Smudging is another way to clear negative energy and raise vibrations.
Burning sage with the intent of clearing old energy is a wonderful way to cleanse and move the stagnant energy out of our homes.
As a result, we raise our personal vibrations and the vibration of our home.
1) Nature’s Antidepressant
Negative ions, a topic scientific circles are talking about.
It looks like negative ions have a profound and positive effect on the physiology of every human being. Ions are atoms or molecules with a net electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons. Negative ions are produced in natural settings (such as in nature) while positive ions are produced in more contemporary places such as in the house. Electronics, in particular, give off lots of positive ions.
It appears that the negative ions produced from smudging offer effective antidepressant effects.
Dr. Clarence Hansell, a research engineer who studied the effects of negative ions on humans in the 1930s, noticed that the mood of one of his colleagues changed when ions were being generated by nearby equipment. He noticed his colleague was more joyful when the machine created negative ions and more sullen when it produced positive ions.
In a controlled study focused on Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD (an extension of Hansell’s work), researchers found fresh air charged with negative ions was an effective treatment for depression.
This is in large part due to its effects on serotonin levels, similar to the way antidepressant drugs work.
2) Clearing Negative Energy
Because smudging actually destroys bacteria in the air, it also has a psychologically clearing effect.
This can allow us to relax in environments that may be a little harder settle in.
Thankfully smudging gives off plenty of negative ions!
3) Clearing the Air
Surprisingly, smudging can help clear the air of all kinds of bacteria and improve allergy symptoms.
This was a study that corroborated this ancient practice. Here is the researcher’s take:
“We have observed that 1 hour treatment of medicinal smoke emanated by burning wood and a mixture of odoriferous and medicinal herbs (havan sámagri=material used in oblation to fire all over India), on aerial bacterial population caused over 94% reduction of bacterial counts by 60 min and the ability of the smoke to purify or disinfect the air and to make the environment cleaner was maintained up to 24 hour in the closed room.
4) Relaxing Effects
Just like incense, smudging can offer calming, relaxing effects that are known to help lower blood pressure, relieve stress and tension and normalize breathing rates, as the negative ions produced are absorbed directly into your bloodstream.
5) Increased Energy
Negative ions have the effect of helping to normalize serotonin (the feel-good hormone), boosting the mood and overall energy. This is great for depression.
6) Improved Sleep
So if we know that negative ions are more of a ‘natural’ thing, it would make sense we’d not only feel better but sleep better too, right? Absolutely!
And in fact, studies show people do sleep better in negative ion environments.
