Essential Oils for Your Health
Most of us strive to keep our homes free of toxic chemicals and keep our bodies healthy with natural remedies. Essential Oils can play a vital role in reducing the amount of drugs and chemicals we commonly rely on for everyday ailments.
Bagua Center will be hosting the Medicine Cabinet Makeover workshop with Delmar Ahlstrom of DoTerra this Sunday, June 26, 2016 to show you exactly how you use botanical essential oils to improve your wellness and reduce the amount of drugs and chemicals in your medicine cabinet. Learn with us about various essential oils and how they can help you and be sure to attend the event to put knowledge into practice.
What are essential oils?
Essentials oils are components that are derived from botanical plants from the flower, stem, bark, roots, and other parts. The Essential oils is often accompanied by an aromatic scent, such a the cool and refreshing scent peppermint. For the plant, this essential oil compound has several distinct role that ensures its evolutionary survival and expansion. Some of the most common functional role associated with essential oils are:
- Repelling and deterring harmful insects and animals from harming the plant
- To help attract insects and animals that help to pollinate the plant
- To deter fungus and bacteria that could be harmful to the plant
- Suppress other varieties of plants from growing too close; think of it as a natural territory signal that the area is occupied, which reduces competition when it comes to pollination time
Often times, we forget that they serve a natural purpose in the plant’s survival because of the fragrant scent that it releases that we have come to love. Now that we know what it does for the plant, let’s discover what essential oils can do for us.
Uses for Essential Oils
Aromatherapy has been around almost as long as the human’s discovery of their fragrant oils. Scents trigger one of the strongest reactions in the brain when it comes to memory recall. Our olfactory sensor in the brain is most strongly activated when we smell the scent that is associated with that memory. For instance, if your loved one wears a certain fragrance, this may be why you find comfort in smelling a piece of their clothing that contains their scent. Animals are notorious for their use of olfactory sense for everything from navigating direction, migration, and even the common pet dog that insists on snuggling up to their owner’s sock when they are work.
Over 3,000 oils have been discovered and categorized and each one alone in or in combination can have a beneficial effect. They can be used to treat a wide assortment of ailments, both physical and emotional.
Some of the most common uses include:
- Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea) With uses dating back to the Middle Ages, Clary Sage essential oil includes relaxing and soothing properties that help with rejuvenation and calming of the skin.
- Ginger (Zingiber officinale) When used as a kitchen spice, the hot, earthy nature of Ginger adds flavor to a variety of dishes, and may help to support healthy digestion.
- Melaleuca (Melaleuca alternifolia) Melaleuca, or Tea Tree oil, is best known for its purifying qualities, which make it useful for cleansing the skin and home surfaces, purifying the air, or promoting healthy immune function.
- Ylang Ylang (Cananga odorata) Derived from unique star-shaped flowers, Ylang Ylang is often used to support healthy skin and hair, while simultaneously providing a calming effect and promoting a positive outlook.
**The above statements are derived from DoTerra’s- visit their page for a complete guide to the most common essential oils.
Drugs or Oils?
Most of medicines we keep handy in our households are widely available and commonly known, so we tend to think that they are safe and easy to use. The problem with most traditional medicines is that they are not designed to biologically interact with the body; for instance, an antibiotic continues to work even when the host bacteria is eradicated and does not know how to distinguish the “good bacteria” that keep us healthy. We hear so about imbalances and after effects of traditional medicine wreaking havoc on the body.
Replacing essential oils as your first level remedy may be the key in reducing the exposure to such drugs so frequently. For instance, Melaleuca (see above), can be effective in many skin ailments and is safe for use, even with pets. Neem is another plant based compound that is found in many all natural products that work to treat insects bites, insect infestations, fungal infections, and more.
Replacing your first reach for indigestion medicine with Ginger Essential Oil can bring you immediate relief from nausea and save you the commitment of having to take a harsh medication. The idea is not that common medicine is obsolete but that it doesn’t have to be your “first aid”. There are so many botanical substances that can be your first line of defense and be equally effective without the side effects and toxicity of traditional medicines.
Refer to this guide found on Health Impact News called “Why Essential Oils Heal and Drugs Don’t” to get an overview of how essential oils and traditional medicine measures up.
How Bagua Center Can Help
This week, we will be hosting the event Medicine Cabinet Makeover with Delmar Ahlstrom on Sunday, June 26th, 2016. Be sure to join us a Delmar shows us how we can give our medicine cabinet an all natural makeover that will have your home healthier and tapped into the power of nature. We’ll have plenty of doTerra essential oils for you sample and ready to be a part of your all natural medicine cabinet for years to come.
Why doTerra?
Founded in 2008, doTERRA was built on the mission of sharing therapeutic-grade essential oils with the world. Having seen for themselves the incredible benefits that can be had from using these precious resources, a group of health-care and business professionals set out to make this mission a reality. They formed a company and named it doTerra, a Latin derivative meaning “Gift of the Earth.”