Learn the basic principles and techniques of incense-making in this special two-hour workshop. Discover how to make your own basic incense blends at home, for use as a meditation aid, ritual offering, or as a profound traditional form of aromatherapy.

Most incense available today is made in factories from low-quality ingredients, scent oils, chemical burning agents, and a wealth of toxic substances. Unfortunately, few modern western herbalists have carried on the ancient and rich tradition of preparing herbal incense as part of their practice. If you want to get on the incense bandwagon, this workshop is for you!

Incense is the oldest form of aromatic medicine, with the earliest written records of the practice found in tablets dating back nearly 6,000 years. In countless cultures across the world, the burning of aromatic plants has been widely employed for ceremonial, aesthetic, and medicinal purposes, with some traditions developing highly specialized techniques and formulations for a wide range of applications.

In the Tibetan Medical tradition, incense is featured as a special external therapy for a number of physiological and energetic imbalances, particularly those related to rlung (wind) and gdon (provocation). Tibetan doctors frequently prescribe medical-grade incense to ease a wide variety of disturbances, ranging from sleeplessness and agitation to bonafide spirit provocation.

In addition to these medical application, the Tibetan Buddhist ritual tradition places a great deal of importance on the use of incense. It is wholly ubiquitous in Himalayan cultures, with great cairns erected across the wilderness for the purpose of offering fragrant substances to the enlightened beings, protectors, and spirits of the natural world. Yet it connects with far deeper dimensions of spiritual practice. The Riwo Sangchöd of Lhatsün Namkha Jigmé, one of the most famous bSang (fragrant smoke) offering texts in the modern Tibetan canon, is seen not merely as a folk rite, but a pith instruction on the highest teachings of the Great Perfection.

Being a vital crossroads for ancient trade routes, Tibetan and Himalayan incense makers benefitted from a diverse range of techniques, ingredients, and healing knowledge, and centuries of unbroken lineage have made Tibetan and Himalayan incense crafters among the greatest in the world.