A Retreat From Stress May Be Easier Than You Think: The Power of Essential Oils
Hiya Beautiful! How are you holding up during all of this?
It’s true, we have all been affected by an unpredictable pandemic. The rapid progression of COVID-19 has drastically changed our lives, leaving some scrambling to cope. Now more than ever before, you are at risk of stress! Between shelter-in-place rules, home-schooling children, job losses — the world is changing so fast it could give us whiplash.
As we all search for ways to better manage our stress during this uncertain time, I want to provide some insights on how you can support your body and mind while you are at home sheltering in place.
Here are some of my favorite essential oil solutions that have helped me and my loved ones over the years.
I explained in my last blog post why it’s so crucial to protect your immune system. Strengthening your physical health should absolutely be a focus right now, but we also have to pay close attention to our mental health.
I know. You feel like you’re living through an anxiety tornado — trying to work from home while frantically tending to your children’s needs. Perhaps you’re consumed by all the background noise of barking dogs and noisy neighbors who recently started to mediate out loud while blasting Calm Music Guru that never seems to stop. Or maybe intense news broadcasts leave you with a heavy heart and feelings of hopelessness on a daily basis. If any of this sounds familiar, I want you to know you ARE NOT ALONE and there is a natural way to help ease some of these feelings.
There are powerful practices within your reach that can bring you peace, happiness, and relaxation. My hope is that once you’re done reading this article, you’ll feel a weight lifted off your shoulders, knowing there are methods of self-care that will lead you to feel okay again. It’s time to retreat from the noise, chaos, and disturbances of this current “reality” and find healing and tranquility from within! 🌿
Why Essential Oils Are Essential
Did you know the use of essential oils dates back thousands of years? Although the Egyptians and ancient Chinese are the most known for their extensive use of essential oils for medicine, burials, perfumes, cosmetics and mysticism, many other ancient civilizations were steeped in the secrets of plants. When we think back to Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, he documented over 200 different plants during his lifetime and was one of the first westerners to believe that diseases could be healed naturally with plants. Plants are far more complex than you may imagine; they ARE the only living things that can produce their own energy using the light of the sun. The rest of us humans (and animals) rely on plants at some level to obtain energy for our survival.
Essential oils, the essence of a plant part that is obtained without the use of any chemical solvent, are highly concentrated, powerful and potent. Depending on the plant, essential oils can be used topically, internally, or aromatically. All three modes are definitely effective in their own right; but aromatherapy and our sense of smell really highlights the power of plants! Yes, they can make you or your house smell nice, but their purpose is so much more impactful to your mind and body.
In today’s world, we tend to forget that our sense of smell is our most primal, animalistic behavior. According to Total Wellness Publishing, a healthy human nose can distinguish over 1 trillion different aromas through hundreds of smell receptors, compared to only 3 visual stimuli photoreceptors. Humans are ten thousand times more capable of smelling than tasting.
Our sense of smell is incredibly complex and powerful. It is directly tied to our limbic system, amygdala, and hypothalamus and plays a crucial role in how our brain processes emotional and physical responses! Did you know that the sense of smell can actually change the biochemistry of your nervous system! To put it simply, we can decide how we want to feel based on what we choose to smell. Isn’t that amazing? With a little help from nature, you can be in control of your mental health, even when everything else feels out of control.
In a time of uncertainty, your brain is receiving mixed messages through a flurry of complicated emotions and rapidly changing sensory experiences. Adjusting to physical distancing, the power of fear-based media, and uncomfortable isolation are just a few of the stressors that are creating emotional imbalance. If you can relate, I encourage you to lean on the powerful oils of plants. Essential oils are a natural way to maintain a balanced mood throughout all of the “unnatural” circumstances we’re currently navigating. With that said, here are a few of my favorite essential oils that specifically cater to the emotional side effects of COVID-19 stress.
Three Categories of Essential Oils to Support Your Mental Health
1. Calming + Soothing Oils:
Do you feel uptight and stuck in a worrying rut rather than a place of peace? Your safe haven awaits with the use of calming and soothing oils. Roman chamomile, lemon balm, lavender, rose, and clary sage are all known for their ability to dramatically decrease anxiety and stress AND are some of my favorites when it comes to calming anxiety and our nerves. Stress can impair your neurotransmission — increasing anxiety, impairing sleep cycles, disrupting digestion and even causing inflammation! The benefits of these plants are endless, so I'll save that long list for a later date - for right now, let's focus on the healing powers of Clary Sage.
My COVID-19 Pick for Mental Calming: Clary Sage
Clary Sage is phenomenal at restoring mood stability, especially in women! It has a stellar reputation for balancing hormones and was widely renowned in the Middle Ages for relieving menstrual cramps! This natural antidepressant primarily aids in stress reduction and works to reduce blood pressure and mood swings. Add in its antibacterial properties and you can say goodbye to an inner crisis caused by COVID-19!
I also love Clary Sage as it is easy to use. When I lived in Tokyo and had to deal with the daily stressors of commuting to work with a million people (literally), I would simply put 1 drop of oil on the inside of each wrist, rub together and then deeply inhale. To bring solace to a stressful zoom conference call during the day you can simply diffuse a few drops in your office or at night, add a few drops of Clary Sage to your bath, melting all stress away as you sink into the tub with your favorite meditation. Quick Tip: some of my favorite oils to blend Clary Sage with include: bergamot, geranium, any citrus oils and sandalwood.
2. Energizing + Uplifting Oils:
OK, so if you don’t need to bust your anxiety or calm your shelter-in-place nerves, then perhaps you feel sluggish or a little blue as you navigate your new range of emotions. Do you want to squelch frustration and doubt and instead encourage productivity, creativity and confidence? Then uplifting oils are for you: grapefruit, wild orange, bergamot, rosemary, basil and peppermint come to mind as great energy boosters and mood elevators. AND my covid-19 pick for this category is Bergamot!
My COVID-19 Pick for Uplifting: Bergamot
For those that don’t know, bergamot is a hybrid between a sour orange and a lemon and is commonly used in black tea, specifically Earl Grey. It is unique among the citrus oils because it is both uplifting and calming, which is why it is my Covid-19 pick for this category. It can relieve headaches, muscle tension, and can be used as a natural antidepressant. Add this to both antibacterial and antifungal qualities and bergamot is absolutely perfect for covid-19 healing.
Similar to clary sage, bergamot is a super easy oil to use. It can be applied neat (with no dilution) to the forehead, temples, wrists, or reflex points. It is great for bath’s, diffusers and i love adding it to my favorite natural body balm or coconut oil after or during a shower. Bergamot is great alone, but of course also synergistically blends well with lavender, ylang ylang, lemon, and even eucalyptus!
3. Grounding + Balancing Oils
Lastly, but not least important, comes your ability to stay grounded and balanced during this time of never-ending uncertainty. Grounding, sometimes called earthing, can bring you to a better state of balance, both mentally and physically. Essential oils, meditation, exercise, yoga, and connecting with nature can all assist with this process.
According to Jodi Cohen, of Vibrant Blue Oils, grounding allows your thoughts and emotions to move through you more easily. It enhances your connection to your intuition and spiritual guidance. The definition of balance is to “maintain a steady state to avoid falling” — falling into ill health, negative thoughts, depression or anxiety. As your thoughts shift, so does your balance. Thus, my covid-19 grounding essential oil pick is Sandalwood!
Grounding essential oils, especially from trees, roots, and grasses, return your body to balance and enhance your ability to adapt emotionally.
Cedarwood, cypress, vetiver, siberian fir, frankincense, galbanum, jatamamsi, blue tansy, and jasmine all have very grounding properties. And while some aromatherapists don’t put sandalwood in this category, I do, to me it is quite grounding and very effective at emotional balancing, so while I love all of the above, my covid-19 pick for this category is Sandalwood
My COVID-19 Pick for Grounding: Sandalwood
This calming, sweet, intoxicating, woody oil is considered sacred and legendary in the Hindu cultures around the world. Highly effective with insomnia, emotional balance, relaxing and supporting the cardiovascular system, sandalwood is a great addition to your shelter-in-place oils.
Like my above picks, sandalwood may also be applied neat (with no dilution) when used topically. It is especially effective before bed or meditation when applied to the bottom on the feet, the temples and forehead (third eye). It too works great in baths and diffusers and blends beautifully with roman chamomile, frankincense, lavender, neroli and many of the fir oils (e.g. siberian fir or white fir or douglas fir). The sedative, antidepressant and even aphrodisiac qualities make this oil good for everyone that is feeling out of sorts presently.
