Deep chakra cleansing: restore your balance with the aroma of Palo Santo

We should picture a kind of energy cloud that permeates spaces and people, above all when we interact: different auras meet and mingle, exchanging energy. Avoiding that, or keeping your own energy field clean, is difficult, especially in densely populated places such as squares or cities. But our emotions and experiences can also affect the balance of our chakras.

If the vibration of one chakra is disturbed - for one reason or another - this has a negative impact on the regularity of all the other chakras and on the energy flow running through our body. That is why our energy system needs protection, but also hygiene.

Cleansing the chakras regularly is a way of looking after physical and mental wellbeing, clearing disturbances and shielding ourselves from negative energies. Several elements can make that cleansing more effective: alongside colours and symbols, it is above all scents that connect deeply with our inner world.

Scents have direct access to the limbic system, the place where our emotions and memories are handled. They bypass our reason - of the five senses, smell is the hardest to manipulate - yet they touch our subconscious and our soul deeply, stimulating energy processes while calming mind and spirit at the same time. Few scents manage to create such a deep connection. While synthetic substances are useless when it comes to cleansing energies, it is the scents produced by Nature that truly reach the deepest spiritual dimension. One of these plant substances is the aroma of Palo Santo - a tree typical of South America - known since ancient times for the benefits attributed to it for mental and physical wellbeing.

It was used by pre-Columbian shamans in rituals and in sacred and healing ceremonies. After spending at least four years maturing on the ground, its wood develops a pure, very deep aroma, able to connect intensely with our deeper self. The scent influences the vibrations of some of our chakras, opening them and encouraging their harmonisation. Palo Santo works best with the following chakras:

The root chakra: the first of the seven chakras is linked to inner strength and security. A block in the first chakra means apathy, sluggishness, little motivation and low self-confidence. At the opposite end, an overactive one leads to aggression, fear of change and excessive attachment to material things. These energy disturbances are to be understood as emotional patterns that lock inside us when we identify with them. The energy of Palo Santo, however, works deep down and softens those patterns, bringing them to the surface of our awareness where they can be processed and released. The flow of energy runs in harmony, the channel is rebalanced.

The third eye chakra: the sixth chakra sits right in the centre of our forehead, where it governs all the nearby organs, the hormonal system and the central nervous system. The third eye chakra is connected with everything to do with concentration, mental clarity, intuition and creativity. When the channel is blocked, difficulties appear such as chronic tiredness, nervousness, insomnia and fears. The enveloping, balsamic scent of Palo Santo acts here like a caress for the soul: it stimulates, it brings security and confidence. Our senses and our joy in living wake up, our imagination is charged with creativity. Palo Santo helps put some distance between us and anxious or low moods, and on stressful days it lets us take a step back, unplug and relax, encouraging the channel to rebalance.

The crown chakra: the seventh and last chakra sits at the very top of our head. It governs no organ, but it is responsible for the proper working of the cerebral cortex and of thought, knowledge and spirituality. When the channel is balanced, our capacity for understanding, our awareness and our learning all benefit. In an unbalanced state, by contrast, we suffer headaches, phobias, fears of death and heavy thoughts that reject everything without a rational explanation, along with all sorts of troubles that pull us away from our path of personal growth. It is normal that what we consider right in our spiritual clarity is not always what gladdens our heart: we come into conflict. The scent of Palo Santo helps us connect with our helping spirits, angels or teachers, so we can understand the language of our heart and bring feelings into harmony with our mind.

Chakra work is energy work. It is remarkable how much energy you can gain by keeping them in balance with the help of Palo Santo: the body fills with vitality, and blocks, problems and ailments are recognised and resolved more quickly. Opening and purifying the chakras is necessary to bring not only the body into harmony, but the mind and the soul as well, activating your inner healer. In itself, the aroma of Palo Santo has no curative effect, but it is a great energetic support on the way to that self-healing of the soul.