Get the most out of your mediation practice with the best essential oils for meditation. I’ve selected essential oils to help you relax and focus so you can practice mindfulness during meditation. Read on for an essential oil to help you meet your reflection goals.
Meditation can help change the brain for the better by improving focus and decreasing stress, but meditation can be challenging even under the best circumstances. From calming lavender to uplifting ylang ylang, the essential oils below may help you slow down, be present, and alleviate distracting mental or physical sensations to improve your practice. That said, some essential oils are better for certain types of meditation:
- Rose, cedarwood, neroli, and frankincense essential oil are best for spiritual meditation, which involves self-reflection or seeking a deeper connection with a higher power.
- Since mindfulness meditation requires concentration on thoughts without judgement, go for calming oils that ease anxiety and promote focus, like lavender.
- Ylang ylang's purported mood and energy boosting qualities may be ideal for movement meditation, which can be practiced while walking, gardening, or doing any light movement that allows the mind to wander.
No matter your meditation style, you can use essential oils in a few ways: topical application, personal aromatherapy inhalers, and essential oil diffusers. If you go with topical, be sure to use a carrier oil like coconut oil.
Check out the best essential oils for meditation; all are 100% pure, come from companies with third-party lab testing, and have undergone GC/MS purity testing.
1The Best Calming Essential Oil For Meditation
Since lavender essential oil is a good choice for easing anxiety and helping people relax, it’s a great oil to start with if you’re new to meditation or struggling just to let go and be still. As mentioned earlier, it's particularly good for mindfulness meditation which requires focus to concentrate on thoughts without judgement. Just drop some in your diffuser or apply it topically before starting your meditation practice.
Since Rocky Mountain Oils provides GC/MS test results from a verified third-party and makes the test results of each batch available for download on the company’s website, you can rest easy knowing this particular lavender essential oil is high quality. Rocky Mountain Oils also promises all of its oils are guaranteed S.A.A.F.E., which stands for: satisfaction guaranteed, authentic, analysis, free of adulterants, and effective and pure.
2 2. The Best Essential Oil For Mindfulness
Neroli essential oil is considered one of the more spiritual essential oils by many, and research suggests it can help lower blood pressure, reduce cortisol, ease stress and anxiety, and even relieve pain. Neroli essential oil also believed to promote self-acceptance, self-love, and courage; while also centering the mind and body and strengthening mindfulness and contentment — all qualities that aid in a fulfilling meditation practice.
Like all Plant Therapy essential oils, this neroli essential oil is 100% pure, premium grade, certified organic, and rigorously tested via GC/MS standards by a third-party. The company makes the test results of each batch available for download on their website.
3The Best Essential Oil For Inner Focus
Cedarwood essential oil gives off an earthy scent and research suggests it may have a soothing effect on mood as well as a sedative quality, making it a calming pick that can help you balance your emotions and be present. Cedarwood essential oil has also earned a reputation as one of the best essential oils for grounding and achieving inner focus, making it an excellent choice if you’re struggling to feel present during your meditation practice.
Cedar has a rich history of spirituality as it was used by ancient cultures like the Sumerians and Ancient Egyptians in sacred practices. It's even thought to be one of the first essential oils extracted from nature.
As mentioned, all Plant Therapy essential oils are 100% pure, premium grade, certified organic, and rigorously tested via GC/MS standards by a third-party. Plus, the company makes the test results of each batch available for download on their website.
4The Best Essential Oil For Movement Meditation
Since ylang ylang essential oil is known for boosting mood and energy levels, it's ideal for movement meditation. Additionally, studies show this oil has a calming effect and can even help decrease your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate — all effects that should make it easier to focus on meditating. I
All DoTerra products are Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade (CPTG), meaning each batch of the company’s essential oils are tested for purity, potency, and consistency. DoTerra is also very transparent about their sourcing practices; through the Source To You page on DoTerra’s website, you can follow the journey of the company’s essential oils from growers to distillers to lab testing to retailers to you. Plus, you can look up and download the GC/MS quality reports from the DoTerra website.
5The Best Essential Oil For Self-Reflection
Rose essential oil boasts a host of health and wellness benefits that make it ideal for promoting self-confidence and self-love during meditation. Spiritually speaking, many cultures and religions have used rose oil throughout history, and it’s especially helpful for those looking to increase feelings of self-worth and happiness. Research shows it can help decrease anxiety while also lowering stress. It's helpful for easing pain and reducing menstrual cramps. So if you’re struggling to make time for meditation due to pain, stress, or anxiety, rose essential oil may help.
Known as “the fragrance of love,”rose oil may help individuals open their hearts to connection as they self-reflect, and some people reportedly use it during meditation to explore their beliefs or to affirm their belief in a higher power.
As mentioned, Rocky Mountain Oils provides GC/MS test results from a verified third-party and makes the test results of each batch available for download on their website. The company promises all of its oils are guaranteed S.A.A.F.E., which stands for: satisfaction guaranteed, authentic, analysis, free of adulterants, and effective and pure.
6The Best Essential Oil For Clearing Negative Energy
Believed to aid in enlightenment during meditation, as well as coping with grief and connecting to your own spirituality, frankincense essential oil has been used in spiritual settings across multiple religions and cultures throughout history. It’s also a popular essential oil for clearing negative energy and comes with lots of research-backed health benefits like improved lung capacity — a useful effect for a meditation practice.
As mentioned, Rocky Mountain Oils provides GC/MS test results from a verified third-party and makes the test results of each batch available for download on their website. The company also promises its oils are guaranteed S.A.A.F.E., which stands for: satisfaction guaranteed, authentic, analysis, free of adulterants, and effective and pure.
Studies Referenced:
Hongratanaworakit, T., & Buchbauer, G. (2006, June 28). Relaxing effect of ylang ylang oil on humans after transdermal absorption. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ptr.1950.
Hongratanaworakit, T. (2009, February). Relaxing effect of rose oil on humans. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19370942.
Kheirkhah, M., Vali Pour, N. S., Nisani, L., & Haghani, H. (2014, August 17). Comparing the effects of aromatherapy with rose oils and warm foot bath on anxiety in the first stage of labor in nulliparous women. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270653/.
Marofi, M., Sirousfard, M., Moeini, M., & Ghanadi, A. (2015). Evaluation of the effect of aromatherapy with Rosa damascena Mill. on postoperative pain intensity in hospitalized children in selected hospitals affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2013: A randomized clinical trial. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4387651/.
Tehran University of Medical Sciences. (n.d.). The effect of self-aromatherapy massage of the abdomen on the primary dysmenorrhoea. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/01443615.2014.958449?journalCode=ijog20&.
