Meditation is good for your body and mind. It helps to keep you balanced and calm, but sometimes it can be difficult to quiet your mind enough to have the most effective experience. That’s where the following diffuser recipes can help. If you prefer to burn incense rather than use a diffuser, you’ll need to know how to select good quality incense. So I’ve also included that information. We just say no to cheap, low quality incense for the goddesses that come to SpaFromScratch.
Diffuser recipe to help quiet your mind during meditation
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Canola Oil
1 tbsp 100 proof Vodka
10 to 12 Diffuser Reeds
1/2 tsp Sandalwood Essential Oil
1/2 tsp Frankincense Essential Oil
Instructions:
Fill bottle about 3/4 full with your essential oil(s), canola oil (sweet almond, jojoba also work well) and vodka. Stir or shake gently, add reeds and you’re almost done.
After the reeds are saturated, turn them over so the dry end is in the bottle. Wash your hands after handling the oil soaked ends of the reeds.
Note: You can opt to use 1 teaspoon of either sandalwood or frankincense essential oil. Both of these oils are helpful when you want to quiet your mind.
How to select high quality incense
Cheap incense is machine made using petroleum derivative as substitutes for the essential oils. Good quality incense is hand made.
Generally, you can plan on paying no less than $15 or so for a box of 30 incense sticks. If you’re flush, you can try some incense blends that move on up there in the $300+ range.
Incense may be made with a single ingredient or a blend. In my other post, I suggested sandalwood, frankincense and aloeswood (also called agarwood or oud) as good picks for meditating. I recommend Bo Rim incense, the one used by the Dalai Lama. Aloeswood is the main ingredient in this incense and is one of the best to use when you want to quiet your mind. A particularly intriguing incense that’s inexpensive is Jing Kwan. It contains a blend of frankincense, sandalwood, and aloeswood, the three most recommended scents to help you meditate.
You can purchase both of these incenses online, however, the prices vary a great deal so shop around.
Notes:
- Don’t place your incense where the smoke is going directly in your face. The object is to have the fragrance infused throughout the room where you’re meditating.
- You can burn more than one incense stick or cone at a time, but be careful when doing this or the aroma can become overwhelming.
- In a later post, I’ll be covering more on the types of incense and how they are burned. Yes, there is more than just cones and sticks.
Conclusion
There’s a great deal written about both the benefits of meditation and using scents to help quiet your mind. The Dalai Lama himself stated that meditation is “Not for next life. Not for heaven, but for day to day’s well-being.” If the use of scents in the form of a diffuser or incense helps, then, by all means, use it.
Now go have fun and relax.
Related posts:
Quiet Your Mind – An Enhanced Spa Day Experience
Wonderful Relaxing Music for Spa Day