and sumac, listen to the laughing call of a piliated woodpecker, and soar with red-tailed hawks, owls, and eagles. The enduring Missouri Ozarks lead us to the ancient wisdom that resides in us all.