When most people first hear someone talking about essential oils, they tend to react with some hesitation because they associate oils and such with hippies and wholistic medicine doctors. However, recently, people have been getting into the essential oil movement more and more. Now we have companies like Young Living that supply all kinds of products from household cleaners to pain treatments, all made using essential oils.
WHAT ARE ESSENTIAL OILS?
In case you have no idea what I am talking about, essential oils are oils extracted from various plants that have useful properties for all kinds of things. Some kill germs and are great for cleaning. Some emit scents that actually calm your brain and allow you to relax. The uses are vast. Back in the day, before windex and Advil, they used oils for all kinds of things.
WHY USE THEM?
Why not just use Advil or Lysol? You totally can. You don’t have to use one or the other. HOWEVER, a benefit to using essential oils is that they are from plants and very natural. They are much safer for pets and kids. Plus, I have found that some oils do things that no other medicine or products don’t.
For example, I have really bad anxiety and panic attacks. I find that certain mixtures of oils help significantly. I still take prescribed medicine for anxiety but the oils add an extra calming “in the moment” effect that I wouldn’t have otherwise. In addition to that ailment, I have bad indigestion troubles and have been told by my doctors not to take Advil too often. I can only take Tylenol BUT it doesn’t work as well on my headaches. I made an essential oil mixture for headaches and it totally deals with them without me having to take anything.
I will elaborate more on some of the uses and recipes that I have come across.
HOW DO YOU USE THEM?
Oils can be used in a few different ways depending on what you are wanting to use them for. They can be used in a diffuser for scent purposes. Tea Tree Oil and Eucalyptus are great for when you have a cold. It’s like Vick’s Vapor and a humidifier in one. They sell the humidifiers at Target and Amazon, so they are super easy to get a hold of. I put my anxiety mixture in my diffuser and use it before bed. It just helps me calm down and relax after the day.
You can apply them to your skin. IMPORTANT, you can only do this one if you have diluted them down into a carrier oil. Sounds scarier and harder than it actually is. Just grab a small bottle of almond oil or grape seed oil and follow the recipes that I provide below. Its super easy. I like to put my mixtures in a rollerball so I can just apply the mixture to my wrist, temples, jawline, and sometimes the bottom of my feet. The areas you apply it to will vary with what recipe you are using. For example, oils are good around your sinuses if you are using them for headaches.
Lastly, some oils are investable. ALSO IMPORTANT, make sure you buy the ones that are “food grade” and are FDA approved to be ingested. Ginger, peppermint, and lemon are some common oils used orally. Typically you drop a couple of drops in your water or juice.
RECIPIES TO TRY
Feel free to tweak these recipes as you may respond more to certain oils. You may also decide that you prefer the smell of some and not others. It took me a few tries before I found one that really suited me.
Rollerball mixture for calming and relieving anxiety
- 3 drops lavender
- 3 drops bergamot
- 2 drops ylang ylang
- 3 drops chamomile
- 1 drop frankincense
- 1 fl oz carrier oil
Rollerball mixture for tension headaches
- 5 drops of peppermint
- 3 drops of lavender
- 2 drops of frankincense or eucalyptus
- 1 fl oz. carrier oil
Anti-snacking ingestible mix
- 4 oz water
- 1 lemon squeeze
- ginger
- cinnamon
- peppermint
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