A few drops a day to a healthier you
Just imagine: a plant-based oil the essence of which can brighten your mood, sterilize wounds, clear congestion, treat infection, erase wrinkles and clean your home! The unimaginable benefits of essential oils grant you the power to take health into your own hands.
Wafting aromas, distinctive scents, healing powers, and a heightened sense of awareness supply the quintessence of nature’s elixir into a remedial and invigorating place. The complexity of each oil and its applications ranges from antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and antidepressant to digestive. How can the simplistic essence of a plant produce such mystical and magical results?
Essential oils date back to ancient medicine, bridging the gap between the former and the modern age. These oils have circulated our world since 2500 BCE when religious, medicinal, and beautification processes were first attempted in Egypt. Since then, many cultures including the Chinese, Greeks, and Romans have adopted the use of essential oils for aromatherapy, skincare, and beauty as well as care of the home. Whether acquired through steam distillation, cold-pressing, or solvent extraction, the aromatic essences from trees, grasses, fruits, leaves, and flowers are collected to deliver a plethora of robust and mighty potions for our practical and titillating pleasure.
So, you may be wondering how on earth would you use these magical dewdrops?
There are three primary ways to bring essential oils into your home and lifestyle. The first is through inhalation. Your olfactory sense—your most primal sense—afford the fastest way to receive the benefits of essential oils. Inhalation allows your brain and lungs to experience this potent godsend through simply smelling the oils, rubbing a drop in between your hands and taking in a deep breath, or through a diffuser.
My favorite morning ritual is diffusing a fun combination of bright, energy boosting oils to bring about a lucid and sunny aura throughout the home. Let your children partake in finding a delicious combination to swirl the senses!
Essential oils administered through inhalation combat include respiratory infections, headaches, allergies, depression, nausea, and fatigue just to name a few ailments. It’s a surefire way to aid on the go, too! Pack a roller ball in your purse or car for your instant fragrant bouquet-on-the-go.
The second way to utilize essential oils involves topical application. Applying oils directly onto the skin soothes a variety of common ailments, including burns, scrapes, eczema, acne, and much more. Topical application also works for chest rubs, relieving cramps and any kind of muscle related aches.
This type of practice delivers oils through the skin and is typically the slowest form of penetration into the bloodstream. Many essential oils are skin irritants, so I highly recommend a dilution aid or carrier oil, such as fractionated coconut oil, to combine with the oils drops when applied topically, especially pertaining when administering to children.
Lastly, oral use of essential oils can be extremely effective for illness or infirmity related to sleeplessness, digestive discomfort, flu-like symptoms, and urinary tract infections. It is highly recommended to check with a medical professional to ensure safe and proper usage of these potent oils prior to ingesting them. A favorite of mine is a preventative, homemade antiviral capsule consisting of melaleuca (tea tree oil), lemon, frankincense, On Guard, and oregano oils. This powerful blend has coined itself “the Flu Bomb,” and that it truly is! A couple drops of each in a vegetable capsule and there you have it, an antibacterial, antiviral capsule to coat your body, especially during these unbalanced and uncertain times. Each of these powerful ingredients supplies a vigorous immunity boost and protective astringent against bacteria in our atmosphere. While highly recommended, a consultation with a healthcare provider would be most wise.
Are you ready to get started on your aromatherapy journey to wellness?
While it may appear intimidating or daunting initially, I can assure you that, with a little practice, you will be smelling, rubbing, and swallowing your way towards improved health in no time! Your pilgrimage from status quo to radiant health is at your fingertips; there are just a few hints to remember: quality, labels, and packaging.
First, the quality of your essential oil is first and foremost of importance. The quality of the oils and plays an integral part in the “do it yourself” health movement. Pure, organic, highest quality oils are the only oils to work with in all these three measures. The caliber and grade of your oils speaks volumes to your ability to safely and effectively use essential oils in the manner in which they were intended.
Second, consider the labels when purchasing the proper oils for medicinal use. The label should have written on it the common name of the oil as well as its Latin name, the ingredients, whether it’s pure oil or diluted with a carrier oil, and directions.
Lastly, your oil should come in an amber bottle which does not to allow light to penetrate the packaging. Oxygen, heat, and sunlight degrade the quality and efficacy of the oil.
Now it’s time to have some fun! Ponder an ongoing discomfort or problem. Whether it be your sleep quality, your morning mood, or your desire to prevent flu-like illness, essential oils can be a wonderful aid in altering how your body responds to various modes of bodily complaints or emotional desires for enhanced wellness. Some of the most common oils, including peppermint, lavender, frankincense, melaleuca (or tea tree oil), lemon, and rosemary, just to name a few, are much more than pretty scents. They are powerful healing tools to support your overall mental and physical health.
Have fun experimenting. Blend a few oils together to make combinations that please your senses and aid in protecting against environmental pollutants, enhance your skincare regimen, and detoxify your cells. For instance, every morning is an opportunity to start the day with a great citrus cleanse. Two drops of lemon essential oil in your filtered water is a beautiful beginning to a healthier you. Citrus is superb for making your own household cleaning products and cleansing your body. There are a variety of citrus oils in the citrus family, including bergamot, clementine, lemongrass, and wild orange.
A fantastic allergy blend for springtime sneezes is a combination of peppermint, lemon, and lavender. Pop a few drops of each in a roller ball and fill the remaining with fractionated coconut oil and there you have it! Rub on your temples from ear to ear, keeping away from your eyes. It’s also great on your neck and wrists. Skin, hair and nails love melaleuca and frankincense. The majestic dew of melaleuca heals all eczema, rashes, bumps, and bruises into itch-free, supple skin. Dab a drop or two directly onto the area or dilute with a carrier oil of your choice. Equally, frankincense has skin healing properties.
A drop of frankincense in your daily moisturizer is a fantastic balancing agent and also great for wrinkle reduction. The balancing trait of frankincense is its delightfully grounding properties, lovely to diffuse during quiet meditation sessions or when experiencing a whirlwind of emotion.
I particularly like rosemary. It’s a delicious addition to your bath. It aids in offering increased mental clarity and focus, with additional benefits of increased immune support and relief of muscle pain, while also being an antiseptic, antiviral oil. Use a couple drops in your Friday night Rosemary chicken dish or even dab a couple drops of rosemary essential oil in your shampoo of choice for a silky, shiny coiffeur.
Then we have lavender, the most commonly used essential oil that many associate with calming, soothing, sleep-related benefits. A fun fact about lavender is its ability to relieve itchy sensations from bug bites on contact. It is also a wonderful aid to skin related burns, eczema, wound care, headaches, and nausea. It’s the unicorn of oils, the mysteriously spellbinding oil that all should possess in their nightstands. Each of these above-mentioned oils could be diffused, applied topically, and, with caution, ingested internally.
There has never been a more pressing time to enjoy the bountiful world of essential oils. With all of us sheltering in our homes, it is an opportune time to explore and venture into a new world of natural care.
Most of us were born free from toxicity, free from stress and anxiety. It is modern-day life and our hectic lifestyles that have posed great threats to our well-oiled machines. Our bodies have the incredible capacity to heal themselves, and when presented with nature’s medicine, sometimes, the simpler the cure delivers the more profound result.
Undoubtedly, modern medicine has aided those suffering from life-threatening illnesses over which mandate modern intervention must triumph. Perhaps due to where we are in our evolution today, we seek a purity, a cleansing of ourselves amidst these highly volatile and viral times. Essential oils empower us with pure, natural options that enable us to effect a shift in our emotions, our physical aliments, and the manner in which we support our families’ health and clean our homes.
I invite you to delve into the world of essential oils, where the expansiveness of mind, body, and spirit intertwine and allow nature to speak loudly. Are you listening?