There are few stress busters that are as effective as meditation. Mediation has been around forever, it has been practiced for thousands of years in Asia. It has been only quite recently since meditation has achieved popularity in the West, as people look for ways to combat the stress from work, or deal with anger management issues.
Meditation helps one take on the problems in his or her life with calmness of the mind and mental clarity. It keeps you emotionally positive at all times. There are several meditation techniques out there; one that is very popular is burning incense for meditation. We discuss this in detail in this article.
Burning incense for meditation or prayer has been used by all major faiths – Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Jewish. Clearly, there has to be something special about incense when it comes to meditation. The most popular ingredients used in incense for meditation are Sandalwood and Frankincense.
Incense is widely used in Chinese and Tibetan medicine and found to have several medicinal benefits, such as fighting stress, anxiety and depression. Incense is said to activate the third eye chakra.
Why is Incense Used for Meditation?
Incense helps to facilitate meditation. Incense purifies the air and has an amazing soothing effect on the mind. The aroma of the incense has a calming influence on the mind, bringing blissful tranquility to the senses. When you use incense, the mind is switched on for meditation.
In this, incense is similar to candles, as candles create a positive visual vibe for meditation. Incense burns fragrances that send positive impulses to the brain. Incense conditions the mind to respond in a certain way, so that every time it is used, the mind reacts in the same way.
It’s as though the mind gets turned on to the meditation mode as soon as incense with a particular fragrance is used. The incense used for meditation should be of a particular type, which should only be used during a meditation and for no other purpose apart from that, as that would only confuse the mind and decrease the effectiveness of the incense for meditation.
During the course of a typical day, we are surrounded by negative energy. Incense for meditation helps to dissipate that negative energy, and to stop it from hurting us again. It creates a positive atmosphere around us and shakes off the negativity. Incense keeps us calm and helps think through our problems with a degree of equanimity.
How Does One Use Incense for Meditation
You may burn incense during your meditation or before it. Burning incense before meditation helps to purify the air in the room. This is similar to the purpose solved by burning certain herbs, resins and woods that are known to have medicinal properties to cleanse a house. This helps bring about a sense of positivity and general well-being.
It is very important for your room to be well ventilated before burning incense in it. This has the effect of calming you down. Also, the incense shouldn’t be too close to you. It should be at least 6 to 8 feet from where you are sitting for meditation.
What are the Best Ingredients Used in Incense for Meditation?
As said earlier, Sandalwood and Frankincense are the best ingredients for incense used in meditation and they have been used for thousands of years. Sandalwood has been used as an ingredient for incense used for meditation by Buddhists in monasteries for several centuries. It has a warm, rich and woody fragrance to it, and instantly relaxes you and calms you down.
Frankincense has a deep, calming effect on the nervous system, and is known to contain phytochemicals that affect the cerebral cortex and limbic systems which help generate positive emotions. Frankincense is very rare and not easy to get. In some cultures, it is almost as precious as gold. The other popular ingredients used in incense for meditation are Ajanta, Mogao and Paomashan, which are all perfectly natural and very effective.
Be the first to comment