Essential oils for summer

Staying Alert while Driving
If you start feeling drowsy, roll the window down for fresh air and take a whiff of an invigorating essential oil.
- Peppermint essential oil is a great essential oil for focus. Increases mental clarity and accuracy.
- Rosemary essential oil is versatile, stimulating and helpful for alertness.

Fear of Flying
For many, flying can be an unpleasant experience. Dealing with crowds, lugging baggage and long periods in small spaces can be stressful. For others, plane travel itself creates anxiety.

Here are some essential oils and blends that can help combat fear of flying and stress:
- Wild Orange and Lavender blend - Diffuse these two essential oils together to reduce fear and anxiety.
- Frankincense essential oil has an earthy, sweet aroma that is relaxing without sedating you. It stimulates the limbic part of the brain, helping the mind overcome stress and fear.
- Roman chamomile essential oil has a crisp and sweet aroma. It has a calming effect on the nerves.

Bringing comfort with an aromatherapy hand massage

One of my most meaningful memories involving essential oils is when I travelled home and visited my dad's best friend when he was in a nursing home. I offered to give him a hand massage with Balance essential oil blend and fractionated coconut oil.  It was a simple offering, and I felt like it was a way for me to bring some comfort and care for someone who I loved and was like an uncle to me.

Balance essential oil blend is a blend of spruce, ho wood, frankincense, blue tansy and blue chamomile essential oils. It smells exactly like going for a walk through the woods and I find the scent very calming and grounding. It's my absolute favourite blend. It meant a great deal to me to share it with my dear friend and bring comfort to him in this way.

Wellness Consultations

Are you interested in natural solutions?

Do you need help managing your health concerns or reaching your wellness goals?

Did you know that essential oils can help with common health concerns, including:

• stress / anxiety
• energy / fatigue
• sleep
• digestion
• hormone balance
• weight management and
• pain.

If you're not sure where to start and are curious about how essential oils can help, I would love to talk with you. I love helping people discover the health benefits of essential oils. 

Appointments are available in person, by phone or email.

Please contact Janice at 709-237-3689 or spirityoga@live.com to book a wellness consultation.

Essential oil spotlight: Arborvitae

Arborvitae (aka the tree of life):

• protects against environmental and seasonal threats;
• promotes healthy cell function;
• powerful cleansing and purifying agent;
• natural insect repellent;
• protects the body from harmful elements while supporting normal cell activity;
• protects against common threats in the environment; and
• traditionally used by Native Americans for health benefits.

A vision of Whole Health

I love Lissa Rankin's TEDx talk, The Shocking Truth about Health.

Lissa Rankin, MD is an OB/GYN physician, author, keynote speaker, consultant to health care visionaries, professional artist, and founder of the women's health and wellness community OwningPink.com. Discouraged by the broken, patriarchal health care system, she left her medical practice in 2007 only to realize that you can quit your job, but you can't quit your calling. 

She teaches both patients and health care professionals how to make the body ripe for miracles by healing the mind and being healthy in all aspects of life, not just by promoting healthy behaviors like good nutrition, exercise, and adequate sleep, but by encouraging health and authenticity in relationships, work, creative expression, spirituality, sexuality, finances, and living environment. She is leading a revolution to feminize how health care is received and delivered by encouraging collaboration, fostering self-healing, reconnecting health care and spirituality, empowering patients to tap into the mind's power to heal the body, and encouraging women not to settle for being merely well, but to strive for living vital, joyful, authentic lives full of "mojo."

I really resonated with her model of health and love that her background is a physician. Imagine a world of physicians and healers who help individuals to empower themselves to heal holistically by considering all aspects of their health (what she refers to as the "whole health cairn"):

• physical health;
• mental health;
• financial health;
• environmental health;
• sexual health;
• creativity;
• spirituality - connection with the divine;
• work / life purpose;
• healthy relationships;
• listening to one's "inner pilot light" / intuition / highest Self; and
• focusing on gratitude, pleasure and love.

This is a model of whole health that I really resonate with.

A natural mid-day "pick me up"!

I am not a caffeine-drinker. No coffee or tea for me.

When I need a mid-day pick me up, I reach for my bottle of lime essential oil, open it up and take a big whiff!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Wow!!!

Instant pick me up!

Instant happy!

Daniel MacDonald in his Emotional Healing with Essential Oils book, states that lime is the oil for zest for life. It also encourages a balance between the heart and the mind, and brings balance to those who have over developed their intellectual capacities.

I *love* lime!!

And it's also a very affordable essential oil!!

Essential Oils 101: Be Safe in the Sun

Some oils are photosensitive (esp. citrus oils) meaning they react to radiant energy or light such as natural sunlight, sunlamps, or other sources of UV rays. So you are planning on being in the sun, you should avoid applying these oils to your skin for at least 6 hours prior to being in the sun.

These oils are primarily citrus oils and include Bergamot, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Orange,  and Tangerine.  The result is a dark pigmentation or a rash on the skin.  Bergamot contains bergaptene, a dominant photosensitizer, and can cause severe reactions. The stronger and more lengthy the UV ray, the longer the wait should be.