Sergey Filonov

Author's interview: https://youtu.be/BK1Bd41t6Sc 60 years ago, Soviet Siberia was an astounding amalgamation of the ancient archaic world and the latest technologies that laid claim to international superiority. It was especially true for medicine, which adhered to advanced treatment standards in large cities and was almost absent from distant downtrodden villages, where the Old Believers treated each other with unique methods that urban residents have never heard of. It is at the junctions of worlds and epochs that talent is often born and manifested, since the calm atmosphere of measured existence is destructive to it. Sergei Filonov was born into a family of doctors in a small town lost in the spurs of the Altai mountains in Western Siberia. There, in Altai, there is still a lingering belief that somewhere in the area is the entrance to the mystical country of Shambhala, a magical realm of bliss, which has been unsuccessfully sought for many centuries. The world of medicine was just as mysterious and promised as much of the delight of discovery to Sergei Filonov, a young student at the Altai Medical Institute. Intimate contact with the land, the traditions of the Siberian peoples, and the healing practices of the Old Believers gave him an intuitive feeling that a person is himself a natural pharmacy, that he possesses everything required to treat any diseases; all one needed was to make these natural medicines work for the benefit of the body using toil, patience and willpower. Looking back now, it seems that Sergey Filonov was led to the idea of dry fasting by a series of accidental meetings with various people, such as patients who cured themselves by fasting, and the then-famous medical experts, who were enthusiastic about fasting as a treatment method, and put quite an effort into encouraging its adoption by official medicine. Another contributing factor was his job at the Goryachinsk health resort on the shore of Lake Baikal, where Sergei and colleagues opened a therapeutic fasting unit in 1990. In those years, despite the overregulation typical of all large structures, Soviet medicine was sometimes highly responsive to new trends. Therefore, the doctors interested in such practices were able to open such departments in state medical institutions throughout the country. Fasting produced good results. It allowed to defeat asthma, hypertension, arthritis, and it was successfully used to treat schizophrenia. But Sergey was not satisfied: sometimes apatient’s illness only retreated temporarily, and after he or she came out of the fast, some of the symptoms returned. How could the therapeutic effect of wet fasting be enhanced? Sergey’s first prolonged five-day dry fast followed his fall into an ice-hole during winter fishing and subsequent acute frontal sinusitis (inflammation of the frontal sinus). Sergey was not a novice to wet fasting, he had fasted himself and treated patients with sinusitis and frontal sinusitis using wet fasting, but only achieved a therapeutic result after the tenth day. This time he decided to try dry fasting himself. The terrible headaches accompanying the frontitis were alleviated on the fifth day. What had struck Sergey the most was the short time in which the therapeutic effect was obtained. It was psychologically difficult to begin conducting dry fasting on patients. When studying to be a doctor, Sergei was taught that a person can only survive 3-5 days without water, after which death would be imminent… His first patient, T., who underwent a dry fast, suffered from chronic prostatitis. T. started with a wet 14-day fast. During fasting, the disease seemed to retreat, but then returned. Sergey’s reasoning was follows: prostatitis is basically an infectious process, any infectious agents like to reproduce in water, and any infectious process causes edema. If there is no water –there will be no edema. T. was very serious about treatment, and he appreciated the arguments and reasoning behind dry fasting. He went through five days of dry fasting, followed by five days of wet fasting. This fast had a much more powerful effect than the preceding 14-day wet fast. Exactly one year later, T. sought advice again and said that he would not conduct wet fasts anymore. He also stated that he really liked the effect of dry fasting, and that there were no exacerbations thatyear. This time he conducted a seven-daydry fast. Subsequently, T. often called and reiterated that he was very pleased with the results. After that, Sergey and his colleagues began to gradually try 3-to-5-day dry fasts for patients at the Goryachinsk resor. One of them went on for as long as 7 days, and the effect was wonderful. But at that point, of course, Sergey was still afraid to conduct dry fasting with patients for longer than seven days. Sergey’s meeting with one of the founders of the Russian school of dry fasting Leonid Schennikov, which took place in 1994 at a therapeutic fasting conference in the Republic of Buryatia, served as an impetus to increase the duration of fasting. Leonid was a unique person, a traditional healer with vast experience in the dry fasting practice, whose patients have fasted for 11 days. The meeting with Shchennikov and interactions with his patients inspired Sergey. Upon returning to Altai, he himself underwent a ten-day fast, spending it on horseback, rather than in bed. That’s when he finally realized that prolonged dry fasts can only be conducted in nature, preferably up in the mountains and near mountain rivers. Cities and hospitals are hardly suitable for this process. “Then I decided to try prolonged fasting on patients. My first patient, who went on a 9-day fast, suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. The result of fasting was excellent. Subsequently, by trial and error, I realized that the maximum therapeutic effect of dry fasting occurs precisely on day 9. In my books I also mention a 10 or 11-day term, but practice has proven that the peak falls on the 9th day. Nevertheless, I convince my patients to set their mind on a 10-11 day fast, since the crisis may set in on the 9th day and last a day or two. During this crisis, the maximum therapeutic effect occurs, and unless you get through this crisis, you can’t come out of the fast.” The unique experience that Sergey Filonov has gained over 25 years of working with patients is shared in his books. These books are written for all fasting enthusiasts who may want to try out his method, rather than for fasting experts. Everyone must remember: dry fasting is a powerful tool that can be dangerous in inept hands. If you do decide to make use of it, read the books carefully through to the end and do not forget to consult your doctor.