Tuesday 1 March 2016

Ama - The Root Cause of All illnesses

These days our body and mind are affected by all types of toxins, which includes environmental, emotional, physiological factors. If a person is not eating according to his appetite or consumes incompatible foods knowingly or unknowingly or time of having lunch or dinner are irregular and coupled with other factor may lead to a stressed, overburdened stomach and which may over time impacts the natural capacity of digestion. Hence food if not digested in proper manner leads to production of “Ama”



Ama is accumulation of improperly digested food particles which are toxic in nature.
Have you ever wondered why certain problems never seem to be ending or cured? No amount of medicines, remedies, etc seem to be effective. Ayurveda certainly has an explanation. It describes this inability of all means to treat certain diseases through the presence of peculiar toxin called “Ama”.
Ama acts like a solid barrier between the medication given and the final destination where the medicine has to act. In the beginning some of medication may cross this barrier and show some relief but after a while no more medicine can flow through it and there is no continued relief.

When the digestive fire (jatharagni) is normal it transforms all the food articles taken into nutritious component called Aahar-rasa, which through blood nourishes respective organs. But it does not end here, our body tissues also posses the power of digestion called Dhatu-Agni which receives the Aahar-rasa where again tissue fire (dhatu-agni) metabolises it and take nutrients which further reaches  respective tissue level for its nourishment. So because of wrong eating habits (mentioned above) Agni(Jathragni/digestive fire) loses its efficiency (called Agnimandya) and causes Ama production which flows through Ahar-rasa to body and again affects the dhatu agni(tissue fire) which later causes production of weak dhatus(tissues) so in short body till the cell level is affected.

For example when Ahar-rasa which is polluted by Ama flows through the circulation (via blood) it clogs the channels (blood capillaries) and slowly it is deposited in the lumen of capillaries narrowing it. So after some period of time blood cannot flow properly through it, causing improper supply of blood and nutrients to that particular organ resulting in impaired functioning of that organ. For e.g. atherosclerosis (deposition of plaques in arteries) later causes myocardial infarction or heart attack.

Another example is When Ahar-rasa along with Ama reaches to fat tissues (which are responsible for normal body tone) it weakens them leading to abnormal fat deposition in body causing obesity, diseases like Rheumatoid arthritis etc.

Relation of Ama, Agnimandya & Diseases


Characteristics of Ama

Always in the form of improperly digested particles.
Hence non-homogenous, has very bad or foul odour when its combined with excretory products
        like sweat, urine, faeces etc.
Sticky in nature.

General signs & symptoms of Ama

Feeling of heaviness , lethargic, lack of energy, drowsiness , fatigue.
Bloating, gases, constipation, sticky and sinking stools, urine (turbid urine), sweat and breath
        with foul odour.
Indigestion, Lack of appetite, sweet/ sticky taste in mouth, tongue-sticky, greasy with whitish
        coating.
Aches, pain, feverish, skin problems.
Sexual debility, lack of concentration, increased irritability.

When Ama comes in intimate contact with Tridosha (Vata, Pitta,Kapha), Dhatu (Tissues) and Mala (All waste products urine, stool, sweat) they imbalance the tridoshas, mala and dhatus. We call this conditions as Saam-dosha, Saam-dhatu, Saam-mala.

When dosha , dhatu , and mala are without ama the condition is called as “Niram”

Things to do

The best thing to digest ama ( in early stage) is fasting and drinking hot water.
If the symptoms are severe then the shodhan (elimination) has to be done .
Shodhan is done using Panchakarma techniques namely
        (Vaman/Virechana/Basti/Raktamokshana/Nasya) and should be done under the guidance of
        trained practitioner.
For successful treatment a physician has to determine whether the condition of body (Dosha/
        Dhatus/Mala) is Sama or Niram.

So here we come to know why it’s important to keep an eye on what we eat. And how we eat it? Because we can see now how deep impact it creates on our body and mind.

Always remember one thing “Take care of your aahar (food), & aahar will certainly take care of you”.


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