Agni - The Sun of Your Inner Solar System
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...
Today, we continue the conversation that you are what you digest.
A brief recap of what we’ve discussed so far:
Nourishment is Āyurveda’s first pillar of health, and we all need it.
Not everything is nourishing for us - some things are useful to our system, and other things are less useful for us. This can vary from person to person.
One substance may or may not be nourishing depending on factors like quality, quantity, and context (see last week’s post). This can also vary from person to person.
So does Āyurveda mean by You are what you digest?
One of Āyurveda’s central concepts is known as Agni. Agni is a Sanskrit word for fire, as in the fire element, however, it refers to a specific function of fire in the body-mind. Agni refers to the metabolic fire, the fire of digestion.
One of the images used to describe Agni is that of our Inner Sun. Much like the Sun is at the center of our macrocosmic universe, our Agni (aka our digestive fire) is said to represent our microcosmic Sun.
Agni is seated in the solar plexus area of the physical body. If we zoom in beyond the skin, it sits and exerts its energy in the lower stomach and upper small intestine.
Agni has multiple functions. Here are the key ones for this discussion:
Agni breaks down what we consume. It uses the power of the fire element (think enzymes and gastric juices) to break bigger things into smaller components that can be used to support the healthy functioning of the organism.
Agni absorbs the useful digested components to rebuild healthy tissues and other necessary biological elements like hormones and neurotransmitters, in the proper amounts and in the appropriate places. It also provides and supports energy, a more subtle component, and yet, important nonetheless.
Agni discerns what is not useful and eliminates it via the regular pathways of urinary, fecal, and menstrual elimination, and also via the skin.
In classical Āyurveda, Agni is so important, it is said that health is elusive without it. With these core functions, we can understand why agni is important for our nourishment. Without a strong and stable agni, we might consume something; however, if we cannot break it down, absorb the digested nutrition, and eliminate the wastes, we won’t be nourished by it, and the body-mind loses its ability to sustain itself.
We are what we digest.
The classics describe four states of agni. Check these out and see if you’ve experienced any of them… Or if you’re like me, all of them at some point in time:
Balanced: We digest what we consume, and we eliminate our wastes with ease. The process is balanced, and one experiences rhythmic hunger, nourishment, and stability.
Sharp: The fire is extra sharp and tends to incinerate what it consumes. There is often a lot of hunger, but not always a lot of nourishment (tissues tend to be depleted as the nourishment is incinerated - not much to absorb or eliminate). Elimination might be quite little or a lot, however, rarely proportional to our consumption.
Slow: The fire is slow, and things that are consumed take a while to digest. Hunger is lower, if at all present. Digestion takes time, and elimination takes time too. Eating can create a sense of heaviness or fatigue.
Variable: This state is a combination of all the states in rotation - sometimes it’s balanced, other times sharp, and sometimes slow. Our digestion can seem confusing because sometimes something works and other times it doesn’t.
If you’ve read this far, the next question is, what can I do to support my agni?
The great news is, Āyurveda has a TON of suggestions to support one’s agni, so we can benefit from the nourishment we consume. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Rhythmic Eating: Āyurveda is rhythmic medicine, meaning that so much of what it encourages is finding rhythms that are supportive for the body-mind. Eating on a schedule helps the agni by giving it work time and rest time. If we are eating all the time, grazing, snacking, noshing, and so on, then the agni gets overused and fatigued, which leads to slow or variable digestion. It might take a few tries to find the rhythm that works best for you. Patience is useful :)
Reducing cold and iced foods and beverages: In the Western world, we have embraced ice… unfortunately for our agni. If we think about the qualities of the fire element, we recognize it as hot, sharp, penetrating, and light in nature… Like a campfire. When thinking about what works for the agni, we can think about what happens if we put the same things on a campfire. If I put ice on a campfire, what happens? It goes out. So if I put ice on my agni, it struggles. If I put ice cream or cold water on a campfire? Same thing, it really struggles. The more ice and cold we consume, both food and beverages, the more agni gets impaired and becomes slow and dull. Going with room temperature or warm and cooked substances is supportive to maintain our agni.
Consuming the largest meal at mid-day/lunch: The mid-day, or lunch time, is when the macrocosmic Sun is strongest, and so it is also when the microcosmic Sun (agni) is strongest. This is the best time for either a larger meal or a more nutritionally dense meal. Another observation from my clinical practice is that when we don’t have enough nutrition at the mid-day meal, we end up snacky around 2 or 3 pm. If we eat enough at lunch, we can get all the way until dinner time before needing to refuel.
Mindful Eating: This one includes a series of ideas that support digestion.
Sit to eat. Eating while standing or on the go disperses your energy, so only part of it goes to digesting your food.
Chew your food well. Mastication (chewing) is the first step in the breakdown of food, and an easy one to forget!
Breathe between mouthfuls of food. After chewing and swallowing, put your fork or spoon or chopsticks down and take a breath. This slows down the eating, which can help you feel more satisfied. It also lets you assess how full your stomach is. When you breathe in, if you cannot breathe in fully, it’s likely because your stomach expanded (because there’s food in it) and it’s pressing against your respiratory diaphragm (main breathing muscle)… which means you are close to full.
Engage all your senses while you eat: Look at your food, smell your food, taste your food, feel the different textures, and listen to the sounds of the food. Many of us practice distracted eating; we read, check emails, watch something, listen to something, etc., which makes it hard for our brains to register that we ate and for the process of eating to be satisfying. If we take 7 minutes and focus on eating, we will have time for sitting, chewing, breathing, sensing, and being nourished by our meal.
As we wrap up this post, consider your agni: Is it balanced, sharp, slow, or variable? Might there be a practice you could try to strengthen and stabilize your agni this week?
If you decide to try something, remember to try one thing at a time. Slow and steady change tends to last longer and provide more systemic stability than trying to do all the things, getting overwhelmed, and not being able to sustain any of it. One of my teachers, Dr. Rosy Mann, constantly reminded us, slowly and slowly.
Until next week, may your inner Sun shine bright!
From your favourite earworm Āyurvedi,
I've read it several times and realize the importance of agni for our well-being. Thank you.
This is so helpful! Thank you!