If you have recently smelt a citrus, musky and sweet scent at your usual go-to yoga studio, then there is a good chance that it was palo santo incense.
It is often used as a way to remove negative energy from a space, as well as to help keep a person calm and free of stress.
This must-have scent has a lot of benefits, however it also is full of history too. To find out more about what palo santo incense is used for, then read on to find out more.
What Actually Is Palo Santo?
Palo Santo is a type of tree that can be found native to coastal areas of South America. It has a relation to copal, myrrh, and frankincense. It also has sweet notes which include lemon, mint and pine.
The word is often referred to as ‘wood of the saints’ or ‘holy wood’. This is in relation to how this type of tree is seen. It is treasured and protected by many people who believe it has magical properties.
The indigenous people of the Andes use palo santo as a way to ward off any evil spirits that may be lurking close by. They also use palo santo to cleanse spaces of negative energy.
They do this by smudging. This is where you use a bundle of herbs or palo santo, burn them to produce smoke, and then wave them around a space to remove all of the negativity and to cleanse an area.
What Forms Can Palo Santo Be Used In For Healing?
There are different forms of palo santo that you can use. For example, the main one is wooden sticks. They smell absolutely wonderful and look really aesthetically pleasing too.
There are also santo palo incense sticks which are very straightforward to use, and really common when it comes to removing negative energy from the home.
You can also use palo santo in essential oil form too. This is often used during aromatherapy when a massage is given. However, this oil can also be added to the likes of sopas, lotions and candles too.
Are There Benefits To Using Palo Santo Incense?
There are many benefits to using palo santo when it comes to healing. Here are just a few of the reasons people use palo santo incense:
Removing Negative Energy
Palo santo is often used as a way to cleanse and purify energy, especially within the home. Just like white sage – another popular choice for house cleansing – it is burned and then the smoke is waved in all corners of the room.
The smoke is the part of the palo santo that is believed to be able to clear the space of any negative energy, while helping to balance emotions and make the area more positive.
The smell is wonderful too, which is always good to have in the home. Also, bugs tend to not like the scent, so it is also a natural way to stop them from invading your home.
Healing Properties
For centuries, palo santo has been used for its natural healing properties. For example, traditionally it was used as a way to alleviate symptoms of the flu or a cold.
It is also said that people often used – and still do use – palo santo for the likes of relieving stress, asthma, inflammation, headaches, depression and anxiety.
This is because salo panto is very well-known for having a calming effect which can help a person to recover from illnesses and stresses. This is another reason why the essential oil of palo santo is often used with massage oils and body cleansers, and so on.
Stress Reliever
Palo santo can be used to relieve stress due to its calming abilities. For this reason, it is often used during meditation. It can help to bring peace to a room, so it is often lit just before yoga practice begins.
If you are looking to have a relaxing bath, then you can add a couple of drops of palo santo essential oil to help relieve stress.
Palo santo is also known to help boost creativity too. If you are in need of some inspiration, then burning some palo santo may just help you to be inspired.
What Is The Best Way To Use Palo Santo Incense?
If you are wanting to use palo santo to cleanse your home of negative energy, then you will find that it is really easy to do.
While you can just use a matchstick, you can also burn an incense stick using a candle. Ignite the palo santo incense stick using an unscented candle and let it burn for a round 30 seconds.
Once the incense stick has burned for 30 seconds, then blow it out. You will then see a lot of smoke erupt from the incense stick. This will be what you use to cleanse the room.
Either hold the incense stick in your hand or place it in a suitable holder. You may find the latter is better to avoid any mess from the incense stick.
Wave the smoking incense stick around the home, but be very specific with your intentions. More often than not, smudging is a practice that is performed to remove negative energy from a place.
Remember the corners of the room too. Often you will find that the energy is very stagnant in the corner of the rooms.
If you find that the embers become dull and the smoke disappears, then it is okay to keep reigniting the palo santo incense stick. It will not cause any issues within the smudging process.
Final Thoughts
Palo santo incense comes from the tree which is native to coastal areas within South America. It has long been used by indigenous people to ward off any evil spirits that may be lurking, as well as to remove negative energy from a place.
You can use it to remove negative energy within the home, but also as a way to destress.
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