…everyday aromatherapy & me…
I have always been a believer of self-care and the natural alternative…
Essential oils and aromatherapy are a big part of my household and it’s flexible enough to be incorporated into everyday life. I live each day trying my best to maintain my emotional and physical health by using earth’s natural resources. The older I got the more my passion and awareness grew, the more I faced, physically and mentally, made me want to dig deeper… and now here I am, a holistic therapist and ready to share my aromatherapy self-care tips with you.
As an Aromatherapist, safely incorporating essential oils into my every day self-care routine has become second nature and I could not imagine being without them. Not only do I feel this continues to aid in the nurturing of my whole self but it also plays a huge part in maintaining my physical wellness.
What are essential oils
And what is the purpose of them in my self-care routine?
These little bottles of magic, as I like to call them, are natural plant extracts, and when used safely they promote health and wellbeing. Whilst we cannot make any medical claims in using essential oils, they do look after and enhance our physical and emotional health; they treat us as a whole, and by this, I mean our mind, body and spirit. Aromatherapy is an effective self-care method to treat yourself as a whole. Being in states of stress, emotional or physical imbalance has an effect on our overall health and quality of life. As a holistic therapist I believe that lack of self-care almost always presents itself physically, so incorporating essential oils into my daily routine is a must for me.
Treat the whole self not just the symptom.
Now for the fun part…
How I incorporate aromatherapy into daily self-care
Over time and as your knowledge grows it becomes second nature to just pick up that oil and use it in that task you’re doing. I have various ways I use essential oils both for physical and emotional/spiritual reasons and below I have listed some of my daily routines.
- Morning time: depending on the day ahead I will usually start my day with an uplifting oil, one that gives me a little extra morning boost usually being a citrus oil like lemon or sweet orange. On a morning where I know I am going to need to feel strong and grounded for the day ahead I will sometimes go for a more in-depth oil like sage or frankincense. I would usually do this using a rollerball just rolling the oil over my wrists and behind ears, you can buy these readymade or make yourself but please note essential oils must always be diluted with a carrier oil when applying to the skin and an example of a carrier oil is coconut or almond oil.
- Skin Health: I use only natural products on my skin, some of which I make myself and I am sure to add one drop of the relevant oil into my cream to aid in keeping my skin healthy. My favourite oils for this are black seed oil, neem oil and broccoli seed oil.
- Stressful periods of the day: If I find I’m having a hard day or things are getting a little bit tense, I diffuse geranium oil which works wonders for anxiety. If I’m out while this is happening, I know I can come home reach for my oil and bring myself back into balance.
- Hair Care: Every few days I oil my hair with coconut oil which I will then drop a couple drops of rosemary oil into as this oil promotes hair growth and overall hair health (different hair types would need to do this at different frequencies).
- Women’s health and Aunt Flow: Experiencing cramps and mood swings is not our most favourite of times but for me it is now a breeze, yes, I still get those horrid mood swings, those days you just want to lie down with a chick flick and eat chocolate but this is where I choose to stop and take control to help myself and this has to be my favourite oil of them all… Queen Clary Sage. This is a true woman’s oil. Not only does it help alleviate those horrid symptoms, it balances, grounds, nurtures, heightens awareness of our emotions and just gives us that overall woman power feeling. I would use this oil in a variety of ways whether that’s in a bath, diffused, topically or inhaled and is the first oil I always recommend to my fellow sisters.
- Feeling under the weather: When I start to feel run down or feel a bug coming on, I reach for the ginger or peppermint oil. These are commonly known in pure form before it becomes an oil as great aids in cold and flus, headaches and nausea.
- Bath & Pamper time: Using oils in your bath gives that real sense of pampering which we all need and we all need to take that time out to unwind. There are many oils for this and my top two are lavender and frankincense which relax, ground and cleanse you emotionally and spiritually. (If you have knowledge on energy and auras etc frankincense is the master). I make sure I give myself that bath pamper time in which I use the oils and sometimes oil infused bath salts which I make myself for different issues.
- Bedtime (sleep): Something we all struggle with at times in our life is our quality of sleep. Instead of reaching for that sleeping tablet I use oils on my pillow whether its directly or spritzed. For every night use to ensure a good sleep I use lavender which is commonly known, but for my deeper sleep issues and irritability I use sandalwood for its sedative properties.
A day filled with all these simple incorporations and natural alternatives keeps me feeling on top of my self-care game, in check with myself and balanced and also knowing I can almost always treat myself before someone else has to makes me very happy.
Self-care is how you take your power back
Leila Delia
