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AROMATHERAPY FOR STRESS REDUCTION
by Jessica L. Strange
“Oil and Perfume make glad the heart,
and the wise suggestion of a friend is sweet to the soul”
Proverbs 27:9
 Aromatherapy…this word brings to mind scented candles, fragrance oils, potpourri and Bath & Body Works, but in actuality, true aromatherapy is so much deeper. We often take our sense of smell for granted. Take a moment to sit back and reflect on your sense of smell. What are your favorite scents? Do you like fruity, herbal, earthy, spicy, or floral scents? We actually feel scents – we understand scent by memories, associations, and images because smell has a direct path to your brain. Science has shown that the limbic part of the brain, the area that registers aromas, emotions and odors, produces electrical impulses in the body.
Pleasant scents make us feel good, while bad odors can cause negative feelings. If you think back to some happy memories, there is likely fragrance associated with the memory: your mother’s perfume, father’s cologne, or grandma’s home-baked cookies. How we breathe, and what we breathe is critical to our health and well-being.
Aromatherapy involves the inhalation or absorption of aromatic essential oils by massage, compresses, or baths, promoting physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healing. The oils come from leaves, fruits, roots, seeds, flowers, and wood and each possess specific healing properties. Essential oils are 75 to 100 times stronger than the plant from which they are derived and are very powerful way of enhancing your well-being. One of the most wonderful aspects of an essential oil is its ability to enter and leave the body efficiently without leaving any toxins behind. A holistic antidote to today’s stressful world!
Our present day lifestyles are filled with long to do lists and packed calendars with finding any time to nurture the self always last on the list. It has become such an accepted part of American society to be overly busy that it doesn’t always dawn on us to relax, breathe and find time for ourselves until disharmony and imbalance set in. Stress plagues the body, mind and spirit and can manifest itself in a variety of ways: physically such as skin problems, stiff necks, and headaches or emotionally and mentally as with depression or anxiety. For some of us just finding time to schedule time causes stress. Aromatherapy can offer relief and fits easily into a hectic schedule.
Some essential oils that are specific to stress reduction are Lavender, Bergamot, Neroli, Geranium, Clary Sage, Chamomile, Patchouli, Jasmine, Rose, Sweet Orange, Ylang Ylang, and Frankincense. Purchasing an aromatherapy diffuser to disperse the aroma and healing properties of these essential oils into the air of your home is one way to offer some stress reduction, and it makes your house smell wonderful. All essential oils are also antibacterial (some more than others) so they act as a disinfectant against airborne germs.
A warm footbath or full body bath with Lavender, Ylang Ylang, or Frankincense is another great way to ease and melt tension away from the body – the heady vapors of the oils wafting upward to stimulate the olfactory senses. Compliment your aromatherapy bath with a healing cup of herbal tea and some soft music in the background. After bathing or showering, massaging in oil, such as Jojoba or Apricot Kernel, with an added essential oil will help ease tired muscles, nourish the skin, and soothe the mind and spirit.
For times of extreme nervousness, such as going on a job interview, sprinkle Neroli on a tissue and inhale it to calm jitters and settle a nervous stomach. If you could choose only one essential oil, I would recommend Lavender because it has the ability to slow down erratic breathing, reduce blood pressure, and calm the mind – and it is safe to inhale it directly from the bottle. It is one of the more inexpensive essential oils, and the most versatile.
An experienced aromatherapist can tell the quality of an essential oil just by sniffing it, but the rest of us can follow some easy guidelines. Buy only Therapeutic Grade essential oils from certified aromatherapists, health food stores, and holistic shops. Look for the common plant name, Botanical Latin Name, Extraction Method, Part of the Plant Used, and the Country of Origin. i.e. Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia, Steam Distilled, Flower, France. If a drop of the oil turns a glass of water cloudy, then it is not Therapeutic Grade. Somatherapy www.dreamingearth.com sells quality oils and aromatherapy diffusers and offers a 20% discount to practitioners in the holistic field.
Keep in mind which aromas appeal the most to you and which you dislike. The aromas that attract you will offer the most healing and stress reduction benefits. Take advantage nature’s gift of aromatherapy, and bask in the glow of wellness to your body, mind and spirit.
Jessica L. Strange, the owner of THE SOUL PURPOSE, Dighton, MA, offers workshops and customized sessions in Aromatherapy, Reiki, Magnified Healing, Thetahealing, and Spiritual Counseling. www.the-soul-purpose.com
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