Valencia McClure

New Year New Mood with Essential Oils

The New Year brings excitement, hope, opportunity and a time for renewal. The new year can also bring a time of panic, stress and anxiety. Essential oils can help us manage our mood and restore emotional balance. An artist can create a visual mood or feeling based on the paints they use from their palette. Essential oils are the same way, based on the blends that are created from the various oils, you can create a feeling of calm, jump start your energy, ease stress and support your meditation.

What are essential oils and Why are they so powerful

Essential Oils are nature's way of balancing our mind and body. They are highly concentrated aromatic extracts distilled or cold pressed from plant materials. Essential oils are small but powerful because when used on our pulse point areas - wrists, temples, base of neck and sole of feet - they are able to travel through our bloodstream to the area in our brain that controls our sense of smell and triggers our emotions. Our emotions are immediately triggered because the response comes from our olfactory system. Of the five human senses, smell is perhaps the most neglected sense but is one of the most important sense for having powerful effects on our state of being and direct way to access our mood, memory, emotions, and even physiology. Essential oils can support our mood in the following ways:

promote relaxation and reduce stress
jump start your energy and reduce depression
ease anxiety
support focus and clarity of thinking
aid in meditation
enhance self-image
improve sleep

The most effective ways to use essential oils:

Aromatically

This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to enjoy essential oils. Breathe in the essential oils to quickly reap their benefits

Diffuser - Add oil(s) to a diffuser and add water and let the aroma fill the room.
Palm or wrist inhalation - add one-to-two drops of essential oils in the palm, massage hands together, cup your hands and take a deep breath for one to two minutes.
Add 1 drop of oil to a tissue and inhale

Topically

Essential oils can be applied to the skin when addressing topical or muscular concerns. Since essential oils are so powerful and concentrated, when applying to the skin, you must dilute them with a carrier oil or cold pressed vegetable oil such as Jojoba, Apricot, Avocado, Almond or Coconut. This can be done within custom roller blends or when applying a single oil to skin. Apply the oils to the bottom of your feet, back, neck, wrists, temples or areas of concern.