Spirituality is becoming increasingly recognised, with people reaching towards it to heal, grow, and flourish. However, attaining spiritual enlightenment isn't an easy journey. Luckily, incense is a great way to align the Chakras, cleanse our energy, and strengthen our intuition, naturally improving our Spirituality. That said, read on as we dive into the 'Top 10 Spiritual Benefits Of Burning Incense'.
“At the end of our lives we hope we will look back and, like an incense stick completely burned away, will have poured forth all our fragrance into the world.” ~ Prem Prakash
Incense is rich in history, with origins dating back as early as ancient living. Ancient civilisations such as the Egyptians and Romans burnt incense in their religious ceremonies and celebrations, and it is still widely used in religious settings today.
Whether used in ritual, in peaceful meditation, or even to brighten the spirits and fragrance of your home, there are lots of moments and ways to burn incense to best increase spirituality.
Incense is a popular tool used to cleanse energy, remove unpleasant odours, deter pests, and improve spirituality. It involves burning an aromatic biotic material (or multiple), usually plant life, to release a pleasant scented smoke. There are different types of incense, the most popular being sticks, cones, coils, and our favourite - natural incense.
What is Natural Incense?
Natural incense is the Burnt Beech way - it involves burning a combination of pure botanicals, essential oils, and resins in a ceramic oil warmer along with water or carrier oil.
Natural incense is an ancient incense type. Many ancient relics burnt plants, resins, and their extract oil, all in their natural and authentic form. Unfortunately, with modern influence, some incense types have additives and chemical enhancements.
What Makes Natural Incense Our Favourite?
Burning natural incense not only benefits the mind, body, and spirituality, but it also produces a fresher and less harsh smoke compared to sticks, cones, and coils. Natural incense also provides a more 'natural' and 'earthy' fragrance, helping to ground and connect energy, leaving you feeling closer to nature.
There is a wide variety of natural incense scents and plants. On a cold winter's night, we enjoy burning a blend of spicy and sweet extracts to bring a sense of warmth and comfort to the cold air. On a sunny spring morning, we love to burn floral and fresh-scented leaves and petals to brighten the ambience of our home.
What are the Spiritual Benefits of Burning Incense?
1. Cleanses Negative Energy
Incense has a long history of use for cleansing energy, whether that's for cleansing personal energy or cleansing a space from negativity.
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The natural antibacterial properties produced by burning plants and resins (combined with the fragrance they produce) naturally purify the atmosphere, sparking feelings of joy, positivity, and spiritual enlightenment - this is integral in improving spirituality, as negativity can leave us feeling energetically blocked.
Native Americans burnt bundles of Sage leaves, stems, and roots, also known as smudge sticks. This would cleanse their space from malevolent spirits and negative energy. This tradition has continued into the modern day, becoming significant in most spiritual teachings across the globe.
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2. Provides Grounding
Earthy botanicals (such as Myrrh, Frankincense, Sandalwood, and Pine) are perfect for grounding our energy, therefore naturally strengthening the Root Chakra. The Root Chakra dictates many aspects of our current personality whilst contributing to our spiritual growth. When this Chakra is unbalanced, we feel a lack of spiritual clarity and appreciation - we might also feel disconnected from nature and its spiritual benefits.
Aromatic resins are the fragrant sap of a tree, usually those that provide Frankincense and Myrrh. They are prized ancient commodities - ancient cultures burnt them only in the most sacred spaces due to their divine nature.
3. Improves Concentration During Meditation
Meditation is one of the most popular ways to find spiritual clarity. It helps to soothe the mind, body, and soul, allowing a person to temporarily disconnect from their day-to-day stresses and embrace peace and serenity.
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Floral, spicy, and citrusy incense scents, examples including Lavender and Lemongrass, are perfect for improving focus and enhancing clarity during meditation. This allows us to delve deeper into our meditations, perhaps leading us to other spiritual realms.
4. Aligns the Heart Chakra
The Heart Chakra is our fourth aligning energy centre, responsible for our relationships, love life, feelings of compassion, and our sense of forgiveness - not only that, but it acts as a bridge between our physical world and the spiritual. When the Heart Chakra is out of balance, we feel disconnected from our surroundings and spiritual energy. Perhaps we even experience discontent, anger, and frustration, whichnaturally influence our spiritual growth.
Patchouli and Rose are perfect examples of Heart Chakra balancing scents. Burning these flowers (as incense) naturally improves the alignment of this unruly Chakra.
5. Incense is a Delivery Vehicle for our Prayers
Many modern cultures and religions believe that burning incense during prayer ensures their prayers are answered. However, this prospect dates back as early as ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome, and the Indus Valley. These ancient civilisations burnt incense through their cities and temples and cleansed spiritual statues and pharaohs with sacred scents - this improved spiritual enlightenment and strengthened deity connection.
Resins such as Myrrh and Frankincense (as well as citruses such as Orange and Bergamot) are perfect incense scents for improving spiritual connection during prayer.
6. Promotes Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a conscious meditation style which involves letting go of stressful thoughts and feelings and focusing on the moment. Being mindful of your body and mind (and allowing positive thoughts and feelings to replace negative ones) can allow you to become spiritually aligned.
Burning incense can help you to become more mindful. Positive-inducing scents such as Sweet Orange, Lemon, Geranium, and Vanilla can help advance your mindfulness technique and improve your overall mood. Incense can also increase focus which can help you to embrace your meditation with ease.
7. Provides a Connection to the Divine
Since ancient times, incense has been burnt as a spiritual-enhancing tool, allowing for connection, peace, and clarity.
Burning incense for divine connection is one of the most popular tools used, with many spiritual and religious people finding it beneficial in delivering prayers, feeling closeness to higher entities and passed loved ones, and aligning the seven crucial Chakras. Incense is also used in ceremonies and rituals for these exact qualities.
Most incense scents are known to improve divine connection, especially those with an earthy and grounding fragrance.
8. Increases Serotonin
Serotonin is responsible for regulating anxiety and, in the correct amounts, promoting feelings of happiness and positivity. Many people associate a serotonin boost with music, food, and exercise. However, our sense of smell is our strongest sense, so by burning natural and vibrant incense, our serotonin may become balanced.
By improving our serotonin balance, our spirituality will naturally improve. But do not panic - spirituality is a forever journey, and with that, we still experience the ups and downs of life. It is always important to speak to a medical professional if you are experiencing feelings of low serotonin.
Incense is a fantastic creativity-enhancing solution, which in turn improves our spirituality. When we are creative, our Sacral Chakra is functioning correctly, therefore, we become more sensitive to spiritual signs, dreams, and feelings.
Burning spicy scents such as Cinnamon and Ginger enhances our creative mind, allowing us to engage in writing, reading, painting, acting, crafting, and making music with passion and imagination.
10. Induces Visions and Positive Dreaming
Our smell is one of our most powerful senses, impacting our neurological system/well-being and other human functions. This being said, by burning pleasant aromas, our mind becomes impartial to positive thinking, imagination, and clarity, naturally improving our spirituality.
One aspect of our life positively impacted by pleasant, healing fragrances is sleep and dreaming. Some natural incense scents help with insomnia, nightmares, and oversleeping, whereas others enhance dreaming, bringing spiritual visions and excitement to your sleeping. A popular example of this is Satya Opium, an incense scent best known for producing mystical visions and lucid dreams. Others include Mugwort, Sandalwood, and Ginger.
Ensure you burn you dream-enhancing incense before falling asleep opposed to during.
When Should I Burn Incense To Improve Spirituality?
Incense can be burnt whenever you like. However, here are our top 5 favourite moments to burn incense to improve spirituality...
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1. During Meditation
When burned, the various natural herbs, spices, and resins, that make up the incense, release beneficial properties that are proven to promote relaxation and positivity. Therefore, incense is perfect for creating a soothing, meditational space.
However, incense's amazing ability to increase spirituality and strengthen the Third Eye makes it the perfect tool to use during meditations. Overall, a combination of meditating and burning incense is the PERFECT way to become spiritually inclined.
Some of our favourite meditation-enhancing scents are Sandalwood (incredibly grounding) and Lavender (which can improve clarity and inner peace).
2. When Being Creative
When our creative juices are flowing, our spiritual growth usually coincides, and what I mean by this is that spirituality and creativity go hand in hand. Without creativiness our Sacral Chakra, located two fingertips below the naval, is misaligned, therefor our spirituality is affected.
Engaging in creative activities helps us become more attuned to spiritual shapes, colours, and clairvoyant signs, enhancing our intuition and clarity. Burning incense while painting, drawing, writing, crafting, reading, or playing an instrument can enhance our spiritual enlightenment.
3. In Prayer or Worship
Incense is commonly burnt within religious settings such as temples and churches, usually through ceremonies and rituals. This is thanks to its spiritual effects and tranquil qualities.
Many religious people find incense to be connecting, allowing them to feel closer to higher entities as well as loved ones who have passed away.
Burning incense in religion is an ancient ritual, with some of the earliest ancient civilisations using it to increase spiritual energy, connection, enlightenment, and healing.
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4. When Cleansing Energy
When you or your space requires an energy cleanse, incense is a great solution - its natural antibacterial and mood-boosting qualities can help remove negativity or 'bad juju'.
This can also naturally allow you to tune in with spiritual energy. When your energy feels cleansed, it is easier to tune in with your intuition, bringing clarity and spiritual growth.
5. Before Bedtime
Burning incense before bedtime is another great way to improve spirituality. How so, you may ask? Well, some spiritual people believe that when we are sleeping, our body is on the astral plane. We are believed to experience major spiritual lessons here - therefore, incense can ensure we experience this fully. Others believe that dreams are spiritual messages brought to us to better our divine selves.
Whatever you believe, burning incense before bedtime can help to calm shaken energy, elevating stress and tension built up throughout the day. Naturally, this can help to improve spirituality by keeping your energy measured and cleansed.
Other Noteworthy Examples
Manifesting: Burning incense when manifesting can help to open your 'Third Eye Chakra', allowing for clarity and concentration, two crucial things for reaching a state of manifestation and spiritual enlightenment.
Yoga/ Pilates: Because of the relaxing and mind-focusing qualities of incense, it can help to enhance your yoga or pilates practices, whilst improving your spirituality.
Journaling: Burning incense when journalling can really help to spark spiritual awareness through writing innermost thoughts and feelings.
Chakra Strengthening: A great time to burn incense is when you feel your Chakras are imbalanced. By strengthening your Chakras, you naturally become more spiritually inclined.
The Bottom Line
Incense stands the test of time when it comes to spirituality. After all, it has origins in just about every religion, both modern and ancient. As human consciousness continues to explore and expand, we can't wait to see what the future of incense has in store.
