The Indian Vedic culture revered agni or fire, which gave them light, warmth and cooked their food. Agnideva is the Fire god who acts as a messenger between the mortal world and the heavens. In Vedic rituals humans offer oblations to the sacred fire. The fire takes a portion for himself and then vaporises the rest for the benefit of the gods. The gods imbibe this nutritious fragrance and in return give life-giving waters and favourable environmental conditions from which crops flourish and humans can feed themselves. This benevolent cycle continues as long as both parties are happy.

It is a metaphor of our own digestive system. We eat and ‘offer’ food into the fire of our bellies. Agni digests this food and the control centres in the brain are nourished by these fragrant nutritional ‘vapours’. This nourishment feeds the nervous impulses, which release enzymes and hormones. This stimulates systemic metabolic activity so that the whole body-mind complex functions efficiently. Hence eating is seen as a sacred act that should be given its full attention away from stress, disturbance and distractions.

Agni is seen as the metaphor for all metabolic functions in the body. It includes the digestive function, sense perception, cellular metabolism and mental assimilation. The agni’s ability to transform also gives it a pivotal role in absorbing life’s experiences as it works through the heart and mind to help process emotional and cognitive experiences. It literally carries the inherent cosmic intelligence into our tissues.

Agni is involved in many functions:

It gives ojas or immunity, a sparkle in the eyes and lustre to the whole body.

The qualities of agni are:

Although these qualities are similar to pitta, agni is not the same. Agni represents the healthy functioning of the metabolic processes in the body whilst pitta represents these qualities in a deranged state.

When it is balanced it causes emotions that are beneficial to health: courage, happiness, cheerfulness, lucidity, optimism, enthusiasm and intelligence. It also provides energy, vitality and a system able to maintain homeostasis.

When it is out of balance it causes emotions that are destructive to health: fear, anger, confusion, idiocy, depression. This also leads to low energy, congestion and an accumulation of wastes.

There are four types of digestive agni that generally categorise people’s digestive tendencies:

If you really know your digestive system and how it reacts to the different challenges of your diet and the day then you can understand how to live right for your own needs. It is the best way to perfect health.

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