4. Questions & Answers
What signs and symptoms do you watch for that would indicate that you should breakfast?
Any of the usual signs of dehydration such as the drying of the skin, profuse sweating, lowering of blood pressure, lethargy, water not being consumed, increase in pulse rate, sudden extreme weakness and/or arrythmias, confusion, disorientation and/or anxiety neurosis.
How do you handle the family of a guest, all of whom are opposed to the methods and procedures used in conducting a supervised fast?
It is a matter of education—if you have the time necessary to educate them, they will usually cooperate. If not, you have to place the monkey on their backs and let them know that they will have been responsible for the life and welfare of the person whom they have dissuaded from fasting. After all, fasting is the best way of detoxifying the body that is available to humankind. They will have deprived the person of a chance to do the thing that is needed, often desperately. More often than not the guest has already been exposed to the medical shenanigans which were of no avail and can be pointed out to the family members. Also, you can reassure them that, if for some reason the guest does not respond to the fast, they can always resort to the other methods that they have so much faith in. If the guest is to fast, it is important that he or she be isolated and insulated from the haranguing and enervating pleas of concerned family members.
How would you handle a situation where the guest suffers from angina pectoris and is on nitroglycerine?
Angina pains are usually the result of exertion in some form or another and rest usually helps to correct the painful situation, without the use of modalities. If the guest can be reassured that all will be well and not become concerned with the various crises of elimination as being detrimental phenomena, all will go well with the guest. Every such situation will have its own particular set of circumstances that will have to be taken into consideration.
How do you determine if the particular disease of a guest is irreversible and how do you explain it to the concerned guest?
When the situation seems to be quite irreversible, it is best to let the guest know that while it is quite probable that health in general will be enhanced as the result of tasting, there will in all likelihood be no more than slight improvement in the areas of damage or pathology that have been experienced. Any improvement in the body as a whole is going to take the load off of the deranged and impaired part or function and the overall effect is going to be one of improvement.
What about the desirability of having a person on hand who is trained in mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR (Cardio-pulmonary-resuscitation)?
There are always needs for people with emergency procedures expertise in any situation whether it be at a fasting institution or anywhere else. It is something that all of the staff of a fasting institution should have some expertise in but is not essential to have one on the staff. The probabilities of requiring those kinds of services in a fasting center are no greater than in any other location and are probably even less under most circumstances. A person who is resting as they should while undergoing a fast is seldom exposed to situation that would cause them to need the services of anyone skilled in those procedures.