Why I Don’t Burn Incense or Sage Before Breathwork Sessions

A while back, I ran a private breathwork session at a client’s house in Dubai. They had one of those high-end IQAir monitors that reads air quality in real-time, tracking fine particles in the air (PM2.5), temperature, and more. When I arrived, the indoor air quality was excellent: the reading sat at 52, thanks to the air-purification system running in the background.

Then came a well-intentioned ritual: my client lit incense and sage for about 20 minutes to “cleanse the energy.” I’ve seen this countless times, burning herbs as a spiritual or cultural practice before ceremonies. But this time, I got to witness something different.

The machine went wild.

Within minutes, the reading spiked to 368, which is classified as hazardous air quality. That’s not a small jump, it’s a massive one. From 52 to 368 in less than half an hour, with a PM2.5 spike to 259 µg/m³ nearly 10 times the WHO’s recommended safe limit for indoor air.

And this was all happening just before we were about to begin intense conscious connected breathing.

When you see a “PM2.5” reading, it’s measuring how many microscopic particles are floating in the air, specifically particles that are 2.5 micrometres or smaller, which is about 30 times thinner than a human hair. These fine particles are so tiny that they slip past your nose’s natural filters and go deep into your lungs, and some can even enter your bloodstream. A healthy indoor environment should stay well below 15 µg/m³ according to the World Health Organisation. The spike I saw—259 µg/m³—wasn’t just a little high, it was over 17 times the recommended safe limit and officially classified as “hazardous” air. In simple terms, the air went from clean to extremely polluted in less than half an hour.

What This Image Shows

This is a real-time air quality reading from an IQAir monitor during a private breathwork session in Dubai.

• Left side (purple): Indoor air quality at the time of the session. The number 368 is the Air Quality Index (AQI) and anything over 300 is officially labelled hazardous.

• 259 µg/m³ underneath shows the concentration of PM2.5 (ultra-fine pollution particles). For context, anything over 15 µg/m³ is considered unhealthy indoors by the World Health Organisation.

• The purple face with a gas mask is a visual warning: this air is dangerous to breathe, especially during deep breathing exercises.

• Right side (orange): Outdoor air quality in Dubai at the same time. The reading of 133 AQI and 48.5 µg/m³ is already unhealthy for sensitive groups, but still far better than what was inside.

• Bottom graph: This shows how the air changed over the day. You can clearly see the indoor air (left chart) was stable and mostly in the safe green and yellow zones—until a sudden spike into purple just after 19:00. That spike came directly after incense and sage were burned.
  

Why This Matters for Breathwork

When we breathe normally, we filter a decent amount of air through our nasal passages. But in breathwork, especially conscious connected breathing, the kind we do at IMD, we’re breathing deeply, rapidly, and through the mouth. This bypasses the natural filters in your nose and draws far more air (and anything in it) directly into your lungs.

That means every particle floating in the room—smoke, ash, chemicals—is going straight into the most delicate tissues of your respiratory system.

Here’s why this is concerning:

🔸 PM2.5 Penetrates Deep

PM2.5 particles (like those found in incense smoke) are 2.5 microns or smaller. They can bypass the body’s natural filters, embed in lung tissue, and even enter the bloodstream.

🔸 Reduced Oxygen Uptake

Pollutants interfere with gas exchange in the lungs. In breathwork, where we deliberately alter oxygen and CO₂ levels, adding pollutants to the mix can put unnecessary strain on the respiratory system.

🔸 Neuroinflammation & Brain Fog

Studies link high PM2.5 exposure to inflammation in the brain, impaired cognitive function, and even mood disturbances—exactly the opposite of what breathwork is designed to support.

🔸 Increased Risk for Asthma & Sensitivities

Smoke particles can trigger or worsen asthma, allergies, and sensitivities—even in people who don’t usually show symptoms.

It’s Not About Right or Wrong. It’s About Safety and Integrity.

This isn’t an attack on sage, incense, or the beautiful cultures they come from.

This is about context.

When used for short moments, in open-air spaces, or without intense physical exertion, these practices can be beautiful and meaningful. But breathwork isn’t a regular activity. We are deeply activating the lungs, the nervous system, and the brain.

It’s a moment where purity matters. Clean air matters. Safety matters.

That’s why in my breathwork sessions and at IMD Breathwork, we don’t burn sage or incense in enclosed rooms before sessions. We want every person to be able to drop in safely, without risking their lungs, triggering sensitivities, or compromising the physiological process.

A Personal Choice, Backed By Data

That night at my client’s house showed me what the science already told us. The difference is, I could see it. I could breathe it. And I could feel the heaviness in the room, even before we started the breathwork.

So this isn’t about dogma. It’s not about doing what’s trendy or popular.

It’s about creating the clearest, cleanest, safest space for people to breathe, release, and heal.

And for me, that means skipping the smoke.

The Bigger Picture: Breathwork Deserves Better Air

If we’re serious about emotional release, trauma healing, and nervous system regulation, then we must also be serious about the physical environment we’re doing that in. Incense may smell beautiful. Sage may carry symbolic meaning. But neither is worth compromising your lungs when you’re about to do the most physically intense breathing you’ve done all week.

Air quality is part of the healing. The science is clear. And my job as a facilitator is to protect that space for your safety, your health, and your transformation.

So if I ever ask you to skip the incense, it’s not because I don’t respect your rituals. It’s because I deeply respect your breath.