I have fallen in love with sweet orange essential oil.

I just can’t get enough of it lately. Maybe it’s because it’s early spring, and I am ready for sunshine and balmy breezes to replace the gray, chilly days of late winter in Indiana. Or perhaps it’s because of the uplifting properties of orange. Whatever the reason, I’ve been using orange a lot lately in my synergies and products for clients.

More Than an Aroma

While there’s no denying the lovely aroma of sweet orange, this essential oil doesn’t just smell good; it’s also a valuable addition to aromatherapy products because of its main therapeutic properties:

• Anxiolytic (anti anxiety)
• Antidepressant
• Nervine

Historically, sweet orange has been used for the conditions of  anxiety, depression, agitation, challenging behavior, and disturbed eating patterns. So it’s not a stretch that this essential oil is known for being warming, happy, uplifting, and cheerful. Honestly, it smells like sunshine in a bottle.

3 Ways to Use Sweet Orange

Let’s look at some ways sweet orange can brighten up your life.

1. Sunshine Whipped Body Butter. One of my favorite ways to use sweet orange is in a whipped body butter. I recently made a whipped body butter for a client using sweet orange and lemon essential oils. It’s a bit of a process to make, but, oh my, the results are well worth it. This body butter looks and smells like the lightest, most luscious whipped cream frosting you’ve ever seen. I could barely refrain myself from sampling it! Here’s a picture as I was whipping it in my mixer. I make mine with a mango seed butter, coconut oil, and jojoba seed oil base. I then add the essential oils, including lemon essential oil for its uplifting and immune-enhancing properties as well. The orange and lemon complement each other nicely and create a heavenly aroma.
2. Keep Calm Inhaler. Inhalers are such a convenient way to take aromatherapy with you wherever you go — they’re actually one of my biggest sellers. Compact and unobtrusive, they slip easily into a purse or pocket, yet they deliver a powerful dose of aroma whenever you need it. Inhalers are easily customized to whatever condition you’re trying to address. When you’re feeling uptight, make up this blend of sweet orange, vetiver, and ylang ylang. Its a simple process:
   • Get an empty inhaler and add 2 drops of vetiver, 8 drops of ylang ylang, and 15 drops of sweet orange to the cotton insert. Cap it and you’re ready to go! Here’s the simple recipe. If you’d rather not make it yourself, you can order one at my online store.
3. Diffuser. Sweet orange makes a lovely blend with many other essential oils to diffuse for a quick pick-me-up. One possibility it to diffuse 4 drops of sweet orange with 4 drops of lavender and 4 drops of bergamot for an uplifting home fragrance. Keep in mind that if you use the water type of diffusors, orange oil may stain the water reservoir a bit. I have found that adding about half water and half vinegar to the diffusor and running it for a few minutes cleans it up. Also, take a Mr. Clean Magic sponge and that does the trick too.

Sweet orange is a versatile essential oil and can be used in myriad ways. Use my ideas as a starting point and let me know what you come up with in the comment section below.

Contraindications

Important: Always keep essential oils out of the reach of children as they can be dangerous and even fatal if ingested in large amounts. Treat essential oils as you do medication: safely stored away from little hands.

Some citrus essential oils are phototoxic, especially the ones that are distilled, rather than being extracted through cold expression. Be careful of sun exposure if you are using citrus oils dermally.

I hope you fall in love with sweet orange as I have. It is a cheerful addition to any home. If you don’t want to experiment with the oil yourself, you can order from my store. Products are available for both shipping and local pickup if you live in the Indianapolis area!

Escentually yours,

 

Brilliant leaves, crisp apples, and chilly temperatures herald the coming of fall and winter. Unfortunately, along with the changing of the season also comes exposure to colds and flu. Let’s be proactive and explore some ways we can stay as healthy as possible during the next few months. In my next few posts, I’ll explore how aromatherapy and herbs can support us through the fall and winter.

One of the most basic things we can do to fight nasty bugs is to keep our homes clean. I know, it’s a battle, especially with children in and out of the house, but here’s an essential oil cleaning solution that will help you quickly mop up messes and leave a lovely aroma behind. No chemically smell here.

Aromatherapy Spray Cleaning Solution

Keeping your home clean can help prevent the spread of germs that make us sick. Perhaps you love using essential oils in creams and for inhalation, but haven’t considered using them while cleaning. Well, with the antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties of

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the main therapeutic actions of each oil as it pertains to cleaning (I’m not covering all their properties, e.g. for healing or emotional issues, just cleaning). Historically, these oils have been known for the following properties:

• Eucalyptus: antibacterial, antiviral
• Lavender: antibiotic, antiseptic
• Lemongrass: antibacterial, anti fungal, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antiviral
• Rose geranium: antibacterial, antifungal
• Tea tree : antibacterial, anti fungal, antimicrobial, antiviral

By no means does this cover all of the EOs that would be useful in a cleaning solution. This one includes some of my favorites. How about you? Have you concocted a cleaning recipe that works wonders for you? Let us know about it in the comment section.

Here’s to a healthy fall and winter!

 

 

 

 

If you’re human, you’ve been stressed. Whether it’s an accumulation of little irritants or an unexpected tragedy, stress has reared its ugly head in your life. It’s no respecter of persons. Almost every age group is vulnerable to certain stressors.The question is, How do you handle it?

Does it rule your life, or do you take measures to combat it? I’m hoping it’s the latter, because I’ve got some suggestions of essential oils for relaxation.

You probably already know that short- and long-term stress affect bodily functions such as heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, digestion, adrenal production, and neurological processes. Short-term stress can actually help us to react quickly in fight-or-flight situations. Long-term stress, however, can be detrimental to our health if not handled properly. So let’s cover some general tips and then explore aromatherapy for stress relief.

General Tips to Handling Stress

• Energize with Exercise. If you’re feeling revved up, destress with a physical activity. Three of my favorites are Nordic pole walking, cycling, and paddle boarding. Find what you like and get out there  and move, as long as you’re healthy enough for physical activity. Check with your doctor if there’s any question.
• Add dietary and botanical supplements. Taking a multivitamin may help compensate for any shortfalls in your diet. I like to take a natural foods-based supplement.
• Eat healthier. Cut down on sugar and eat more leafy greens and other fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Calm Your Spirit. I like to read scripture, memorize Bible verses, and pray to help me calm down. Deep breathing exercises also help to slow down your body and mind.

Essential Oils for Stress Relief

In the late 1960s, Herbert Benson, MD, found a counterbalancing effect to the stress response called the relaxation response.

Aromatherapy is one technique that can be used to elicit the relaxation response. This can help bring about many positive changes in the body, including reduction of blood pressure, slowing of heart rate, increased production of endorphins, and improved insulin response just to name a few things. So now let’s look at five different ways you can use aromatherapy to help alleviate stress:

Five Methods of Aromatherapy Application

1. Aromatherapy Inhaler — An inhaler is a small plastic bullet-shaped container with a cotton center infused with essential oils. Aromatherapists make these for all different purposes, including stress, allergies, and colds. I love inhalers as they easily fit in your pocket or purse. When you feel the need, just whip it out and take a whiff. They are quick, convenient, and last for months.
2. Essential Oil Salt Baths — If you don’t have a tub in your home, no worries. Anyone can do a foot or hand salt bath and still get wonderful results. I, unfortunately, am in the no-bathtub club, so I purchased a large bowl and I use that. A current favorite of mine is a lemongrass and tea tree oil foot bath (recipe on link) with Epsom salts (or sea salts). Lavender is another favorite. *Caution: People with high blood pressure or diabetes need to consult their doctor before using salt baths.
3. Diffusors — Diffusing essential oils with an ultrasonic or nebulizer-type diffuser is a wonderful way to quickly absorb the benefits of essential oils. Rather than letting it run continuously, try running it for about 15 minutes out of every hour. If you don’t have a diffusor, put a few drops in a bowl of warm water and set it in a place where neither children nor pets can get into it.
4. Direct palm inhalation — In this method, put a drop of essential oil in the palm of your hand, rub both hands together, and inhale the fragrance. I like to use lavender for this, since it is safe to use undiluted.
5. Massage with essential oils diluted in oil, cream, or salve — One of my favorite ways to use lavender is in an essential oil cream that I quickly make using an unscented pre-made aloe cream. I apply this after showering and enjoy the delightful scent for the next few hours. You can also try any of the other oils I have listed below or a synergy of a few of them. When you’re creating a blend for stress, it’s important that you like the smell, because even if an oil is know for it’s stress-reducing properties, if you don’t like its smell, it will most likely make you feel more stressed.

Here are a few essential oils for stress that have used historically: bergamot, lavender, Roman chamomile, marjoram, ylang ylang, geranium, jasmine, rose, vetiver, and cypress. This list is by no means comprehensive, just some to get you started.

Try any or all of the above suggestions the next time you’re feeling stressed, and please share any suggestions you have in the comments below! If you’d like me to create a blend for you, please contact me or check out my workshops for hands-on creation of your own products.

 

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If room sprays, bath salts, and essential oils come to mind when you hear the word aromatherapy, you’re on par with what most people probably think. Aromatherapy, however, is much more than just a pleasing aroma or beauty product. It is a true healing modality whose potential is just being realized in the Western world.

Jade Shutes, founder and director of education of The East-West School for Herbal and Aromatic Studies, defines the term in the following way on the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy’s website:

“As a holistic practice, Aromatherapy is both a preventative approach as well as an active method to employ during acute and chronic stages of illness or ‘dis’-ease.

It is a natural, non-invasive modality designed to affect the whole person not just the symptom or disease and to assist the body’s natural ability to balance, regulate, heal and maintain itself by the correct use of essential oils.” 

Essential Oils: A Hot Topic

The popularity of essential oils has taken off in recent years due in part to two major MLM companies, doTERRA and Young Living. Both companies have put essential oils on the forefront of the home party scene, and many other quality and not-so-quality companies sell EOs online and in stores. But please keep in mind that you are wise to do your own research when using essential oils, especially concerning these two topics: using essential oils on children and the ingestion of EOs (ingestion if done, is best done under the care of an experienced, certified expert). Don’t just blindly accept what a sales rep or friend tells you. Essential oils are powerful — 75-100 times stronger than the dried herbs, so you need to exercise caution. I’ll be covering both of these topics in future posts, but for now I want to highlight a few points about EOs with children because there is so much misinformation out there that can be dangerous.

1. Always keep your essential oils safely stored and out of the reach of children.
2. Do NOT use essential oils on premature babies. They have high skin permeability, so it is not safe.
3. When a baby is 6 months old, you may choose to try a baby massage using 1 oz of an unscented carrier oil to which you add 1 drop of an essential oil, such as lavender (Lavendula angustifolia). This is a 0.1% dilution. Generally, do not apply EOs unless you have diluted them first in a carrier oil. It’s always a good idea when first introducing a new product to try it on a small area of the body before applying it everywhere to make sure your child will not have a reaction to it.
4. Do not use essential oils daily on your baby’s skin (dermally), as we don’t want the baby to become sensitized to the EO. A massage with EOs diluted in a carrier oil should be a periodic soothing treat for your little one. Of course you can do a daily massage without the EOs.
5. Don’t give your child EOs to ingest without proper consulation. Always consult with a health/medical professional trained in this discipline.

What Exactly Are Essential Oils?

EOs are highly concentrated aromatic extracts that are distilled or expressed from plant material. Essential oils can be found in either the flower, flowering tops, fruits/zests, grasses, leaves, needles and twigs, resins, roots, seeds, and woody parts of a plant. About 15 percent of plants produce essential oils and only about 5 percent are good for use in aromatherapy.
Certain EOs are located externally on the surface of the plant inside glandular trichomes. You can probably guess that some, though not all, herbs fall into this category, such as basil, lavender, Melissa, oregano, and peppermint, just to name a few. These essential oils are easily released by running your fingers along the plant. I’ve always loved herbs and their intoxicating scents.

Other EOs are located internally in cavities. A few examples are sweet orange, tangerine, lemon, eucalyptus, and frankincense. EOs that are found in ducts include dill, yarrow, and Roman and German chamomile. Finally, a few EOs are secreted in cells. Examples of these include ginger and nutmeg. Ginger is a favorite of mine with its pungent aroma.

Activity: Become familiar with the aroma that is released from the actual plant as well as the aroma of the corresponding essential oil. If you have time, take a few of your favorite EOs and then obtain the plant/fruit/root of it. For example, purchase a piece of ginger root and slice into it, smelling its aroma. Then open your bottle of ginger essential oil (Zingiber officinale) and compare the aroma. As you “train your nose,” you’ll be better able to distinguish pure essential oils from  fragrance oils used in the perfume industry.

In the next post, we’ll discuss EOs and the Bible and how essential oils are absorbed into the body. In the meantime, enjoy the recipe for Sweet Peace room spray that you can easily make at home.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you use aromatherapy in your life by leaving a comment below.

 

 

 

 

Jane VanOsdol has a Level 1 aromatherapy certification from Natural Options Aromatherapy, which follows the guidelines for certification from the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA). She is currently studying for a clinical certification with the East-West School for Herbal & Aromatic Studies and is developing a line of products. She is also available for workshops or one-on-one meetings. Visit (and Like) her AromaScents Facebook page for more information.

When you take off the cap of your favorite essential oil and inhale the lovely aroma, do you ever think about the plant the oils came from? I love herbs and flowers and grow some of my favorites in my own garden. I am purposeful about how I care for them. For one thing, I don’t use pesticides or herbicides. And I try to nourish them with compost or an organic fertilizer when possible. I want to be sure that what I am eating or using in a lotion (that I make for my Indianapolis aromatherapy business, AromaScents) is as healthy as possible.

Four Ways Plants are Grown for Essential Oils

It’s good for us to ask the question of how the plants that our essential oils come from are cared for during the growing cycle. Usually, the company you buy your oils from should be able to tell you this. Generally, though, farmers grow these plants in one of four possible ways:

• Ethically Wild-crafted: This term means that these plants have been gathered as they were growing in the wild or in their native environment. The ethical part means that they were harvested in such a way so that the plant will continue to grow and thrive. In other words, the plant wasn’t decimated in the process of harvesting it.
• Cultivated: This term means that the plant was specifically planted, grown, and harvested for the purpose of distillation for essential oils.
• Traditional: Traditional plants are subjected to the use of pesticides during the growing process.
• Organic: This term means that plants have been grown without the use of pesticides and that the company is usually following  guidelines set up by an independent agency. Not only that, but it also means that the organic farmer is usually following a protocol that protects the land, supports biodiversity, and respects the balance of nature rather than interfering with it by artificial means.

Why is this important?

It’s important so that you can make an informed choice about what type of essential oils you use. If a pesticide-free plant is important for you to use in aromatherapy, you’ll want to seek out essential oils that are organic. Here’s a bit of research on what organic means.

• Congress set forth general organic principles in the Organic Foods Production Act.
• The United States Department of Agriculture defines specific organic standards.
• The Act allows states to set organic standards that are more stringent than the federal standards.
• Read this USDA Organic Agriculture post for more information.

Keep in mind that just because an essential oil is organic does not necessarily mean it is better for aromatherapy purposes. It depends on many other factors, a major one being the quality of the distillation process. You may have organic plants but end up with an inferior product because of poor distillation techniques from an inexperienced distiller.

Ultimately, when buying essential oils, decide what factors are important to you and research the companies you are purchasing them from to see if they follow practices that you support.

Jane VanOsdol has a Level 1 aromatherapy certification from Natural Options Aromatherapy, which follows the guidelines for certification from the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA). She is currently studying for a clinical certification with the East-West School for Herbal & Aromatic Studies and is developing a line of products. She is also available for workshops or one-on-one meetings in the Indianapolis area. You can contact her here.  Visit (and Like) her AromaScents Facebook page for more information.