Agni and Ama - Digestive Prowess that keeps Toxins at Bay
The individual is as old or young as their Agni.
Our digestion takes centre stage in Ayurveda because our health depends on our ability to digest food.
Even Hippocrates (allegedly) said that all disease begins in the gut.
This is worth delving into a little deeper.
Agni – our Digestive Fire
Agni is the Ayurvedic concept of our digestive fire. Our capacity to transform, absorb, and assimilate the food that we eat.
Interestingly, Ayurveda says everything that enters our body, whether it might be food, what we see, read, hear, touch or being touched, needs to be digested. Unsurprisingly, we have different Agni to deal with the impressions entering through the different pathways.
But this is not all; Agni is also involved in regulating our temperature, the functioning of our eyes, our complexion, the nourishment of the different tissues in our body, our courage, our mental clarity, happiness, and joy. Beyond that, our intellect, ability to discern, brain tissues, patience, a healthy glow, lustre, and strength all result in a long and fulfilling life.
That's quite interesting, right?
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Different kinds of Agni for different Jobs
To take care of those jobs, there are altogether 40 different Agni.
Yes, you read that correctly: 40 different digestive fires!
Let's have a quick look at these 40 Agni:
The prominent Agni, called Jathara Agni, jathara means belly. Hence, it's located in our stomach and small intestines. Its job is the initial breakdown of food and nutrients. Jathara Agni is the source of all other Agni.
The 7 dhatus (bodily tissues) have their individual Agni, nourishing, metabolising, and converting the individual tissues one after the other. The seven tissues are rasa (plasma), rakta (blood), mamsa (muscle), meda (fat), asthi (bone), majja (nerves), shukra or artava (male and female reproductive tissues).
So have the doshas, Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, with their sub-doshas (each dosha has 5 sub-doshas).
The Agni of the liver breaks the food down into the 5 elements (ether, air, fire, water, and earth).
The pancreas, thyroid and thymus glands have their own Agni, looking after the digestion of the sweet taste, hormonal- and immune system.
The malas (waste products), urine, stool and sweat have their digestive fire.
The sensory functions are hearing, tasting, vision, smell, and touch.
Each cell and its nucleus have their own Agni, too.
You can see a lot is going on. All possible functions in the body are covered. It also shows the potential room for imbalances and how delicate it is to keep everything working smoothly.
When Agni is healthy and robust – we are healthy and strong.
What if things go wrong and Agni is no longer healthy and strong?
There are four Varieties of Agni.
The different Agni themselves can experience other states.
Sama Agni
Sama means balanced. Sama Agni is the perfect health on all levels of our being. At this time right now, sama Agni is relatively rare. The quality of our food and lifestyle could be more conducive to a balanced Agni. More often, the following varieties of impaired Agni are experienced.
Vishama Agni
If sama is balanced, vishama is imbalanced or changing Agni. It demonstrates signs of Vata imbalance. Vata is irregular and changing due to the mobility of the air element.
Vata's light, dry, subtle, and clear qualities support Agni, whereas its cold and mobile qualities interfere with it. The cold quality dampens Agni's heat while the mobile, airy quality acts much like a gusty wind—either intensifying the fire, slowing it briefly, or blowing it out entirely if the fire is too weak to begin with.
Vishama Agni causes an irregular appetite, gas, gurgling intestines, constipation (or alternating constipation and diarrhoea), and colicky pain.
Other symptoms of vishama Agni include dry mouth, receding gums, dry skin, cracking joints, sciatica, low back ache, haemorrhoids, muscle spasms, and insomnia.
Vishama Agni can also cause a feeling of heaviness after eating and cravings for hot, spicy, or fried foods. Emotionally, it tends to cause anxiety, fear, and insecurity.
As Ayurveda suggests bringing balance by applying the opposite qualities, vishama Agni can be brought back into balance by introducing regular mealtimes, going to bed by 10 p.m. and rising by 6 a.m.
Tikshna Agni
The word tikshna means sharp, hot, and fiery, which indicates its association with Pitta dosha. Tikshna Agni is too strong; like a bushfire, it incinerates food items and nutrients. This leads to the absorption of low-quality, burnt nutrients, which turn the blood toxic when entering the bloodstream.
As mentioned earlier, the inferior quality of the nutrients leaves the 7 tissues undernourished.
If Agni is too strong, you experience, for example, hyperacidity, acid indigestion, gastritis, heartburn, hot flashes, acidic saliva, and fever.
The lips, throat, and palate may feel excessively dry after eating, and the tongue can develop red margins and tenderness.
Other symptoms of tikshna Agni include low blood sugar, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, pain in the liver, ulcerative colitis, and other inflammatory conditions.
It can also cause hives, rashes, acne, and many other skin conditions. Emotionally, tikshna Agni triggers anger, hate, envy, irritability, aggressiveness, a strong desire to be in control, and harsh judgment of everyone and everything.
Manda Agni
Manda is the opposite of tikshna. The Agni is too slow, which can express Kapha imbalance.
Kapha acts as a buffer for the body against the heat and intensity of Agni. However, excess Kapha suppresses the digestive fire, leaving it underactive, dull, and sluggish.
A slow metabolism causes the experience of heaviness in the stomach, the body and mind, which can be experienced as heaviness after eating or even without food.
Manda Agni can lead to colds, congestions, coughs, allergies, oedema, and lymph congestion. It can also cause over-salivation, nausea, mucous vomiting, hypertension, hyperglycaemia, diabetes, hypothyroid, excess weight, and obesity.
Cold, clammy skin and generalised weakness are also signs of manda Agni. Mentally and emotionally, it can cause lethargy, boredom, attachment, greed, possessiveness, and a desire for excess sleep.
The food is well digested; however, it takes a long time to pass through the system, and the bowels may get emptied only a few times a week. As the stool sits in the colon, toxins can be re-absorbed into the bloodstream, leading to blood toxicity.
When Agni is weak, we are dealing with Ama.
Ama - Toxins
Ama is the result of weak digestion. It is half-cooked, half-digested, half-transformed, transient food & emotions, impressions that flow through the body. The body can't recognise this substance as food, nutrients or waste, so it doesn't know what to do with it.
You can think of it as a block of cheese: if Agni is strong, it melts and eliminates the cheese. If Agni is weak due to the lack of heat, the cheese becomes more solid, gooey and sticky, just as if you don't eat your cheese toastie fast enough. This sludgy substance moves through the body before it settles in a weak to create diseases.
How do we know Ama is present in our Body?
When Ama builds up, we experience symptoms such as:
Random flu-like aches and pains in the body.
During the night, Agni is low, which means Ama gets more solid, so in the morning, we might not feel refreshed, our head might be foggy, energy is low, and it takes us a while to get into gear.
We have no appetite but still eat because we feel we must.
Although we plan to do many things, nothing gets done.
Bowel habits might change to more sluggish stools.
The tongue shows a white coating.
We feel bloated and gassy.
Our complexion is dull and pale.
Our mind has no clarity/energy, or enthusiasm.
These are the first signs of Ama; right now, it has not yet settled down in the body. You can stop it from developing into something more serious by introducing a few days of fasting with light, soupy food, avoiding processed or fried food, too spicy or sour food, drinking ginger tea and sipping hot water throughout the day.
Here are a few suggestions that you can follow:
Food
Eating and drinking should all be hot.
First thing in the morning, a glass of hot water. Helps with constipation (hot water stimulates Agni)
Ginger-lemon tea
Ginger = fire-like qualities helping to melt Ama.
Lemon = flushes the system.
If Agni is weak, it can be taken after each meal.
Nothing cold to eat or drink for breakfast.
Avoid "faulty" food combinations, called viruddha ahara, which are:
Fruit and dairy
Meat and dairy
Fish and dairy
Nothing acidic with milk
Tomatoes and dairy
Include spices, such as cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, cumin, coriander, and fennel.
Download this very visual and easy-to-understand Food Combination Chart by Banyan Botanicals.
Herbal formulas such as Triphala are excellent helpers in removing Ama from the body. Although Triphala is a tridoshic formula, it is advisable to check with an Ayurvedic practitioner.
The rejuvenating herbal jam Chyavanprash helps detoxify the body and strengthens the immune system. It stimulates Agni, which is needed to melt Ama and digest it.
Yoga
Surya Namaskar, or Salut to the Sun, is a very beneficial sequence as it warms the body up and gets everything moving. In the case of Ama, a dynamic asana practice is favourable to holding.
The powerful breathing practices of Kapalabhati & Bhastrika increase the heat in the body and massage the abdominal organs.
Final Thoughts
It is natural to imbalance. The trick is to look out for the above signs. We are all aware when we overeat nonsense, whether it's those takeaway pizzas, bags of chips, those doughnuts, us eating a substantial meal short before going to bed, too much alcohol, etc.
Imbalances only create problems when we ignore the signs. We notice our digestive system going out of whack but don't react. Only then do imbalances become serious when we leave them to fester.
So, our job is to take notice and then take charge, time and time again.
Ayurveda has taken this into account and suggests seasonal cleanses. Twice a year, at the beginning of the winter/spring and the summer/autumn transitions, these cleanses are recommended to help transition to the new season and remove any toxins accumulated in the past season.
Another way is to have one day a week where we stay light, eat only kitchadi or dal soup, for example.
There are many ways to keep our digestive fire strong and the same toxins at bay, something for everyone.
Tell me about your experience and observations about your digestive fire and potential toxins.. You can leave a message on Instagram, Facebook or even good old email.
I love hearing from you!
Katja x
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