Amapachana is the go to remedy for the Autumn season and that includes everything that Amapachana represents.
Ama means 'undigested' and pachana means 'to cook'. Amapachana is the burning up of all the old toxic yukko from improper digestion, bad sleep, difficult experiences, unhelpful habits and...well, life!
Amapachana uses the Fire Element to do its work both naturally (Agni) and with remedial support via diet, lifestyle, massage, herbs and yoga when your Agni is disturbed.
We can definitely trace the building up of Ama in our systems down to poor Agni. Our main Agni is the Fire Element that resides within the body from the lower stomach all the way through your 'pipes' to the small intestine (and there are 12 additional agni throughout the body also!)
The traditional remedy for Ama is taking a cleansing diet of kitcheree for a few days along with a remedy such as triphala and other amapachana herbs (turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, fennel, cumin, long pepper, black pepper and others). There are 1000's of great articles, recipes and ideas for amapachana via diet online.
You could eat kitcheree and drink homemade chai with all those beautiful spices for a simple, easy, at home Autumn re-boot. This mini-cleanse could see you experiencing less symptoms of ama! and from there, your re-fired Agni will do the rest.
Symptoms of Ama:
-Thick coating on the tongue that doesn't disappear with tongue scraping (or comes back quickly)
-Sluggish digestion, bloating, fullness after eating that doesn't go away, indigestion, heaviness and lethargy after eating, mild nausea or distaste for food (but eat anyway).
-Not refreshed after sleeping
Lack of physical strength accompanied by a general lethargy and apathy
-Strong cravings but little satisfaction upon eating
-Bad smell of breath, sweat, gas and stools
-Sallow skin or breakouts
-Clouded thoughts, inability to focus, and/or generally unmotivated in life
There are other ways of doing amapachana (I love to look through the liver cleanse diets for inspiration as they are very similar in their effect) but, generally, you are cutting out the usual suspects and giving your digestive system the most easy time that you can muster whilst adding in wholesome unadulterated high quality food with a few spices added in. A very helpful boost to amapachana which is often missed is having a routine (eat and sleep and activities at the same time each day).
As I said, the 'spirit' of Autumn is amapachana and this burning away of the undigested experiences could also come via a huge clear and de-clutter, talking with a therapist, getting out in the fresh air to blow the cobwebs away, a daily meditation practice and so many other activities that help you to re-balance. Add this to a practice of slowing down, not taking on more and more things and refusing to get entangled in anything that doesn't support your best wishes and the Autumn energy will help by bustling along beside you doing exactly the same thing preparing you for the next Season of good health!
That's what I'm going to TRY to do anyway