Agni: Know Your Digestive Fire

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AGNI: KNOW YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE

Agni (Ug-nee) is a word you might recognize, Fire, one of the five elements of Ayurveda. The classical texts of Ayurveda open with the concept of Agni. Keeping your digestive fire strong is the number one thing to consider. If one has the correct amounts of water, fire, space, and food in the stomach, one should digest food well, meaning the stomach makes a nice Ahara Rasa, juice of the food. The juice of the food is the building block of healthy tissues. When Agni is burning bright and even, toxicity is not allowed to lodge in the tissues, rather it is broken down and eliminated. In this way, good digestive fire keeps the body free of ama, undigested matter, which gunks up the works, weakens the system and promotes imbalance. The health, stamina, and luster of your body/mind begin right in your stomach! Agni resides principally in the stomach, where the body’s main fire, the jathara agni resides. This is where the food that has been chewed and mixed with saliva is transformed into the building blocks of your tissues. But fire also pervades the entire body, providing the heat necessary for transformation. Think of jathara agni as the command central for all digestion and metabolism. The state of agni in the stomach governs all of the later digestive phases that affect processes such as absorption, assimilation, metabolism, complexion, hormones, and intelligence. The jathara agni in the stomach builds like a little campfire. You must have kindling to get it started, and a smooth breeze. If you put too much wood on it, the fire is smothered. If you don’t give it enough wood, the fire can’t burn strongly to create light and warmth. If you blow on it too hard, or not enough, it won’t burn evenly.

AGNI: KNOW YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE // 1 CAUSES OF AGNI IMBALANCE • Overeating • Eating too early in the morning or too late at night • Grazing • Too much cold food and drink (iced water, soft drinks, ice cream, etc) • Too much dry food (crackers, popcorn, coffee, etc) • Too much heavy food (burgers, fried food, cheese, etc) • Complicated food combinations* • Too much fasting • Drinking too much water • Antibiotics • Excessive alcohol and drug use • Extremely rainy weather • Suppression of hunger, burps, gas, and poop • Stress • Anger • Anxiety • Grief

*A note on food combining It’s wise not to get too worked up over food combining, unless you are having persistent digestive illness. I observe the concept of food combining to cause a lot of stress when students begin to learn about it. Stressing out about your food disturbs agni, absolutely, so take it easy. For the general case, mixing it up every so often is fine (say, monthly) as long as it doesn’t cause untoward gas, bloating, acidity, or burping. To preserve your agni, try not to mix the following: • bananas with anything (especially dairy products!) • melons with anything other than other melons • raw fruit with food (can be ok when cooked together for some) • fish with dairy

The Four Types of Agni

Agni can be of four types. One is balanced and the other three are states of imbalance.

Balanced (sama agni) Irregular (vishama agni) Overactive (tikshna agni) Slow (manda agni)

The three imbalances often correspond to the doshas. The cold quality of Vata can decrease agni, while the erratic, mobile quality causes irregularity. The hot, sharp qualities of Pitta can cause agni to burn too intensely. The cool, slow, dense qualities of Kapha can dull the digestive fire. If you aren’t familiar with the doshas, don’t worry, each of the agni types is described in detail below, along with a worksheet to help you recognize what’s going on in your gut.

AGNI: KNOW YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE // 1 Sama agni (balanced) occurs when your health is in a relative state of balance. You will enjoy a rhythmic and predictable appetite. Generally, a square meal digests well, elimination is regular and there is little wind or acidity to complain of. The metabolism will be good, and the skin and eyes glow. Any body type can enjoy balanced agni, though it may come easier for some than others.

Vishama agni (irregular) results from aggravated Vata. A Vata type person, where air predominates, is more likely to have an irregular agni due to the increased amount of wind in their constitution. Imagine trying to light a candle in the wind. Digestion will be disturbed by eating while walking or driving; dry, cold weather; dry, cold food and drink; travel; anxiety; and lack of routine.

Feels like: The appetite will be inconsistent and may arise and leave quickly without any reason. You might forget to eat, then overeat later, or eat a bunch one day and very little on another day. This kind of fire can undercook or overcook food, as well as leave it in partial states of digestion (eek! ama time!). This type of food juice will create gas and bloating and irregular elimination. Stool may vary in amount and consistency from day to day, and some days you may not poop at all.

Tikshna agni (sharp) results from aggravated Pitta. Due to the predominance of fire element, the appetite will flare up quickly, and can be insatiable or even constant. Tikshna agni is exacerbated by spicy and acidic food, alcohol, and by stress and anger.

Feels like: Tikshna agni may cause hypoglycemic feelings if meals don’t happen on time, and it may be difficult to get through a day without snacking. Large amounts of food will still leave you feeling unsatisfied, physically and mentally. You may have to poop soon after meals, and/or see undigested food in your stool. There may be some degree of pain, nausea, or acid stomach and dryness of the lips, throat, and mouth after eating.

Manda agni (slow, dull) results from aggravated Kapha. Increased amounts of water and earth elements cause too much moisture, heaviness, and mucous in the stomach. Heavy, oily foods; rainy weather; sadness; and lack of exercise all contribute to a slow, dull digestive fire.

Feels like: The appetite is sluggish, as well as the metabolism and elimination. You may rarely feel truly hungry. Food will sit in the stomach for a long time and feel heavy. You may burp hours later and still taste food. Over time manda agni leads to undigested food sticking around in the body causing fatigue; body pains; allergies; congestion; sadness; low energy levels.

Please take some time to complete the Know Your Agni Worksheet after listening to the lectures and looking over these notes.

AGNI: KNOW YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE // 2 Agni and Ama

Slow, dull agni is the most likely imbalance to cause a build-up of ama. Ama has similar qualities to manda agni: slow, moist, heavy, dull. You can see how the two can feed off each other, and how a diet heavy on those qualities can bring it about. Smothering the fire by overeating is a direct route to ama. Eating too often also creates ideal circumstances for putrefaction. Imagine making rice and 15 minutes into cooking it, you decide to add another handful of raw rice. You will end up with unevenly cooked food that will upset your stomach. This is what happens when you put fresh food into the stomach before the last meal has passed from the stomach to the small intestine (usually at least 2 hours, depending on the size of the meal and the state of agni). This is why regular mealtimes are such a big part of the Ayurvedic lifestyle. Overactive agni incinerates everything quickly and its sharp quality can eventually damage the tissues of your digestive tract. Waste products from this hyper-metabolism can putrefy and become ama. In time, your body will try to put out the digestive fire in order to protect itself. This allows for ama to form, and can lead to a slow, dull agni. Later stages of absorption and assimilation will be affected and can cause imbalances in meta- bolic processes and tissue layers. Removing aggravating factors of fired-up foods and behaviors is often enough to get an overactive agni to simmer down. Eating while angry or stressed, pushing through hunger to finish a project, and overdoing coffee, alcohol, pickles, and chili peppers will feed the fire. An irregular agni produces partially digested food juice, which turns to ama in the gut. This type of agni does not digest food well in general, and it is common to have eyes that are bigger than your stomach. While you may not be eating large quantities of food, the result is as though you overate. Due to an irregular fire that is coming and going, this load of food remains and forms toxins. The rule is to increase the fire in a strategic, measured fashion. Training it with regular times and amounts of digestible foods will allow the agni to find its way back to balance, perhaps with the help of some digestive aids. Consistency is key, and forgetting to eat or willfully skipping meals when hungry will promote irregular agni.

AGNI: KNOW YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE // 3 Know Your Agni Worksheet

Circle the appropriate answers while thinking about your general state—not while overly stressed or traveling, for example (and if you are overly stressed or traveling most of the time—well, this will help). You may want to observe and answer the questions a few times over the course of a week or so, maybe keep a journal of your diet to help you see how often you are hungry, and how often you are eating. This quiz is not foolproof. Think about what you have learned about the types of agni, and how each of the answers provided are connected to irregularity, excess heat, and dullness. If you find you have a balanced agni, congratulations! The diet and lifestyle factors you are learning will help you keep it that way for the long haul. If you feel you fall into one of the imbalanced categories, the Balance Your Agni Program provides you with the tools to slowly bring your digestive fire into balance.

Questions Irregular agni Overactive agni Slow agni Balanced agni

My appetite is: Erratic Constant, sharp Rare, sluggish Consistent at mealtimes Digestive Bloating after meals, Unsatisfied or acidic Heavy feeling in the None, barring complaints: gas, feeling too full stomach unusual circumstances My poop is: Irregular, dry, consti- Loose, frequent Sluggish, sticky Regular, on the daily pated or alternating (leaves skid marks) constipation and diarrhea, accompanied by gas After a meal I feel: Too full or bloated Acid indigestion or Sleepy Satisfied burps I crave: Crunchy stuff Sweet food and Comfort food, spicy Whole, natural foods proteins food and the occasional treat My body temp runs: Cold Overheated Cool and possibly Well-regulated clammy If I skip a meal I feel: Crazy hungry all of a Hangry–not ok! Lighter Pretty hungry sudden, when I tune into it I can eat as much No Yes No Yes food as I need and not feel heavy: After I eat a normal Who knows? 1-2 hours 5-6 hours, or more Within about 4-5 hours meal, I might be hungry in: The taste in mouth A little stagnant, dry, Acidic, metallic Sticky, moist and Fresh and clean is often: or changing between sweet, some bad all of the options breath after meals My tongue first Pale pink with a thin Red, possibly cracked White, or pink with a Pink thing in the morning whitish coat white patch appears: My energy is: Inconsistent, get tired High, as long as I have Low Consistent and good suddenly food Spicy food feels: Warm and cozy Painful I crave it The right amount feels good My skin is: Dry Sensitive, Irritable Dull or clammy Bright

My mental state Anxious or fearful Irritable Sad or checked out Even-keeled is often:

TOTALS

AGNI: KNOW YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE // 4 Agni Rescue

The following diet and lifestyle factors offer general Ayurveda principles known to promote good agni. Rather than just talk about it, I’ve also provided you with the Balance Your Agni program. You don’t have to take my word for it. Practice these tips in real time and feel the results. Remember that practicing 80% of the time is enough. Pick one or two to start with, give yourself some space and enjoy.

FOOD FACTORS Preparing to eat: Make a practice of taking a few moments to sit with the food before you eat it—just a few seconds to take it all in, relax your belly, and prepare for eating.

Intention: Sit down and slow down. Do not multi-task while eating, and only eat while sitting down.

Proper amount of food: The indicator of fullness is the first belch. This signifies the stomach is letting out some air to make space for the food—add more food and you’ll be out of room in there. Eat slow enough to notice the belch, and you will find it’s a built-in system for portion control!

Choose Fresh: Choose fresh, local, and seasonal foods. Old food and processed food contribute to slow agni.

Hydrating: The ideal drink with meals is warm water, plain or with lemon, or a digestive tea like ginger or mint. A small cup sipped, 6 ounces or so will suffice. Drinking a lot of water less than 30 minutes before the meal, or 2 hours after, will dilute the digestive juices. Enjoy plain water between meals.

Timing: Expect an appetite at midday, between 10–2, when the sun is highest and the digestive juices are strongest. Digest your largest meal of the day during the afternoon hours, and not at bedtime.

Meals not snacks: Snacking and grazing does not allow agni to build to full strength. A clean burn results from meals followed by 3+ hours of space. This may take some time to adjust to, especially if you have low blood sugar.

Respect hunger: Do not eat when not hungry. This is the most important! If you are not hungry for breakfast, do not eat. Have something standing by in case hunger arrives later.

Fasting: Skipping a meal or even fasting for a day or half-day can remedy the occasional over-indulgence. Regularly over-indulging with the intention of “fasting it off” is a recipe for agni disaster, however.

Nighty nite: Do not eat 2-3 hours before bedtime.

AGNI: KNOW YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE // 5 LIFESTYLE FACTORS Overall, as you may have guessed, an irregular lifestyle promotes irregular agni. Overactive lifestyle= overactive. Sedentary= slow.

• Exercise regularly, as appropriate to your age and energy levels.

• Eat meals at similar times each day. At least aim to get the midday meal consistent and this will be a touchstone.

• Go to bed and wake up at similar times each day (its ok to sleep in sometimes). This will also make it easier to practice consistent mealtimes.

• Make time for relaxation, play, and unstructured time. Stress is becoming, more and more commonly, the #1 factor in imbalanced Agni.

KATE’S TOP THREE TIPS Irregular Agni: Eat simply. One-pot meals, soups, and stews will be ideal. Overactive Agni: Slow down, sit down. Relax the body to receive the nutrition, paying attention to the meal increases the feeling of satisfaction. Slow Agni: Exercise on an empty stomach. Skip dinner.

AGNI: KNOW YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE // 6 Bibliography

Agnivesa. Charaka Samhita. Trans. Dr. Ram Karan Sharma and Vaidya Bhagwan Dash (Varanasi: Chowkhamba Krishnadas Academy).

Lad, Vasant. Textbook of Ayurveda: Volume 2. The Ayurvedic Press, Albuquerque, NM, 2006.

O’Donnell, Kate. Everyday Ayurveda Guide to Self-Care: Rhythms, Routines and Home Remedies for Natural Healing, Shambhala Publications, Boulder, CO, 2020.

Vagbhata. Ashtanga Hridayam. Trans. Prof K. R. Srikantha Murthy, 6th ed. (Varanasi: Chowkhamba Krishnadas Academy, 2009.)

For more recipes and routines, please check out my Everyday Ayurveda series of books on Ayurveda cooking and lifestyle.

Disclaimer: This manual is for informational purposes only, and is not intended as medical advice. Where there is any doubt, please consult your doctor before undertaking a cleansing program. Kate O’Donnell and The Ayurvedic Living Institute may not be held responsible for any adverse effects resulting from use of information in this manual.

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