WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Smudging: Not just for hippies 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:06.240 Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:08.799 there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, sitting him for Dave. 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:12.440 It's the Hue and this is short stuff. I think 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:15.840 I already said that, So let's go Woo woo edition 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.079 a little bit. Depending on where what your background is, 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:22.799 or what your intentions are, or what you believe the 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:24.640 effects of what you're doing. 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:26.880 Are, that's right. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.920 And what we're talking about is smudging. And if you're like, 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:35.200 what is that? Have you ever heard of burning sage? Like, Oh, 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.400 we just moved into this new house. We're gonna walk 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:39.920 around and burn some sage, get rid of all those 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.320 bad vibes, and just welcome the newness and the goodness 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:47.839 into this place by burning a little bundle of white sage. 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:53.240 Yeah, it's called smudging. The smoke supposedly does some stuff 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:56.360 to like you said, the vibes. It is very popular 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:00.640 among people who use words like vibes, right. But it 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:05.560 has its roots very firmly in Indigenous North American cultures, 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:10.400 in particular the Dakota in ho Chunk cultures. Smudged with sage. 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:15.480 Ho Chunk is more familiar as the Winnebago tribe right, 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:22.840 and they also well, I guess they evolved this practice independently, 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:29.720 but civilizations like throughout time have used herbs or incenses 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:33.280 to do things like cleanse the air or purify things. 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:37.959 And there's definitely something to it. It's just the science 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:42.000 on it hasn't really been carried out in a lot 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.840 of ways, and there's a lot of people who still 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.960 kind of jump to larger conclusions than they possibly should 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:50.400 at this point. Who knows, I think my take on it. 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:53.400 I just want everybody to bear this in mind. If 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:55.680 it makes you happy, if you like it, if you're 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:00.000 doing it ethically and responsibly, more power to you. 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:01.080 Yeah. 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:05.160 Absolutely, Burning all kinds of verbs has long been a 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.079 sort of a ritual in different cultures. Like you were 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:12.280 talking about smudging, you can also call it saging. The 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:16.720 word sage actually comes from Latin from salvia, which means 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.600 to feel healthy. And we're going to talk about potential 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:23.320 health benefits here in a minute. But there, you know, 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:25.760 there are people who will say, well, hold on a minute, 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.239 this is this is cultural appropriation, really, and if you're 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:32.760 just walking around like you throw on some enya or 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.480 some grateful dead and you're and you're burning smug you're 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:38.799 smudge and you're burning that stage and walking around, then 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:42.960 you may be sort of doing a not a disservice, 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:49.440 but inadvertently sort of insulting, being disrespectful to the original 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:51.639 very sacred practice. 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:53.040 So that is. 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.920 Something to keep in mind and just like, leave me 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.400 out of this, leave me in the crossword where I've got. 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:02.840 So there are people though that will say, like, hey, 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.800 if you're going to do this, keep some things in mind. 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.080 Harvest it sustainably, and we'll get to why you should 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:11.960 do that in a sec although you should always do 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:12.520 that for anything. 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:14.400 Yeah, and then maybe you. 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.360 Know, sort of do some research on how it was 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.760 really done and maybe you know, try and honor that 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:22.079 in some way. 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:29.000 Yeah, exactly. Yeah, maybe seek different sources too, beyond Instagram 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.520 or TikTok. And I'm not making fun, but I know 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:33.120 that there's a lot of people that are getting the 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:36.680 idea to go smudge from those sources. Great, but go 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.360 look up a little more about it and that might 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:41.240 help you feel a little better about doing it. 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.800 Yeah, And if you're curious about potential benefits of smudging 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:48.760 beyond just sort of feeling like it's a ritual, you 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.840 should do when you move in or you want to 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:55.119 get rid of some bad vibes, don't go to websites 0:03:55.160 --> 0:04:00.440 that have web pages that are turquoise or in comic sands, 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:05.480 comic sands, pink script, lots of crystals. You're gonna get 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:07.600 a lot of information on those sites, but it may 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.960 not be accurate. Because I did look a little deeper 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:15.760 into benefits of smudging and burning sage, and maybe we 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.359 should talk about those when we come back right after this. 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:20.240 I think that's a capital idea. 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:45.159 All right, we'll be right back, all right. 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.400 So if you look up, you know, what are the 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.599 benefits of burning sage, you will find all kinds of 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:55.400 things from improved mood, better sleep, enhance cognition, lowering your 0:04:55.520 --> 0:05:01.520 stress levels, anti bacterial properties, stuff like that. The problem 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:03.039 is with a lot of this kind of stuff is 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:07.280 it's hard to find great solid scientific studies and evidence 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:11.599 because science doesn't usually study stuff like this. A lot 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.080 the money goes elsewhere. So you'll find lots of studies 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:17.839 where it's like there's a lot of correlation and stuff 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.360 like that, a lot of self reporting. But I was 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.880 having a hard time finding like some real good, hard 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:25.719 double blind studies on this stuff. 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:30.040 Yes, that's that's problem one. Problem two is there are 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:35.320 some peer reviewed good studies or meta analysis of other studies, 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:38.720 but if you start looking into them, you're like, oh, 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.640 this isn't actually talking about smudging at all, or yeah, 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.440 if it is about smudging, it's not about smudging with sage. 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.880 It's about smudging with havanamagri, right, which is an Indian 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:53.960 medicinal I guess incense, which that one is widely cited 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:59.840 because that study found that burning havan some magari purifies 0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:02.200 your room. It kills up to ninety five percent of 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.560 airborne bacteria for up to like thirty days. 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:06.599 That's awesome. 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.840 So you could be like, Okay, I mean this sage 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:14.160 really that much different from have on SMAGERI, So surely 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.640 there's some properties to it. That's what people are doing. 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:21.080 Or if it's a study on stage in sage's ability 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.240 to enhance cognition or to fight Alzheimer's or to improve 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.840 your mood or something like that, those are studies on 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.800 sage extract that you're taking. Orally it's not a study 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:36.360 on smudging. That's different. Again, you can make some jumps 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:40.360 to conclusions that may have some some basis, like, you know, 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:43.520 if you burn some of the bioactive compounds and other 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:49.280 plants marijuana, it does things to you, for sure. How 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.320 is it that that far off that burning sage and 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:56.159 its bioactive compounds could have other different effects that just 0:06:56.200 --> 0:07:00.679 maybe aren't quite as noticeable, or I just haven't been researched. Yes, yes, 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.320 but the key thing here is to remember it hasn't 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.760 been researched, so you know, take it all with a 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:10.400 grain of salt. But again, if it's making you feel good, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.760 even if it's a placebo, then great. Yeah. 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:14.360 Absolutely. 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:16.280 And by the way, please don't put sage in your 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:17.360 bomb and inhale it. 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:19.720 Oh my god, kill your throat. 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:21.400 Yeah, that would not be good for you. 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.960 We mentioned, or I think I mentioned responsible harvesting of 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.960 sage about fifty percent, and this is California white sage. 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:35.200 About fifty percent of California white sage has been lost 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:39.560 to urbanization. This article says, you know, the increase in 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:43.360 non native people saging is posing a threat. I saw 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:48.600 that it was more like urbanization in general, climate change, fire, drought, poaching, 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.240 sort of the usual suspects with stuff like that. 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.680 If it's California, sage that fire is contributing big time. 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:59.320 Yeah, absolutely, So I'm not so convinced that that's true that, like, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.280 you know, people jumping off of goop and buying sage 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.320 is like, why that there's a fifty percent drop? But 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.000 it may be playing a part, who knows. 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.360 I mean, if there's a huge a huge decline in 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.360 it naturally, then a bunch of new people coming and 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:16.920 buying it would definitely have an impact too. Sure. 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:21.280 Absolutely. Carpenter bees are the main pollinator of white sage, 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.120 so the loss of sage is no good, just like 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.760 you know, losing any kind of pollinating plant is no good. 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.000 And then you know whether or not it's bad for you. 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.040 I was trying to find information. I didn't see where 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:37.680 it was necessarily bad. As long as you keep the 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.000 smoke levels down. You don't want to especially if you 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.360 have asthma or something or any respiratory illness. You don't 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.600 want to be breathing in smoke period. So when you sage, 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:48.240 you want to you want to blow that thing out 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.359 pretty quick and keep the smoke to a minimum. 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.800 Yes. One other thing I did see though, that makes 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.359 a lot of sense, is that the smoke releases negative ions, 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:01.680 and I saw some people say which counteract negative energy. 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:06.679 Not true, but it does counter at things like allergens 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:12.080 like dust stander mold, which are positively charged typically, so 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.560 that makes some sense. So there is some some science 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.320 to it too, but also just getting away from all 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:21.120 the science, getting away from applying any new age group 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.520 stuff to it. It does. It is like a traditional 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:29.840 indigenous practice. And I saw actually the Mayo Clinic was 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:32.640 boasting about how they have a smudging room at their 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:37.960 their Minnesota like main campus that because they work with 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.880 so many Native American patients, that's like one of the 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.640 things they offer with their chaplains. Oh interesting, Yeah, it's 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:46.240 pretty cool. 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.960 I didn't see any like this is how long you're 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:53.520 supposed to do it, because I think, especially if it's 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.520 something that's like a symbolic thing that you're doing, I'm 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:58.439 not sure like you can even put a time limit 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:03.640 on something that ethereal uh. But yeah, just uh, I 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:07.839 mean we're not smudge advisors. I would say just don't 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.720 don't don't throw it away like it's just some dumb 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:12.760 thing you're doing, Like, just let me do this, like 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.560 maybe respect it a little bit, even if it's just 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.640 a placebo effect, Like it's something that many cultures have 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:22.160 done for for you know, thousands of years, so like 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:24.080 pay pay it a little respect, I would say. 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:29.440 So there's there's a ritual to it. I think originally 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.600 smudging was bathing yourself in the smoke from the sage bundle. 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.600 That that's really what what indigenous smudging is, and then 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:42.120 it kind of got translated to clearing the negative energy 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:45.640 out of a space as well. But one of the 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:47.640 things you can do if you smudge is you can 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.920 you can basically you take the smoke and waft it 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:54.199 to yourself. Yeah, basically run it through your hair, run 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.160 it over your shoulders, down your arms, like just take 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:02.040 a quick bath in the in the the smoke. Then 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:06.880 you're actually doing like the most basic ancient indigenous practice 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:09.280 with smudging. But you can also walk around your place 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:13.960 with it, like you're saying, and there's different elements to it, 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.800 like literally elements or symbolic elements. And one of the 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:20.280 first things you want to get that's typically used as 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:25.000 a shell, often an abalone shell, and that's the container 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:28.679 that you're actually lighting the bundle in, and that represents 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:29.720 the element of water. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.120 Yeah, so not the puka shell from your necklace that 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.200 you inevitably have on around your. 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.239 Neck with the cocoa pelly pen, yeah. 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:42.439 Something larger, and then of course you've got the herb itself. 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:45.320 You bundle it together. You can call it a smudge 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.040 stick if you'd like. You've got your fire that's obviously 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:51.000 an element, and then you got that smoke, which is 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:52.200 the air element. 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:55.720 Yep, how stuff works. Did you get this from how 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:56.360 stuff works? 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:58.320 That in other places? 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:03.040 Well, somebody interviewed a writer in healing practitioner named Molly 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:08.600 Larkin who said, hey, man, if you're worried about like 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.600 insulting indigenous cultures, because you're not doing this right, you're 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.440 not taking it seriously enough. They said that basically the 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.080 way you can prevent that across the board is by 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.640 having an intention with smudging, and like you were saying, 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:30.240 an intention beyond listening to Enya, and that in expressing 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.199 that intention through prayer and that that's one of the 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.160 big parts of smudging, as you say like I want 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.559 to get rid of I want to wash that man 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:40.480 right out of my hair or something like that, So 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:44.880 I'm going to run sage smoke through it, or they like, 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:46.920 that's what most people think of a smudging, you're getting 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.640 rid of negative energy in a space or from yourself. 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.400 But apparently, according to Molly Larkin, you can also bring 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.600 in positive energy. So you can set your intention whether 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.559 it's to get rid of negative energy or bring in 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.560 positive or both, and then you just kind of repeat 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.120 that throughout the ritual of smudging. 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.679 Yeah, and just keep in mind of all the science 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:08.559 stuff we talked about. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.400 Yes, and one other thing too. Apparently one of the 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:15.800 beliefs is that the ashes contain the negative energy that 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:19.640 you have removed, and so you want to dispose of 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:23.480 that ash on bare earth. If you've gone this far, 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:25.080 you might as well finish it right. 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:29.160 Okay, absolutely, And hey, if you're going to finish it right, 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.920 start right and grow your own white sage and use that. 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.040 Yeah. That's another thing too. They recommend do not buy 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:38.920 from mass market retailers because they're probably not sourcing it ethically. 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:41.559 They could be a part of the problem if there 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.559 is a sage shortage. Ideally you would buy it from 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:51.319 a local Native American owned business. And then yeah, the 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.280 second best of that is growing at yourself. 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:54.280 Yeah. 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:59.400 Wow, wow, we really did a good job here, Chuck 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.240 if I may say so ourselves, and I think so, okay, 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.600 well go forth and says everybody, but do so ethically 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.320 and responsibly and with respect. And that means, of course 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.960 short stuff is out. 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.440 Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio. 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