Some years ago I attended a Vipassana residential retreat, a form of meditation that involves keeping silence. I stayed silent for almost ten days, while sharing this experience with other people, whom I watched every day rise at dawn, meditate, have breakfast, meditate, have lunch, meditate, have dinner, be together, in silence.

What I remember of those days is the depth of the technique, and how, day after day, that silence and that practice allowed a contact with myself unlike almost anything I had known before. Since it was not easy for me at all, around lunchtime I would go up to the first floor of one of the buildings where we were staying, sit down and look out at the hills, very beautiful, very peaceful. Inside myself I called it “my television”; I kept that moment for myself, to let my gaze rest on those hills, on their shape, their movement.

Then I would watch the lives of my fellow travellers, and I felt a deep compassion for each one of us, seeing the determination and the sacrifice each woman was living through. It wasn’t easy for any of us, but we knew that “that thing” was doing us good, even if it was no walk in the park.

The awareness I reached in those days has been precious to me. Over the years I have explored some essential oils as a support for the path of mindful presence; aromatherapy helps us when we need to create a protected space right where we are, wherever that may be.

One choice is certainly Frankincense essential oil (Boswellia sacra), which has “always” been an essence that helps people connect with something larger than themselves: with that sense of direction which is our own, yet answers to something wider. Frankincense trees grow even in extreme conditions, perhaps showing that connection with our deeper self can happen in any circumstance.

There are in fact many kinds of frankincense, and one I appreciate, sharper in scent, is Indian frankincense, Boswellia serrata. In some ways less ethereal than Boswellia sacra, this plant reminds me of the determination I saw so many times on the faces of the people I met in India.

Not to be forgotten is Sandalwood, today mostly Santalum austrocaledonicum, although traditionally it was Santalum album. One of the loveliest gifts a friend ever gave me was telling me one day: “when you arrived, sandalwood came to mind.”

You can use the essential oil in a diffuser, or make a roll-on with jojoba oil, to restore our heart and mind.

Why not try a meditation roll-on:
In 10 ml of jojoba oil:
3 drops of Boswellia sacra essential oil
3 drops of Boswellia serrata essential oil
3 drops of Sandalwood essential oil

To remind us that we can always feel “at home”.