Four Days without Food or Water

Nothing put into your mouth for 4 days.


Most people at first might think doing this is kind of crazy, especially here in the U.S. However, it has been a spiritual practice of finding out what you are supposed to do in your life by asking God for Visions that will lead you to your future good.

So, this is something that has been going on in Native American Culture for thousands and thousands of years already and has been effective in helping the young or old or in between to find their future path.

This when I did this in 1983 I was 35 years old and married with 3 kids from ages 9 to 12. So, I went from Mt. Shasta (where I lived then on my land in an A Frame I built with the help of my family and friends to the south Fork of the Trinity River where the Native American Medicine man who would oversee (from about 4 miles away) my vision quest of no water or food for 96 hours. Nothing put in your mouth at all.


The primary thing I learned from this completely was that I was not separate from nature but one with it. I was not separate from the whole universe but one with it. I think this was probably the most powerful aspect of all this and might be for most people doing this.

You probably wouldn't want to do this in a house but out in nature. You probably wouldn't want to do this in a place too dry or hot because you might have problems or in a place that is too cold. So, remember you have to physically survive this and you want it to be as pleasant an experience as possible so you can benefit the most from it throughout your life.

The first two days without water or food I found the hardest. Mostly for me then it is the habit as a human being of eating or drinking something and so my mind often screamed at me, "You are going to die! You are crazy to do this!" But still I was disciplined and resolute in my quest.

The night of the second day into this whole thing my visions began in earnest. Though you might also have visions (hallucinate) from not eating or drinking water  this long, it's possible that you have to be prepared for intense visions or hallucinations to begin by the second night out in nature.

So, be sure to pick a place where you feel safe where no one will bother you way out in the wilderness off the beaten path. I was about 5 miles from the nearest paved road and over a mile from the nearest trail or dirt road. I got there by walking 4 miles  upstream in the Trinity River so I would be secluded at that time in 1983. I was in a bear wallow next to a huge tree that had fallen (about 4 feet through) so I could get under it if it rained (which it did one night about 3 days in). I brought a Sleeping bag, warm clothes but no food or water at all with me. I also brought a tarp that could double as a ground cloth and as a rain shed depending upon what I needed. I didn't take a tent because there were no mosquitos that time of year and because I was advised that the closer to nature I was the better it would go for me.

Also, it is important that your health be very good and that you likely be somewhere between 15 and say 50 years old for most people. It likely wouldn't be good for children because of their growing bodies and over 50 unless you are a medicine man, have really excellent mental and physical health or other things like this I might not recommend it.

Also, what I found physically the hardest thing to do was to walk 4 miles down stream after not drinking water or eating any food at all for 4 days and nights.

What did I learn from doing this?

I learned I am not my culture because that is actually an aftertthought. I am one with nature and the whole universe. Nature and the Universe are my family. And everything cultural is contrived based upon not having wars or disagreements. All cultures are like this. They sprang up from the necessity to have peace in larger groups of people that aren't killing each other all the time.

But, in the end we are one with nature. That is where we came from as physical beings. We are one with the Universe which basically could be described as all nature in the Universe.

I felt extremely empowered and have ever since I did this. I realized I can easily survive things I once thought unimaginable before this.

Most people are lost and don't know who they are so they take drugs and get drunk to escape who they are. I didn't need to do that.

I know who I am and whether my body is alive or dead I am still one with nature and the whole universe (God, if you wish) and I am fine. That was my experience and it continues right through to now.