Loosely translated, palo santo essentially means “holy wood” and like this name suggests, it holds deep mystical and spiritual value. Palo santo essential oil is a cousin to frankincense as it comes from the same botanical family as frankincense and myrrh trees. It comes under the category of “spiritual oils” and its uses are also similar to that of frankincense, with its ability to provide emotional and spiritual purposes.

The essential oil of palo santo is extracted from the heartwood of the tree and it is believed that the longer the tree has been dead, the higher the quality of the oil, which is akin to that of frankincense oil!

Yet, the fragrance of palo santo oil is much sweeter and softer, with a tinge of that citrus clean smell commonly found in pine, mint and lemon. It has a very emotionally uplifting and balancing effect that also serves to keep spiritual “bad energy” at bay. In fact, in Peru, palo santo is mainly used by shamans to foster a positive spiritual energy and to keep harmful spirits away.

Overall, it is a highly enigmatic spiritual oil but fret not, for palo santo oil also contains lots of properties that are useful for the modern day’s physical health ailments, as it can overall boost the immune system to fight illnesses! Read on to find out more!

Benefits of Palo Santo Essential Oil:

1. Augments Mental Health

Palo santo essential oil, like frankincense, has an excellent ability to support your mental and emotional health because of its grounding and stimulating properties. It is highly used to induce feelings of peace and tranquility and to provide a spiritual boost for your soul.

The scent and properties of palo santo will travel directly to the olfactory system of the brain when it is inhaled, thus facilitating relaxation, whereby the chances of you getting panic or anxiety attacks as well as insomnia will be drastically reduced.

Palo santo has been widely used in various parts of the world specifically for this reason, so if you are looking for something to energize, revitalize and induce peace within your soul and mind so that the everyday stress of life can be effectively mitigated, then you should no doubt get palo santo essential oil!

2. Provides Relief from Headaches

Palo santo essential oil can also help to provide much relief from headaches. Headaches can be caused by a variety of reasons, such as stress, tension or even due to inflammation, irregular and obstructed blood flow to the blood vessels in the brain.

As such, because of its calming properties, palo santo helps to reduce stress and indirectly gets rid of such stress-associated headaches. Alternatively, palo santo, with its anti-inflammatory properties help to calm and soothe strained muscles and blood vessels near the cranial area, therefore reducing pressure to the cranial area. As such, this offers pain relief from headaches.

It also helps to boost blood circulation and flow to the cranial area, thus helping to reduce the pain brought about due to the lack of proper blood flow to the brain area. As such, palo santo oil provides a natural and instant headache remedy.

3. Offers Relief from Cold or Flu

Palo santo is also able to promote the speedy recovery of common health ailments such as the common cold or flu since it is able to facilitate a much improved blood circulation, therefore promoting regular and smooth blood flow to the respiratory tracts.

Not only that, its high limonene content and antibacterial nature of palo santo oil helps to kill off infections and viruses that are causing these ailments and sickness in the first place. As such, you will feel instant relief and you will feel much better faster!

4. Offers Pain Relief

Its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties also help to provide much pain relief and comfort from sore and stiff joints, as well as muscle aches. This is made possible because of the high limonene content present in palo santo which helps to decrease cytokines.

It is able to soothe inflamed muscles and reduce swelling from arthritis, chronic neck or back pain, sore muscles and other muscle injuries.

Therefore, it is a natural remedy for muscle, joint and bone pain, and one need not have to rely on prescribed painkillers for pain relief, as such drugs might carry unwanted side effects in the first place! Its relaxant and stimulating properties are also very beneficial in this case as it relaxes the joints and muscles, thereby facilitating pain relief.

5. Potent Detoxifier and Antioxidant

Palo santo essential oil also contains an abundant supply of antioxidants and phytochemicals, named terpenes, that are especially beneficial for fighting free radicals and preventing oxidative stress by these free radicals.

Therefore, it is a potent anti-inflammatory and detoxification agent that is capable of boosting the immune system as it removes toxic substances from the body and soothes inflamed conditions within the body, thereby promoting speedy healing and pain relief.

Additionally, a 2005 research study carried out by researchers from the University of Shizuoka, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Japan found that the the presence of phytochemicals in the oil can fight cell mutations which causes cancer. They showed significant inhibitory effects on the formation and spread of human cancer and fibrosarcoma cells.

Thus, this illustrates how palo santo oil can possibly inhibit the formation and spread of cancer, especially lung, breast and colon cancer since it is found to exhibit strong preventive activity on the formation of these types of cancer cells and tumors. Even though more research needs to be done in this area, such initial results are no doubt worthy of being mentioned and are impressive!

6. Potent Insecticide and House Cleaner Agent

Palo santo essential oil can also be a useful addition to your insecticide and house cleaning products as it helps to purify your household and rooms, cleaning household appliances and kitchen tops as well as surfaces. It is also believed to rid your house from spiritual “bad energy”.

Not only that, this oil has been widely used since historical times to keep off mosquitoes and other insects as it is used as incense when one burns the wood or sticks from the palo santo tree. This use is still very much applicable in today’s times too when you want to banish unwanted creepy crawlies from invading your homes!

As such, palo santo essential oil can be a great addition to leave your household clean! Coupled with its aromatic, musky and woody fragrance, palo santo oil helps to leave your rooms smelling fresh and welcoming!

How to Use Palo Santo Essential Oil:

Now that you know of the myriad health and emotional benefits of palo santo essential oil, here are some ways to use this enigmatic yet highly beneficial and therapeutic oil at home, coupled with easy homemade recipes where you can blend the oil with other essential oils!

• For effective pain relief from muscular cramps and sore joints, you can dilute palo santo essential oil with a carrier oil such as coconut oil or jojoba oil in a 1:1 ratio and proceed to rub it over the affected areas. Alternatively, you can also add 5-6 drops of the oil in a tub of warm, bathing water to soak away the pain!

• For respiratory relief and to support mental as well as emotional health, you can diffuse a few drops of the oil using a diffuser, vaporizer or distiller and let the aromatic, woody wafts engulf you to promote spiritual and emotional rejuvenation.

• For an anti-stress and anti-anxiety blend, you can also mix 4 drops of palo santo, 4 drops of lavender and 2 drops of mandarin essential oils in ¼ cup of Epson salts. Proceed to pour this blend in a tub of warm, bathing water for optimum results!

• To use it as an insecticide or house cleaning agent, add several drops of the oil in a spritz bottle containing water and shake well. Proceed to spray it all over your kitchen tops, surfaces and around your house to ward off creepy crawlies and to disinfect!

• You can also add a drop of palo santo essential oil into a glass of water or mix it with a tablespoon of honey for detoxification purposes but be sure to consult your doctor first and seek for professional medical health advice before ingesting the oil.

• To rid yourself from headaches, you can apply diluted palo santo oil onto your temples, wrists and back of the neck.

Palo santo essential oil blends well with black pepper, cedarwood, frankincense, lemon balm, myrrh, rose, clary sage, cypress, vetiver and sandalwood essential oils.

Safety Precautions:

• Always dilute palo santo oil with a carrier oil first (such as coconut, jojoba or almond oil) in a 1:1 ratio before topical application onto the skin. Be sure to do a skin patch test first before you apply onto the affected areas.

• If you are intending to ingest palo santo oil as a form of dietary supplement, do consult a doctor or a medical practitioner first for health advice before proceeding to do so. Do not consume in large doses.

• Always purchase high-quality, top-grade and 100% pure palo santo essential oil from a reputable and reliable seller, especially if you are keen on using it internally.

• Keep away from your eyes, inside your nose and mucus membranes while using.

• If you are pregnant, nursing or consuming any other prescribed medications, do ensure you consult your doctor first before use.

References:

D’ Alessio PA, et al., “Oral administration of d-limonene controls inflammation in rat colitis and displays anti-inflammatory properties as diet supplementation in humans”, Pubmed (2013); 92(24-26)

Tsutomu Nakanishi, et al., “A New and Known Cytotoxic Aryltetralin-Type Lignans from Stems Bursera graveolens”, Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (2005), 53(2)