Essential oils overview: good smelly stuff to cultivate calm

How does your place smell now?

Like fresh flowers or damp shoes or perhaps a 3 day old sandwich that has been forgotten somewhere? Hopefully not like a soggy sandwich – gross!

How your place smells has an impact on how you feel. Much like music which can take you down memory lane, smell can also take you back to past experiences and evoke a range of emotions. Plus, create new experiences, memories and associations with certain oils. Essential oils have unique properties that can influence how you feel.

Essential oils history

Essential oils are frequently used in yoga studios all over the world! And for good reason. Essential oils have a long and rich history through many cultures and traditions globally. A brief history of essential oils will take you through an overview of how oils have been used in Egypt, Greece, China, India, Persia and we read about 3 wise men taking essential oils as gifts to baby Jesus in biblical times.

My introduction to essential oils was through yoga studios. I would enter yoga studios with sweet essential oils burning or in the studio diffuser. Some oils were really calming and I found I reacted strongly to other oils … and then I went to an essential oils workshop — the rest was history. I am a big advocate for essential oils and have been using them since the first essential oils workshop I attended.

Personally, I have found essential oils help to offer:

• calm
• inner peace
• shift old energy
• cleanse the space I am in
• relaxation through daily self-massages

I find essential oils lush and oh so lovely. 🙂

Applying oil to the skin helps to cultivate internal listening

Applying oil to your skin is really important to facilitate touch and enable you to get comfortable with your own sense of touch and also be able to listen intuitively to what you may need. As part of the breathing exercises I teach, I regularly invite students to place their left palm on their heart and right palm on their belly to notice their breath movement and palms shift as they inhale and exhale. Often we can zip through the day without really slowing down to listen into our internal guide and intuition. When you apply oil to skin, and place palms on yourself, you are building a relationship with yourself and cultivating trust and intuition. Sounds random I know! However, it is all connected.

Now, going back to essential oils! …

Natural Remedies helps to break down the types of essential oils and health benefits based on what you need. E.g. there are specific oils you can use to help alleviate health issues like anxiety, depression and insomnia. If you would like to use essential oils, note there are a number of ways to use essential oils which include:

• creating your own mix of essential oil and coconut oil to place directly on pulse points on your body (e.g wrists, neck) and use as a perfume
• using a mix of essential oil and coconut oil (or other neutral oil) to give yourself a daily massage
• using a diffuser (essential oil and water)
• using personal products like shampoo and conditioner with essential oils mixed with other products

There are various companies out there that offer essential oils and you do need to complete your research to check for ingredients/supplements that can be used instead of a pure essential oil and experiment to see how your skin and body responds to the oils. I have been using Doterra oils and find them pretty lush. These are the specific oils I have been using, the properties and benefits.

• Lavender: lavender oil is made from beautiful lavender flowers and helps to ease anxiety, stress and supports brain function.
• Peace blend by Doterra: This is my favourite blend at the moment and promotes peace, hence the name! Lol. Essential oils with Betsy highlights: “doTERRA Peace is an essential oil blend of Vetiver, Lavender, Ylang Ylang, Frankincense, Clary Sage, Marjoram, Labdanum Leaf/Stalk, & Spearmint essential oils. Ways to use doTERRA Peace Oil: Diffuse at night time to promote a calming environment and restful sleep.”
• Patchouli: this oil is made from the patchouli plant and has many benefits and helps to alleviate depression. Read more on Healthline’s site to learn about patchouli oil.

Where can you get oils from?

• Doterra
• Perfect Potion
• Tinderbox
• Local health shop generally have essential oils range

Considerations when purchasing your oils:

• Test how the oil feels on a small part of your skin first before applying generously to your body.
• Notice how you feel energetically — some scents can aggravate people, some can be really relaxing and others can stimulate energy.
• Have a hunt around for the right oils for you and check the breakdown of ingredients. Sometimes the oils can be diluted.
• There are different ways to use oils. E.g you can apply to your skin or use the oils with a diffuser or even carry the oils around in a roller and apply to your skin through the day.
• You can buy ready made products which already have essential oils through them.

I have popped this up on my blog so you can put this on your consideration list for your self-care toolkit. Smell is a way to cultivate a calming atmosphere because the space you are in, what you can smell and feel on your skin and around you is as equally as important as the breathing exercises and yoga poses I write about on here. It is all connected and when you can weave all of these elements together — your daily meditation, physical practice, how/what you consume and when, how you treat yourself and how you treat others and take control of the environment you live, work and play in and cultivate calm internally — you are onto a winner and on your way to setting yourself up to be able to nourish and support yourself in a kind and respectful way.

Holler back and let me know your essential oil questions and journey! Smell you later alligator. 🙂 xo