The burning of medicinal smoke, specifically havan sámagri (which does not include sage), has long been a spiritual ritual. New research shows it can have more benefits than you might think.

In fact, burning medicinal smoke – emanated by burning wood and a mixture of odoriferous and medicinal herbs, namely havan sámagri – in a room for an hour reduced airborne bacteria by 94 percent in a closed room. The research also showed that the room stayed almost entirely bacteria-free for 24 hours. Some strains of harmful bacteria remained undetected for up to 30 days.

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Holistic health websites list many other benefits of burning medicinal smoke, including repelling insects, improving mood and reducing stress and anxiety, and improving intuition. The practice, known as smudging, also been linked to helping with chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and contains antioxidants that support cancer prevention.

Do you burn medicinal smoke? Please share your thoughts with us!

Source:
  1. Myhighplains.com
  2. NCBI
  3. GreenMedInfo

CORRECTION (12/20/19): We inadvertently made an error in our original article. We based the info on a source that we believed to be reputable but have since learned that it was incorrect. We have revised our article based on the quoted study, to include information about the medicinal herb havan sámagri, which is the source of the medicinal smoke.