The Science Behind Smudging : Here’s What Really Happens When We Burn Sage…

3. If you are inside, open the windows in the space you are in, creating a flow of air from outside.

4. Using a match or lighter, ignite the herbs and let them flame for 20 to 30 seconds before sweeping your hand above them to extinguish any fire. (I’ve been taught that using the breath to blow out the fire is not the proper way.) Tendrils of smoke should be steadily rising from the smoldering herbs now.

5. It is customary to smudge oneself first before moving on to others and the surrounding space.Using a cupped hand, draw the smoke around you. Starting from the top, bring the smoke over and around your head, down your torso, all the way to your feet. Make sure to pay attention to your breathing while doing this. Slow and relaxed.

6. Once you are finished with yourself, use your feather or hand to waft the smoke gently into the corners of the room and over any plants or pieces of furniture. My friend Santiago once advised that we need to be present with the smoke and watch carefully how it behaves and flows around specific people and objects. When we are fully aware, we’ll notice that it moves differently as it touches certain things. There is information there.

Also Read: 10 Medicinal Plants Native Americans Used To Cure Everything (From Joint Pain To Cancer)

7. Once you have finished smudging, tradition tells us that the ashes of the spent herb should be brought outside and returned to the soil. Call it superstition if you’d like, but many tribes believe that the charred residue carries its own energy and must be given back to the earth.

A NATIVE AMERICAN PRAYER YOU MAY WANT TO USE WHILE SMUDGING:

Creator, Great Mystery
Source of all knowing and comfort,
Cleanse this space of all negativity.
Open our pathways to peace and understanding.
Love and light fills each of us and our sacred space.
Our work here shall be beautiful and meaningful.
Banish all energies that would mean us harm.
Our eternal gratitude.

– The Medicine Wheel Garden, E. Barrie Kavasch

I find smudging to be a powerful way to clear stagnant energies and bring a renewed sense of wellness into my living and work space!

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Inspired by a post in Up Lift Connect

Originally written by Nick Polizzi on The Sacred Science