'Smudging': Is there room for traditional beliefs in modern, scientific natural medicine?

Have you heard of smudging? It’s the native American ritual of burning herbs, mainly white sage, to waft pungent herbal smoke in a space to cleanse it of any unwanted energies.

Sometimes balancing my passionate support of evidence-based solutions with the kookier cross-cultural traditions of herbalism makes me dive straight into a peer review journal article to see if I can find some kernel of fact in these woo-woo practices.

Guess what I found! A study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology proved medicinal smoke produced from burning wood and a mixture of smelly medicinal herbs caused a 94% reduction of bacterial counts in 60 minutes.

It seems as if there may be some basis in fact to why native Americans used to burn herbs to clear their air.  Whether or not my efforts create a fresh space remains to be seen …at least there will be less chance of catching a bug in my room.

If you are keen to ‘smudge’ your space please make sure you keep the smoke well away from your smoke detectors and sprinkler systems unless you want to add a water element to your ritual.

In health,

Sonia x

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References:

Braithwaite, M., Van Vuuren, S. F., & Viljoen, A. M. (2008). Validation of smoke inhalation therapy to treat microbial infections. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 119(3), 501-506.