Anxiety is the feeling of fear or unease that is felt thinking about what is to come. It is normal but when it occurs frequently, is extreme or interferes with your day-to-day life, it is no longer normal. It may be that you have a disorder referred to as anxiety disorder. Symptoms of anxiety differ from person to person, it may be noticed as rapid breathing, restlessness, increase heart-beat rate, difficulty falling asleep or finding difficult to concentrate. It can be treated medically or psycho-therapeutically, it can also be handled naturally too by making some lifestyle adjustment such as eating healthy food, exercising, resting and sleeping well, staying active, quitting smoking and drinking.
Burning candle is psycho-therapeutic. It helps treat anxiety. Colored candles as well as scented candles can be used to treat anxiety. While colored candles would do this with color therapy, scented candle would achieve the same goal with aroma therapy.
COLOR THERAPY AND ANXIETY
Colored candles can help heal the clear the mind off the fear and uneasiness that comes with anxiety. This is because the burning of these colored candles has great influence on our thoughts and health in general, most especially when used for meditation. Colored candles that can be burned to help with anxiety include:
- Grey
- Black and white
- Blue
- Pink
- Yellow
Grey candles
Sometimes anxiety may be as a result of fear of what tomorrow will bring. Burning grey candles helps give clarity of purpose. It would help bring a calm that terminates the fear that results from thinking about what the future holds. This may help handle anxiety.
Black and white candles
Stress from our personal life especially those related to our relationship and marriage life can lead to anxiety which may lead to depression. Burning black candles alongside white candles and meditating with it can help lessen the depth of the depression caused by this anxiety. One the long run, one can heal in the process. White candles when burned alone can help in relaxing the mind.
Blue candles
Color blue is a symbol of life. In times like these when the world is faced with some much uncertainties (like pandemic and disease outbreaks, natural disasters, global recession etc.,) one may be anxious. Burning blue candles would help rekindle your faith in the life process giving you the assurance that life can better. This would help with anxiety resulting from the unease that comes with thinking of those uncertainties.
Pink candles
Quite often than not anxiety results from emotional trauma, sometimes these traumas persist because we have not forgiven ourselves from the circumstances or happenings surrounding the traumatic events. Pink symbolizes love for self and others. It also stimulates forgiveness. When you burn pink candles for meditation you come in contact with your inner peace and with time your healing process will take place.
Yellow candles
Yellow candles too can help deal with anxiety. This is because the color yellow gives strength to the mind. It strengthens us so we would not quit even when we are financially, emotionally, socially or mentally stressed. When we burn yellow candles when meditating, we realize that there is more to life because we begin to have clarity of purpose. This too can help heal anxiety.
Bonus:
Colored candles can help heal anxiety when burned, but it requires concentrated meditation to work best.
AROMATHERAPY AND ANXIETY
Scented candles too can help heal anxiety. Certain scented candles can help reduce feeling of anxiety and fear. They can also lift your mood and relief stress. These candles achieve this via interaction with our mood through our sense of smell. This can be done via meditation or incorporating scented candle burning in your relaxation routines like reading a book, tai chi or yoga. 
Women doing yoga with a lit scented candle
Scented candles that may be used for anxiety healing aromatherapy include those scented with:
- Citrus (e.g. orange, lemon etc.)
- Apple
- Lavender
- Peppermint
- Sandalwood
- Vanilla
- Apple
- Clary sage
OTHER THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS OF BURNING CANDLES
Apart from helping heal anxiety scented candles and colored candles can be have many other health benefit due to their aroma-therapeutic and color-therapeutic natures respectively. Scented candles can be used to manage pain, relief stress, enhance concentration, lower blood pressure, enhance concentration and even lower blood pressure. Although some of these are associated with anxiety but they may be symptoms of other conditions other than anxiety. Some aroma candles associated with aromatherapy include:
- Citrus
Apart from healing anxiety, citrus scents like that of orange and lemon can also help increase concentration and also brighten mood
- Lavender
The relaxing scent of lavender has been proven help heal insomnia (inability to sleep) and headaches. Also, the lavender scented candles when burned can relieve depression and stress and of course, anxiety.
- Peppermint
Peppermint is often used for medicinal purposes to heal headaches, problems with indigestion and also to relief muscle pains. When peppermint is inhaled from scented candles, it can also help achieve what the medicine will.
- Sandalwood
When candles scented with sandalwood are used for meditation, it can help lift depression.
- Vanilla
The smell of vanilla is sweet and comforting. When vanilla scented candles are inhaled, they can help relieve stress due to the soothing nature of the sweet smell of vanilla.
- Cinnamon
Cinnamon scent is inviting. It helps to calm the nerves.
EXTRA NOTES
While scented and colored candles can help with anxiety, they can only do this if they are made from the right combination of ingredients. Candles in which the wicks are made from metals like zinc, and those with paraffin wax should be avoided at all cost. This is because they produce toxic chemicals when inhaled and aromatherapy involves inhaling the candles. The best candle for therapy should be that with wick made from cotton or hemp, and wax that is either soy wax or bee wax or any other natural recommended wax. This is because candle with 100% natural ingredients is best for therapeutic use.
For aromatherapy candles, they should be scented with natural essential oils rather than synthetic oils. This way your well being would be protected and also therapy would be provided to heal mind, body and soul.
