Discover Tibetan Buddhism


Clearing The Air, By Spring Cleaning

It's that time again, spring cleaning timeprayer requesting protection, healing and
that is. Clearing out wardrobes, cupboards,love to envelop my home and also give thanks
and the attic, happens now and anything notfor  what  I  have  in  my  life.
bolted down is moved, thrown out, donated to
charity,  cleaned,  and  dusted.The essential oil blend I use for this is 3
drops juniper, 3 drops petit grain, and 2
Spring heralds the arrival of warmer weatherdrops lime which cleans, protects and uplifts
and with it we become more active. There areall  at  the  same  time.
so many things to see and do now without the
inconvenience of having to rug up beforeAs I move from room to room I use an
venturing  out.aromatherapy oil burner (electric, they're
safer) with my essential oil recipe which
Spend some time in your garden and observeremains in the room with me until I've
its rebirth, with flowers budding, thefinished cleaning it. I then move it with me
emergence of butterflies, and otherto the next room until that one has been
creatures. When you spend a little while incleaned and so on. Not only does this smell
your garden relaxed and open, you might justdivine, it also feels fabulous and above all,
notice the subtle world of faeries. Spring, Ithe house becomes cleaner, lighter and
love  it!brighter.
At the beginning of each season springAs a special note, whenever using essential
cleaning happens and as we clean the home inoils and aromatherapy oil burners please be
a very physical sense. We vacuum, dust, washvigilant toward fire safety (you more than
walls, curtains and anything else that standslikely are already aware of this). Never have
in our way. It's time for out with the oldyour oil burner near curtains or other
and in with the new. Something else tomaterials, have the room well ventilated,
consider as a spring cleaning task is that ofnever leave candles unattended when leaving
cleaning the 'subtle world' around us (thatthe room and read the data sheet of essential
which is just beyond our awareness), it's anoil  you  purchase.
energy  thing.
To complete my spring cleaning fest I use
When physical and subtle spring cleaning isTibetan cymbals or Tingshas (used in
done a feeling of calm, peace and comfort istraditional Tibetan Buddhist rituals and
noticed. I've been doing this for many yearsmeditation) to re-balance energy in each room
and after the completion of my spring(I also use them when I do space clearing but
cleaning tasks, on both levels, there is athat's another story). Tingshas come in pairs
noticeable sense of lightness andand  are  joined  by  a  leather  cord.
peacefulness.
I begin this exercise by taking a few deep
The first part of this method of springbreaths, centre myself, and say a silent
cleaning is done by cleaning each room in itsprayer. With my hand holding the leather cord
entirety; windows, walls, curtains, andI have the Tingshas gently strike each,
wardrobes all are cleaned whether they needproducing a sound that reverberates
it or not, before moving to the next room.throughout my body as well as across the
Items I de-clutter are put in bags for localroom. I continue this exercise as I move from
charity  or  go  into  the  rubbish  bin.corner to corner of every room until every
nook and cranny in the house has been
The second part has more spiritual overtonescovered.
and an aspect of aromatherapy (I'm also a
qualified aromatherapist) which I love.So that is my spring clean, covering the
Before I actually start cleaning any room Iphysical, as well as the subtle aspects of
mix up an aromatherapy essential oil recipethe air that I breathe in my home, ready for
and as I do so I'll take several deepwhatever the new season may bring.
breaths, centre myself, then say a special



1 A B 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84