Awaken Your Inner Pharmacy for Mind-body Health

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he healing system of Ayurveda teaches that good health depends on our body’s ability to metabolize all aspects of life. This includes not only the food we eat, but also our experiences, emotions, and sensory impressions. The metabolic power responsible for extracting nourishment and releasing toxicity is known as agni – a Sanskrit word meaning fire. Linguistically, agni is the etymological root of the English words ignition and ignite, and we can think of agni as our digestive fire.

When our agni is robust, we’re able to digest food efficiently and easily assimilate our daily experiences. We absorb what is nourishing and let go of that which doesn’t serve, enabling us to make healthy blood cells, muscle tissue, bones, and nerves. Just as a roaring blaze in a fireplace creates warmth and heat, burning even a damp log down to fine ash, a strong agni produces vitality and enthusiasm, completely “cooking” the experiences of our lives.

When our agni is weak, however, we can’t extract value from even those substances and events that are potentially nourishing. A weak fire generates an excessive amount of smoke, leaving behind charred pieces of wood that – to continue the analogy – is similar to the toxic residue that remains when our digestive power is poor. This accumulated residue weakens our health and blocks the flow of energy and information throughout our body, making us feel dull and listless. Ayurveda considers this build-up of toxins the underlying cause of all disease. A common example of this is the accumulation of saturated fat and cholesterol that is beyond the body’s capacity to metabolize. Over time, this leads to the blockage of the blood vessels and arteries and, ultimately, to heart attacks.

While it’s easy to understand agni in terms of food, it’s important to remember that your mind and heart are continually digesting energy and information as well. If the concept of agni is new to you, your mental digestive powers are working right now to break down the idea into components your intellect can assimilate. Similarly, your emotional agni processes your experiences and feelings, including the beautiful smile of a loved one, the unexpected criticism at work, or the excitement of a new relationship.

If your emotional agni is strong, you are able to extract whatever is nourishing and eliminate the rest. The inability to metabolize emotions, on the other hand, produces just as much toxic residue as undigested food. In fact, pent-up anger, long-held sadness, and lingering guilt are more debilitating for most people than problems with physical digestion.

Tending Your Inner Fire

Given the crucial role of agni to health and well-being, how do we tend to our inner fire, keeping it burning brightly? The essential step is living life more consciously, making choices that nurture the flow of life energy, while minimizing those that deplete it.

A simple way to evaluate the value of an experience is to ask yourself whether you would encourage someone you unconditionally love to have it. Consider the example of a conscious, loving mother who only wants her child to eat nourishing food, engage in loving relationships, and avoid situations that create unnecessary distress. If you treat yourself with this same loving intention, you will naturally minimize experiences that disturb your mental peace and physical well-being ? while favoring those that increase your freedom and joy.

To maintain a healthy fire, you have to have the right balance of air and wood. Too much air (change) will blow out the fire. If you throw a heavy piece of wood (stability) onto a weak fire, you will extinguish the flames. If you have too much change and turbulence in your life, you won’t be able to metabolize everything on your plate. This may manifest physically as anxiety, insomnia, irregular elimination, or fatigue.

On the other hand, your inner fire is weakened by having too much wood or “stuff” in your life ? too much debt, too many financial commitments, too many complicated, demanding relationships, and too much clutter in your home. When you ingest more than you can digest, the consequences may be weight gain, depression or other health problems.

Take care of you inner fire. Look at your choices and see if there is a way to simplify. Balance your activity with rest by meditating and getting replenishing sleep each night. Ask yourself, “What am I carrying with me from the past that is no longer serving me, and what would I like to bring into my life that I have previously neglected?”

Making choices that awaken your digestive fire will serve you and those around you in all aspects of your life.

How strong is your inner fire?

Ayurveda characterizes the net effect of an experience as producing either ojas or ama. Ojas is the essence of nourishment that supports every cell in the body and thought in the mind. Ama is the byproduct of incomplete metabolism leading to stagnation and distress. Review the signs of ojas and ama in the charts below. If you recognize that you’ve been accumulating more toxicity than nourishment, make the commitment now to make choices that reflect the self-love that you, as an expression of the sacred, deserve.

Creating Nurturing Mealtimes

Our experience while we’re eating is just as important as the kinds of foods we’re consuming. If we’re having a fight with our spouse over the dinner table, our stomach cells are aware of the upset and send distressed chemical messages throughout the body, preventing complete digestion and creating toxic residue in our body. To stoke our inner fire, we need to create a nurturing atmosphere for our meals, paying attention to all of the senses: taste, sound, sight, touch, and smell. Here are a few tips for making your body happy while you eat:

• Eat in a settled and quiet atmosphere. When you eat, your attention should be on the food, so that you can enjoy the delightful flavors and fully activate your digestive system. Don’t eat meals in front of the TV or computer or while you are driving.
• Don’t eat when you’re upset. If you are feeling angry or distressed, your digestion will be weakened. Postpone your meal by going for a short walk or doing something you enjoy until you feel calm again.
• Always sit down to eat. Even if you are just going to eat a few grapes or a cracker, take the time to sit down at a table. Pay attention to what you are doing and don’t rush.
• Only eat when you’re hungry. Putting food in your body when you’re not really hungry dampens the digestive fire and creates toxic residue.
• Avoid ice-cold food and drinks. Cold beverages and foods tend to freeze the digestive fire, preventing complete digestion and absorption of nutrients. This is especially true of ice-cold food and drinks. You may be in the habit of drinking ice-water or other cold drinks, but if you eliminate them, within a few weeks you will find that your body feels much better and that you no longer miss them.
• Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal. This allows your body to settle effortlessly into its digestive rhythm.
• Include all six tastes (sweet, sour, astringent, bitter, salty and pungent) at each meal.Ayurveda tells us that each of the tastes has a unique effect on our mind-body physiology and provides the flavor that makes eating a pleasure and aids digestion. Including all six tastes in a meal will give you the nutrients you need and make you feel completely satisfied and energized.

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