What is meditation? Meditation is a technique for relaxing the mind. The Latin term “meditatio,” from the verb “meditari,” means among others things to ponder, contemplate, deliberate. Meditators open themselves up to silence and are thus able to discover the space of awareness of not thinking and not knowing. The thoughts calm down. Meditation is a way to contact your own intuition, inspiration and creativity. Active ingredients in CBD products, for example terpenes, can have astonishing effects if used during meditation. In this blog post, we’ll show you how terpenes can support your meditation.
Deepen your meditation: how to use terpenes to meditate more intensively
- Meditative practice: there are many ways to reach your inner self
- Terpenes: what are these little miracle helpers?
- Deepen your meditation: 4 reasons to use terpenes for meditation
- Terpenes for your health
- The gist: deepening your meditation
1. Meditative practice: there are many ways to reach your inner self
Whether it’s yoga or a martial art like aidiko, karate, judo or kinomichi, meditation not only supplements various forms of exercise, but has found its way into our living rooms - and, in some cases, meditation rooms. This isn’t just to look fancy, it actually has a point. At the end of the day, meditation helps you come down from your thoughts and brings you inner balance. Many studies have already proven its effectiveness. Among other things, meditation is also helpful in losing weight, improving the effectiveness of nerve fibres, reducing chronic inflammation and stress, and even in lowering your blood pressure.
How exactly does it feel? It’s less spiritual than you probably think. It’s actually just chill, relaxed and smooth. It’s like consciousness without thought content. Kind of like sleeping, without actually sleeping. Total clarity. Afterwards, you feel refreshed like you’ve just had a power nap. While you practice calming down your thoughts and focusing your mind, new doors are being opened to you.
There’s a range of techniques for implementing meditation into your life. In doing so, you can sit, jump, walk, lie down, fly, hop or scream. Not everything at once, please!
Are you open to achieving a better mood, inner peace, joie de vivre and a boost in creativity? Then let’s begin! 10-15 minutes of daily practice are enough to notice more strength and balance. Who wouldn’t like to get less angry about competing over a parking spot, a miscalculated right-of-way when driving, or that one pushy person at the supermarket counter?
When you meditate, you achieve a sort of “Alpha-mode” in which your brainwaves change. For the better, of course. We open ourselves up to our higher self. It’s as if our brainwaves straighten out and we can get a better feeling for ourselves.
Hard to believe, but those meditating Insta-beauties are indeed sitting in the right posture for meditation - cross-legged and with a straight back. Any artsy hand movements, on the other hand, are completely unnecessary. That is, they only really make sense for advanced meditators and don't have a significant effect. You can simply rest your hands on your thighs or knees. For a tutorial, it’s best to consult a coach or meditation teacher.
Deepen your meditation: yoga and CBD can support your meditation practice. You can learn more about this topic here in our yoga and CBD post.
If you’d like to learn beyond that and keep yourself informed on various topics surrounding themes, we recommend this newsletter:
2. Terpenes: what are these little miracle helpers?
Terpenes exist as an important component in essential oils, primarily in plants. For example, you’ll find these chemical connections in conifers, hemp plants, citrus fruits, lavender, etc. As a secondary plant matter, they’re responsible for everything regarding smell, taste, texture, color and temperature.
It’s clear, then, why cannabis smells the way it does. Hemp’s flowers and leaves alone have over 200 essential oils at their disposal.
The best part: terpenes not only look after the recovery of the plant, but are also healthy for humans. This is shown, for example, in Dr. Ethan Russo’s report in the September 2011 issue of the British Journal of Pharmacology. It’s clear now why terpenes are used as flavoring agents in the food and aromatherapy industries. The ultimate fragrance all-rounder, the little miracle helper.
3. Deepen your meditation: 4 reasons to use terpenes for meditation
It’s astounding how the active ingredients in terpenes can bring your meditation to a whole new level. These powerful aromatic essences are helpful not only in alleviating physical suffering. They’re just as powerful in altering your mental state - in a good way!
A connection between people, terpenes and fragrance has already existed for thousands of years. One of its first applications was smoke. Humans realized that strong characteristics of a plant are set free through fire. Smoke results from burning the roots, bark, leaves and berries of certain plants, and wafts through the air. It has surprising effects on the body, the mind, and even the taste of foods. Thus the use of terpenes as incense was born.
Terpenes connect you with your origin
The ancient Egyptians were also familiar with the significance of terpenes. We know this from the herbs and incense burners that have been found in the graves of the great pharaohs.
Terpenes not only hold value for humans, but are also beneficial to the ecosystem. A-pinenes, for example, helps the forests build an effective cloud cover, keep things cool and promote the rainfall cycle.
A-pinenes are equally helpful for humans, acting as an inflammation inhibitor and bronchodilator that significantly improves our respiratory function. Studies also show that A-pinenes relax the body and mind.
And that’s not all these little miracle helpers do; other substances in terpenes improve your mood, stimulate your mind, and reduce stress. These are all wonderful qualities that you can put to good use while practicing meditation.
Terpenes alter your state of consciousness
Terpenes have amazing effects during meditation. They elicit various emotional or mental states, and can even help you reach a higher state of consciousness while meditating.
Deepening meditation - it’s nothing new. Humans already took this effect seriously in the past, and terpenes played an important role in religious and spiritual practices.
Terpenes provide for a positive, calm mindset
Let’s let science be science for a moment. Let’s just imagine how a pleasing scent blowing through the air, evoking pleasure and relaxation in us. It calms us down and lets us be happier.
Lavender, well known to smell good and have a calming effect, contains terpenes that lead to deep relaxation. Alongside the stress reducing terpene linalool, it’s also got the terpene myrcene, known for its sedative effect and for being an effective pain reliever. Myrcene is also prominent in the essential oils of thyme, ylang-ylang and chamomile.
With terpenes you can achieve higher awareness
Incense can noticeably reduce conditions like anxiety and stress. Yet it’s not the only case! Sandalwood oil and cinnamon oil work similarly on your consciousness. They sharpen the mind, foster creativity and are, at the same time, healthier than incense.
So how do I implement terpenes in my meditation practice?
Deepening your meditation - easy! Mix the essential oils mentioned above with a carrier oil like almond, coconut or jojoba oils and apply them to the skin. Or just put a few drops of undiluted oil in a room diffuser, or on a cloth or fragrance stone.
4. Terpenes for your health
We already know that terpenes are healthy and improve meditation. Yet these little miracles workers have still further benefits!
They aid the body to detoxify and to kill bacteria. They promote your sleep, reduce muscle tension as well as aches and inflammation, aid those with depression and help you to relax.
Want to know more about the health benefits? We’ve summarized all the important info regarding CBD active ingredients and terpenes for you in our article, What are terpenes?.
5. The gist: deepening your meditation
Deepen your meditation - dive deeper into using terpenes while meditating. It’ll be easier to relieve stress and anxiety and to bring the positivity you’ll gain into everyday life. Through deeper meditation you’ll also sharpen your consciousness and become more aware of what’s going on around you and in your mind. All in all you’ll achieve a higher sense of well-being, increase your energy level, and find yourself building social relationships with more ease. Can you feel it?
