Food is Medicine: Part 1 - Digestive FIre
All of Life is a Fire Ceremony
In ancient yogic texts, the first word of a text is the most important word. The first word of the Rig Veda, one of the oldest spiritual texts in the world, is agni, which means fire, and the first chapter is devoted to rituals to honor the god of fire. My teachers frequently say, “All of life is a fire ceremony,” and Ayurvedic practices center around tending to the digestive fire. This is because without fire, we would not be able to transform the food we eat into the energy we need to sustain our lives. Keeping the digestive fire strong is key to maintaining health and to recovering from illness and injury. In fact, almost every disorder or disease begins in the gastrointestinal tract and can be treated, in full or in part, by tending the digestive fire and using food as medicine.
You Are What You Eat
You know the saying, you are what you eat? Ayurvedic medicine takes this saying literally! The food we eat has prana that must be unleashed through the digestive process in order to be used by the body. Digestion begins in the mouth as the tongue and saliva (the water element) begin to break down the food through mastication and enzyme production. After we swallow the food, it heads to the stomach where the agni (digestive fire) churns the food into the ahara rasa (juice of life). The ahara rasa then irrigates and is transformed into each of the seven layers of tissue (dhatus) in the body. After each tissue has been nourished, the end product is ojas, which is the essence of vitality. If our digestive fire isn’t strong and steady, the quality of the ahara rasa will be affected, which will in turn affect our ability to build strong tissues and will affect our vigor. If you’ve ever had a serious illness or injury and felt like your spirit was fractured or your inner light was dim, you know what I mean about ojas/vitality being affected.
Types of Agni
There are actually 13 major forms of agni in the body, according to Ayurveda. The main agni is in the stomach, but each of the five elements, and each of the seven tissues all have their own agni. We could be eating the healthiest, freshest food, but if the agni isn’t strong, our body won’t be able to use the nutrients in that food to build tissues. This makes talking about nutrition and digestion essential when recovering from illness or injury. We can use herbs, spices, foods, meal planning, and eating rituals to support healthy agni. If you have an orthopedic injury, this can help your muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, bones, etc to heal and to get even stronger than they were before the injury.
Building Healthy Tissues
It takes five days for the ahara rasa to irrigate each layer of tissue, and there are seven layers of tissues. It moves first to the rasa, which is the plasma of the blood, then to the rakta, which are the blood cells. From there, the ahara rasa nourishes the muscles, adipose tissue, bones, bone marrow and the nervous system, and the reproductive organs. It takes a full 35 days for the food we eat to irrigate and become the deepest layer of tissue in the body, which is why it takes time to see results when we make dietary shifts. If you are experiencing symptoms now, you might want to consider what you were consuming a month ago! You will also have to cultivate some patience as it will take time to build new, healthy tissue.
Functions of Agni
A healthy agni ensures that the nutrients you eat can be utilized by the body. Agni is responsible for:
Complexion (Varṇa)
Strength (Bala)
Health (Svastha)
Enthusiasm (Utsāha)
Plump, elastic, supple tissues (Upacaya)
Glow (Prabha)
Life Force Energy (Prāṇa)
Radiance & Luster (Tejas)
Vitality & Vigor (Ojas)
Enzymes/hormone metabolism (Agneya)
Signs of Low Agni
Low agni results in the accumulation of doshas in their main sites (vata in the colon, pitta in the small intestine, and kapha in the stomach). If left unchecked, the dosa imbalance can start to spread to other sites in the body. Kapha accumulation can show up as coughs, congestion, mucus, asthma, diabetes, and obesity. Pitta can show up as skin problems, heart and blood problems, and inflammation. Vata can show up as pain, bone and joint problems, nervous system conditions, and mental health conditions. We cannot maintain health or life without a strong agni!
Tending the Fire
Just like a campfire, agni needs to be tended. Fire needs a container of earth to make sure it does not spread and rage. It also needs good quality fuel. If the fuel is too damp or too old and dry, it will create smoke. The same is true for the food we eat: it needs just the right amount of moisture, which is dependent upon the season, and how much moisture is in the environment. If the fuel is too dry, adding fat or oil can help transform it into a usable fuel.
Fire also needs a bit of space. If the wood is stacked without room for air to move through it, the fire will be snuffed out. If we eat too much, or too frequently, we run the risk of dampening the agni.
Finally, fire needs oxygen. If you blow wind on an ember, you increase the spark and help it to grow into a strong flame. Metabolic disorders in humans are directly related to respiration, so it is important to breathe in order to circulate prana and provide the agni with the wind it needs to stay strong. This is one of the many reasons why pranayama is an essential component of a yoga practice.
Stay tuned for Part 2 in this series about how to keep agni strong to prevent accumulation of ama (unmetabolized food waste that clogs the channels) so you can use food as medicine and take full advantage of the nutrition you eat.
With love and support,
Rachel
