Many of you know I’m into intermittent fasting. Many of you also know the basic teachings of worshiping your agni – your digestive fire – your power of digestion.

When we eat too frequently we generate more surface-level thinking.

The Yogis of yore were never interested in surface level thinking. They craved depth with their souls.

Chances are you also crave to live from a place of depth.

When we eat less frequently we tap into our mental capacity.

The difference shows up in our productivity. As in the Pareto Principle where 20% of our actions generate 80% of our results, the idea is to concentrate on the 20%, eliminate the 80% , and enjoy the growth coupled with the ease that are now possible.

If you run your system to too frequent eating and surface-level thoughts, you generate cravings for more frequent eating and superficial mental busyness (vrittis).

Cravings are real, powerful agents of behavior.

Most people are in a loop of craving stimulation and experiences that don’t give them the peace, the depth, and the power they want (see modern obesity, anxiety, depression, and autoimmune diseases). And many of us are addicted to a cycle of busyness that drives more frequent but effective productive actions. And most of us don’t even know it.

The good news it’s all about doing less and being more.

In this case, it’s about eating less frequently and being more productive from a place of depth, which generates more ease.

The ease comes from your gut having less work, your mind generating fewer superficial thoughts, and the mental clarity that comes as a result. You start making smarter decisions. You develop intolerance for the 80% of truly unproductive, superficial action that clouds the clarity. You’re now in a positive craving cycle, or positive feedback loop.

Ayurveda + Intermittent Fasting

If you were raised without sacred body wisdom, chances are you’re disconnected from the dynamic power of your hunger. In Ayurveda, hunger is the language of your digestive fire, your agni. Agni is your metabolic fire in your gut, in your cells, and is the bridge between your less-evolved and your more-evolved self.

And agni is king of health, “the source of life.”

“If you worship agni, you will be blessed with perfect health,” says Dr. Lad

If you substitute the word hunger for agni, you get, “If you worship your hunger, you will be blessed with perfect health.”

The ancients worshiped the power of their hunger. They had little rituals at mealtime to feed an external deity representing this power of digestion, fire and light (Agnivesa) before putting a morsel in their own pie holes.

When you are in deep connection between the power of your hunger and what, when, and how much goes in your pie hole you have a shot at evolving your consciousness. And when you don’t pay with your attention, you pay in terms of digestive issues, mood swings. You get locked into the less-evolved version of you.

When you eat frequently, you bounce your blood sugar. Your roll on the roller coaster. The vrittis have a field day. This renders you a mental/emotional mix of indecisive, impulsive, tired, and sub-optimal mentally, and you’re less emotionally available for depth.

The yogis and the vaidyas (Ayurvedic healers) committed to fat metabolism for mental evenness — or the middle way. Anyone in pursuit of a life of depth will figure this out out fast.

Ayurvedic classics have mentioned following principles for living full span of life with perfect health.

— more coming soon.

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