▷ 15 Excellent Essential Oils for Enhancing Meditation

15 Excellent Essential Oils for Enhancing Meditation

By Dave Michaelson / November 18, 2021
Best Essential Oils for Meditation

Essential oil aromatherapy is wonderful for enhancing meditation. The oil vapors relax your mind and body, helping you reach a quiet, peaceful, meditative state of mind more easily.

There are oils that benefit your aura, activate your chakras and help you address particular issues. Blends of specific oils can also facilitate a more relaxing, healing or exploratory meditative state of mind.

1. Palo Santo Essential Oil

Use Palo Santo or Holy Wood essential oil to ground yourself or strengthen your connection to Mother Earth. It is a wonderful oil to use when you need to achieve a peaceful, calm state of mind quickly. This oil is also wonderful for spiritual meditation sessions.

Mix 1 drop of Palo Santo EO into 1 teaspoon of carrier oil and massage your feet with the blend just prior to beginning your meditation session. It will ground you and activate your root chakra. If you prefer, you can add 2 drops of Palo Santo EO to your diffuser for grounding aromatherapy.

2. Bergamot Essential Oil

Bergamot Essential Oil

Use bergamot to keep your root chakra working properly. It is a very balancing oil. You can add 1 to 2 drops to your diffuser for aromatherapy. If you want to apply it topically, mix 1 drop into 2 teaspoons of carrier oil and apply it to the bottoms of your feet or base of the spine.

3. Sandalwood Essential Oil

Sandalwood Essential Oil

Practice sandalwood essential oil aromatherapy while meditating on matters of the heart, emotional healing or spiritual healing. It is wonderful for maintaining a healthy sacral chakra and Third Eye chakra. It will help you heal, improve your mood, dispel confusion and let you feel true happiness again.

If you would like to use it topically, mix 1 drop of sandalwood EO into 1 teaspoon of carrier oil. Put a few drops on your hands, rub them together, massage some of the oil into your belly just below your naval and on your forehead then inhale the vapors from your hands. Do this when you sit down to begin your meditation session.

*Be careful not to get essential oils in your eyes or nose. They are very irritating to sensitive mucous membranes.*

4. Ylang Ylang Essential Oil

Ylang Ylang Essential Oil

Enjoy ylang ylang essential oil for meditation if you are suffering from depression, unhappiness, nervousness or anxiety. It will calm you, making it easier for you to reach a meditative state, and improve your mood.

Ylang ylang is also wonderful for calming an overactive sacral chakra. You can add 2 drops to your diffuser for meditation aromatherapy. If you prefer, you can blend 1 drop of ylang ylang into 2 teaspoons of carrier oil and apply the blend topically.

Put a few drops of the blend into your hands, rub them together to get the oil warmed up, apply it to your sacral chakra then inhale the vapors from your hands. A blend of ylang ylang and spruce EO or cedarwood EO is also wonderful for meditation.

5. Helichrysum Essential Oil

Helichrysum Italicum Essential Oil

Enjoy helichrysum essential oil meditation when working through old trauma for emotional healing and to facilitate physical healing as well. It has very powerful healing properties. Helichrysum is also a wonderful oil to use for the solar plexus chakra.

Your solar plexus chakra is located just above your naval and controls your gut instinct. Helichrysum is known to help calm an overactive solar plexus chakra. Put a few drops in your diffuser or apply a 1% to 2% helichrysum/carrier oil blend to the belly when you sit down to meditate.

6. Vetiver Essential Oil

Vetiver Essential Oil

If you find it difficult to maintain a quiet meditative state of mind, try using vetiver essential oil. It is excellent for improved focus during meditation. Vetiver oil is also good for awakening the libido.

This is a grounding oil that also calms an overactive solar plexus chakra. It can be diffused, although it is a thick oil that diffuses better when mixed with a lighter oil. Try adding 2 drops of helichrysum oil along with 2 drops of vetiver EO to your diffuser.

You can also apply a 1% to 2% vetiver/carrier oil blend topically to the solar plexus or add 1 to 2 drops of helichrysum and apply the blend to the whole belly when you meditate.

7. Palmarosa Essential Oil

Palmarosa Essential Oil

Use palmarosa essential oil to facilitate a very deep meditative state. It is very relaxing, quiets the mind and encourages strong focus. This is also a good oil for meditation when you’re feeling a bit disconnected, restricted or out-of-sorts and find that you have become very clingy and controlling.

Palmarosa oil opens the heart chakra, too. This is a wonderful oil to use while meditating on matters of the heart. It can be diffused or applied topically.

Mix 1 to 2 drops of palmarosa essential oil into 1 teaspoon of carrier oil, put a few drops in your hands, rub them together then apply the oil to your chest right above your breastbone. Cup your hands over your nose and inhale the vapors from your hands, too.

8. Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender essential oil

Enjoy lavender essential oil aromatherapy for relaxing meditation. It is excellent for those times when you are overly stressed and need to meditate for 10 to 15 minutes to calm down and let the stress slip away. Put 5 drops in your diffuser, along with about 1/4 cup of distilled water, and run the diffuser while you meditate.

You can also apply lavender topically. It is very good for calming all of the chakras. Mix 1 to 2 drops of lavender EO in 1 teaspoon of carrier oil and apply it to the heart chakra.

9. Chamomile Essential Oil

Chamomile Essential Oil

Enjoy chamomile essential oil meditation when you need to find inner harmony and reduce irritability. It is ideal for those times when you are feeling overwhelmed or are overthinking things or worrying excessively.

Chamomile essential oil is also wonderful for the throat chakra and improving communication skills. Add a few drops to your diffuser or massage the throat with a 1% to 2% chamomile/carrier oil blend.

10. Coriander Essential Oil

Coriander Essential Oil

Practice coriander essential oil meditation when you are going through a big change in your life or are trying to make changes in your lifestyle. It helps clear your mind of harsh words or judgements from others and yourself. It will help you be more forgiving and accepting and less likely to be overly concerned about, or hurt by, critical opinions.

Coriander oil builds your confidence and makes it easier to move beyond your comfort zone. It is also a great oil for the throat chakra. Add a few drops to your diffuser or massage a 1% to 2% coriander/carrier oil blend into the throat before meditating.

11. Frankincense Essential Oil

Frankincense Essential Oil

Frankincense essential oil is wonderful for spiritual meditation. It has been used for thousands of years in sacred rituals and religious ceremonies. Frankincense has purification properties that clear the air of stagnant, negative energies.

Add a few drops to your diffuser and run it for 5 to 10 minutes in the room before you begin meditating so that you can begin with a cleared space. Apply a drop of a 2% to 4% frankincense EO/carrier oil blend to your forehead to clear and balance the Third Eye chakra, maintain a healthy crown chakra and enhance your aura.

*A 1% to 3% dilution rate (1 to 3 drops of essential oil per teaspoon of carrier oil) is fine for everyday use of most essential oils. Stronger dilution rates should only be used for 10 days to 2 weeks at a time.*

12. Rosemary Essential Oil

Rosemary essential oil

Use rosemary essential oil while meditating on specific issues or while looking for guidance. It is an energizing oil that will increase alertness. It is wonderful when blended with lavender, as it counteracts lavender’s tendency to be too relaxing.

Add a few drops of rosemary to your diffuser, along with the lavender oil, for a relaxing, soul-searching meditation session. Rosemary oil also opens and energizes the Third Eye chakra. Dab a 1% to 2% rosemary EO/carrier oil blend on your forehead to really activate the Third Eye.

13. Rose Essential Oil

Rose Essential Oil

Enjoy rose essential oil aromatherapy while meditating on matters of the heart, your love life and relationships. It is also beneficial when you are trying to enhance your creativity. Rose oil meditation is wonderful for recovering from emotional wounds, too.

It enhances your capacity for unconditional love, including the unconditional love of yourself. It is very calming, which can be helpful when meditating on old emotional wounds and trauma. Add a drop to your diffuser or massage the heart chakra with a 1% rose essential oil/carrier oil blend before meditating.

14. Clary Sage Essential Oil

Clary Sage Essential Oil

Clary sage essential oil is a purifying oil that clears negative energy from the mind and space around us. Meditating with clary sage oil is excellent for restoring emotional balance and a healthy perspective. It is uplifting yet calming and soothing when you are overly stressed.

Clary sage is especially good for the sacral chakra. Add a few drops to your diffuser and turn it on or massage a 2% to 4% clary sage EO/carrier oil blend into the lower abdomen before you being your meditation session.

15. Carrot Seed Essential Oil

Carrot Seed Essential Oil

Practice carrot seed essential oil meditation when you are delving into matters of a more spiritual nature. It is very good for activating the Third Eye chakra while keeping you well grounded. Carrot seed oil calms the mind yet increases alertness.

This is one of my favorite essential oils for meditation. Add 1 to 2 drops to your diffuser for aromatherapy or apply it topically. Mix 1 drop of carrot seed oil into 1 to 2 teaspoons of carrier oil, put a drop or two on your hands, rub them together, apply a dab to your forehead then inhale the vapors from your hands.

Was this list helpful to you? I absolutely love meditating with essential oils. They make reaching a meditative state and maintaining that state of mind so much easier.

I especially like to use a blend of carrot seed EO, clary sage EO and patchouli EO for meditation. Copaiba balsam essential oil is another one I like to use from time to time. It is a calming, stress-reducing essential oil with a fresh, woodsy fragrance.

Please leave a comment to let me know if this list is helpful and share your own experiences with essential oil use during meditation. I would love to read about some of your favorite blends. Be sure to share, too, so that others can become aware of all the uses for this essential oil.

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About the author

Dave Michaelson

If he could describe himself with one word alone, Dave Michaelson’s would be “committed.” He leaves it up to the observer whether that is an adjective or a verb. What he is unwavering on is his belief that health begins at the home and in the heart. His articles reflect that, whether they are about food, do-it-yourself, or mindfulness and meditation.

2comments
Rose - March 4, 2018

My favorite are Rosemary and Lavender. I like making my natural hairspray with these two and (special recipe) Aloe Vera. I like Frankincense for meditations. One tip I am using now in my dissfuser is distilled water, I bought purified filtered water and it did good but I have heard that you are suppose to use distilled.

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ayanna franklin - September 28, 2018

Thank you for this helpful post. I have loved aromatherapy for years and have just started incorporating it into my meditation practice.

As i have recently had to realize (and reticently, because of cost) that all kinds of essential oils are not equal, so too have i discovered the same thing of advice; especially where spiritual/meditative endeavors are concerned.

Thanks for this list and information.

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