Serpent Root Incense Sticks | Ba She

The snake that swallowed an elephant.

Ba She, a legendary giant sacred serpent recorded in Shan Hai Jing, swallows elephants whole. The snake's power was appetite, and appetite is a form of movement. Ba She takes the heaviest thing in the room and make room around it. We regard Ba She as a story about flow, like qi and blood moving through our bodies. Ba She Incense blends sandalwood, codonopsis, astragalus and polygonatum. The last three are all qi tonics in the Chinese materia medica, names that show up again and again in classical formulas for cold hands and low internal warmth. It is made for the hours when your body needs something to lean into, such as the big things block your chest, the heaviness you carry after a long day at the desk, or the sluggish feeling in your legs when you finally stand up after sitting still for nine hours.

Sound like your Tuesday?

You sat down at nine and lunch happened at your keyboard. The chest tightens a little by four. You got up once for water. By five, your legs felt like they belonged to someone else. The kind you ignore because nobody goes to the ER over it, but it is there every afternoon, like clockwork. You don't want a pill. You don't want a posture app. You want the room to feel lighter, so your body remembers it can move.

• A ritual for the sluggish hours. Clear the desk, put the laptop to sleep, and light a stick. The smoke smells dry and warm and sturdy: sandalwood and root, like the inside of a cedar chest opened in a sunlit room. Nothing sweet, nothing floral. It asks the room to slow down, and the room does. Sit with it until your shoulders remember they belong to you.
• Key botanical ingredients: Sandalwood, Codonopsis, Astragalus, Polygonatum
• Dimensions: 
  Box of 50 sticks (Approx. 25 minutes burn time per stick);
  Box of 120 incense sticks. (Approx. 40 minutes burn time per stick) 
• The gift for the person who's always at the desk. The founder friend, the doctor cousin. or the new parent who answers emails at 11 p.m. They don't have a ritual for the 4 p.m. slump. Give them something that says I see how hard you're working, without making them sign up for a meditation app.