What makes you feel totally alive, radiate with feelings of pure joy, and feel total bliss? How incredible does it feel to have mental clarity, balanced emotions, and sustained energy throughout the day? Or maybe you easily deal with stress and disturbances, feeling an inner peace and calm? This article will teach you how to Increase your vitality and eliminate toxins: Ojas and Amas.
Ayurveda and Ojas
In Ayurveda, Ojas is the luster of life. It is our vital life-force and is actually considered the biochemical equivalent to bliss!
Ojas is the subtle essence related to health, vitality, immunity, and well-being.
When our ojas is strong, we experience all of the feelings described above. Other sign of strong ojas are:
- Healthy appetite and digestion
- Strong immunity
- Regular elimination
- Physical strength and stamina
- General feeling of bliss
- Radiant glow
- Stable, centered, grounded energy
- Mental and physical clarity
Sounds amazing right?? I don’t know about you, but when I first learned about ojas, all I could think was “so how do I get more of that!?”
The majority of our ojas results from clear digestion and the foods we eat, which is why Ayurveda considers digestion is the key factor to health. When our digestive system can fully break down our food, assimilate the beneficial nutrients, and evacuate what’s not needed, we inevitably feel radiant, refreshed, and rejuvenated! Our cells are full of the energy it needs and eliminates the toxins that it don’t serve the body. Therefore, stronger your digestion, the more Ojas you have!
Ayurveda and Amas
If our digestion isn’t functioning strongly, it results in a build-up of toxins, called ama. Ama is typically typically described as undigested food and/or build-up within the body, however there are multiple factors that contribute to this accumulation. Our lifestyles, relationships, thoughts, and frequencies, such as technology affect our vitality as well.
Causes ama (toxicity) in our bodies and minds?
- Unhealthy thoughts
- Over, under, binge, emotional eating
- Processed foods, meet, sugar, cheese
- Physical or emotional trauma
- Chronic illness or pain
- Excess travel
- Lack of sleep
- Aging
- Alcohol, smoking, drugs
- Jealousy, anger, hatred, fear
- Stress, overwork
While ama is typically looked at as a physical substance, it is also an abstract principle and affects our energetic bodies as well.
Let’s face it. Most of our lives have been bombarded with toxic loads, both internally and externally. If our bodies and minds are left out of balance, over time it results in illness. So before it gets to that point, it’s important to begin to recognize our own ama…making changes to eliminate it, allowing an increase in ojas!
How can you INCREASE your Ojas (vitality)?
The number one thing you can do is heal your digestion:
- Consume organic, local, easy to digest foods that are pure (single, plant-based ingredients)
- Include: Grains, cooked vegetables, fresh fruit, nuts, and seeds
- Add all 6 tastes into your diet
- Enjoy spices that support your digestion
- Eat mainly lightly cooked, easy to chew foods until you’re 75% full
- Choose foods for your dosha and the season
Adjust your lifestyle
- Spend time in nature
- Meditation, deep breathing, journaling, spiritual practices
- Eliminate activities, relationships, environments that cause you stress
- Increase gentle exercise, such as walks, dance, yoga
- Self-care practices (Abhyanga: Self-oil massage, dry brushing, tongue scraping, warm bath)
- Spend time with animals and children
- Mindset (surrendering to what life hands us, positive thoughts,
- Get creative! (create art, redecorate your house, play your favorite music, make a vision board, make your home your sanctuary)
- Acts of service (volunteering, spending time with children or animals) Spiritual practices
True wellness and pure bliss occurs as we increase our ojas (life-force) and decrease ama (toxins/toxicity). Fortunately, Ayurveda helps us regain our balance and reclaim our health again on all levels.
You are the books you read, the food you eat, the movies you watch, the people you spend your time with, the music you listen to, the thoughts in your mind, the conversations you engage in, and the words you say to yourself. Choose wisely.
You will begin to feel lighter, clearer, healthier, happier, and be glowing in no time!
Try My Healthy Digestion to increase vitality.
Author: Carolyn Crews (YouVeda Wellness Contributor)
