Xiao Hongchen (Stress and Anxiety Relieving) Medical Incense

$36.50

Herbs: Geranium, Huo Xiang (patchouli), lemongrass. Unlike most incense on the market, ours is made from pure herbs and contain no synthetic fragrances, additives, or bamboo/charcoal stick underneath

Xiaohongchen is a slightly red colored incense featuring geranium as the main ingredient, paired with patchouli and lemongrass. The result is an herbal scent which soothes emotions, nourishes the heart and relieves depression, inhibits bacteria and purifies. The fragrance is fresh and sweet.  Geranium has a good healing effect on fatigue as well as menstrual issues, and is used as a tonic for the nervous system. Geranium can affect the adrenal cortex to relieve stress and boost mood, as well as soothe anxiety and a depressed mind. This incense recipe's name hints at its ability to transform the mind into a happier state and removing disturbances: Laughing at the Red Dust.

Modern medicine often considers medicine as a substance to be swallowed. However, since ancient times, both in Eastern and Western medicine, medical recipes were not only decoctions to be taken directly orally--patients also improved their condition by the intake of the fragrance of medicine. This method was referred to as "taking qi" in traditional Chinese medical terms. Western historical sources also illuminated that European medical incense ingredients sometimes overlapped with traditional Chinese medical incense ingredients, with herbs such as myrrh, styrax, frankincense, and spikenard appearing both in the West and East, as seen in the Codex Sangallensis, a 9th century collection of medical texts housed in St. Gallen, Switzerland, which include incense among its medical recipes.