22+ Powerful Uses of Frankincense for Health, Wellness, and Healing

Frankincense in depths several perspectives. When it comes to essential oils, I believe practical and anecdotal uses are those that can be relied upon to deliver the best results. And so it is with one of the most powerful and versatile oils available, Frankincense .I do not say this lightly because truth be told, I initially shunned Frankincense, or “Frank” as it is called, because I thought it both exotic and expensive. Slowly, though, I began to recognize its value especially when it comes to skin and wound care and its remarkable ability to relieve inflammation and pain. What is Frankincense? Many know of Frankincense as one of the plant-derived treasures, along with myrrh, given to the newborn Jesus in the New Testament. Its use in a religious context goes beyond Christianity, however. According to the Hebrew Bible, frankincense and myrrh were components of the holy incense ritually burned in Jerusalem’s sacred temples during ancient times & throughout many cultures and religions. Frankincense is derived from the sap from a specific variety of trees in the genus Boswelia. Harvests are done at various times and the more opaque resins are considered to be the best quality. Here are 22+ Powerful Uses of Frankincense for Health, Wellness, and Healing The following uses of Frankincense are based upon my own personal experience or on the experience and knowledge of trusted colleagues in the online community. In going through this list, I am sure that you will agree that Frankincense deserves its reputation as the “King of Oils” has can help cure most everything..1. Heal wounds from cuts, scrapes, and burns. For even greater benefit, apply Lavender essential oil first then layer Frankincense on top. The combination of these two oils together is amazing when it comes to healing wounds.2. Reduce and fade scars. Continue use after the wound has healed to reduce and fade scarring.3. Relieve the symptoms of gout. Mixed 50/50 with a carrier oil, Frankincense has been known to relieve the painful symptoms of gout. I know this is true because during our recent vacation, my husband had a flare-up of gout and after applying frank and coconut oil 4 times daily, the pain was all but gone within three days. Also can be intensified adding additional oils refer to rainbowskytrading.com gout oil! 4. Foster strong immune system. The antiseptic properties of Frankincense make it ideal for supporting a strong immune system. Massage a few drops into the balls of your feet every day. In addition, try diffusing it throughout your home and especially in the bedroom at night. This is especially good during cold and flu season.5. Stress and anxiety management. Apply a drop at the temples to relieve stress and evoke a feeling of calmness. You can also rub a few drops mixed in a carrier oil on the back of the neck when you feel anxious. Something else you can do is simply inhale the aroma of the oil by rubbing a drop or two between the palms of your hands then bringing them up to your nose and taking a deep breath.6. Mitigate depression and feelings of helplessness. Apply a few drops to the back of the neck and especially around the brain stem two or more times daily.7. Anti-aging. None of us likes to look old. Dabbing Frankincense on fine lines and wrinkles will make them less noticeable. A 50/50 blend with a carrier oil (fractionated coconut oil, sweet almond oil) in a glass roller ball is recommended or our wrinkle cream which ^0% frankincense plus a few other ols. You can also add a drop of Frank to your daily moisturizer.8. Replacement for NSAIDS/Advil. Frankincense is a powerful anti-Inflammatory and can be used to relieve conditions where pain and inflammation are present.9. Colds and congestion. Put up to six drops in a sink or bowl filled with very hot water then bend over the sink with a towel draped over your head to contain the steam. Breathe in the vapors for at least five minutes, adding more hot water as needed. Be careful not to scald yourself; the water should be hot, not boiling.10. Relieve itching. A single drop applied to the affected area will bring immediate relief.11. Relieve arthritis pain and swelling. Mix with a carrier (such a Simple Salve or DIY healing salve) and rub into aching joints at night before bed and throughout the day,1 2. Clear up cystic acne. Dab one drop on stubborn spots of cystic acne morning and night. According to my friend this treatment cleared things up for her son in just two or three applications! 13. Relaxation. Add 5 or 6 drops to a diffuser and breathe in the oil to open the senses and create a calming atmosphere. Perfect for quiet meditation.14. Remove moles, skin tags, and warts. Apply a single drop 3 or 4 times a day until gone. Note that if the mole is dark and ragged around the edges and/or growing quickly, see your healthcare professional for an assessment and possible treatment.15. Reduce swelling from insect bites. A single drop dabbed on an insect bite will reduce the swelling and stop the itching.16. Enhance vision. I have seen many references to “studies” that indicate that Frankincense will improve vision and possibly eliminate the need for reading glasses. I could not find a single study myself, however. That said, my personal experience tells me that Frank will indeed improve vision and if my latest test results are accurate, using Frankincense along my optical bone and under my eye has halted, for now, the progression of glaucoma. Please take care not to get any oil in the eye itself. In this case, less is more.17. Remove musty odors. Place a couple of drops in a small dish of water and the room will take on a much fresher smell.18. Restless leg syndrome. Apply 2 drops Frankincense with carrier oil to the bottom of each foot and massage each night to relieve restless leg syndrome.19. Oral Health: Useful as preventative measure against oral health problems such as bad breath, toothaches, cavities, canker sores, and other infections. Try mixing with baking soda and coconut oil to make your own toothpaste.20. Promote sleep and prevent insomnia. Diffuse frankincense at bedtime to help you slow down your breathing and relieve nervous tension and anxiety. You will sleep like a baby! 21. Boost the healing power of homemade remedies and beauty products. I add a few drops of Frankincense to DIY salves, lip balms, and roller balls. It boosts the power of everything else! (More about that in #22 below.)22. Enhance the efficacy of other essential oils. The best is saved for last. Layer Frankincense over other essential oil to enhance that oil’s properties and drive the oils deeper into the cells. This layering will deliver amazing results for those times when you need to kick it up a notch. Essential Oils and You Essential oils are adaptive, meaning they adapt to your unique body chemistry. What this means is that sometimes an oil will work for you right away and sometimes you have to be consistent and use it over a period of days to see results. And, in some cases, a particular oil may not work for you at all. Finding the right combination of oil or oils may take some trial and error. In my own experience, I have found that the basics such as lavender, peppermint, oregano, lemon, melaleuca (tea tree) and rosemary work for me without fail, every time. Other, more complex blends may take a while but when they kick in, the carry a punch. And always, Frankincense seems to make every oil I use more effective sooner. Practical Concerns You will notice that I frequently mention the use of a carrier oil. In most cases, mixing Frankincense with a carrier (such as coconut oil or a salve) will make the application easier. In addition, you will be saving money because you will be diluting the oil 50/50. Be cautious, though, and ensure that the Frankincense you can purchase is 100% pure therapeutic essential oil from rainbow sky direct from Rainbow Sky NO middle man distilled and bottled and direct to you. You will want 100% pure Frankincense so that you can dilute, or not, yourself. Although not known for side effects, frankincense essential oil should not be used during pregnancy unless cleared in advance with your healthcare provider. Likewise, always dilute with a carrier oil when used on children.Tradition tells us that the magi (three wise men) gave the infant King of Israel gifts of gold to honor his royalty, frankincense as a perfume and myrrh for anointing oil.Although there probably is some truth to this, other sources claim that the wise men from the Far East were actually being more practical by giving the baby Jesus these precious, costly essential oils that could double up as potential medical remedies. Frankincense Benefits For over 5,000 years, frankincense has had many vital uses that go well beyond just being an anointing oil. It was used to support the immune system, fight infection and cure disease, even as a potential natural treatment for cancer. Today, the most common frankincense benefits include: Reduces inflammation Cancer-fighting properties Spiritual awareness Boosts immunity Fights infections Improves anxiety Heals skin and reduces acne and scarring Research conducted by the University of Leicester in the U.K. has rekindled the theory that the “wise men” weren’t just bringing wealth to Jesus, but medicine — for it “demonstrated the potential of treating ovarian cancer using the Christmas gift frankincense.” Using the compound AKBA (acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid), the Omani government-funded research has for the first time shown frankincense’s ability to target cancer cells in late-stage ovarian cancer patients. Lead researcher Kamla Al-Salmani explained: After a year of studying the AKBA compound with ovarian cancer cell lines in vitro, we have been able to show it is effective at killing the cancer cells. Frankincense is taken by many people with no known side effects. This finding has enormous potential to be taken to a clinical trial in the future and developed into an additional treatment for ovarian cancer. Bear in mind that this research concerned Boswellic acid — a water soluble compound that is only found in the powder form of frankincense. However, there are other compounds found in frankincense oil that have been shown to be beneficial in test tubes when treating cancer cells. Potential Cancer-Killing Properties of Frankincense Used because of its anti-inflammatory properties, frankincense, also known as Boswellia serrata, has been a favorite folk medicine for several health concerns, including asthma, gastroenteritis and skin conditions. New research, like the University of Leicester study, has recently suggested that frankincense’s disease-targeting power may be even more encompassing than previously suspected. Successfully linking AKBA as a potential treatment for brain, breast, colon, pancreatic, prostate and stomach cancers, research trials are filling medical journals like Carcinogenesis and PLoS One about boswellia serrata’s cancer-targeting prowess. According to researchers out of Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, the potential cancer-killing properties of frankincense are due in part to it regulating cellular epigenetic machinery, which highlights its ability to influence genes to promote healing. Baylor cancer scientists emphasize that this potency makes Boswellia a viable candidate for both cancer prevention and treatment. Natural Treatment of Cancer with Frankincense Oil People who have added Boswellia serrata into their natural health cancer care plan may find themselves experiencing double-benefits from this amazing essential oil. For many cancer patients, there’s a time when the treatment becomes worse than the cancer itself. It is as this point that quality of life and symptom suppression is the focal point for many diagnosed with this deadly disease. Debilitating in-and-of itself, often the cancer treatment side effects can make having cancer absolutely miserable. Take, for instance, brain cancer patients who experience cerebral edema (swelling in the head) after having their tumors irradiated. Typically, these people are treated with dexamethasone and other corticosteroids to control the swelling, but this is done at a great cost because the deadly complications of steroids are limitless. Unfortunately, these people suffer toxic overload from the drugs that are supposed to help them in the first place and get headaches, migraines, and may even deal with blurred vision because of the steroid treatments. Thankfully, frankincense offers a natural, viable solution to this horrible issue. Back in 2011, the journal Cancer published the results of a 44 person clinical trial evaluating how brain swelling was effected by frankincense. Astoundingly, 60 percent of the patients displayed 75 percent reduction or greater in cerebral swelling after being treated with 4,200 milligrams per day of frankincense. These results are so significant that scientists are urging the medical community to consider prescribing this potent essential oil instead of steroids for cancer patients assigned to radiation treatment. We hope this spreads like wildfire within cancer treatment circles. Who knows what could happen if more people utilized this frankincense oil as a cancer natural treatment approach. As we’ve seen above, if Boswellia serrata can kill cancer cells and prevent tumors from growing, the sky’s the limit for folks who follow natural health guidelines. Frankincense Benefits Immune Function A growing body of research has recently unlocked the doors to our understanding of why frankincense benefits our health. In a study published by Phytotherapy Research, for instance, when mice took 1–10 milligrams of Boswellia serrata orally, it was discovered that multiple levels of their immune systems were stimulated including: Delayed hypersensitivity reaction (early 24 hours, delayed 48 hours)IgG *IgMCytokines (interferon gamma, interleukin-4, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha)T-cell interactions (i.e. CD4/CD8, which are generally low in AIDS patients) In layman’s terms, frankincense can significantly boost the immune system. Two fundamental ways this is accomplished is by proliferating lymphocytes (white blood cells, which are the body’s primary defense team) and by keeping inflammation at bay (which is arguably the primary risk factor for most chronic diseases).This may also explain why frankincense is so effective in treating autoimmune conditions like bronchial asthma, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis. Implement frankincense into your natural health regimen today and see how frankincense benefits your immune function. This essential oil can be used in diffusers with ease to treat respiratory conditions, or you can use it as an essential oil or salve directly on your skin. Finally, you can also take frankincense (Boswellia) as a supplement with a few essential oil drops placed under your tongue, on the roof of your mouth for treatment of many health conditions. How Does Frankincense Oil Work? The effects and benefits of frankincense oil can be acquired by applying it topically, inhaling it using a diffuser or vaporizer, or ingesting it in very small amounts. For pain relief, simply massage the oil onto the affected areas. Meanwhile, using a diffuser or inhaler works for treating colds and clearing up respiratory blockages. You can also sprinkle a few drops on a clean cloth and inhale the scent, or add it to your bathwater for a rejuvenating soak. Frankincense oil can be directly applied to the skin or blended with other carrier oils such as jojoba, sweet almond, avocado, patchouli, rosemary, clary sage, citrus, and basil oils. Is Frankincense Oil Safe? Yes, frankincense is generally safe. However, I advise doing a spot test first, to check if you have any sensitivity to this oil. When taking frankincense oil internally, it's best to dilute a drop in an edible carrier oil (like coconut oil), a teaspoon of honey, or a glass of purified water or any non-acidic, non-dairy beverage. You can also put a drop or two under your tongue.27 However, ingesting this oil is not recommended for children ages six and below. Older children and teens may also require higher dilutions. You must also remember that not all frankincense oil brands are made for internal use, so make sure you check the label before taking it. Side Effects of Frankincense Oil There are no reported severe side effects of using this oil. However, in some rare cases, frankincense oil can cause skin rashes, gastrointestinal distress, such as nausea, stomach pain, and hyperacidity. It also has blood thinning effects, and may increase the risk of abnormal bleeding in people with a bleeding disorder or taking anticoagulant medications. Frankincense essential oil is also not recommended for pregnant women and nursing moms, as it acts as an emenagogue and may induce menstruation, which may be dangerous for an unborn fetus.