Meditation has a wide variety of benefits for your mind and body. Not only is it good for calming and soothing the mind but it can also help improve your overall quality of life.
Aromatherapy meditation is a form of meditation in which the use of essential oils is used in numerous ways in order to promote a deeper and more peaceful practice.
There are various ways on how aromatherapy meditation can be achieved, but mainly is through the use of oils and smells that create a more serene atmosphere.
Research shows that certain smells can awaken different senses in the body, and they can lead people to a relaxing environment.
For more information on how you can make the most of aromatherapy meditation, be sure to read our complete guide below.
Table of Contents
- How to Improve Your Meditation With Aromatherapy?
- What Aromatherapy Scent Is Good For Meditation?
- Essential Oils: What Are They Good For?
- How To Meditate Using Essential Oils?
- Is Aromatherapy A Form Of Mindfulness?
- Aromatherapy and Stress
- Types of Aromatherapy Products
- Organic vs Non-Organic Essential Oils For Aromatherapy
- What Is The Theory Behind Aromatherapy?
- How Does Aromatherapy Help Anxiety?
How to Improve Your Meditation With Aromatherapy?
Most people are unaware of the benefits of aromatherapy when combined with meditation. While a meditation practice can be done in numerous ways, one of the most efficient ways to calm the mind and promote wellness is through the use of essential oils.
This is when aromatherapy becomes important. The use of oils and fragrances has to lead to an enhanced and improved practice of meditation.
The overall experience of meditation is far more rewarding when all of your senses are involved in the practice.
The essential oils can be found in all types of scents and fragrances. Some of the most popular ones include lavender, sage, chamomile, eucalyptus, among others.
The ways of using aromatherapy with meditation are:
- Through Air diffusion: This is when the oils are diffused into the atmosphere where the scent creates a mist of smells that allows the body to relax during a meditation. Given that meditation is all about breath work, the fact that the atmosphere around the person has relaxing smells, this allows the senses to stimulate the person to find a calmer environment during their meditation practice. Often people use aromatherapy diffusers in their meditation practice, or even to have at home in order to promote a relaxing environment through calming smells.
- Applying directly to the skin: This is another great way to incorporate aromatherapy into a meditation practice. While some oils can be diluted, they can usually be applied directly into the skin just the way that they are. Oils can be infused into creams, or pressed into other materials in order for people to use them more regularly in their everyday life. The best way is to apply them into the practitioners palms and inhale directly from this source.
The use of these oils in meditation is a great way to enhance your meditation experience by giving you clarity and peace of mind.
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What Aromatherapy Scent Is Good For Meditation?
There are a wide range of scents available on the market that can work when used in a meditation practice. While each scent has a specific quality and purpose, lavender is one of the highly recommended scents due to its calming properties.
It is said that lavender is a great aid to promote sleep, given that its properties are very soothing and comforting.
In the same way, sage is commonly used in meditation practices given that it has cleansing abilities that allow people to concentrate and focus even better during this time of relaxation.
While there are various scents and aromas that can help achieve a deeper state of meditation, these two are by far the most used in the practices.
Essential Oils: What Are They Good For?
As the name itself says, aromatherapy is a therapy or a treatment done by the use of natural scents and essences that allow the treatment of the body in order to improve one’s health.
This holistic healing treatment uses natural plant extracts in order to boost the wellbeing of the patient. This form of treatment is called oil therapy or aromatherapy.
While essential oils are used as a form of therapy or even to include them in meditations, a lot of people also use them around their homes and even apply them directly to their bodies.
The Best Essential Oils Used For Aromatherapy:
- Lemon Oil – Regularly used because of its anti-bacterial properties. The smell is fresh and clean, which is why a lot of people use it also as an antiseptic agent.
- Cinnamon Oil – The scent of cinnamon is more sweet and musky compared to other scents. Cinnamon oil is mainly used as a health remedy; because of its strong smell it can help clear colds, aid pains, or even as an analgesic.
- Lemongrass Oil – Some people might confuse lemongrass with lemon, however they both have different properties. Mainly used because it is an energetic scent with a lot of anti-inflammatory properties, this scent is commonly used in aromatherapy meditations.
- Lavender Oil – One scent that is more often regularly used is lavender. Not only is this scent antispasmodic, but it also allows the person to relax more given that it has anti-anxiety properties. This scent is commonly used in therapies and in meditations because of its relaxing components.
- Tea tree Oil – Commonly referred to as melaleuca oil, this essence is highly praised because of its antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties.
- Eucalyptus Oil – Eucalyptus is a strong scent. Commonly used for products such as Vicks VapoRub because of the strong scent that is obtained from this plant. While this product is used for medicinal purposes, in some cases it is even used to freshen up a room and give the place a clean environment.
How To Meditate Using Essential Oils?
Now that you know the benefits of essential oils, it’s time to learn how to integrate them into your daily mediation routine.
Aromatherapy can help people enhance their practice, and even help them to relax more during the session. The essential oils can help people feel more grounded and connected when doing meditation.
In order to integrate essential oils into meditation, there are various ways to do it. The overall goal is to decrease stress, become more focused, more connected, and even more grounded.
For people who have been meditating for a long time now, or even for beginners, integrating aromatherapy into your practice is easier than you think.
Apply Directly To Your Skin
The most commonly used method is to apply directly to the skin, for instance, the palm of your hands, rub them together in order to press the oils into your skin, and then, pull the applied area to your nose and face and breathe in.
The purpose here is to really breathe in the scents, not to simply take a whiff.
Spend some time with your eyes closed during your meditation practice, inhaling these scents in order to make your practice even deeper and more meaningful.
Diffuse Them Into The Environment
There are various ways to incorporate aromatherapy into your meditation surroundings.
A commonly used device is a diffuser, which combines water with a few drops of essential oils and diffuses the scent into the environment. Aside from essential oils, some people even use incense as a form of aromatherapy.
By lighting incense before your practice, you might achieve a deeper and more meaningful experience overall through the use of scents.
Is Aromatherapy A Form Of Mindfulness?
Aromatherapy is commonly used as a form of therapy. It is integrated as a holistic health approach and for that reason, it is recommended for those who practice meditation, to incorporate aromatherapy in their practice as well.
In various ways, aromatherapy is a form of mindfulness because it leads the practitioners to a deeper and more meaningful practice. It allows them to improve their physical, mental, and emotional health through the use of the sense of smell and touch.
Aromatherapy and Stress
Aromatherapy is known for both its psychological and physical benefits and can help to promote relaxation and reduce stress.
Preliminary research shows that aromatherapy can alter brain waves and behavior and in this way, it can provide benefits to the person that is experiencing stress.
Aromatherapy can reduce the perception of stress, increase contentment, and decrease levels of cortisol, the “stress hormone.”
The practice of aromatherapy can stimulate the immune system, ease muscle tension and boost circulation.
Types of Aromatherapy Products
- Candles
- Diffusers
- Oils
- Incense
- Creams
Organic vs Non-Organic Essential Oils For Aromatherapy
Everyone knows that the term organic refers to a product being more natural and without any extra chemicals added or any extra process done to it.
In the same way that people can buy organic food and non-organic, they can find organic oils and non-organic ones.
The main difference is that there are no added chemicals to organic oils, they come directly from the source as they are, without any toxic or harmful chemicals added to them.
Mainly, once people understand the safety benefits that come from organic oils, they prefer to make the transition.
If you are looking for oils to integrate into your meditation practice, we highly recommend that you purchase 100% natural products when possible.
What Is The Theory Behind Aromatherapy?
The theory behind aromatherapy is that each essential oil has properties that give health benefits. Some essential oils are thought to: have an anti-inflammatory effect which may help with arthritis and muscular pain, some even help to fight off infections or inflammations.
On another note, it is very common that they are used for meditation practices or anything that involves relaxation, such as a massage, because of the therapeutic and soothing properties that the oils have.
How Does Aromatherapy Help Anxiety?
Some essential oils have calming and soothing effects which can even promote relaxation and sleep. For this same reason is why it could even help to deal with stress and anxiety.
Not only is meditation great to treat these two problems, but according to research, some scents such as lavender or chamomile can impact the limbic system and calm anxiety.
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