The 5 Best Incense Sticks to Deepen Your Yoga or Meditation Practice

Burning incense has always been part of a millenary tradition that from ancient Egypt has been passed down till modern times. Aromatic incense sticks have always adorned churches, houses, and temples as they were mainly used for religious and worshipping purposes. 

Nowadays incense is still widely used and beloved not only by religious but also by those who simply like its intense fragrances and powerful effects. They can be, for example, truly essential to enrich your sacred space so as to allow you to dive in deep meditation or in your yoga practice, or simply to remove smoke and unpleasant smells from a room.

The thing is that the market is now so full of the most diverse incense stick brands that it might be tricky to find exactly what’s best for you… But don’t worry, we’re here to shed some light on the topic and hopefully help you find exactly what you need! 

So let’s get into the nitty and gritty of the topic!

The Top Incense Sticks Reviewed

	Best Overall Utopia Scents Premium Natural Incense Sticks Variety Pack 75 Scented Sticks...	5/5	Lavender, Sandalwood, Jasmine, Vanilla, Rose	5/5	4/5	See latest price
	Best for Yoga Practice Satya Incense Set of 12 Nag Champa, Super Hit, Sacred Sandalwood, Pure...	4/5	Nag Champa, Sacred Sandalwood, Pure Patchouli, Rose, Vanilla, Prana, Natural, French Lavender, Super Hit, Opium, Egyptian Jasmine, Champa	4/5	5/5	See latest price
	Best for Meditation Spiritual Awareness Incense Brick Gift Set by Aromafume | 12 Bricks &...	4/5	Frankincense, Copal, Myrrh	4/5	4/5	See latest price
	Best for Sleep SCENTORINI Incense Sticks, Incense Sticks Gift Set, Variety Pack 120 Sticks...	4/5	Vanilla,Lavender	4/5	4/5	See latest price
	Best Odor Eliminator Odor Eliminator Incense Sticks Variety Pack – Natural Clean Air...	3/5	Rose, Jasmine, Lemon Grass, Vanilla, White Sage , Apple , Frankincense, Strawberry, Sandalwood , Lavender, Jasmine	4/5	4/5	See latest price

Find the right incense for you

These incense sticks are a pure treat for both your body and mind. Hand-rolled in India following the ancient tradition they were created using only the finest organic and non-toxic ingredients, such as herbs and essential oils. 

What I found incredibly convenient about these sticks is that for a reasonable price you’ll get a whole set of incense sticks, allowing you to choose from 75 different scents, among which feature the sweet fragrance of vanilla, the delicate smell of rose, and the sensual aroma of jasmine. And since each fragrance stimulates a particular effect on our body, you’ll only need to pick the one that suits your desired purpose.

Whether you’d like to diffuse some gentle notes of incense while studying, meditating or yoga’ing these sticks will surely become your unmissable element for your moments. Also, each stick has a rather long-lasting aroma, so you can enrich your space for several hours gifting yourself with a moment of pure delight.

My top three, for example, were the vanilla scent, which surprisingly smells like birthday cake, along with the intense fragrance of sandalwood and the soothing aroma of lavender. Still, some scents may be too strong for some people but in the end, it’s all in the nose of the beholder! Some people complained that, for example, the jasmine was a little too intense and could therefore cause a slight headache. 

So let’s recap their overall pros and cons…

If you’re looking for some special aromas for your yoga practice, then look no further because these incense sticks are simply the best. And for this reason, they’re widely beloved by many yoga practitioners and teachers. Need an energy boost for your morning Vinyasa? Then try the reinvigorating fragrance of jasmine. Or maybe you’d simply like to wind down, then in this case you’ll surely love the deeply soothing effect triggered by the delicate smell of patchouli or opium.

Another great perk is that they are entirely made using 100% natural ingredients such as organic resins, flowers, wood powders, cold-pressed essential oils, and a drop of delicious honey. They’re prepared using a masala mix of several spices and each piece is rolled by hand on the bamboo sticks. Given their high-quality ingredients, these sticks are also completely safe and healthy. 

On top of it, they also burn quite slowly, so you’ll get to enjoy their gentle aroma for a long time!

In my opinion, the only downside is that some scents may generate heavy smoke, so my suggestion would be to keep a window slightly ajar so that the smell won’t be too invasive.

This incense is probably the fanciest option you could ever get. But there’s a lot more than fanciness because this incense will truly allow you to enrich your meditation session with a flavourful, persistent aroma. Yes, I know, maybe you’ve tried burning some incense before meditating but then you had to stop your practice because its smell was just too heavy to bear. 

But this incense is simply on a different level. The exotic smell of myrrh and frankincense will quickly become essential to your session, diffusing a gentle, smoke-free scent in your surroundings which enhances spiritual awareness and positivity. Plus, their design is also quite cool, which makes it a perfect gift set for you or your beloved ones.

Each packet contains twelve incense bricks and you’ll simply need to put a piece on the beautiful copperplate and light up the tea-light candle below it. 

Moreover, the incense bricks are enriched with purely natural ingredients, like flowers, tree extracts, resins, and leaves. What also pleasantly surprised me is that these bricks produce little to no smoke so you can safely burn them indoors. The only flaw is that they’re quite hard to light up and you’ll probably have to repeat the same process a couple of times before they’re completely burning.

Lavender has always been widely beloved for its deeply soothing effects but I’ve always found it hard to find an incense that was not too mild or too strong. I’ve tried using essential oils, several incense brands but still I had the same, underwhelming result: a bland smell that would only last for half an hour. On the other hand, some other sticks would have the complete opposite effect, as they generated an incredibly unpleasant dark smoke.

HEM is by far one of the most famous brands in the incense industry and this surely explains the fantastic aroma of these lavender sticks. They are exactly what I needed before going to bed because they allowed me to experience the gentle but distinctive fragrance of pure lavender. A real pleasure. At the same time though, I personally found that these sticks tend to burn quite quickly, so their delightful aroma will, unfortunately, last only for a while

Anyways, their price is also fantastic: for a little more than 7 dollars you’ll get a whole pack of 20 sticks! So given the deeply calming effects of lavender, they’ll be your next before-bed ritual. Especially if you’re having some troubles falling asleep, try burning a stick before you crawl into bed and trust me, you’ll sleep like a baby.

These sticks are really great to eliminate any persistent smell from any indoor space: they’re made with a special clean-air technology combined with all-natural ingredients, which can effectively eliminate any smell in your surrounding.

Their smell is mild but effective and, most importantly it’s completely non-toxic and eco-friendly. So you’ll be able to fresh up the air even when kids or animals are around.

And the thing that completely blew me away is that they don’t simply cover the smell as basic incense do, but rather they’re actually able to neutralize any smell. Whether you’re using them for your kitchen, bedroom, or bathroom, their effect will surely surprise you.

On the other hand though, given their great effectiveness, many users complained that these sticks might emanate a rather strong and persistent smoke. So, as I said before, it’d be always best to open a window when you’re using them.

Incense Sticks Buying Guide

So, do you already know which is the right incense for you? Well, the thing is that since each type of incense is made with a specific mix of herbs and oils used to make the incense will determine the scent and every scent can obviously trigger a specific effect on our body and mind.

Plus, when looking for incense sticks, there are a few guidelines you can follow so that you’ll know what’s the perfect incense for you, such as durability, quantity, quality of ingredients, price, and purpose.

Let’s break down these guidelines step by step:

Durability

As a general rule, the longer the stick, the more lasting will be the burn. But also be aware of the ingredients of which the sticks are made as some may burn for a longer time than others. For this reason, I’d encourage you to check out the user reviews before buying.

Quantity

If you’re trying a new fragrance for the first time, obviously, the best idea would be to opt for a small pack, so you can try it out without investing too much money. Otherwise, if you already know what you like, then, of course, you should definitely go for a bigger quantity. But beware, quantity is also related to quality, and for that, make sure that what you’re getting is made using only high-quality ingredients. So remember to always keep an eye on the ingredients list! Check out the section below for further details…

Purpose

One of the golden rules of aromatherapy is that, as we said, each scent has a specific effect on our body and mind. So you can use incense to enrich your yoga or meditation practice but also to simply purify the air from negative energies. For this reason, we’ve rounded up a shortlist of a few scents and their effect, so that you can find the one that’s most appealing to you and your practice. 

Generally, if you’d like to diffuse a deep sense of calm and peace make sure that these scents are featured in the ingredients list of your incense sticks: Lavender, Frankincense, chamomile. If you need to enhance spiritual awareness and mental clarity during your meditation then you should consider fragrances such as myrrh, nag champa, sandalwood, vanilla, or lemongrass.

Quality of the ingredients

As we said, when choosing incense, always ensure that what you’re getting is made with a strictly all-natural formula. Since they will stay in the air of your room for some time, you might want to avoid using no synthetic materials that could get toxic when frequently used…

Ideally, their main ingredients should be wood, herbs, and plant-based materials.

Furthermore, also consider opting for sticks that are hand-rolled according to the tradition: this will guarantee high-quality, long-lasting incense sticks!

Final Thoughts

In this article we’ve rounded up the best incense sticks that are currently available on the market. So we genuinely hope this will help you find the scent that most suits your taste and purpose! As we’ve seen, in our opinion the best option is the Karma Incense pack, because these sticks are made using only natural ingredients and since they come as a set, their quality-price ratio is also pretty balanced. On top of it, given the great variety of different aromas, you’ll get a specific fragrance for any purpose! 

That being said, please do let us know your thoughts on incense sticks, tell us which are your favorite brands and why, we’d love to hear from you!

Namaste!