“Ama – Undigested Putrid “- The Seedbed For Diseases To Thrive!
“Sarve Rogha Mandagni” ……….Amashyasamuthpanna! All the diseases starts from our low digestive capacity which is located in Amashaya-the stomach ……! The great Ayurvedic Physician Vhagbhatta.
Imagine you are driving your beautiful new car on the highway with great music and suddenly, one of the tires gets punctured by a big nail. Now, imagine driving your car with one tire. You feel like your missing one leg and cannot walk straight …isn’t it? There is no balance.
According to Ayurveda, perfect health can be like enjoying your beautiful new car with great music. The term, “Ama “ is the big nail to cause imbalance in your perfectly healthy car. No, you cannot drive the car with a big nail in the tire, the same way you cannot live in perfect health unless you remove that painful Ama ( undigested toxins ) from your body. For a mechanic, it really doesn’t matter how beautiful your car is, or how lavish its features look. What matters is that your car is in driving condition. In the same manner for a Vaidya (Ayurveda physician) it really doesn’t matter how beautiful you look on outside, what matters is how healthy you are on the inside.
Coming back, one of the important concept of Ayurveda is “Ama” (pronounced as –“aa-ma”). Understanding ama is the first step in Ayurveda to learn how to catch diseases and its signals at its very seed level. In the stage of ama, the body gets weak immunity, the body becomes what a Vaidya call a “beej-bhoomi” or breeding ground for disease to take root, a seedbed for disease to thrive in, body fed with all toxins. Not a pretty image, but alas, true. Ama is one important concept to diagnose the conception of any disease ayurvedically.
The first production of ama almost always begins with inefficient digestion at stomach therefore, in Sanskrit stomach is called “ama+ashya”= Amashaya– the organ or space for ama (stomach).
Ama is Sanskrit word consist two words “Aa + ma”, Aa means near and Ma means poison –near to poison. So, now you know, Ama is a substance or group of substance which is near to poison or act like poison. In Ayurveda, this kind of ama is described as sticky, white, raw, undigested, incomplete oxidized/combusted material whether in the form of food, bile, acid, or negative thoughts that leads to sickness, ill health, indigestion. Ayurvedic perspective encompasses the total picture so, it takes into account the toxicity that germinate in both body and mind. Ama therefore is both physical, mental and if you ignore too long it can even seep into your soul.
Hmmm, now you understood ama but the real secret is how you know ama develops in your body and how you can get rid of it easily, right? So, let’s get down to the brass tacks of this Ayurvedic road to map and identify this ama. When your lifestyle is at your mercy and is at odds….you skip meals, eat foods that are not right for you or leftover food, eat at the wrong time, incompatible-wrong combinations of food like fish and yogurt, dairy and fruits together and the list goes on and on (that is where you need a qualified, scholar Vaidya help) your body’s vital digestive fire (capacity) –“Jathragni” diminishes, as a result food fails to be totally digested and properly absorbed. This undigested food or ama sits in stomach and putrefies, releasing toxic chemicals, slowly clogging the intestine and prevents the colon from assimilating nutrients from digested food.
The tyranny of today’s busy bee- stressful lifestyle makes it impossible to resist assault from ama. But with the help of a Vaidya and knowledge of Ayurveda you can do your best to slow it down and eliminate it regularly. As a Vaidya, I would like to share some golden nuggets with you all but this is where your actions count. Here we go, choosing fresh fruit over sugar loaded donut, by giving priority to lunch over that pending overstocked work, you can prevent the accumulation of ama in your body by drinking warm water over iced cold drinks and yes, choosing adequate exercise over being a couch potato watching TV. Think of your kitchen while you make sure sink is always draining instead of trying to unclog a choked drain. Similarly, exercise and hot water improves circulation, helping the body flush out the toxic ama faster. For your mental ama, reading an uplifting book, strolling in good weather with your spouse, taking a 60 second mental vacation while you have hours of work commitments on the computer… these small actions work like vitamins and minerals to boost your psyche, strengthen and tone your immune system.
These general guidelines from Ayurveda work well for everyone regardless of gender, nationality, or genetics. Although, we all are considered to be unique, ama is one common reality! So, let’s see how many of you really take these actions and strategies for achieving freedom from ama and keep yourself in tune with nature.
Tags: Ayurveda