What is Agni or digestive fire in Ayurveda?
In Ayurveda, appetite and digestion are closely related. They reflect the quality of our "digestive fire", or "agni" in Sanskrit.
It is he who controls what our body and mind will assimilate, whether it is a food or an emotion. Agni is in fact a succession of chemical interactions and changes in the body and mind. It is therefore linked to digestive functions in the broad sense.
It’s a bit like our “second brain”.
What is the principle of agni?
Agni governs physical strength, resistance to disease, the functioning of our organism, the absorption of nutrients by the body, digestion and transit.
It therefore governs physical strength, our capacity to absorb emotional shocks, to overcome our fears or to transform a trial into a source of positive experience.
A digestive fire disorder can be the cause of diseases, gastric disturbances. The chain of absorption of food is disturbed as well as its elimination.
On the contrary, good digestion indicates that the functioning of agni is sufficient to cook the food and make it beneficial for the body.
At each stage of its process, digestion is related to the doshas and sorts between foods that are beneficial for the body and those that must be eliminated.
Weak agni can lead to bloating, flatulence, constipation or loose stools.
How to keep agni active?
Foods carry 6 tastes: sweet, salty, sour, hot, bitter and astringent.
The qualities of foods can heat or cool the doshas. In general, it is better to heat digestion to stimulate the "digestive fire" rather than to cool it.
Which increases Pitta and calms Vata and Kapha. This translates into diet by consuming spices, ginger, peppers,...
Sugary foods like chocolate are cooling.
The whole thing is to balance the unbalanced dosha through plants and diet. This is the role of the Ayurvedic therapist.
To learn more about Ayurvedic medicine
To learn more about doshas
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