Ama, a toxic residue left by incompletely digested substances, is created when unhealthy or unnecessary food is taken into your system. Sluggish digestion, generalized pain, poor appetite, and fatigue are some signs of ama's presence. A white coating on the tongue also indicates ama. Sipping herbalized hot water throughout the day is an effective ama-reducing technique. Yoga and other forms of exercise are also helpful, and a daily oil massage can help release accumulated toxicity through the skin. Negative thoughts and emotions can also produce ama in the mind and in the spirit, creating an imbalance that can affect the whole mind body system.
Ojas can easily be understood as the opposite of ama. Unlike ama, however, ojas is not something we can touch or point to. It is an essence, something that we feel at our inner core. Ojas is produced when your entire being ΓÇö including the digestive tract ΓÇö is functioning well. When ojas is present, you feel physically strong and energetic, as well as emotionally confident and calm. Increasing the presence of ojas in your body creates the foundation for physical and spiritual well-being.
Ojas is brought into being by healthy emotions as well as good physical activities. In short, ojas is produced by living in the present moment. Ama ΓÇö which can afflict the spirit as well as the body ΓÇö is quite literally an accumulation of the past, but ojas is the present; ever vanishing, yet also continuously renewing itself.
