justB612 said:
Are you guys into aromatherapy?
I love my essential oil diffuser! I use all types of oils, but I love how refreshing the citrus blends are. Probably has something to do with the mild psycho-stimulant properties of inhaling vaporized d-limonene!
Essential oil of Rose smells awesome! Lavender is great too, as well as Eucalyptus oil. I love trying new oils and new blends!
I like Rosemary and also am familiar with its benefits as a cognitive enhancer when eaten as a food, too! I nibble on some here and there just out of principle whenever I pass a wild bush.
I am very big into incense also... I love clearing with White Sage then saying prayers over resins burning on a hot coal. I prefer Copal and Frankincense but I have tried and enjoyed many others.
Here is an interesting scientific study regarding inhaling Frankincense:
Burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses.
www.sciencedaily.com
Burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses.
I typically like to open a window on one side of the house, then start on the OPPOSITE end with a clearing incense such as a White Sage smudge. I will open a portal of white light just outside the window, then start working my way through the home with the White Sage moving all dark energy though the home out the window into the portal. I work my way through the house, closer to the window, with the home increasing in vibrant luminescent energetic intensity with each clearing.
I also make sure to Sage my hands, bottoms of my feet, and body. During which I pull the vapors into my body using the energetic system and swirl it around my physiology utilizing the spiraling motion of the main chakras and all the micro-chakras within the body. During this process, dark energy can be sucked out of the body and through the window into the portal of light.
More advanced methods I've learned from others include Saging each of the 4 corners of every door and walkway entry in a home, also, opening all doors, cabinets, drawers, and fireplaces and making sure to cleanse those too. One could also use the smudge stick to trace an outline of some kind of personally meaningful symbol in each doorway and walkway while infusing it with some kind of protective intention. This can also be done on the walls of the home.
Once the clearing is complete, the window is closed.
Other clearing incenses include Cedar and Sweetgrass.
Once the cleansing is done, the window is shut and a hot coal is lit for an invocation incense such as Copal, Frankincense, Myyrh or Dragons Blood. Or any combination there of. Palo Santo sticks or shredded Palo Santo on the coal are also used sometimes. Again, many other plants and resins have also been experimented with.
These incenses are used for invocations and prayers, anything you want to pray for. Light, love, peace, motivation, calm, strength, purification, balance, discipline.
The vapors fill the room but one can also apply the vapors to the body, hands, bottom of the feet, and again, use the chakras and the energetic body to permeate these medicines into your Qi structure to help solidify and manifest your intentions.
It should be mentioned that candles play a tremendous role in sacred practice, universally. Having candles lit, even just one or two, is critical when when doing this kind of work.
Because of the level of smoke this produces, I try to limit this type of activity to no more then once a week, but around two to three times a month.