Essential Oils (EO)

 

If you are a new client, I will always ask permission to use essential oils on you before I do. I keep a very targeted selection of oils at the office for the most common issues clients are coming in to address. Oil profiles fall under these general categories: pain, muscle tension, mental stress/fatigue, headaches, emotional issues/trauma, relaxation. I have many more at home that I can bring in if I know a client has a specific issue or goal that isn’t covered with something I have at the office. Some oils I very consciously choose for the client, depending on their goals for that session, or something they mentioned during the in-take. Some oils each sessions are completely intuitive, I don’t know what I will use until my hand grabs it. Typically I will use 3 or 4 oils, but occasionally I will use more. In addition to these used topically, I always have a relaxing blend of oils defusing in the room. 

 

The running joke in the oil community is that there is an oil for everything. I have found this to be true, though sometimes it can be an exhausting trial and error process. The one most important thing to know regarding oils, the more you tell me the better selection of oils I am able to make. When you come in and we are chatting about how your week has been, what is going on at work and how the kids are, I genuinely want to know, but it also helps me to assess what kinds of oils will help with what you are struggling with. Have you been sleeping well? Is there a relationship at work or home that is strained? What emotions do we want more of, and which less? Are you struggling with forgiveness? Have you had some loss in your life and need consoling? A few of the many things I am gauging by what you tell me before getting on the table. Occasionally, mid-session, I may add an oil based on something the client said or intuitively. 

 

Above is what is most interesting and pertinent to you and your session. Below is part - my personal oil journey, and part - some essential oil basics. I have given no less than 100+ hours of EO workshops/classes, so this is a topic I am happy to talk way too long about.

 

My first personal introduction to ‘beyond therapeutic grade’ EO was like most peoples’, I was highly skeptical. I not believe it would work and I was determined that it wouldn’t fix my issue, talk about stubborn. When it did in fact fix my unfixable issue, I wrote it off as a coincidence or placebo (though a placebo would have required me to believe it would work I think). 

 

I began using them in practice a short while later, still not believing in them but willing to try them and see. What I saw happen in session with clients amazed me. I saw things happen that I began telling people had to be done by magic. I became a believer. If the oils could do these things, then maybe they could do the other things they claim to do. 

 

I began learning everything I could about them. I learned about the different companies, and all that drama. Early on I took a hard and honest look at the top companies at the time to see if I would switch. I ended up staying with the company I was in, feeling it was the best option for me. Oils became a real passion. Although I don't teach classes at the moment, I am always open to offering them again if there was an interest. There isn’t a day goes by that I don't use them personally, or a session I don't use them on a client.

 

Let’s go over just a few of some of the essential oil basics. I will distill some these points down to what you really need to know.

 

Not all oils are created equal. Stop buying essential oil off of a store shelf. 

Most essential oils:

 

• are sourced from areas that are low quality but can produce it cheaply

• often harvested too early due to poor pay 

• have many impurities in them despite being labeled as ‘pure’

• have synthetic additives to bring the chemical profile up to ‘therapeutic grade’, but it does not increase the therapeutic value since our bodies can’t use it the same way we can a natural product

• and many more issues!

 

The 2 most important questions to ask about an oil are: is it pure and is it from a high quality source? Unfortunately these are 2 things everyone claims, so the answer can’t be found on their websites. 

 

There are 3 ways to take essential oils:

 

1. Aromatically: breathing it in through the nose/mouth

2. Topically: applying the oil on your skin

3. Internally: taking it in a capsule or in food

 

The trick is not only finding the right oil to do what you need, but to use it in the proper way. Most oils have a different list of benefits based on the application you are using. Having someone to help guide you through the many pitfalls in getting the results you are looking for is the reason the MLM model has been so successful in the essential oil industry. 

 

A good quality essential oil is a wonderful replacement to many toxic products in our lives. We are truly fortunate to live in a time when we have the options with surgery and medication that we have. Before that we used plants as our medicine. Personally, this is my preference when there is the option. 

 

Let’s look at one common example. One of the many benefits of peppermint is that it aids in digestion. Often after dinner, people used to drink peppermint tea. (I really don’t see it anymore, but growing up we would always get a peppermint candy with the check when we went out to eat. This is why.) Essential oil is a highly concentrated form of value vs using the plant itself. One drop of high quality peppermint EO has the equivalent therapeutic value of drinking 28 cups of peppermint tea. It is easy, cheap, strong, and it’s natural. 

 

Ultimately, essential oils allow me to offer possible help with a wider range of things than I could accomplish with massage alone.