The morning is quiet. Very quiet. The stillness at the Tannerhof has its own beat, almost like a pulse from the mountains. You still move at the old pace until the place slowly catches you up… and then suddenly you're moving in the same rhythm. That's when you've arrived.
A glance out at the alpine meadow, a deep breath that briefly fogs the windowpane — and the day begins.
8:00 AM — The start: tea & orange
While other guests stroll to the breakfast buffet, the fasting day starts with one of the most important rules: drink, drink, drink. It says exactly that on the Thermos flasks. Inside: freshly prepared faster's tea each day, served in the Fasterstube. You can drink it wherever suits you. With it, a quarter of an orange: no chewing, no "snack" — simply bite into it and savour the freshness and the taste.
9:00 AM — Medical consultation
Off to the Badehaus. The practice is upstairs — and the consulting hour really is one. The doctors listen. An hour, sometimes more. What's on your mind right now? Strength? Tiredness? Metabolism? Sleep? You talk, sigh, laugh — whatever you need. At the end, a plan emerges: personal, realistic, tuned to the fasting week and to the life that comes after.
Movement? Yes, but easy. Treatments? Stimulating or calming? Anything mental? Coaching, art, or stillness.
All of it possible, none of it required.
11:00 AM — Movement
Fasting doesn't mean lying around. The body is a pragmatist: what it doesn't need, it breaks down. So: movement — but no records. It belongs here. It does you good. And it protects the muscles.
On the weekly programme: aqua-fitness, Tai Chi, breath therapy, yoga, hikes. Maybe a Kneipp affusion first: cold, warm, cold — the circulation will thank you.
Then outside. Onto the meadow. Up the path. As far as the linden tree. Or further.
12:30 PM — Broth & soup
Buchinger fasting doesn't mean eating nothing. It means: liquid, meaningful, sustaining.
First the broth, and you feel the warmth follow the oesophagus and then spread through the stomach. Then the faster's soup: different every day, made from changing vegetables. Over the course of the week, an incidental colour gradient unfolds on the plate — the rainbow of fasting.
In the Fasterstube, you meet people. Many. All sorts. Experienced fasters, who laugh about earlier crises. Newcomers, astonished by what the body can actually do.
You sit together. Spoon, and spoon, and spoon. Share thoughts. Share silence. And almost without exception, you keep coming back to the subject of food. You tell each other about your cravings: what you're really looking forward to after the fast, what you miss, what you'd like to discover anew. From the outside, this fixation on food can probably look slightly masochistic — from the inside, however, it's entirely normal, sometimes even comforting: a small preview of what's to come, and the joy of anticipation.
You recognise yourself in others' words. You discover something completely new. And again and again, a closeness grows between fellow fasters — a closeness that has, more than once, given rise to genuine friendships.
2:00 PM — Treatments
The afternoon belongs to hands: fasting massage, hay-flower wraps, detox bath, moor, honey massage. Everything smells of herbs, wood, alpine air.
The liver wrap — "naturopathy's morphine" — warms through. The massage gets the lymph moving. The bath takes off the heaviness for a moment.
If your thoughts are too loud: a session of psychotherapeutic coaching. A quiet sorting-out.
3:30 PM — In-betweens
Fasting clears things. Without much drama. A bath of light in the orangery. A walk. A few lines in a notebook.
The outer stimulus becomes small — the inner spaces grow large. Thoughts grow calmer, easier to see. Some things resurface. Others fall away.
If energy dips in between, you get a little pick-me-up: a spoonful of honey, or an espresso. Both work; both lift the mood and bring back some momentum.
6:00 PM — Evening: buttermilk & juice
For the first course, again a little vegetable broth, and then juice (different each day, fresh each day). Or buttermilk. Or both. Then the experimentation: until you've found the ideal ratio of juice to buttermilk. The spoon stays in use throughout. It belongs to fasting as the mountains belong to the Tannerhof.
And then off to your room, to let the evening end with a book and tea. Or in front of the fire in the lounge with conversation. Or one more time the heat of the sauna. Or a brief plunge into the pool. As you wish.
And slowly a pleasantly warm tiredness arrives.
The fasting day ends
Fasting at the Tannerhof isn't an asceticism programme. Not a competition. It is an invitation. To pause. To re-sort. To rediscover. To regain trust in our body.
And at the end? You feel yourself again. Clearer. Lighter. Perhaps a little freer.
