Candling (or coning) has been used as an aid for health for thousands of years, throughout the world. Candling is sometimes considered an old wives’ remedy, but how many of these gentler methods are we rediscovering today?
Simple in themselves, the candles are hollow tubes or cones of differing lengths, made from cotton or linen impregnated with wax and various herbs, such as chamomile, lavender, eucalyptus or sage. (Preferably, all ingredients are organic.)
What is Candling?
The candle or cone is placed just over the entrance to the ear canal and the top is lit. As it burns, it sends a gentle warmth spiralling down, which massages the ear drum and stimulates the immune system. We know that a properly functioning immune system is vital for perfect health and when this is built up in children from infancy, they have a wonderful gift to carry them through life. For adults, it is equally important to have a well-functioning immune system to enable us to avoid any bugs floating around, or if we don’t quite manage that, to get rid of them in record time.
The acupuncture points in the ear are also treated by the candles and six of the main meridians (energy lines according to Chinese medicine) in the human body, including those concerned with allergies, either start or terminate at a point between the nose and the ear. The candle is therefore sending energy right through the body by means of its meridians.
Practical Uses of Candling
So what are their practical applications? I have been using them and training people in their use for more than 25 years, so I have picked up a lot of information in that time, far too much to put into an article. However, here are a few examples:
Children adore them, and they naturally react far faster than adults. A regular patient brought her four year-old daughter who fell so deeply asleep that her mother had to shake her gently to wake her up. Candling did the trick, though; her sinuses unblocked and she was able to enjoy the flight to her homeland half a world away a few days later.
People with allergies find great relief, although the candles won’t remove the allergy. One of my patients has been coming every month for several years, and after the very first treatment, was able to breathe more easily and snore less loudly at night and on my treatment table! It was this patient who sent me a friend suffering with sleep apnoea, telling her that it was worth a try. She had been using an oxygen mask at night, which kept her awake and during the day she was exhausted. After a couple of treatments she was able to discard the mask and now she comes in for treatment about every six weeks.
Another patient, who had a slight stroke four years earlier, told me that after the very first treatment, she felt more balanced than she had since her stroke and that there was “more light”. One of the functions of the candles is to balance the two hemispheres of the brain, so that was a confirmation, if any was needed, of their efficacy.
A reader of an early edition of my book told me how candles had helped and comforted her mother in the final weeks before dying of cancer. Without a treatment before bedtime, she felt as if she were suffocating; candling was the only way she could sleep in comfort.
A woman who suffered from two or three migraines a month, who was taking codeine regularly, came for three treatments over a short period and felt an attack coming on as we finished the third session. She returned a year later and told me she had suffered only one migraine during the entire year. She had completely forgotten that migraines had been her initial reason for consulting me.
A former student of mine reported on the case of a patient suffering from depression, insomnia, and constipation. As she started candling, the patient’s intestines began to rumble and at the end of the treatment, the therapist burnt a candle on the belly. The patient rushed to the lavatory and was able to reduce the load in his gut. He stopped using sleeping tablets after the first treatment and, with his doctor’s help, was able to reduce his reliance on anti-depressants.
Body Candling
A candle on the belly? Yes, candles can be used anywhere on the body and this is something many people do not necessarily know. Of course treating the ears and stimulating the immune system are going to have a generalized effect anyway, but sometimes a more targeted approach has been found to work faster. For constipation and/or hemorrhoids, a candle burnt on the sacrum or directly on the belly can work wonders. The great thing is that the patient doesn’t need to undress – just put a paper tissue on the spot and hold the candle upright over it. For painful periods as well as painful glands in the breast, candling has been shown to offer rapid relief. How I wish I’d known that when I was younger!
There are always other things I have advised my patients to do to enhance their candling, such as drinking more water or less tea and coffee, avoiding dairy products if they suffer from blocked sinuses, and managing stress. These are all things many of us know, but our lives are such that we can’t always follow them. Like most other things, candling maintenance sessions are advisable every six weeks or so depending on the problem, the person, and his/her schedule.
Even after 25 years I am still discovering conditions for which the candles are ideal.
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