I don't know if I could go four days without eating?
Is this something a normal person can do?

Surprisingly, fasting is rarely a problem for anyone. Eating is highly conditioned by routines, schedules, or stimuli such as the smell of food. Or it can often be driven by unconscious emotions, such as escaping from stress. Away from the everyday patterns and habits of our lives, it is a much different experience. Hunger itself is usually momentary and fleeting during the first two days of a fast. Later, it often disappears altogether. The main purpose and effect of fasting is the expansion of awareness and the change of consciousness it engenders. There can be physical challenges to not eating, such as a lower level of energy, but hunger is unlikely to be one of them.

Do I have to be in good physical shape or need significant experience camping or hiking?

Many people have undergone a vision fast with little or no camping
experience. You will be sent an equipment list long before you leave home, and be well-instructed in safety procedures and shelter techniques during the preparation phase. The basics, such as backpack, sleeping bag, etc., can often be borrowed from a friend or rented from camping equipment stores if you don't have them. We can sometimes be of help (especially in Vermont programs) recommending or providing equipment. If you can walk for a mile and a half with a backpack on, you are likely in good enough physical condition to participate in a quest. Since people often enroll months in advance, you can practice walking with a pack and build endurance if you are in doubt. Over the years people with various physical disabilities and conditions have been able to successfully undertake vision quests. During the solo time, your activity level will be up to you. Some questers are very active while fasting, undertaking long walks, performing ceremonies, or staying up through the night, while others are quiet or contemplative, staying in a relatively small area.

Couldn't I go out in the woods by myself and do this alone?

Yes, you could, but it would be very different. Although the core of the
vision questing process is solitary, traditionally this activity was never done alone. There have always been guides, mentors, and shamans who prepared the initiate to cross the threshold into the sacred world. These same guides were there when the initiate returned, to help him/her make sense of the journey and translate vision into the forms and terms of social and everyday life. If our intention is to journey beyond the self we know and are familiar with, leaving the preparation in the hands of that self is poor strategy. "Old tapes," habits, and repetitious ways of looking at the world can easily accompany us into the wilderness and back. There are important teachings about ritual, ceremony, physical preparation, and the methodology of the questing process that we would not get if we were doing this alone. And the presence of guides and companions who provide different perspectives, stories in which we see ourselves in new ways, honest feedback, and compassionate mirroring is an invaluable resource, Going it alone can be powerful. Fasting, solitude, and the contact with the spirit in nature are excellent teachers. But the instruction involved in the preparation phase and the emotional support and help in integrating one's story make it a qualitatively different experience.

There are vision quests offered in various parts of the country. What difference might this make in my quest experience?

In thinking about a vision quest, you might consider it as an interaction
between Set and Setting. Set encompasses what you bring to the experience: emotions, expectations, motivations, intentions, etc., while setting is what appears to be outside: landscape, climate and weather, animals, etc. Your set, whether positive or challenging (desires and demons, purposes and fears) will likely be the same regardless of where you undertake a vision quest, while the settings vary widely in different locations and different times of the year. Particular settings do have unique qualities and differing energies. Death Valley is a land of grand vistas and immense space, dominated by the elements of air and fire, while Vermont, with its wildlife, streams, and lakes embodies the elements of earth and water. (A more detailed description of sites is provided under Enrollment) Some people consider it important to quest within the area and ecology closest to where they live, while others are drawn to go outside what is familiar to them. However, a quest always involves an encounter between the known and unknown, and the desire to discover what is unknown and wanting to emerge in ourselves will lead us to approach even the most familiar settings in new and unusual ways.

I am currently taking medication. Would I have to go off it to do a vision quest?

That question is between you and your physician. There are some medications that it may make sense to lower the dosage or do without during the fasting phase. For some conditions that is out of the question, and many of these medicines should not be taken on an empty stomach. Many people who have to take medication have undergone vision quests, bringing with them small amounts of crackers, juice, or other supplements to allow them to continue a healing regimen. Medicine is about becoming whole: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Taking care of you physical health is important. It is not cheating. A vision quest contains many kinds of medicine for healing the heart, soul, and spirit. Remember that you will be alone, in wilderness without books, conversation, electric lights, hot showers, and entertainment. You will be fasting in many other ways.

I feel drawn to do this, but it seems overwhelming. How do I know if I'm ready?

Everyone has fear when approaching a vision fast, even those of us who have gone out twenty times or more. Remember that you do not do it all at once. From our living room it seems an enormous leap, but it is in fact many smaller steps, each one do-able. We write a letter of intent, arrange our schedule, make travel plans, pack. We arrive in a new place, meet our guide and companions, tell our stories. In a small group we share our fears, address physical and safety needs, learn about ceremony and what to expect, practice sleeping out under the stars. By the time we walk alone out of base camp, we have already left behind most of the fears and questions that seem so imposing to us now.