Agni: The digestive fire

Agni is probably the most important part of our body....So what is it??!! As you can see it has to do with fire - mostly our digestive fire. But it is SO much more than that! Agni is a concept in Ayurveda that more accurately corresponds to the idea of digestion AND transformation. This relates to the obvious - digestion of the food we eat. But also what we take in from our senses, processing emotions and experiences and even gets down to the cellular level at how the cells process the information and broken down foodstuffs and translate it to the rest of our body. We have several agnis described in our body BESIDES our main digestive agni: 7 for each of our tissues, 2 for our cells, 5 for our liver (corresponding to the 5 elements of earth, air, fire, water and space). So why is it important to keep our agni in check? If we don't, things don't digest properly in our body, can lead to mis-digestion, or non-digestion and end up being toxic byproducts called ama. This clogs the channels of the body and causes all sorts of imbalanced dis-eases if not addressed. 

So how do we keep our agni in check? Here are a few tips:

Eat your largest meal at lunch time
Don't eat within 3 hours of going to bed
Do not exercise within 2 hours of eating
Eat in a calm, relaxed and undistracted environment (not driving or watching TV)
Follow the diet appropriate for your constitution
How you combine foods is super important (more on this another time!)
Allow 3 hours in-between meals
Your meal should consist of minimal fluid (total 1/2 room for space, 1/4 water and 1/4 space)
Water and food should be at least room temperature for the most part

There are so many more tips - these are just a few!!!

Now to get more complicated... there are different types of agni you may be susceptible to. This is focused on our main agni, jatharagi, residing mainly in the stomach. This relates to our individual digestive experience in relation to food. Here are the main types:  

- Samagni: This rare and lucky individual experiences balanced digestive fire with no digestive symptoms!  You have a good immune system, energy, weight is steady and your in tip top health. 
- Vishamagni is most associated with vata imbalances. Here you can experience bloating, gas, constipation, irregular appetite, aches, pains and anxiety, among other things. Everything is irregular. 
- Tikshnagni is associated with pitta. Pitta and agni have a complex relationship since they share many qualities but are different. A topic for another day. This agni type gives a sharp quality to digestion. Hangry anyone??!?! This is you. You may also have loose stools, heartburn, and have a tendency toward rashes or acne. 
- Mangagni is associated with kapha. Digestion is slow & sluggish. You may not feel hungry for meals but eat anyway (because you're "supposed to.") Your stomach feels heavy and you may feel sleepy after meals. You may also have a tendency to gain weight easily. You might also feel mucousy a lot, and your stools reflect this - heavy, large and mucousy.  

A pro Ayurveda tip: monitor your stools!!!! Stools are a reflection of your digestion and if you have a conversation with me about your digestion, expect to be asked about poop!! How often you go, the consistency, texture, color, floater vs sinker, streaks... all of that tells a story about your digestion! Hint: a "perfect" ayurveda poop is the texture and shape of a ripe banana. Goals!!!

See more practical tips to increase your digestive fire in my April 4th 2023 blog post!