Life Journey Blend – Strength In Transition

When you are facing a challenge in your life journey, often it takes strength and will power to continue on that journey when those challenges occur.

A blend of essential oils that will enhance, support, and allow you to retain the focus on your life journey, regardless of the challenges you are facing is:

Black Pepper (Piper nigrum)

Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens)

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris, ct linalool)

Each of these oils has physical healing properties, as well as an emotional profile.  For this blend it was about the emotional profile.

Black Pepper

Physically this essential oil is well known for it’s warming properties, allowing for it’s use in the warming of muscles and joints to allow for more freedom of movement, it’s use in fevers (a homeopathic quality, like cures like) and for it’s ability to break up blockages and remove them, such as an expectorant, anticatarrhal and a digestive.

This ability to break up and remove blockages allows Black Pepper to stimulate the individual to see the blockages that are holding them back in their journey through life, to loosen those blockages and give you direction in your journey.  The warming properties also allow you to gather warm and confidence in yourself, and your ability to undertake the direction you have chosen on this journey.

Cypress

Physically this essential oil is well known for it’s calming and anti-spasmodic effects, allowing for it’s use in areas of respiratory conditions and nervous conditions.

This calming and anti-spasmodic effect allows for the individual who is jumping from one idea to another, rapidly going through change, to make the transition from one state to another, or from one path to another, with more calmness and ease. The Cypress in this blend protects and supports you on the rapid change that is unfolding in your Life Journey, allowing you to transition into the next area with ease and without a draining of energy that comes with rapid change and jumping from idea to idea.

Thyme

Physically this essential oil is well known for it’s anti-inflammatory effects, allowing for it’s use in many inflammatory conditions, including respiratory, urinary and skin related inflammations.

This anti-inflammatory aspect allows for the individual to remove the anger from their emotion, and dig into their own strength to follow their Life Journey.  Thyme encourages you to be balanced, courageous, calm and supportive while also ensuring there is focus and decisive action being undertaken.  This allows you to be strong in your decisions, to ensure you strengthen your will power to remain on your chosen path.

These essential oils combined allow you to transition into change, with ease, will power and strength, while remaining firmly focused on your chosen Life Journey.

Strength In Transition

For more information on the use of essential oils, refer to my website, http://www.SandraVenables.com

Aromatherapy And Colds

Aromatherapy and essential oils can play a big role in prevention of your colds over the windy and cold seasons.  They can also play a role in easing the symptoms once a cold has been contracted.

Prevention

Prevention begins in the air we breathe. By ensuring that essential oils are chosen in a room spray the air in your home can smell lovely, as well as be fighting the bacteria and viruses that are known to inhabit that air, and spread to your family members.

There are a few different essential oils that can be utilised to prevent infections, and my favourites are:

Images courtesy of Suat Eman, Pakorn & Prozac1 from FreeDigitalPhotos

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

Antibacterial (Staph and Strep infections), antiseptic (influenza)

Lemon (Citrus limon)

Antibacterial (Staph and Strep infections), antiinfectious (respiratory system), antiseptic (air), immunostimulant, antiviral (colds)

Pine (Pinus sylvestris)

Antibacterial (Staph infections), antiinfectious (air, colds, influenza, respiratory system)

By making a blend in a bottle of springwater, this can be easily sprayed into the family and common areas in the morning, and again in the evening.  As well as an evening spray in the bedrooms, or on the linen when making the bed daily.  This will aid in boosting the immune system, as well as providing some antiseptic support for the air where bacteria and viruses ‘hang out’.

Cold Symptoms

Once a cold has established itself, then it’s time to support the body in quickly and efficiently breaking up the mucous, expectorating it out (coughing it out) and supporting the immune system to fight the cold itself.

Inhalation is a method of choice for delivery of the essential oils required when a cold is progressing.  Inhalation can be through different methods.

• room spray
• steamer
• tissue

If you don’t own a steamer that can be used in conjunction with essential oils, then place the required amount of essential oil into a bowl of warm water, and breathe in the steam.  Care is to be taken if you are considering holding the bowl for another person, when someone is upset, the bowl can be unexpectedly pushed from your hands, making a bed or area of rest very wet indeed, as well as yourself!

Massage is another method of delivery for essential oils when a cold is progressing.  However, if the patient is not interested in undressing and being massaged, another great way to deliver the oils is to apply them, in a carrier oil, on the wrists, under the nose, or around the throat area.

Always ensure that essential oils are delivered in a diluted format, never place undiluted essential oils directly onto the skin!

Essential oils of choice for colds include:

Images courtesy of Warradmu, Sommai, FreeDigitalPhotos net and Sciencemag org

Frankincense (Boswellia carteri)

Expectorant, mucolytic, immunostimulant

Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus smithii, Eucalyptus globulus, Eucalyptus radiata)

Expectorant, mucolytic

Peppermint (Mentha x piperita)

Expectorant, mucolytic, febrifuge (assists with fever)

For more information on using essential oils within your daily life, visit http://www.sandravenables.com

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this blog are those of the author and should not be taken to constitute medical advice or imply treatment of any disorder. For all health conditions you must visit an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.

Immunity Blend

Immunity Booster For Your Rooms

Images courtesy of Suat Eman, Pakorn & Prozac1 from FreeDigitalPhotos

As we head into the depths of winter, yes the winter solstice is this weekend, it’s worth reminding us all that it’s the time of coughs, colds and ‘flus and it’s time to give your immune system a boost and keep your rooms clean and fresh.

One of the nicest ways I find to do this is to make up a blend of essential oils in a 100ml spray bottle and freshen up the air of my clinic and my home using it.

My favourite immune system booster and cleanser for the home is:

Lemon

Pine

Lavender

Into 100ml, I would add 6 drops of each of these essential oils.  Shake the bottle and spray this wonderful oil blend around your rooms. You could even give your sheets and pillowcase a light spray to keep your sleeping area clear too.

Lemon

Citrus limon

Antibacterial

Antiinfectious

Antiseptic

Antibacterial

Pine

Pinus sylvestris

antibacterial

Antiinfectious

Antiseptic (in the air)

Decongestant

Expectorant

Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

Antibacterial

Antiseptic

Calming

Other essential oils can be used for similar reasons, if you’re unsure of which oil to use, or one of these oils invokes an unpleasant memory for you, then I can always change the combination and yet still receive the same antiseptic and fresh aroma you are seeking.  Contact me for your own room spray today!

Clarity – Living Life With Intention

Clarity

Letting go of the struggles in life allows you to move forward without the past baggage, without the old habits and limitations, moving forward you see clearly your true path of happiness, through understanding of yourself and others, with true joy in your heart.

This blend contains three essential oils, Mandarin (Citrus reticulata), Tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) and German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita)

Mandarin

Top note, Heart Chakra

Mandarin is utilised physically as an antispasmodic, antifungal, antiviral, digestive, sedative and relaxing essential oil.  These properties bring with them the emotional aspects of:

• relaxing the mind
• relieving the emotional cramping within, that occurs due to holding onto past baggage
• allowing for relaxation and joy, resulting in an uplifted feeling
• alleviating the internal attack of emotions on your better self

Mandarin is an overall message of happiness and speaks especially to the inner child you have within you, and allows you to welcome the inner child into your existence.  Mandarin has a sense of joy that allows you to embrace and enjoy life in the here and now, allowing the emotional baggage of times past to be released and let go.

When you require Mandarin in your life, you are usually experiencing a compulsiveness, especially about small things, examples of which are housework, dwelling on past experiences, tasks that take you away from stepping back and looking at the overall picture, what it is that you are striving for.

The clarity that Mandarin brings into your life is to allow you to let go of the small things in life, the past baggage, and to see the future clearly, with the inspiration and joy of your inner child that accompanies the clarity of your journey.

Mandarin allows you to have the clarity of your heartfelt journey, without allowing issues to detract you from that journey. It allows you to stop being self-pitying, and to move forward with joy in your heart, to experience the fun of your inner child, to enjoy self acceptance while relating to others compassionately and unconditionally with love and joy.

Mandarin removes the fear of betrayal and allows you to take a lighter approach to the clear heartfelt journey you see before you.

Teatree

Top note, third eye chakra

Teatree is utilised physically as an immunostimulant, anticatarrhal, analgesic, antifungal and antiviral essential oil.  These properties bring with them the emotional aspects of:

• release of the struggle within
• get the emotions off the chest
• release the emotional pain directed towards self
• release the attack on the better self

Teatree provides an overall message of understanding, releasing old ways, old events and old emotions.  This understanding of the role of these old ways, events and/or emotions in your life allows you to move forward with an intuitive knowing of the path ahead, with clarity.

Teatree will allow you to see intuitively what you have always known and understood to be true, but have never acted upon.  Teatree gives you the permission to follow your intuition.  It gives you the light to see clearly the knowledge you have always had within you, so you can answer your questions yourself.

Teatree gives you the knowledge of success in your future, with clarity and a knowing that it is there for you. It gives you the ability to see the truth within and the ability to act upon it with clear knowledge and trust that it is true.  The answers have always been within you, now you can access them with clarity.

German Chamomile

Middle note, throat chakra

German Chamomile is utilised physically as a digestive, antiinflammatory, antispasmodic, cicatrizant, decongestant and hormone-like essential oil.  These properties bring with them the emotional aspects of:

• balancing to the emotions
• healing the emotional scars within
• clearing the foggy mind
• calming to anger
• reducing the cramping of the internal emotions

German Chamomile provides an overall message of calmness, peace, healing and soothing delivered with understanding and empathy.  It is especially useful for removing the irritation, resentment, bitterness or deep emotional baggage that is associated with old habits, self criticism and criticism of others.

German Chamomile is a great communicator, allowing for personal expression with active listening, giving great understanding to those around you in a soothing and calming manner. It allows you to clearly see and hear what is happening to those around you, so that criticism of either yourself or them does not occur.  The support German Chamomile gives is empathetic, relaxed and patient in nature.

erman Chamomile allows you to clearly see your journey, and to communicate this to others with clarity and purpose. The truth of you walking your talk shines through in your ability to communicate clearly.

German Chamomile allows you to clearly see your journey, and to communicate this to others with clarity and purpose. The truth of you walking your talk shines through in your ability to communicate clearly.

Clarity

Upcoming Workshop

The excitement levels in the clinic this week are growing! It’s all in anticipation of the upcoming workshop this weekend.

For 2  hours you can immerse yourself into the world of aromatherapy and how you can add it to your home in order to reduce the chemical load you currently may have around your home.

We will be looking at how to freshen up your rooms, your linen, your carpets, your pets and more………….

Using essential oils is using nature as it’s intended, small amounts used with thought and blending to create a world of beautiful, and yet also therapeutic aromas.  What bliss, what joy, what fun!

As a little bit of a look at Saturday, here is a recipe I recently developed for the use against the flying bugs around us.  I found it so devine, that I’ve been using it as a linen spray this week – what a joy to slip into freshly laundered sheets that smell of this wonderful fragrance, also knowing it’s protecting my body against any wandering night time bugs!

Cirtonella

Patchouli

Cedarwood

Lemongrass

Come and play, RSVP is required (phone me on 5545 0939, or 0402 423 127), or simply by joining on Facebook

The cost is $30 and you get to take home a product you have made. There will also be light refreshments post workshop, so we can all sit and discuss what we’ve been making.

These workshops are going to be a regular feature here on the Mountain, so do find the 2 hours to come and play and freshen up your world!! Each workshop will contain different products and different ideas too – there is so much we can do!

Bottles for workshop

Friday’s Blend – Finish Your Week Productively

Today the clinic aromatherapy blend that is being vaporised includes the following essential oils

Lime

Patchouli

Sandalwood

The overall energy that will fill the clinic with these oils will encompass a sense of peace and stillness, allowing the work and any changes that are put in front of you to be handled with ease, without the stress of an emotional explosion!  At the same time, you will have an inner sense of strength that the work you are doing is coming from your heart, that it is the best of you, that you will achieve what you set out to achieve.

You will also find the strength to operate positively in the face of any negativity, by going within yourself to see that the truth and your strenght lies within you.

Have a great Friday, go through it with tranquility, progress and strength, achieving all that you set out to achieve today.

Happy Friday

Need To Be Productive Today?

We all manage to have days where the productivity level is low.  How do you change that?

Well, for some people I know, they put on loud music and dance out the sluggishness and replace it with a vibrancy.  Others go for a walk in nature. Yet others take a 10 minute meditation break.

For me, when I know there is an amount of work to be achieved in a day, and the motivation levels are low, I turn to my trusty oil burner and essential oils.  I choose a blend that will assist my Productivity.

Productivity Blend:

• Clary Sage
• Basil
• Clove

Clary Sage will allow clarity when mental confusion or emotions are ruling the day, which can normally result in you feeling weepy or burnt out. You will become clear about what you want and how to get it, removing events or distractions from your path.

Clary Sage, http://www.essentialhealth.com

Basil will allow you to express yourself and speak from your heart while acting with integrity. You will perform the required tasks with truth and positivity.

Basil, http://www.freedigitalphotos.net, Stoonn

Clove allows you to release any attachments that are holding you back from your path of productivity.  Allowing you to change your lack of motivation and move forward with your tasks.

Clove, http://www.freedigitalphotos.net artur84

Using a blend of Clary Sage, Basil and Clove will allow you to see the tasks required to be undertaken, the Clary sage allowing you to intuit what needs to be done, the Basil allowing you to perform the task with integrity and the Clove ensuring you release past issues that are holding you back from your task.

Herb Garden

For more practical blends and ideas, look out for my upcoming workshop on using Aromatherapy & Homeopathy around the home

Using Essential Oils In The Home

Looking to freshen up the living room? Possibly there is a summer cold doing the rounds in your community and you want to ensure some added protection for your family?

This is a great time to consider using essential oils in your living room to both freshen up the area and to make an environment that may be protective to your family against bacteria and viruses.

A very simple procedure is to use essential oils in a spray bottle. I would suggest the following combination in a spray bottle for use on a daily basis in your living area:

10 drops of essential oil, blend

100 ml of water

15 ml (1 tablespoon) of vodka (as a preservative)

Note, the use of the alcohol is optional, if you are planning of using the room sprayer regularly, e.g., twice a day, then this would not be necessary.

Suggested room blends for an uplifting aroma and one that is also working preventatively for you and your family are:

Blend 1: Fresh & Uplifting

Lemon (Citrus limon)

Lemon scented Eucaplyptus (Eucalyptus staigeriana)

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus)

3 drops of each essential oil/100ml of water

Blend 2: Floral & Uplifting

Niaouli (Melaleuca viridiflora)

Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia)

Patchouli (Pogostemon patchouli)

3 drops of each essential oil/100ml of water

Eucalyptus
FreeDigitalPhotos.net, Gualberto107

Stress Secrets

Stress Less

Love Life More

 

Quite often I take the time to create a blend for the clinic, usually focusing on what I am looking for most within my day too.  Usually the blending process is done intuitively.  Today was no different.  I went to my ‘toolbox’ of essential oils and randomly chose three oils

 

Today’s Blend

Lime

Patchouli

Melissa

These three are burning gently now as I write this blog, the aroma is very relaxing and I understand that the effects of these will be to uplift my heart and joy of life, along with easing me through the changes I’m making to my work and personal life, knowing that my strength is contained within me!

Lime:

• eases stress
• uplifting
• help to ease you through changes
• keeps you alert
• nutures the solar plexus chakra

 

Patchouli:

• creates unity, focusing  your heart and head together
• to aid you in rising above your self imposed barriers
• to aid you in sticking to your plan
• grounding, yet linked to your spirituality, the unity of both
• aids you in realising that your strength is always within you
• nutures the sacral chakra

 

Melissa:

• unconditional love, love of life, joy of life
• aids you in following  your dreams with passion
• lets you live  your life from your heart, encompassing all that you are passionate about
• gives joy and happiness in large quanitites
• nutures the solar and heart chakras

 

Enjoy today’s blend and live life to it’s fullest, with joy, happiness & passion, striving for your dreams that are attainable by following your heart and using the strength within you.

 

Stress Less, Live Life More

Diabetes and Aromatherapy – Is It Possible?

Be Gentle With Yourself,

You Are Doing The Best You Can

I love this thought, “Be gentle with yourself, you are doing the best you can”.

When someone has a chronic illness such as Diabetes, each day can be a challenge.  In this world, it’s good if you can be easy with how you treat yourself on a daily basis, and on how you react to life around you.

Today is World Diabetes Day, and as such, I wanted to highlight how aromatherapy can be beneficial to those who have a diagnosis of Diabetes, whether it’s Type 1 or Type 2.

Essential oils will not change your blood sugar levels, but they can play a role in some of the side effects that Diabetes brings into your world.  A few of examples are:

• slow to heal ulcers
• skin integrity
• circulation
• stress

Today, this blog will look at Slow to Heal Ulcers:

Slow to heal ulcers are best addressed by a qualified aromatherapist, but I wished to give you some guidelines that may be of benefit to you, to start you thinking along the lines of how you will be able to treat these if they do occur to you.  A great article covering all aspects of this has been written by Jane Buckle.

Essential Oils For Slow Wound Healing

Lavender – Lavendula angustifolia

Frankincense – Boswellia carteri

Sandalwood – Santalum album

Teatree – Melaleuca alternifolia

Eucalyptus – Eucalyptus globulus

Geranium – Pelargonium graveolons

German Chamomile – Matricaria recutita

These oils, diluted at a rate of 1 – 5 drops in 5ml (1 teaspoon) of carrier oil, can be applied to a sterile gauze.  The wound is packed lightly with the gauze and a dressing is applied.  Repeat this twice a day.  The carrier oils will ensure that the dressing doesn’t stick to the wound – that will be very painful and not serve to assist in the healing.

Obviously, all the essential oils would not be applied in one dilution.  Usually, as an aromatherapist, I utilise 1 – 3 essential oils at any one time.  The oils would be chosen based on their individual antiseptic, antibacterial and encouragement of cell regeneration.  The nature of the wound comes into play also, whether there is obvious infection or inflammation will guide the choice of oils to be used also.

Suggested carrier oils include:

Sweet almond

Tamanu

Evening primrose

Rosehip

Olive (not the culinary version!!)

Interesting fact: World Diabetes Day is 14 November, as it marks the birthday of the man who co-discovered Insulin, Frederick Banting (in 1922!)

Aromatherapy can assist you in managing your Diabetes in other ways as I highlighted above. Contact me for more information.

If you have a slow to heal wound, please contact me prior to attempting this for yourself.  This article does not constitute medical advice, nor should the advice be utilised in replacement of medical treatment.  Before using this advice on yourself, please also take advice from your GP and Diabetes health care team.

World Diabetes Day – 14 Nov 2014