Meditation is something many practice to help keep their body calm, centered, and free from worries. While numerous tools can be used during meditation sessions, such as music, candles, etc., one of the best to incorporate into your sessions is incense.
In this article, we’ll look at how to use incense as a meditation aid.
Table of Contents
What is Incense?
Incense is a type of material (generally a mixture of plant resins) that when lit releases fragrant smoke. This smoke then fills the room with various types of calming or energizing scents. The olfactory and visual components of incense make it the perfect tool to use for meditation and aromatherapy.
Why is Meditation Important?
Meditation, specifically mindfulness meditation, is important for quite a few reasons.
It Reduces Stress
One reason many people do meditation is that it helps to reduce stress. This is because it works to lower cortisol (a stress hormone) and release endorphins.
It Clears Your Mind
Meditation can also help to clear your mind making it ideal for those who feel overwhelmed, depressed, or anxious. In fact, it will not only help you to free negative thoughts from your mind, but think more positively in the long run.
It Keeps Your Brain Healthy
Another reason why meditation is important to practice is that it can keep your brain healthy. This is because it improves attention span and memory. Due to this, it can work to prevent the development of illnesses like dementia.
The Benefits of Incense for Meditation
While some might want to do their meditation sessions without the use of incense, there are a handful of reasons why you should seriously consider adding it to your meditation practice.
It Helps You to Relax and Focus
Thanks to the numerous fragrances available, meditation can work to calm your body down in addition to what meditation already does. By inhaling the scent, it can help to encourage you to relax.
Besides relaxation, incense can also keep you focused. In fact, many meditators often turn to incense rather than background music during their sessions because it’s a less-intrusive option. Studies have also shown that incense can help users focus on very detailed information as it improves concentration.
In addition to this, many often enjoy watching the trails of smoke that incense creates as it burns. Backflow incense burners in particular, are super compelling. By tracking the winding paths that it takes through the burner and into the room, incense can calm your mind down and help you to significantly feel at peace.
It Encourages Creativity
Using incense during meditation also increases creativity. In fact, during your meditation, you might find that the incense inspires you to come up with unique ideas and even improve your mental health which can free your mind of negative thoughts.
It Purifies the Air
Because most incense options are made of ingredients that are antibacterial, they can work to purify the air where you burn them. This can allow you to have a deeper meditation session while removing odors from the air that might distract you.
Best Types of Incense for Meditation
If you’re interested in using incense for meditation, you’ll find there are a few options that you can choose from.
This includes:
- Sandalwood
- Frankincense
- Amber
- Bog myrtle
- Cedar
- Cinnamon
- Jasmine
- Ginseng
All of these fragrances have their own unique aromas and benefits. Because of this, it’s important to research more behind them to ensure that you use the right scent for your needs.
How to Use Incense for Meditation
When it comes to using incense for meditation, there are a few steps you’ll want to follow. The first is to gather your supplies which is usually an incense holder and a stick of incense. After inserting the stick or cone into the holder, carefully light it. The incense will then start to burn and release smoke into the air. Let the flame burn for a few seconds before blowing it out. After you do so, the stick or cone should still be glowing red and releasing smoke.
Typically the incense will burn out in 15 or 20 minutes, depending on the type of incense you choose. For many meditators, this is an ideal “clock” for the meditation session. When the incense burns out, you can complete your session.
Conclusion
Incense is perfect to use during meditation as it not only will fill the room with a wonderful fragrance, but can help you to relax and concentrate.
Better yet, it is easy to use, making it a great meditation aid.
