What's Your Agni Type?

These last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about agni, your digestive fire. We’ve given the basic agni rules and talked about how to do proper food combining. Today, we’ll dive a bit deeper and talk about the different types of agni.

Unlike prakriti, your Ayurvedic constitution, your agni type isn’t fixed, but can vary from time to time. Let’s look at the four kinds of agni.

For the lucky ones, maybe you enjoy samagni—balanced digestive fire. You have normal appetite, normal digestion, good elimination and balanced metabolism. Your immunity is good, your energy is high, you’re in tip top health. Your weight is steady, your mind is balanced and you’re full of enthusiasm. That should ideally be each and every one of us. But if you are prone to health concerns, maybe you are experiencing one of three types of imbalanced agni.

If you are noticing erratic appetite, constipation, gas, bloating, aches and pains and anxiety, you might be affected by vishamagni—irregular digestive fire. This agni type is a common situation for vatas, although other can also get vishamagni, especially at the change of season or after an accident, illness, surgery or stressful experience. One moment you’re hungry and the next you’re not. You can eat potatoes one day and the next you can’t, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Everything is irregular.

On the other hand, you might have a very strong appetite and get hungry three or more times a day. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have samagni—maybe you have tikshnagni—sharp digestive fire. You might get irritable if your meal is delayed, suffer from hypoglycaemia, have acid indigestion, loose stools and a tendency to rashes and acne. Your appetite is too sharp and is a reflection of imbalanced pitta. Your friend samagni has a good appetite as well, but he is fine if he has to wait to eat, he won’t get dizzy or irritable.

Finally, especially if you are kapha, you might suffer from mandagni—low digestive fire. Your appetite is poor, you’re not hungry for breakfast, your digestion is sluggish and your stomach feels heavy. Maybe you get sleepy after meals. Sometimes food seems to make you mucusy. It’s also frustrating because your pitta friend eats three square meals a day and doesn’t put on weight, whereas it seems as if you gain weight just by thinking about food. Yes, that’s mandagni!

Next week, we’ll begin looking at how to remedy the different agni types and get back to the joys of samagni.

    Alakananda Ma M.B., B.S. (Lond.) is an Ayurvedic Doctor (NAMA) and graduate of a top London medical school. She is co-founder of Alandi Ayurveda Clinic and Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula in Boulder Colorado, as well as a spiritual mother, teacher, flower essence maker and storyteller. Alakananda is a well known and highly respected practitioner in the Ayurveda community both nationally and internationally.

Enliven your holistic health! Visit Alakananda Ma in Alandi Ashram’s ayurvedic clinic to support the overall rejuvenation of your body, mind, and spirit. In-person and virtual appointments available. Book now!