How to Balance Your Agni (Digestive Fire)

To have more energy, you need clean digestion. Learn Ayurvedic practices that can help.

We digest everything we take in. From food to thoughts, emotions and experiences, everything has to be digested and assimilated by our bodies and minds. Agni is our digestive fire—specifically our power of digestion and transformation in the body, mind and spirit.

What happens in your gut impacts your mental well-being, including your ability to think clearly and how you discern information.

The goal: Keep agni balanced.

You can look to Ayurvedic practices to give you clues about your agni. One of them is tongue cleaning (one of my favorites). This practice is done daily in the morning, primarily to remove signs of ama (toxins) from the tongue and to begin digestion. Digestion begins in the mouth, so scraping the tongue shortly after you wake up supports the first stage of digestion.

4 Types of Agni

The state of your agni can tell you a lot about the state of your health. Which agni sounds like yours?

• Sama agni – balanced agni where you experience a calm, clear mind and can digest most foods well

• Tikshna agni – sharp/hot agni due to excess pitta

• Manda agni – dull agni due to excess kapha

• Vishama agni – irregular/erratic agni due to excess vata

Several Ayurvedic practices can help balance agni. Chewing your food thoroughly and eating mostly warm, cooked foods can support your digestive fire.

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