ESSENTIAL OILS + BREATH = INSTANT STRESS RELIEF
It is well known that emotional stress and strain has an effect on your physical body. I’m sure you’ll agree that there are times every day when you could use a little help to “just let go”.
Essential oils when inhaled go directly to your brain’s emotional centre making them particularly useful for emotional support. In this calmer head space you will feel more connected to your heart centre and will be able to ground yourself and think clearer before reacting to situations in your life that may be challenging.
In acute situations where you need instant calm, such as trauma, shock or emotional overload inhale the appropriate essential oil directly from the bottle, or place two drops on a cotton makeup wipe and take a few slow deep breaths.
Mandarin is an oil of choice for this purpose. Mandarin takes us from Chaotic to Composed. Take a few slow deep breaths and feel the relief. Bergamot is another calming and uplifting essential oil which can offer you encouragement when faced with overwhelm.
To create a relaxing atmosphere in your home or work space diffuse essential oil blends in a burner or diffuser. Place up to six drops in water and enjoy the beautiful aroma.
To be Calm; blend 2 drops Mandarin, 2 drops lavender and 2 drops roman chamomile
For clear thinking; blend 2 drops lemon, 2 drops of petitgrain and 2 drops Basil
To nurture your heart space; blend 2 drops of rose, 2 drops lavender, 1 drop of Jasmine and 1 drop ylang ylang.
Essential oil safety tip – When diffusing essential oils turn off your diffuser after ½ hour and wait an hour before using for ½ hr etc. Two half hour sessions a day will be enough to give you lasting relief.
Combing the fragrance of essential oils with the breath and gently holding or rubbing emotional stress relief points on the body can calm the mind, provide space for more focused and clear thinking and provide an opportunity for a shift in the way we feel and react to stressful situations.
This approach promotes insight, self- responsibility, participation and education as important factors of the healing process.
You can use the following techniques as a preventative measure regularly throughout your day or as a way to relieve an acutely stressful situation.
Place two drops of stress relieving essential oil blend on a cotton makeup wipe and inhale the aroma using gentle slow deep breaths counting to six on the inhale and slowly breathing out for the count of six. Continue breathing in this fashion as you gently place your fingertips on the stress relief points located at the frontal eminences. These are the bumps on your forehead about 1 inch above the eyes brows. The pressure is very light, light enough to notice the pulses under points, you may notice that pulses may feel erratic or uneven.
Now take a gentle breath in for six counts and exhale for six counts, take another breath in and continue breathing in this way enjoying the aroma of the essential oil after a couple of minutes you should feel the tiny pulses synchronising under your fingertips and feel more relaxed calm and clear.
If you don’t have an essential oil another great variation on this is just to hold your forehead and the back of your head and breathe for a few minutes until the pulses regulate.
Another easy stress relieving technique is the TW/Spleen hug. Place one hand on your side over the ribcage just under your breast area, and use the other to cup your elbow or hold just above on the arm. Hug yourself while taking at least three deep and relaxing breathes incorporating your preferred essential oil blend. Reverse sides when ready.
TW Smoothie. Begin by taking two deep breathes incorporating your essential oil blend while resting your face in your hands, with your palms at your chin and place your hands at your temples or over your eyes. Take two deep breaths. While breathing deeply move your fingers from your eyes over the temples to above your ears, smoothing the skin as you go. As you exhale circle your fingers around the ears, press down the sides of your neck to the shoulder muscles. Hang there while pressing your fingers into the shoulder muscles. Take at least two breaths, and then draw your hands to the center of your chest and take at least one deep breath.
Use these stress relieving techniques regularly during the day to reduce the build-up of stress related symptoms.
For more information on Aromatherapeutic Self-Care techniques for enhancing quality sleep see my blog here.
Yours in living well,
Kim
Aromatherapeutic Self-Care – Daily Stress Relief
It is well known that emotional stress and strain has an effect on your physical body. I’m sure you’ll agree that there are times every day when you could use a little help to “just let go”.
Essential oils when inhaled go directly to your brain’s emotional centre making them particularly useful for emotional support. In this calmer head space you will feel more connected to your heart centre and will be able to ground yourself and think clearer before reacting to situations in your life that may be challenging.
In acute situations where you need instant calm, such as trauma, shock or emotional overload inhale the appropriate essential oil directly from the bottle, or place two drops on a cotton makeup wipe and take a few slow deep breaths.
Mandarin is an oil of choice for this purpose. Mandarin takes us from Chaotic to Composed. Take a few slow deep breaths and feel the relief. Bergamot is another calming and uplifting essential oil which can offer you encouragement when faced with overwhelm.
To create a relaxing atmosphere in your home or work space diffuse essential oil blends in a burner or diffuser. Place up to six drops in water and enjoy the beautiful aroma.
To be Calm; blend 2 drops Mandarin, 2 drops lavender and 2 drops roman chamomile
For clear thinking; blend 2 drops lemon, 2 drops of petitgrain and 2 drops Basil
To nurture your heart space; blend 2 drops of rose, 2 drops lavender, 1 drop of Jasmine and 1 drop ylang ylang.
Essential oil safety tip – When diffusing essential oils turn off your diffuser after ½ hour and wait an hour before using for ½ hr etc. Two half hour sessions a day will be enough to give you lasting relief.
Combing the fragrance of essential oils with the breath and gently holding or rubbing emotional stress relief points on the body can calm the mind, provide space for more focused and clear thinking and provide an opportunity for a shift in the way we feel and react to stressful situations.
This approach promotes insight, self- responsibility, participation and education as important factors of the healing process.
You can use the following techniques as a preventative measure regularly throughout your day or as a way to relieve an acutely stressful situation.
Place two drops of stress relieving essential oil blend on a cotton makeup wipe and inhale the aroma using gentle slow deep breaths counting to six on the inhale and slowly breathing out for the count of six. Continue breathing in this fashion as you gently place your fingertips on the stress relief points located at the frontal eminences. These are the bumps on your forehead about 1 inch above the eyes brows. The pressure is very light, light enough to notice the pulses under points, you may notice that pulses may feel erratic or uneven.
Now take a gentle breath in for six counts and exhale for six counts, take another breath in and continue breathing in this way enjoying the aroma of the essential oil after a couple of minutes you should feel the tiny pulses synchronising under your fingertips and feel more relaxed calm and clear.
If you don’t have an essential oil another great variation on this is just to hold your forehead and the back of your head and breathe for a few minutes until the pulses regulate.
Another easy stress relieving technique is the TW/Spleen hug. Place one hand on your side over the ribcage just under your breast area, and use the other to cup your elbow or hold just above on the arm. Hug yourself while taking at least three deep and relaxing breathes incorporating your preferred essential oil blend. Reverse sides when ready.
TW Smoothie. Begin by taking two deep breathes incorporating your essential oil blend while resting your face in your hands, with your palms at your chin and place your hands at your temples or over your eyes. Take two deep breaths. While breathing deeply move your fingers from your eyes over the temples to above your ears, smoothing the skin as you go. As you exhale circle your fingers around the ears, press down the sides of your neck to the shoulder muscles. Hang there while pressing your fingers into the shoulder muscles. Take at least two breaths, and then draw your hands to the center of your chest and take at least one deep breath.
Use these stress relieving techniques regularly during the day to reduce the build-up of stress related symptoms.
For more information on Aromatherapeutic Self-Care techniques for enhancing quality sleep see my blog here.
Yours in living well,
Kim
Aromatherapeutic Self-Care Techniques
Scientific studies now conclude that not managing stress for a prolonged period of time is a contributing factor to many of our lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety and even the degenerative diseases such as dementia.
The thing is you can use self-care techniques and consciously manage the way you relate to the stressors in your life to support your body and wake up with your cup full. In the mornings you are refreshed with your body and mind ready to support you through your day. Over the course of the day your body can rebalance so that you can get a restful night of quality sleep where the body can replenish, leaving you feeling revitalised and rejuvenated to do it all again the next day.
Read more
Essential oil Safety Considerations
When you use essential oils with care and consideration for your individual health and well being needs, you can get amazing therapeutic benefits for many physical, mental and emotional issues.
With the use of essential oils becoming more mainstream, there is a lot of misinformation about the way to use them and some exaggerated claims as to what they can do. If you are using essential oils to improve your health and well being, it is so important that you be well informed on the safety considerations and appropriate application methods so that you get the best results without any adverse reactions. Read more
Essential Oils to Aid Quality Sleep
Aromatherapy and The Art of Self-Care
In the glorification of busy, it seems that taking time to “just be”, to rejuvenate, to replenish, to take the slow lane and go with the flow is seen as the ultimate luxury.
Studies show that when we live our lives completing activities which nourish and nurture our self, we are more satisfied and happy, we are stronger, more resourceful, and more resilient, living our lives with more ease and grace. These are some pretty good reasons for taking care of ourselves, I feel.
For me self-care allows you to step into a peaceful heartfelt way of being and living. From this space you can be more relaxed, centred and grounded and make better choices in the activities you do each day to bring you more energy, inspire you to overcome challenges, be more accepting of change, be more flexible, be more self –aware, in short you go with the flow with more ease and grace.
How can we use essential oils in self-care?
I am talking about spending a few minutes each day reconnecting with your self, and relieving any obvious stress and tension. Essential oils have an amazing capacity to help you tap into your stillness, your heart intelligence if you like and create space for reflection. They can help you make space for a change to improve your current situation.
So it could be using them in a diffuser as an aid in reflection or meditation or to bring more focus and clarity to a current issue, it could be using a blend as a personal perfume for stress relief, in room scenting to enhance or set a mood, as a massage or bath blend to relieve stress and tension, it could be coming for regular aromatherapy massage to support you to get back some balance. Aromatherapy really is a safe, gentle and very effective natural therapy and is a delightful way to immerse yourself in the Art of Self-care.
Yours in Living Well,
Kim