Topics: Therapies
Smudging
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Smudging is one of the weirder stress-relieving practices to emerge from the US in recent years, but it is charming, harmless and may even be of benefit. It traces its roots to a Native American ceremony, in which you use smoke from burning herbs and incense to cleanse yourself and your surroundings.
Smudging derives from the idea that smell is the sense that connects us to a deep, instinctual part of the brain and certain scents have the power to change our energies and trigger emotions.
The SavvyMoose website (below) will teach you how to conduct your own ceremony, which usually involves wafting sweet-smelling smoke around yourself and your home with a feather. It will also provide advice on which herbs to use. Sage, for instance, has the power to drive away negative energies. Cedar, juniper and pinon pine provide balance and harmony.
Caroline Law is a health writer and regular contributor to The Sunday Times, The Times and Marie Claire magazine.
