Incense is just as old as time. It has been often referred to in the Pali Canon which is basically the scriptures documenting Gautama Buddha's life. Just as we offer food, flowers, beverages, and garments to the lord, incense is part of the same process. It is a sign of respect and reverence.
Even though most Buddhists consider offering incense at the altar, the reason for the same tends to vary. At its very essence, incense is believed to be a purifying agent that rejuvenates and purifies the area. This is regardless of the space. So, whether it's a meditation area or a corner of your room, adding incense just elevates your mood and improves the ambiance of the whole space.
The defining quality of incense lies in the fact that it helps you relax and creates a tranquil atmosphere. That is also the reason, why many consider offering incense at schools and other educational institutes. This is especially relevant to Buddhist schools, where offering a set of three incense sticks that are meant to indicate the Three treasures in Buddhism, namely Lord Buddha, the concept of dharma, and the ultimate unity or sangha.
Regardless of the symbolism, using incense for your daily meditation is one of the best ways to boost your focus and add purity to your worship area. Interestingly enough, incense isn't limited to the Buddhist culture. In addition to Buddhists, people across the globe use it in their places of worship. For instance, you will find incense sticks in Catholic churches, Hindu rituals, and everywhere in between.
But why is it so popular in all cultures including the Buddhist culture? Is ensuring tranquility the only purpose of using incense sticks? The answer is both yes and no. According to several scientists, adding incense in your room doesn't just establish a tranquil ambiance but also boosts your cognitive abilities. The biggest highlight: the benefits aren't restricted to the placebo level.
Multiple studies have been conducted on the use of incense sticks and we can certainly confirm that their benefits are beyond psychological. Several logical deductions allude to the fact that the pleasant and comforting Scent of incense leads to an antidepressant-like impact on individuals. The hypothesis is reasonable, to say the least, and when incense sticks as supported by aromatherapy the impact is even more intense. This further confirms the many benefits of Ayurvedic medicine, which is the category to which incense sticks belong.
In the following sections, we will take a closer look at incense benefit and how it is related to Buddhism.
Benefits of different types of incenses used in Buddhism
Now that you understand the relationship between incense sticks and Buddhism, it's time to further understand the benefits associated with each type of incense stick. In the following sections, we will list out the commonly used incense in Buddhist cultures and the many benefits that come with it.
Rose incense
If you are planning to use rose incense, you’re in luck because its benefits are manifold. In this section, we will take a closer look at some of these benefits:
With the right scent of rose, you can recollect vivid and clear memories of all possible events and it, therefore, boosts your cognitive abilities. The idea here is to associate an event with a scent so that you can recollect it better. If you want to go the extra mile, you can also easily create a bunch of recollection of these sticks for important occasions like your anniversaries, birthdays, and dates among others. Not only are they memorable, but they will also boost your cognitive ability and help you recollect things better.
With the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, sometimes all we want to do is relax. And this isn't limited to relaxation at a physical level, but also an emotional level. And that is exactly where rose incenses come to play. If you are grappling with anxiety attacks, bouts of stress, and depression, rose incense sticks might help exacerbate your situation. It is known to enhance your serotonin levels, boost your overall mood, improve your sleep pattern, and also alleviate problems with sinuses to some extent.
If you are suffering from complex neurological ailments like depression, rose incense can be your savior and help improve your condition. The best part: because it isn't a medicine or a drug, there's no chance of getting addicted either.
If you struggling to get a good night's sleep, you might just want to invest in a quality rose incense. When you burn a rose incense before sleeping, it helps improve your overall health, helping you sleep longer and better. You experience the same impact as a sleeping pill where your body relaxes, and your mind is calm enough for a good round of sleep. Once you do this regularly, your usual sleep condition will significantly improve, and you will get a better round of rest.
If you are impatient or generally fidgety, you might want to burn a rose incense stick for better and longer hours of meditation. These sticks have been used for decades to improve mood and the quality of meditation, and given our experience, it certainly uplifts you and helps you focus better.
If you are practicing Buddhist meditation or any other sort of meditation, we recommend timing it according to the burn-out of a full stick. Over time, you can concentrate better, your focus will improve, and your meditation sessions will last longer. The aromatic ambiance that rose creates helps with intense meditation and offers you the right kind of peace without any side effects.
As you already know, the rose is a beautiful flower and its ingredients come with several antibacterial properties, which, over time, are known to improve the air quality. When you add the right incense at home, you can easily outdo the unpleasant odor from closed rooms, wet clothes, or spices that you otherwise use in cooking. It operates like an air freshener, keeping your air clean and fresh. Because it is also chemical-free, you do not experience any health issues either.
In case you are a spiritual individual, you should certainly burn rose incense sticks before performing a new ritual or any sort of important project. This will not just boost your cognitive abilities and focus but also keep negative energy at bay.
Benefits
* Relieves stress and depression
* Improves retention, attention span, and focus
* Anti-bacterial properties enhance air quality, remove impurities and negative energy
* Helps grapple with anxiety
* Improves quality of sleep
Lavender Incense
As with rose incense, lavender incense goes a long way in helping you to alleviate stress. The moment you burn this incense, your body will relax, and your soul will experience a calming effect. Most lavender incenses come loaded with a bunch of special oil and herbs that further add to their relaxing capabilities. Once you start inhaling it, the effects will be immediately apparent, and you will feel a lot calmer than earlier.
Very often, the only thing we seek from life is clarity. Luckily, lavender offers exactly that. According to studies, these incenses help enhance your muscle for relaxation allowing you to assume your meditative avatar in moments. Your mind will be calm regardless of the environment and you will be at the top of coordination. What's more, you can visualize better, and your mind will be at complete peace.
While many are still unaware of this benefit, lavender comes with several antiseptic properties that help heal inflammation. The aroma of the stick will cleanse the air around you and keep common insects at bay. Over time, you will realize that your emotions are now much more balanced, and your thoughts are cleansed like never before. You can also burn these sticks on a bad day because they will certainly uplift your mood.
After a long day of toil, most of us seek a good night's sleep. Sadly, all of us don’t achieve it especially if you are a light sleeper. Luckily, lavender can help in this department. If you are looking to enjoy deep sleep, just dim your lights, drink a warm cup of tea (preferably chamomile/lavender) and then light your lavender sticks. Within moments you will fall asleep, thanks to the soothing aroma of the lavender incense.
Do you often find yourself procrastinating? Are you looking for a surefire way to boost your focus? If so, try burning lavender incense sticks. If you burn the sticks at the time of your work or study, it will automatically improve your concentration level and help enhance focus. The impact is subtle, and it won't be as intrusive as background music or intoxicants. Over time, it will help boost your creative abilities and significantly improve your emotional performance.
This is yet another major benefit of burning lavender sticks. Not only does it help strike balance on your emotions, but it also improves your sexual drive helping you perform better. In men, it is known to boost fertility and in women, it will improve mood and create a relaxing experience.
Benefits
* Relaxes and calms you
* Helps deal with sadness and bouts of anxiety
* Helps battle depression
* Limits and prevents procrastination
* Helps balance your emotions and hormones
* Improves sleep quality
* Cleanses thoughts
Backflow Incense
Backflow incense is extremely common in Buddhist culture and many use it for its significant benefits. In this section, we will shed more light on some of these benefits.
The biggest quality of backflow incense is the fact that it is long-lasting. A single cone will last you a couple of hours and it will beautifully permeate across every corner of your room. This will create a pleasant ambiance and uplift your and your family's mood in minutes.
Backflow incenses also come with an aesthetic appeal. Most of them are burnt on beautiful incense burners that elevate the mood of your entire room. You can use these burners in any area including (but not limited to) your room, office space, yoga room, and meditation area among others. You will find the aroma flowing in the form of a mountain and it will certainly add a hint of glamor to your usual space.
In case you are planning to learn more about backflow incenses and want to get a backflow incense holder for your home, check our backflow incense collections for just the kind of aesthetic and pleasant appeal you need.
Benefits
* Adds aesthetic appeal to your home
* Calms you from high-stress activity
* Helps deal with anxiety and depression
Cedar
If you are struggling with sadness or depression, you might want to burn cedar incense sticks. Why? Because of its incredible therapeutic properties and the ability to heal you from the strongest bouts of blues.
Cedar incense sticks are easily available and just a strong whiff of fragrance will transform your world and help elevate your mood for the better.
Benefits
* Improves mood and prevents mood swings
* Helps balance your emotions and keeps you in a happy mood
* Helps deal with depression
* Heals physical and emotional pain
Dragon's Blood
If you are suffering from pain or issues in the GI tract, you might want to burn Dragon's blood incense for the many benefits it offers.
According to several research, it soothes you and helps you stay fit, healthy, and in the right mood. What's more, it helps deal with inflammation and pain, thus easing and healing you like you always wanted.
Benefits
* Reduces bodily pain
* Heals inflammation and pain around the GI tractActivates your mood and keeps you healthy
* Improves your senses and makes you more energetic
Jasmine
This is yet another excellent incense stick that is known to balance your hormone levels.
If you struggle from frequent bouts of anger or mood swings, you might want to light up these incense sticks for a better and more lasting happy mood. You will feel relaxed, fulfilled, and mood swings won't bother you anymore.
Benefits
* Balances your hormone levels
* Limits and prevents mood swings
* Helps with better cognitive functions
* Limits and prevents anger
* Helps relax better
Amber
Do you often struggle with issues related to immunity? If so, you might want to introduce Amber incense sticks to your lifestyle.
These incenses are known to elevate your mood and help deal with multiple immunity issues.
Over time, it helps build your body’s immune response which in turn leaves you unsusceptible to several grave ailments.
Benefits
* Helps build the immune response of your body
* Improves immunity levels
* Helps fight off multiple ailments
* Elevates your emotions
* Improves your thoughts and focus
* Boosts focus
Frankincense
This is yet another popular form of incense that is known to relieve depression. So, if you frequently struggle with the blues, you might want to introduce this incense in your life.
What's more, burning frankincense incense is also known to boost your creative faculties. So, before you initiate your creative pursuits, burning this incense is certainly an excellent idea.
Benefits
* Helps relieve depression
* Plays a crucial role in limiting and preventing anxiety attacks
* Balances your mood
* Boosts your creative faculties
* Improves cognitive functions
Sandalwood
If you are looking to stay calm and relaxed, sandalwood incense sticks are an excellent option.
Burning these sticks is known to help relieve tension and over time, they also help develop a greater and more intense sense of awareness.
* Relaxes you and calms you down from stress
* Relieves tension
* Helps limit anxiety
* Helps establish self-awareness
* Improves focus
Cinnamon
One of the biggest benefits of cinnamon incense is that it goes a long way in boosting focus. So, if you are struggling with issues related to focus and retaining memory, you might want to burn this incense at the right time.
The impact of cinnamon incense is therapeutic, to say the least, and the aroma of the incense is known to grab the attention of positive vibration. Over time, this enhances your mood and uplifts your spirit. So, if you are planning to perform Buddhist meditative practice burning these incense sticks, this might just be the best idea. It will elevate the entire environment and create an aura of positivity.
While this might sound bizarre, cinnamon does improve your usual level of self-confidence. Additionally, it boosts your libido and helps with seduction. When you use this incense, you can never go wrong with yourself and you will act more confidently, making just the right impression.
If you are keen to boost your total wellbeing, you might want to burn cinnamon incenses. According to several studies, it enhances your physical and emotional state. What's more, it adds a sense of reassurance in your usual environment, attracting happiness, abundance, and everything nice. In some faiths, it is also known to be a harbinger of good luck. When used regularly, it will also help deal with your depression, bouts of anger and sadness, and most importantly, pessimism. So, if energy and positivity are all you seek from life, cinnamon incenses are your go-to scents.
According to the Buddhist culture, cinnamon scent acts as your protector. That is one of the many reasons several homes use it to combat evil and negative powers. Traditionally, you will find many individuals burning cinnamon sticks and spreading its smoke within the home to keep negative at bay and add an extra layer of protection to the entire space.
Cinnamon incense comes with several properties that help make it even more effective and diverse. From improving your ambiance with the perfect fragrance, uplifting your mood, keeping negativity at bay, killing insects, improving your love life, and helping you battle stress, anxiety, and depression- the benefits of this simple incense stick are manifold.
When burnt for long enough, cinnamon incense will help keep insects at bay, purifying your air like never before. What's more, unlike other inorganic incenses it is completely eco-friendly and safe for your environment. If you are in an area in proximity to toxic chemicals, you might want to burn cinnamon incense sticks to keep those chemicals away from you. Additionally, if you are bombarded by insect attacks, then these sticks can help remove the insects, thus purifying your home.
Benefits
* Improves your focus and attention span
* Purifies the air and kills insects
* Enhances your mood
* Helps relieve anxiety and depression
* Helps attract abundance and happiness
* Keeps negative energy at bay
Bottom Line
Now that you know the benefits of incense sticks and how they are correlated to Buddhism, explore your many options and choose an incense stick that suits and syncs with your requirements perfectly. Because we listed a range of incense sticks along with their comprehensive benefits, we are certain that you will have an easier time understanding how they operate, and which type of incense stick works best for you. So, wait no further and make your pick to stay calmer and relaxed like you always wanted to. Because these incenses are
fully organic, they won't have any side effects and the positive impact will be lasting, to say the least.
