The Magic of Essential Oils for Your Health
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Ahhhh essential oils… where do I even begin?
Let’s just say I dabbled for a long time. The little bottles have always just grabbed my attention. It’s like my body instinctively knows the goodness they hold inside!
I think I first learned about them a decade ago from my friend with the magic needles - ahem… my acupuncturist - when she talked to me about their immune-boosting properties. A couple of good friends sell one of the popular MLM brands, so I’ve kept a few of the well-known blends on hand over the years thanks to them.
Supporting my immune system, opening up my sinuses when sick, dabbing on my temples when I have a headache… things like that. All along believing in my gut there was something more to them but never quite KNOWING it on paper.
Still, they were so danged expensive I could never really dive into them like I wanted to. So, I dabbled.
Then in 2020 I saw an interview with Vibrant Blue Oils founder Jodi Cohen and I dabbled no more.
Vibrant Blue Oils
Vibrant Blue “formulates proprietary blends of organic or wild-crafted essential oils that help…
”Balance organ systems and regions of the brain, including balancing emotions and supporting symptoms, so the body can function optimally and heal” (Vibrant Blue Oils (VBO), 2024).
They came to be after Jodi was having some health issues of her own (overwhelm, anxiety, exhaustion, insomnia, autoimmunity) and wasn’t finding resolution to them in all the typical ways. Out of desperation, she began testing essential oils gifted to her by friends. With her prior training as a nutritional therapist with certifications in functional neurology, yoga, and autonomic response testing, it occurred to her that blending the oils could magnify their individual benefits. And with her first blend, “within minutes, I felt like myself for the first time in months.” (Cohen, 2021).
Given Jodi’s powerful story and my lifelong love of essential oils, I immediately bought her book, “Essential Oils to Boost the Brain & Heal the Body.” This is where I started learning some of the specifics - and scientific data - about essential oils (and then some):
Essential oils are the natural highly concentrated essences extracted from herbs, shrubs, trees, flowers, fruits, roots, and bark in their living state.
Humans have long consumed plants for their healing value. Some 50% of the pharmaceutical drugs produced during the last 30 years are either directly or indirectly derived from plant medicine.
Essential oils contain the key components of plants’ immune systems, helping them grow, thrive, evolve, and adapt. They play a similar role in the human body.
The easiest way to absorb essential oils is to smell them because their tiny odor molecules stimulate the olfactory receptors in the nasal cavity, which then carry information by nerve cells.
The small size of essential oil molecules (along with your skin’s permeability) make topical application ideal for balancing certain organ systems or stimulating parts of the brain.
Jodi’s book has been like a bible to me ever since I received it. She breaks down the direct healing properties of individual oils and oil combinations for everything from blood sugar to focus. The Vibrant Blue blog is in incredible wealth of information, too.
Of particular interest for me as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner is the Parasympathetic Blend, which helps us get into the ever-important rest-and-digest state that allows our bodies to not only function, but thrive.
In today’s culture, we’re anything but rest-and-digest, especially when we’re eating. And that’s a problem because we can either stress OR we can digest… but we cannot do both at the same time. And when we can’t digest, problems follow.
Jodi includes “recipes” for several of her blends in the book, including the Parasympathetic Blend. And THIS is what led me to…
Plant Therapy!
I absolutely love the idea of having my own collection of essential oils to pull from when I need them. It feels like my own sort of magic. But, read the above note about the prohibitive cost of MLM essential oils. There was NO way I could build my arsenal through them, so I went in search of a more affordable alternative. Not just any alternative - one that still offers amazing quality and variety. I had genuinely never even considered looking at others for better affordability, but…
Color me IMPRESSED to learn about Plant Therapy! Their mission is to offer affordable, clean natural living solutions with essential oils at the core. Their highlighted hallmarks are:
Quality and testing
Education and safety
Affordability
Sustainability
An emphasis on KINDNESS (how refreshing from a business!)
Cruelty-free
Customer satisfaction
They have an awesome resource library to give you all sorts of ideas of what to do with the oils. They also have an impressive selection of items for body care, hair and skin care, household products, diffusers, and more.
So I guess you could say I’ve evolved when it comes to essential oils. I’m no longer dabbling.
I ultimately decided to leave the organ system blending to Jodi and order direct from Vibrant Blue for the Parasympathetic Blend and - in my personal case at the moment - the Lymph Blend. YOUR needs for organ system and/or health-specific support are different from mine, though. Let’s find out what they are through my 1-Time Nutritional Assessment.
But I didn’t give up on building my own essential oil library and am doing that now through Plant Therapy. While not necessarily organ-specific, the oils will absolutely still help support your health.
My FAVORITE way of using essential oils - a key health-supporting effort in my home - is using them to make DIY hand soap.
In case you haven’t heard, literally anything with “fragrance” impacts your health. According to the Children’s Environmental Health Network, “Many synthetic chemicals in fragrances are petroleum-based and can be harmful to human health. Chemicals found in fragrances include phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens benzophenone and styrene. In addition, some children and adults have allergic reactions to fragrance chemicals. Asthmatic children are at especially high risk” (Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN), n/d).
Unfortunately, this includes candles, fabric softener, lotion, cleaning products, perfume, and the list goes on and on. Soap is definitely on the list. Think about how often we wash our hands, especially since 2020. That means, in just soap alone, we’re being exposed to problematic chemicals multiple times a day… sometimes multiple times an hour!
I saw this as an opportunity to be creative, save some money, and have a little less impact on the environment. I get a large bottle of Dr. Bronner’s unscented baby soap and make my own foaming hand soap.
Get a reusable hand soap container, like this from Amazon.
Fill about ¼ with Dr. Bronners
Use various essential oils in various combos (check out my Essential Oils Pinterest board here) - I usually triple (or more) the suggested blend so I can smell the yumminess.
Fill dispenser with cool, clean water.
Gently shake to combine.
Voila! You have healthy hand soap!
Even better, I measured and got about 11 bottles (!!!) of hand soap from 1 16oz bottle of Dr. Bronners. BAM! Now that’s a significant cost savings, and I’m not left with gillions of plastic bottles to recycle.
I got REALLY into this over the holidays with all kinds of fun Christmas blends, but you can do that with literally every season… nearly every holiday. Not to mention, does your family have the sniffles, use Plant Therapy’s Germ Fighter Blend. Wanna spread some love at home? Try the Love Vanilla blend. The options are endless, SO fun, AND supporting your health and wellbeing!
Not to mention, you can use these oils in countless other health-supportive ways:
Use an oil for a headache instead of meds, which are toxic to your liver (just because they’re commonly used - and it’s not frequently talked about - doesn’t mean they don’t have side effects and consequences. This is important because your liver is responsible for HUNDREDS of functions in your body, and the many toxins we’re exposed to daily easily overwhelm it, preventing it from doing its job well.
Replace your toxic fabric softener sheets with these wool dryer balls and your fav essential oils combo.
Make your own perfume blends with these roller bottles, a carrier oil, and your fav combo of oils.
Now, I must note it’s important to follow the guidelines of the experts when it comes to essential oils. They’re powerful, and must be used in the right ways. Specifically, some REQUIRE carrier oils before administering topically. Also, it’s best to stick to external applications and NOT ingest oils unless it’s expressly indicated they’re safe to consume and you’re working with a health practitioner who’s experienced and can guide you. Plant Therapy’s Essential Oils 101 can give you many more details on essential oil safety for you, your family AND your pets.
So fess up… have you been an essential oil dabbler like me? After reading this are you ready to go beyond dabbling and use these powerful tools to support your health? How can I help? Email me at hello@cravingachange.com or message me on one of my social platforms with questions.
Happy blending!
References
Cohen, J. S. (2021). Essential oils to boost the Brain & Heal the Body: 5 steps to calm anxiety, sleep better & reduce inflammation to regain control of your life. Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
Children’s Environmental Health Network. (n.d.). Fragrances. https://cehn.org/our-work/eco-healthy-child-care/ehcc-faqs/fragrances/.
Vibrant Blue Oils. (2024, January 12). Learn why we are different. https://vibrantblueoils.com/about-vbo/.
