Dr. Tallis Barker, D.Phil., has successfully guided hundreds of clients from across the world (US, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia) through water fasts of 3-40 days. A regular faster for well over a decade, he became a water fasting coach after experiencing the deep cleansing and healing in his own body. Specialising in supporting clients with health issues, he regularly witnesses water fasts heal digestive disorders (such as irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, food sensitivities), auto-immune issues, fibroids, tumours (cancerous and non-cancerous), inflammatory conditions, and problems concerning hormonal balance (such as thyroid and menstrual issues). Tallis also regularly practises dry fasting (up to 5 days), and, in certain cases, encourages his clients to involve elements of dry fasting into their own fasts, in order to increase the body’s healing power.
Tallis began life following a traditional academic path, going to university at Harvard (A.B., magna cum laude) and Oxford (D.Phil), where he continued to work as a lecturer for several years before turning freelance as a writer, teacher, translator, pianist and composer. Having grown more sensitive to the needs of his body following a spiritual transformation a few years earlier, he began the journey into fasting at age 40. Over the dozen years since then, he has regularly fasted as a means to optimise physical health, as well as to express the freedom of his deeper self. Fasting is one of the most powerful tools to cleanse and transform both body and soul.
Once you have detoxified physically, once you have confronted your ego by not eating, once you fully surrender yourself to a fast, you too will experience the only thing remaining: the unconditional love which quietly permeates all existence.
Tallis is also an avid ultramarathon and trail runner, interested in exploring the similarities between fasting and endurance sports. Although at first the connection between the two may seem tenuous, both depend on ketosis (the body’s fat-burning metabolism) for success on a physical level. On a deeper psychological level, both depend on a similar mixture of grit and surrender. Finally, these physical and psychological factors facilitate a deeper, similar connection with spirit.
He recently completed a 21-day water fast. Click here to see an introductory video describing his experiences. Click here to read his daily journal of the fast.
Besides doing crazy things like fasting and running, he also has a wife and three children who help to keep him grounded here on Planet Earth! In his spare time he also teaches meditation, yoga, as well as classical piano. He has recorded several cds of piano music (available on Spotify and iTunes) and is the author of the book Growing into Being: Paths and Practices towards Enlightenment. He is currently working on a book dealing with stage fright and how to let go of the nerves which cause it.