As far as I can tell, I have always known about essential oils. It was the stuff that came in a little bottle which my mum would pour into an oil burner to make the room smell nice. Or so I thought. A couple of years ago, I started seeing more fancy (and expensive) essential oils popping up all over the place. I was intrigued to see what all the fuss was about and decided to look into it. I was blown away by what I discovered; Apparently, essential oils were way more than just ‘something to make the room smell nice’. Here’s what I learned…
Essential oils have been used for thousands of years with considerable health benefits. They are made from concentrated plant extracts and are the most powerful part of the plant. In humans, they provide support for every system in the body: our skeletal system, muscular system, circulatory system, endocrine system, respiratory system and immune system. The cool thing about essential oils is that they work really quickly. Studies have shown that they reach the heart, liver, and thyroid in three seconds when inhaled; the bloodstream in 26 seconds when applied topically on the body, and they reach every other cell within the body within 20 minutes.
Essential oils have also been shown to support brain health and are used extensively to manage emotions. Our sense of smell is about ten thousand times more powerful than the other senses. Scent travels to the brain so quickly that the mental or physical response to an aroma is immediate. Inhaling the scent of essential oils instantly activates the brain’s limbic system, which, among other functions, regulates our emotions. So this means that we are directly able to influence our emotional state in just a few seconds!
At Centred Meditation, we diffuse a mixture of lavender and lemongrass to promote a sense of relaxation and calm in our guests. We personally diffuse lavender at home in our bedroom at night to aid sleep, and I use peppermint when studying to help perk me up. Yet there are so many more uses for essential oils than just diffusing them which I’m yet to take advantage of! For example, you can make potent moisturisers for healthy skin ageing, you can ingest them (particular ones) to aid digestion and health, you can add them to your cooking for flavour.
I am by no means an expert on essential oils, but one of our lovely Centred Meditation guests – Sam Payne is! So I have invited her to come to the studio THIS Wednesday evening to facilitate a workshop on the transformative power of essential oils. Sam is a busy corporate executive, step-mum, yoga teacher, reflexologist, reiki practitioner and Young Living consultant. She has over 20 years experience of using essential oils and promises that we will leave the workshop confident about the basics of essential oils and armed with a toolkit of simple ways to incorporate them into our daily routines. Not to mention the yummy snacks, tea, detailed notes and gift bag that will come with it.
