AKA Pit Stop: Quinnie’s New York

of the space, particularly since we’ve been spending so more time in our homes,” says Jennifer Llewellyn, chief wellness o cer of Majestic Hudson Lifestyle, a spiritual boutique and wellness sanctuary in Katonah, NY.

All you need is a predried bundle of sage—get it in local store or online—and before you get started, take a minute or two to meditate and set a positive intention for your space, yourself and everything within it. “Everything has energy,” says Llewellyn, who does private sage house cleanings, readings, crystal healings and spiritual attunement for clients throughout the Hudson Valley, “so it’s important to set the highest possible intention.”

Here’s a quick ‘how to’ on properly lighting the sage: Hold the sage as far from the end you are burning as possible. Hold the bushel at a slight angle, light it, allowing the ame to burn for about 10-20 seconds and then gently blow out the ame until the orange embers appear on one end. “You don’t need a lot of smoke to be e ective,” says Llewellyn. “You don’t want it burning, you want a gentle amount of smoke.” More tips: Use a tray or bowl to catch the ashes, start from the main entrance and be sure to go from corner to corner (“Nooks and crannies are important, that’s where the negative energy may linger,” Llewellyn says) and then back to the center of each room.

Be prepared to endure the noise of your smoke alarm going o during the session (if it gets extra smokey) and if possible, pick a nice, sunny day—you de nitely want to open all your windows. “If you don’t open your windows, the negative energy is just bumping o the walls like bumper cars, you want to let it escape,” says Jenn Nowicki, also known as Amarellys, an intuitive healer who does personal energy readings at the

“If you don’t open your windows, Awareness Shop, a metaphysical shop the negative in New Paltz. She also does sage house energy is just blessings, reiki and other healing therapies. Once you’ve saged your entire home, bumping off you’ve still got some work to do. “It’s also the walls like very important that you ll the space bumper cars, a erwards with positive energy,” says you want to let Nowicki, who suggests using sacred mists or burning blessed candles. “You don’t it escape.” want to leave a vacuum for the negative energy to return, you want to ll it with positive energy, love and light.” One last thing: Llewellyn suggests doing a closing ritual, such as ringing a chime or bell to conclude the cleansing, and you even might want to sprinkle a pinch of Himalayan salt outside the front door. “Salt puri es the aura in general,” Llewellyn says, “so it will help all energies be cleaned with positivity.” How o en should you sage your space? “It’s a very personal thing,” Nowicki says. “I clean my own home weekly, but at minimum I’d tell people to use sage once a month. I normally tell my clients, especially if they work at home in a high stress job, to sage as much as possible.”