Understanding the ups and downs of our digestive system, known in Ayurveda as our digestive fire or Jathar Agni, is one of the biggest keys to unlocking our long term health, vitality & radiance. Before we get into how to restore the balance of your fire, I want to share a personal story with you.
For most of my teenage years and through my twenties I had terrible eating habits. Not only was the food pretty much void of nutrients, in high school I would start with a coffee, have a bag of crisps & a diet coke for lunch & a bowl of instant noodles after school - eating nothing worthwhile until it came to family dinner time. In my twenties I was swept up in the raw food culture. The days menu consisted of juices, smoothies, salad and raw “soup” (lol)
Looking back, worse than the food I was (& wasn’t) eating, was when & how I was eating. All this time, I never ate breakfast, in fact the thought of eating in the morning made my stomach turn. I had no idea this was a sign that my digestive system was wrecked. My appetite was up & down. I often ate on the go, in the car or as I was walking somewhere hurriedly. No wonder I had zero fire.
It wasn't until I was pregnant with my first baby that I started eating in the morning. Ironically it was the only thing that would stop my stomach from churning. That tiny tweak of introducing breakfast back in to my routine, which had been missing for a solid 15 years at that point, began to ripple into the rest of the day. My digestion (bowel movements) was different, my energy levels & appetite all started to stabilize. Just from that one tiny tweak.
6 Signs your fire is out of balance
Feeling dizzy, weak or light headed
Inconsistent energy levels, swinging between frenetic & crashing
Inconsistent appetite, either starving or disinterested in food
Mental-emotional instability, feeling anxious, down or irritable.
Loose stools, an urgency to go to toilet or diarrhea
Constipation, gas, bloating
Agni: the 13 fires of Life
Ayurvedic anatomy covers not only the physical “gross” body but also extends to the subtle bodies, known as koshas & the way the natural elements of earth, water, fire, air & space manifest in the human being. Here is a quick breakdown of the 13 fires of Life.
the fire in the belly jatharagni
The 5 elemental fires Residing in the liver, digested food materials are transformed into the 5 elements for the various body tissues and systems to utilise, also connected to the 5 senses.
the 7 tissue fires / chatu agni Residing throughout the body, the vitality of these fires governs the health of the various tissues that make up the body
Understanding Jathar Agni, your belly fire
Just as the sun sustains all of life on our planet, this internal sun sustains our vitality and vibrancy. Ideally, this belly fire burns steady, we're aiming for sama agni - not dim, not raging. Depending on your personal dosha, your jathar agni will tend to fall into one of these states described below.
4 States of Digestive Fire
High (tikshna)
Low (manda)
Variable (vishama)
Balanced (sama)
How to restore balance
Counter to what you may expect, you won’t find a list of food to avoid or include here. One of the things I love most about Ayurveda is the understanding that everything in the realm of health must be individualized. There is no perscription diet, which allows for intuition to flourish and encourages a real and honest relationship with our body and the food we eat. Often when there is an agni imbalance, there has been a breakdown in this sacred relationship.
Honoring natural urges
The first step in restoring this relationship with the body is to attune to the art of listening for and acting upon the so called “non-suppressive” natural urges.When these urges arise, we have second-minutes to respond and if we do suppress them, this is where imbalances begin and ama (toxins) accumulates.
The 13 Natural urges
Hunger
Thirst
To urinate
Bowel movement
To burp
To fart
Cough / sneeze
Orgasm
Cry
Yawn
Sleep
Vomit
Breathe heavily due to physical exertion
Food timing
It's not so much what you eat, it's when you eat that matters.
Food timing has everything to do with how well you will digest the food you are putting in your mouth. The time of day determines how much nutrition you are actually absorbing, how many calories you will store and how much prana (energy) you are receiving from the food.
Circadian biology
The intelligence in the food we eat communicates with the intelligence of our body. At the same time, there's communication between your body, specifically your digestive fire and the environment, specifically the sun. Our bodies mirror the natural world, we are the microcosm to the macrocosm of the universe.
So what does this really mean?
When the sun is highest in the sky, our digestive fire is the strongest. As the sun rises in the morning our inner fire is just waking up. As the sun sets in the evening our ability to digest well decreases as the light fades.
Here’s what to do
Eat breakfast. Think of this as your fire starter, just a bit of fuel to gently get things going. If you are new to breakfast, start small and work your way up week by week. Opt for something cooked and warm. Nope, no breakfast smoothies.
Eat your biggest meal of the day for lunch, between 10am-2pm when the sun is highest in the sky. This can be your most complex meal including grains, protein and vegetables.
Eat your last meal around sunset or at least 3 hours before you go to bed. This should be a light, soupy meal that is easy on the waning fire.
Why breakfast changes the whole day
When you offer your body some fuel to start the engine, before 9am, it kickstarts a whole range of mental and physical processes that set you in harmony with the circadian rhythm of the sun. It also means your belly is primed to receive your midday meal, you’re not dumping your biggest meal of the day onto cold coals.
Alongside supporting your agni, eating in the morning also supports hormonal balance, especially delicate for women. It’s sometimes said that intermittent fasting is a nightmare for women's hormones as cortisol and adrenaline become dysregulated and out of sync with their optimal timing and purpose.
The Ayurvedic approach to IF
If you love fasting, I invite you to tweak the fasting window to be more in line with nature. This means eating the meal of the day very early, say 4pm. Then breaking the fast in the morning, say 8am. However, if you are looking to balance your hormones, or if you are in the preconception years I suggest eating regularly throughout the day, every 4-5 hours.
How you eat matters
Lastly, the state you are in when you sit down to eat will affect how well you digest. The surrounding environment should be calm and your inner landscape should be settled also. Take a moment to give thanks, smile, take a few deep breaths and do the ritual below.
I want you to visualize this at your next meal.
See your body as a beautiful temple.
At the centre of the temple is a fire, this is your central fire, your inner agni
As you take your first bite, imagine that you are making an offering
to your inner fire, to your body temple.
