Aromas for Peace

One day at the beach years ago, my cousin Misa's son Adrian slipped and fell off the breakwall at low tide. He hit the rocky ground about eight feet down. He wasn't hurt, but he was SCARED and crying uncontrollably.

Adrian, second from left, with cousins a few years before the fall

I ran for a bottle of Peace & Calming and rubbed a few drops on his chest. He calmed down in minutes. Misa couldn't believe it. Normally, she said, a traumatic event like that would upset him for hours.


Like my cousins that day at the beach, many people aren't familiar with essential oils - oils extracted from plants and used for physical and emotional healing. Essential oils can be applied directly on the skin, inhaled, diffused into the air, or taken internally.

Aromatherapy, the technical term for the therapeutic use of essential oils, dates back nearly 5,000 years to the ancient Egyptians.

Two basic mechanisms explain how essential oils work. One is the influence of their aroma on the brain, especially the limbic system, which controls a variety of functions including emotions, behavior, motivation, memory and motor function.

The other is the direct pharmacological effects of the oils. Simply put, they work just like medicine, only they're natural.

The oil that helped Adrian - Peace & Calming - a blend of tangerine, orange, ylang ylang, patchouli and blue tansy oils, was my very first oil. I wore it every day and everywhere I went people told me they loved the scent and asked what it was.

Next, I bought a Young Living starter kit, which contained several small bottles of commonly used oils such as lavender, peppermint and lemon.

Today, I have nearly 100 bottles of essential oils. I use them for everything from stress and PMS to cardiovascular and neurological conditions to headaches, burns and bug bites. I think of them as my medicine chest and take them with me wherever I go, using them frequently on family, friends and clients.


I find I want different oils at different times. 


For the last few years, I massaged a few drops of Valor on my chest every morning after my shower, didn't feel complete without it. 

Lately, I've been reaching instead for the blends Harmony for balance and Aroma Siez for sore muscles. (I'm a lot more active since my hip replacement last fall.)

Occasionally, I add a few drops of lavender oil to a bath or a drop of Frankincense oil to a glass of water. (Hint: a drop of Peppermint oil in a cup of hot water or placed directly on the back of the tongue clears the sinuses like nothing else.)

It doesn't really matter which oil I use or for what purpose. They always have a common effect: I feel better, calmer, happier, more peaceful.

Tennis anyone?