Yoga for Digestion

BY Indu Aroa3 min read • June 24, 2026

The True Power of Agnisara Practice (Hint: It’s not just a core exercise!)

Do you mimic Agnisara videos? 

We are often missing the point of Yoga practices when we see them performed on social media and try to repeat them on their own without context. 

In the case of Agnisara videos specifically, I find that they create more confusion and comparisons than clarity! I sense a doubt, conflict, and dejection in Yoga practitioners that their abdomen does not move the same way as what they see in an Agnisara demonstration.

However, the video isn’t your body, your constitution, or even the goal. When we reduce Yoga practices to visual exercises, workouts, routines, and sequences, we are the ones at loss.

Agnisara has almost nothing to do with muscular movement, rapid movements, suctioning the belly, or mimicking the demo. 

It’s much more powerful than that.
 

What is Agnisara?

Before we dive into Agnisara, we need to discuss Agni.

Agni is the core of health in Ayurveda. It is the metabolic fire. All the acids, enzymes, and transformative forces that digest, absorb, assimilate, and metabolize our food and experiences make up the agni in the body.

That brings us to Agnisara: Agnisara is a cleansing pre-practice for asanas, described in the Gheranda Samhita (1.12), Hatha Yoga Pradipika (2.22) and Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (2.40, 2.41). In this practice, the most important focal point is the nabhi marma in the navel region and ani marma above the knee. These two central and peripheral control points of agni respectively.

Despite what some videos may show, in all this attempt of mimicking the muscular precision and control of what we perceive as the practice, we forget something:

It isn’t the abdominal muscles that control the digestive fire or digestion in general—it’s the internal organs, especially the stomach, small intestine, and liver.

Agnisara helps stabilize, steady, and centralize the digestive fire. 

How to Practice Agnisara

You can do this practice standing, seated on a chair, seated on the floor, or even supine.

After a complete exhalation, pull the abdomen in and up (as in scoop in, scoop out) to the best of your capacity, for as long as you can comfortably hold the breath. When you’re ready to release the breath, do so. Pause, observe, repeat. 

The most important point is to focus on the nabhi marma in the navel region, ani marma above the knee, and tala-hridya marma in the center of the palm. These are the three central marma points that control agni. 

This may get you started, but it’s most effective to learn from someone who can teach you based on your capacity, dosha, and need. You’ll learn why to pause, what to observe, and how much to repeat the practice. 

Study More:

Learn more in my book, YOGA: Ancient Heritage, Tomorrow’s Wisdom

Explore with me LIVE ONLINE in my upcoming online training, Essential Ayurveda for Yoga Practitioners, which starts July 16!