Digestive Health Series no.2 Agni

We looked at what digestive health is in our first blog of the series and understood that it is more than what we eat! It is how we digest and assimilate food and also what we digest from our environment too!

Agni is the Sanskrit word for “Fire“. How does agni or fire relate to our digestion?

For me, having studied, applied and now practice Ayurveda, I understand that Agni in the digestive process is one of the key cornerstones of our overall health and vitality.

Imagine a campfire, slow and steady burning.

This in our body is what our digestive health represents when working effectively. Slowly, and effectively, and continually working. Of course different times of the day the fire might be more or less active, but the key is effective and continual. We can maintain this fire through our daily activities, what we eat and when.

The quality of our digestion and the processes that take place is so important because it directly related to how our body repairs and builds healthy cells and tissues. As you can imagine this then directly relates to every process in our body and mind. Therefore it is super important that the Agni is balanced.

What does balanced Agni look like?

There are so many ways balanced Agni can be expressed here are a few!

Feeling vital and energised.

Clear skin and bright eyes.

Regular and daily bowel movements with no blockages or the feeling of incomplete evacuation.

Healthy cells and tissues, muscles and organ function.

Regular appetite and feeling appropriate hunger at meal times.

Quality sleep without internal disturbance.

Focussed with adequate memory recall and information retention.

What happens when Agni is imbalanced?

Overall there are 3 ways Agni can express as imbalanced:

1. Weak or low Agni: The digestive fire isn’t at full effect and although creates cells and tissues, what it creates is low quality, or producing an excess of fat cells may be produced. Signs include (but are not limited to) excess weight gain and lethargy. Likely build up of Ama (we will look at this in more detail in a future blog!)
2. Variable Agni: The digestive fire is either too slow or too overactive to create healthy cells and tissues and may swing towards one or the other. Signs include (but are not limited to) constipation or swinging between constipation and fast bowel movements, low body weight, sleep disturbances and weakness. Likely build up of Ama.
3. Overactive Agni: The digestive fire may burn so fast, the body may feel depleted as it has no time or space to digest and assimilate nutrients. Signs include (but are not limited to) several fast bowel movements daily, excessive hunger, low body weight and fatigue.

We discussed a few ways in blog no.1 on how to help digestive health. These are great tips for encouraging a balanced Agni. So if you missed this blog check it out here!

Our next blog will look at the importance of including the 6 tastes in our daily lives to help further maintain a balanced Agni!

If you find you have an unbalanced Agni and are looking for an Ayurvedic Practitioner to support you, you can book an appointment here.