Essential oils are a great way to ease social interactions, which makes them great for the multitude of gatherings that happen during the holidays. Oils can also be used to set the tone for work meetings, one-on-one conversations, and in my own case, trying to sell my home.
It’s spring! (At least for those of us here in the northern hemisphere.) It’s a great time to make your own seasonal perfume blends to celebrate the return of green. Spring brings to mind rebirth, flourishing, moving forward, and movement in general. Any of these can inspire a great-smelling, natural blend. Or you can center your perfume around one main essential oil.
Menopause can trigger uncomfortable symptoms such as hot flashes, anxiety, insomnia, and irritability. The following recipes contain essential oils to provide some relief in balancing emotional stress, surges of heat, and sleep deprivation.
As someone who has been living with chronic pain for years, I’m slowly learning that nature has all the answers. We just need to ask the right questions and be willing to listen—listen to our bodies, to our minds, and to our souls. In our lifetime, we all go through physical and mental pain—not to mention heartache. And nature has everything that we need to heal, ready and waiting.
Breathing in a waft of heady geranium essential oil can be a scent only truly appreciated by the cultivated sniffer. Its fragrance challenges one to dig under the surface of the traditional floral notes and sit with the discomfort geranium assists one in facing. In my opinion, geranium is a scent for the both the mature nose and the mature heart and here’s why I think that is:
Ringworm, a fungal infection, is being passed around in the jiu jitsu class I do. Though my first response is “eeeeeew,” the fact is that spread of skin infections is not so unusual in a full contact sport. Fungal infections on the skin and under the nails can be really annoying: Ringworm, athlete’s foot, jock itch, and such.
When I first studied aromatherapy and learned that perfumery was part of the course I thought “Well, that part’s going to be boring.” Perfumery is now my favorite part of aromatherapy. Natural perfumes are fun to make and the more developed your nose gets from blending, the more nuanced your perfumes will be.
Geraniums belong to the genus Geranium L. – Geranium P. which contains forty-four species. The plant is native to South Africa and can be found throughout the world in temperate regions and tropical mountains. They grow prolifically in the eastern Mediterranean.