SolveYourProblem Article Series: Mind, Body, Spirit & Meditation
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Enhance Your Meditation With Aromatherapy

Meditation alone can be incredibly healing and restorative, but it is also possible to enhance the benefits by combining it with other modalities like music, color therapy, and holding or placing specific gems and crystals on the body while meditating.

Aromatherapy is another option that works well with meditation because specific scents can easily inspire corresponding moods and enhance visual imagery. Depending on the purpose of your meditation, you could choose various scents that would complement it. For example, some scents might induce a sense of peace and well-being while others would be better for boosting confidence, enhancing mental clarity or stimulating creativity.

Below you’ll find recommendations for various scents that will complement different types of meditation. There are a few ways to disperse the scent through the room, including burning scented incense, warming essential oils in a diffuser, or even dabbing some on a scarf and draping it around your neck.

For energy and motivation:

To boost your energy, motivation and personal power, try a meditation that boosts your mood first, like visualizing an inspiring or exciting scene. You can imagine something that hasn’t happened yet, remember something wonderful that happened in the past, or even recite empowering affirmations mentally.

For invigorating aromatherapy scents, go with “spicy” choices like those associated with warmth and energy. Try cinnamon, ginger, cedar, orange, lemon, grapefruit, patchouli, mint, nutmeg, allspice, coffee, or mocha.

For peace and serenity:

To induce a peaceful, serene state of mind choose relaxing imagery, like envisioning yourself relaxing on a beach, walking slowly through a quiet forest, or even soaking in a warm bath.

You’ll also want to choose softer scents to go along with the meditation, and floral scents usually work well for this purpose. Try violet, lavender, gardenia, carnation, rose, jasmine, honeysuckle, magnolia, or lilac.

For healing and well-being:

Healing meditations can include anything that inspires a sense of well-being. One popular choice is envisioning a cloud of beautiful light flowing around and through your body, dissolving all illness and discomfort. You can make the light any color you want, as well as adjusting the brightness or softness, or focusing it on specific areas that hurt.

Scents associated with health and wellness are often those with light, pleasant scents. Floral scents also work well for this type of meditation, or you might try “greener” herbal scents like eucalyptus, myrrh, sandalwood, basil, rosemary, clove, or vanilla.

These are only suggestions; feel free to change them according to your own preferences. There are no “right or wrong” scents to be used in aromatherapy. Simply choose scents that you enjoy and seem to work best for your purposes and you can’t go wrong.

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