Are you looking for ways to improve your meditation experience? Incense is a great way to increase your concentration while also adding to the ambiance. Different scents can make it easier to let the mind flow free and may offer benefits when you’re done with your meditation.
Here are the seven best incense for meditation that you should try.
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1. Sandalwood
The best incense for meditation by far is sandalwood. Those who have studied Buddhism and other cultures will know that monks and believers have used Sandalwood for centuries.
Nag Champa, a widely used incense used in many Asian and Indian cultures, is a form of Sandalwood. Those that use Nag Champa for meditation often feel more recentered and refocused after meditating.
If you find there are unpleasant energies in the home, a lighter-scented Sandalwood than Nag Champa can offer a great cleansing effect, making it perfect for meditation.
2. Frankincense
Frankincense is the best incense to burn when you find yourself in need of extra protection while meditating. When we meditate, we find ourselves vulnerable to the world around us. Frankincense can help prevent those overwhelming vulnerabilities pull us away from the meditation process.
For those that meditate before a stressful event, Frankincense is the best incense for meditating beforehand, as it helps expel negative auras. These negative auroras can tackle us down when we need the most confidence. If you want to, burn Frankincense again after the event is over, to help recenter yourself.
3. Lavender
Lavender is the best incense for meditation before bed. Lavender promotes a feeling of relaxation and healing. If you’ve experienced a stressful day, burn Lavender while meditating to help overcome that day.
If you find others restless at night, like your partner or children, try burning Lavender for them. Even if they don’t meditate.
Because of meditation and the use of incense before bed, always make sure that your incense stick has completely burned through. Letting it burn while you’re asleep can pose a major fire risk.
4. Cedar
If you enjoy meditating outside, Cedar is a great incense to burn while you let the sun or moon shine down on you. It brings out an earthy and heavy smell that makes it perfect for eliminating negative energies outside.
Even though nature does a great job of cleansing itself of negative energies, people may project their negative energies onto you while meditating. Burning Cedar incense while meditating may help protect against those that project at you.
5. Eucalyptus
Sometimes it’s our own body that makes it hard to meditate. It may be from a lack of clean air or even allergies acting up. Regardless of what causes the issue, burning Eucalyptus may help clear things up.
The goal of meditation is to focus on your breathing and push out the thoughts that overwhelm your brain. Your goal is to give your brain a break from thinking. With your breathing blocked up, it makes the process of meditation difficult.
Burn Eucalyptus incense while meditating to help free up your breathing. Eucalyptus helps stimulate the muscles that are responsible for moving mucus out of our breathing pathways. This way, your energies are flowing again and you can effectively meditate.
6. Chamomile
Chamomile incense is much more than just a pleasant tasting tea. The scent of chamomile incense is often used before bed or before meditation because it helps quite a bit with preventing the mind from wondering. If you’re a late night meditator, it might be useful for helping you fall asleep as well as having a successful meditation session.
Like lavender incense, if you’re going to use it before bed, make sure to completely let chamomile incense burn all the way through.
7. White Sage
White sage incense is the perfect meditation tool for when the area you normally meditate in seems to be filled with negative energies. Having your meditation area filled with negative auras can cause meditation to feel impossible and as if there’s something wrong with you personally. If you can’t think of anything wrong going on with you, then there’s a good chance the room needs cleansing to help you accomplish your meditation session.
You may also be familiar with smudging, which white sage plays a large part in. Smudging sticks produce an abundance of smoke when cleansing an area, which may not make the area or room suitable for meditation for around an hour to two hours afterward. That’s where burning white sage incense comes in handy, as it’s lighter in smoke and the scent isn’t as heavy.
The Best Incense for Meditation Will Depend on the Day
The best incense for meditation will not be the same every day. While most days you might find Sandalwood to be the best option, on other days you might find Cedar gets the job done. Experiment with other scents as well to see how they affect your meditation process.
Want to learn more about meditation and incense burning? Check out our other articles on the subject. Pass this article along to friends that you know meditate so they can take their head-clearing to another level.