Where is your
digestive fire?

Agni literally means 'fire' and refers to the metabolic intelligence that transforms food, sensory impressions, and experience into nutrients, energy, and consciousness. The Charaka Samhita treats Agni as the root of life: 'When Agni is strong, the food digests well and the person remains in good health.' Beyond digestive fire, classical Ayurveda identifies 13 Agnis — including specific Agnis for each tissue (dhatu) and each elemental transformation — but the most clinically relevant is jathara-agni, the central digestive fire.

Classical Ayurveda identifies four Agni states: Sama Agni is balanced — regular hunger, complete digestion, stable energy; Vishama Agni is variable and Vata-driven — irregular hunger, gas, bloating, sometimes voracious and sometimes absent; Tikshna Agni is sharp and Pitta-driven — strong hunger, fast digestion that may produce heartburn or loose stools; Manda Agni is slow and Kapha-driven — sluggish digestion, heaviness after meals, weight gain. Each requires different interventions.

Five questions cover the four classical Agni markers: hunger pattern (regular, voracious, variable, or low), tongue appearance (clean, coated, red, or thick-coated), post-meal feeling (light, heavy, irritable, or bloated), bowel pattern, and energy stability through the day. Each pattern points to one of the four Agni types. The assessment also asks one secondary question to disambiguate dual patterns.

Yes. Body type (prakriti) is your underlying constitution — stable across your life. Agni is your current digestive state — variable across days, seasons, and life events. A Vata-predominant person typically has Vishama Agni when out of balance, but they can shift to Sama Agni with the right intervention, or to Tikshna Agni under stress. The assessment measures current state, not constitution.

The assessment ends with one targeted intervention specific to your type. For Vishama Agni: eat at fixed times every day, even when not hungry. For Tikshna Agni: avoid eating until truly hungry and favour cool, sweet foods. For Manda Agni: introduce light, dry, warming foods and consider intermittent fasting under guidance. For Sama Agni: maintain current habits and reassess seasonally. The body responds quickly to Agni-targeted interventions — most practitioners notice change within a week.

Seasonally is the classical recommendation — Agni shifts with weather, lifestyle, and life events. Reassess after any major change (travel, illness, new job, season change, life transition) and whenever digestion feels different from baseline. Many practitioners do a brief mental check-in weekly and a full reassessment every six to eight weeks.

The Ayurvedic framework predates modern gastroenterology by two millennia, but contemporary research aligns with several core principles. Irregular meal timing disrupts gut motility (Vishama pattern); chronic stress produces excess gastric acid and reflux (Tikshna pattern); low metabolic rate and slow gastric emptying correlate with weight gain and post-meal lethargy (Manda pattern). The classical four-type model maps cleanly onto these contemporary findings, even though the diagnostic vocabulary differs.

Yes — many practitioners have mixed patterns, especially under stress or seasonal transition. The assessment identifies the dominant pattern, but the recommended interventions are often broadly useful across types. If two patterns feel equally present, address the more disruptive one first and reassess in two weeks.

No. The assessment provides constitutional and current-state guidance for daily lifestyle. For acute digestive disorders (IBS, SIBO, chronic reflux, persistent bloating, unexplained weight changes), pregnancy, or post-surgical care, consult a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner (BAMS or equivalent) and your healthcare provider. The assessment is a useful entry point and ongoing self-tracking tool, not a diagnostic instrument.