Oil me this!

Essential oils. Who knew? I certainly did not. Essential oils being a part of nature’s natural way of healing was not a part of my personal healing modalities until only recently.  Perhaps, like many of you, and from what I can recall, I was first introduced to essential oils during the first massage I had some time ago. You walk into the waiting area and see this small device with a puff of steam rising up and an aroma that just screams relaxation! And if you were lucky, the masseuse used some kind of relaxing oil as well.

Little by little I started to develop a sense of smell and love for these different oils.

Lavender entered my life in a the form of a lotion when I read it helped to release stress, enhance sleep, support long flight woes, etc. Then there was the lavender eye pillow which did the same. And those introductions led me to the actual essential oil. 

Eucalyptus and Peppermint were next, thanks to my smart offspring who were already quite knowledgable about essential oils. They recommended me to use one or the other when I had muscle aches and pains.  Ah, heavenly. The smell is uplifting and the oil also helps with inflammation, which is also relieved by using many other oils as well.

Orange came along not too long after, the oil for happiness. Yes, happiness. A little dab here, a little dab there, and it puts a smile on my face every time. The smell is definitely a mood booster. 

And then there’s rose. Ah, rose. I stopped wearing perfume some years ago, mostly because my favorite perfume was discontinued and I just could not find anything to replace it. One day I dabbed a little bit of rose essential oil on my wrists and that day the taxi driver, my yoga instructor, and a friend all commented on my smell. A complimentary comment, that is! This continued throughout the week and still does. Everyone tells me I smell good. How can I not wear this oil! :) The rose oil and my chemistry really hit it off. So today, no perfume, just rose oil.

Clove, recently came along when a toothache interrupted my life. I couldn’t get to the dentist quick enough so my daughter recommended a rinse with clove essential oil. I mixed it with a little bit of coconut oil (since the clove oil is quite strong) and gargled with it. The discomfort disappeared. And not only that tooth, but all of my other teeth are quite pleased as well!
These are just a few essential oils that I use. There are also oil blends that can literally knock your socks off because they smell so good, and they can be used in many different ways on different parts of the body.  Essential oils can also be used in a number of other ways such as cleaning. Why not switch from a strong smelling ammonia concoction to something pure like an essential oil? These healers from nature can do so much good for us, it’s actually almost unbelievable!

And not only can essential oils be topical, inhaled, and used for cleaning body, soul and home 😊, some can be ingested. Ingestible essential oils however must be of the purest form. In fact what I am learning is that all essential oils you use should be of the purest form. Not only are our foods today processed, so are some of the oils on the market. So be aware! When purchasing your essential oils, do your research. EG can’t stress this enough. Even if some oils say 100% pure, they may be grown with certain chemicals or pesticides or even have trace amounts of additives. And if the label says ‘fragrance’ don’t get fooled, it’s loaded with stuff that may enhance its smell but take away from its natural benefits.

I’ve recently gone deeper down this essential oil expedition to learn more and more about the benefits of essential oils. I have done some research to learn that there are two highly recommended providers who produce pure oils and other products such as cleaning supplies, toothpaste, etc. I chose to go with the company called Young Living. I recently bought my first ‘starter kit’ from them and am very pleased. It has about 10 essential oils in the kit, along with a few other goodies such as a diffuser. In the coming weeks, I will highlight one of the oils from the kit each week in the new ‘zone’ section on the EndorphinGirl™ website. Aptly so, the section is called Oil Zone where together we will learn more about the benefits of these incredible essential oils. I hope you will follow along, and if you have questions or would like to explore some of these oils, certainly feel free to reach out and we’ll gladly help you in any way we can!

Namaste!

Written by: Barbara Kataisto