I’m sharing some Ayurvedic perspective on how these simple practices can have powerful effects! Before I had incorporated these into my own life, I had a good amount of skepticism about them, namely because I didn’t see the connections. That didn’t mean that the connections weren’t there. Once I began incorporating them into my own healing regimen, I experienced a marked shift, and began to viscerally understand how Nature works through our Body. Now I get to witness this shift in others who have adopted these foundational practices. 

I will be using the Sanskrit term Agni here, which has many meanings, but here I use it to refer to our Digestive Fire.

– Chew Your Food Until No Solids Remain, 15-25x each bite

Our teeth and saliva have an intelligent purpose! Chewing your food very well is the essential start of a multi-stage digestive process. It activates salivary secretions with enzymes that are necessary to prepare your food to be in the best state to be received and processed by lining and secretions of your stomach and intestines. Sufficiently chewed food, along with sufficiently processed emotions, is what nourishes the body’s first tissue layer (of seven total), which is plasma. In Sanskrit, plasma is called rasa, which has several other meanings, including notably, taste, and emotion. (See what the ancients did there…) Plasma then feeds the next tissue layer, which is blood, which then feeds the next, and so on until all of the body’s tissue layers in turn are fed. (The 7 layers, or sapta dhatu, from beginning to end are: plasma- rasa, blood- rakta, muscle– mamsa, fat– meda, bone- asthi, nerves and marrow- majja and reproductive- shukra). On average, it takes around 5 days for nourishment to be transformed from one tissue layer to the next. (Interesting to consider, that your nervous system today is partly created by what you were eating and feeling, a month ago.)

A lot of people forget to adequately chew nowadays, usually from being too rushed, or too distracted, when eating. Over the long-term, this leads to nutrient malabsorption in the various tissue layers, which is compounded by the presence of metabolic toxins (called ama), a product of improperly digested food and/or emotion.

You can also “chew” liquid foods like soups, smoothies, and gruels (even tea and water)– let them become salivated in the mouth for a few moments before swallowing. I guarantee your Agni will be more open to receiving food that has been consciously prepared by your mouth in this way. We can even “chew” and “digest” our emotions by remembering that they are not permanent and they are not us– they arise and pass, like clouds, and we can find ways to move them through our body/mind without letting them get stuck. Happy chewing. 🙂

– Sit Down To Eat with Calm and Quiet (As Much As Possible), and Keep The Screens Away.

Eating while sitting, calmly and without distractions, is the best way to allow your Agni to *focus* on processing your food inputs. This is the task that your Agni was made for and can do very well, when other things don’t get in the way of it doing its job. Your Agni actually prefers to not be consuming other things like the news, your work emails, or your fave entertainment, while it’s trying to focus on the initial stages of your digestive process!  So, eating while standing, eating on the run, eating with screens or eating with heavy/intense conversation or emotions, will all certainly split your Agni’s attention, in addition to bringing those qualities into you (we always become what we consume, on some level). This then contributes to indigestion, gas, malabsorption, and a lack of consciousness towards your main source of sustenance. In Ayurveda it is said that “where the mind goes, energy flows”. If you give your eating (and cooking) time some intentional, calm, clear energy (sattva), it will come back to you.

– Leave at least 3 hours between your dinner and bedtime, and no food in between.

All my late-night eaters out there all over the world (younger Me included), I see you! Pay attention, friends. 🙂

If your dinner is sufficient for you (a.k.a. not too little, not too much, and not too heavy or complex), it will take approximately 3 hours from eating to pass through the stomach into the small intestine. You want your food to be at least there by the time you go to bed (which ideally is by 10 pm). The sleeping hours 10pm-2am are governed by the transformative energy of Pitta dosha (the humor made up of the elements Fire + Water). The body’s main seat of Pitta is the small intestine, and its influence through Agni involves nutrient breakdown, transformation, assimilation, and detoxification– all wonderful and absolutely necessary processes for a vibrant body and mind. (For this reason alone it is ideal to be sleeping during those hours, so that Agni focuses on this essential nightly task. If you stay up past that, you will likely feel a ‘second wind’ fueled by the Pitta fire, and try to do all the things, which just ends up sidelining your crucial internal processes). 

So what happens with the late dinners, or late-night snacks? Well, the food is still sitting in the stomach when you go to bed. Agni has to split its attention away from the essential tasks it was doing in the intestines, to tend to the extra stuff in the stomach which is at an earlier stage in the digestive process. So… things are crowded, the food moves slower, it ferments, and some of it becomes metabolic toxins, called ama in Sanskrit. It is like the residue left from a poorly-burning fire, which creates a lot of smoke and soot, versus a cleanly burning fire which creates a brilliant light (and indeed, Agni can also transform our food into the light of our consciousness). Ama’s qualities are heavy, cloudy and sticky; it sticks to the gut lining and absorbs into the bloodstream, which slows down all of your body’s processes and adds to a heavy, groggy feeling in the morning often accompanied by a film on the tongue. (Side note– the morning grogginess also increases a person’s perceived need for chemical stimulants to “get them going” in the morning– a feeling I used to know quite well– and I shall expand on this in a future post). 

If you who are reading this can avail of this simple and powerful shift, know that it will change the game for your body’s function well into your older years.

– Eat with Gratitude and Acceptance.

This is not to be underestimated. There is a powerful subtle energy in your thoughts. Ayurveda understands that the mind is not really housed in the brain, rather, thoughts are very subtle objects that flow through every cell of the body. Perhaps you have noticed the physiological reaction that happens in your body when you react with a strong emotion to something- it is always there, whether you are aware of it or not. For example, nowadays I can notice that if my Ego becomes angry about something, my higher mind will notice feelings of pain and discomfort in my stomach and spinal column. Whereas, cultivating the energy of acceptance and gratitude feels wonderful, and this is because it actually relaxes and opens up our cells, on both gross and subtle levels. When we are open and at ease, rather than constricted and in resistance, our cells reflect this. This opens us up to receive the life force, prana, from what we are taking in (even in situations when the choices may not be what we prefer). A gratitude practice before a meal can take many forms, such as: taking 1-3 deep breaths and noticing the colors, smells, and textures; acknowledging all the beings who had a part in bringing you your food; or saying a prayer or mantra, internally or externally. It all depends on what feels right for you. In the Vedic tradition, food is seen as an aspect of the Goddess, the one pervading all Creation. Whichever way you connect with Source, just know that aligning with it makes a powerful difference for your Agni and thus your experience of Life.

I hope that something I have shared here has been helpful or illuminating. Whatever resonates, try it out for a period of time, and see how you feel. Approach it with an energy of curiosity and exploration (rather than judgment or perfection) and this will support you. This ancient wisdom is the wisdom of Nature herself, and we are just all on our journeys of remembering our own Nature through it.

I invite you to join my email list for more! Be well.