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

Clean Out The Old, Brush In The New!

As I sit here on the afternoon of New Years Eve, I’m reflecting on the year that was 2014.  I’ve just finished a big clean out of the clinic area, and have created a new energy for the new year!  I’m very excited about it all, as I now look out my window, instead of having my back to it – I’ll get to enjoy the views of nature so much more in 2015.

In order to celebrate the new energies that the clinic is creating for 2015, I’ve also decided to burn a cleansing set of oils to remove any old stagnant energy and to create new space for the uplifting energy that this clinic is creating!

The recipe of the essential oils that have been burning, while I’ve been cleaning, clearing and dusting are:

Sage

Salvia officinalis

Sage was used because of it’s ability to clear catarrh, or mucous. This leads me to believe that it will clear the stuck or gunky energy from within the clinical space.  Sage is used traditionally for inflammations, especially of the throat. A good place to clear stuck energy from, as it allows us to speak freely. Something that is required when you’re in the clinic.

Sandalwood

Santalum album

Sandalwood was used as it keeps your individual space strong, so once it is clear from the Sage, the Sandalwood will allow that space to stay open and free of negative energies, allowing more free flowing positive energy within the clinic.  It also allows for those within this space to operate efficiently and with joy of life. This is something I often see emerging within my clients in the clinic.

Frankincense

Boswellia carterii

Frankincense was used to protect the open and free space that has been created, allowing those within it to be free from worry, overwhelm and anything else that may be draining of your own energy.  I enjoy seeing clients be free from their worries, with increased energy emerging from within them once they begin their Life Journey in the clinic.  Frankincense provides this protection to be free.

I feel that these oils are beneficial for myself as well as the clinic.  We have both been on a journey this year, with highs and lows, and learnings from all of these experiences.  This year the focus has been soundly on change, and with change comes challenges, but also growth.  This growth is important for both the clinic and myself as we cannot stagnate in the world we’re in, our Life’s Journey is too short to sit and wait for things to happen.

I want to thank all my clients for taking the step to begin their Life Journey in good health, to my students for allowing me to learn and grow alongside them, and to the Universe for putting trials in my path to test my strength of conviction for my Life Journey too.

Have a very Happy and Healthy New Year, may your year bring you all you have dreamt of, and more, and remember to visit the clinic to begin, or continue, your Life Journey in 2015.

According to numerology, the keywords for this year include “good health”, “progress”, “privilege”, “karma”, “success”, “profit” and “competence”. Your personal keywords will vary from this, but this is what we can expect from 2015 in general.

Everyday, Be Gentle

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

Secrets to Winter Living

This last couple of weeks has seen the winter set in here on the mountain.

Now, I do love the idea of the fire roaring, tucked up and cosy in front of it, with a hot soup and homemade bread, savouring the joys of winter.

Wintertime fire

Homemade soup & bread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, winter Queensland style, the daytime temperatures are still getting to 20 degress celcius – I shouldn’t be complaining at all, and I’m not, believe me!

Crisp winters day with clear skies and sunset

I grew up with frosts, snow, rain, hail and some sunshine during the winter months, so this is bliss for me!

 

With the joys of winter, along comes some of the lesser joys – coughs, colds and flu.

 

The secrets to living through the winter and using nature to support us through the colds and flus that I use include:

 

• Homeopathic remedies
• Essential oils
• Herbal teas

 

Specifically, I recommend the following:

 

Homeopathic remedies

• Anas barb – first sign of aches and pains associated with the flu
• Aconite – first sign of a sore throat, burning/pricking sensation, comes on quickly
• Ferr-phos – first sign of just not right, just not 100%

Use these remedies at the first signs of a cold or flu

• All-c – clear, profuse, burning discharge
• Bell – sudden onset, with high temperature, very sore throat, pounding headache, nagging cough
• Hep-sulph – thick, yellow/green discharge, sore throat, splinter pains, productive cough
• Merc – infected throat, night sweats, bad breath/taste
• Nat-m – violent sneezing, runny nose, clear like egg white discharge
• Puls – bland, thick yellow discharge, dry mouth, no thirst, poor appetite

Use these remedies during a cold or flu

Essential Oils

• Clove bud
• Lemon or Lime
• Eucalyptus staigeriana

Use these oils in your oil burner to keep the rooms fresh and reduce the viral load in the air surrounding you, also they break up the building mucous and assist in removing the mucous

 

Herbal teas

• Licorice tea (or liquorice), my favourite also includes Fennel (anti-inflammatory, mild expectorant), Aniseed (expectorant and anti-spasmodic for coughs) and Lemongrass (may reduce fevers)
• Lemon (lemon juice has more Vit C than oranges, lemon juice benefits sore throats) & ginger (increases sweating, thus reducing fever) tea
• Lemon & honey tea

Use these teas when you have cold or flu.  They support the immune system, can assist in reducing fevers, reduce coughing, break up the mucous that is building and assist in removing that mucous too.

 

Diet

• reduce diary products (mucous forming)
• increase garlic (supports immune system)
• increase ginger (increases sweating, thus reducing fever)

 

Note: take the homeopathic remedies and the essential oils on advice of a qualified practitioner, and, if symptoms persist please seek medical advice