[Versione italiana dell’articolo – Alla ricerca dell’equilibrio, il profumo di Elemi]

The Elemi (Canarium luzonicum), or Manila Elemi, is a tree endemic to the Philippines. It reaches a height of thirty metres and each tree can produce up to five kilograms of resin. It comes to us either as pure resin or as essential oil.

The aromatic resin is light yellow in colour, initially with a honey-like consistency and later when it hardens, it can be either medium soft or hard with inserts of bark and wood fragments.

Both the resin and the essence provide calmness and balance, with a spicy note that particularly emerges strongly in the essential oil.

The smell is fresh and reminiscent of pepper and lemon. You can perceive a feeling of connection between high and low, earth and sky, a balance of the bright side with the rooted, earthy side – the citrusy, spicy scent is intense and invites presence and calm.

When using the resin we are enveloped in the quiet, intense, fresh scent that can be an ideal accompaniment for meditation, reading, or a moment of simple relaxation and well-being.

The essential oil, rich in terpenes, sesquiterpenes and alcohols, is known to have healing, antiseptic, balsamic and stimulating/balancing properties. We can try using it in massages, foot baths and diffusing it in the environment, when we need both to feel “present” and a feeling of calm and active serenity.

A wellness recipe for diffusion with Elemi:

Elemi (Canarium luzonicum) 4 gc

Mandarin (Citrus reticulata) 4 gc

Lemon (Citrus limon) 2 gc