Essential oils – a natural choice for your physical,
mental, emotional health and wellbeing
In today’s world of fast pace lifestyle, highly processed foods, ever increasing toxic, stressful environment and artificial drugs, millions of people are returning back to nature to find relief from everyday health concerns. While plants have been used for thousands of years to fight disease and to help ease pain and discomfort, many people are just now beginning to rediscover some of the amazing health benefits of genuinely 100% pure and potent essential oils.
You might be wondering what essential oils are. Essential oils may seem mysterious however they are increasingly well-studied natural substances, volatile aromatic compounds/liquids that are generally distilled or pressed from the leaves, stems, flowers, bark, roots, rind or other elements of a plant. Volatile means that these aromatic compounds easily move from a liquid state to a gaseous state. And that volatility quality plays a very large role in many of benefits that essential oils offer, particularly when it comes to mood.
Many essential oils have been recently studied for their profound health benefits, including their abilities to help lessen pain, ease feelings of depression, enhance memory, and decrease inflammation. There are also lots of studies showcasing the antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties of essential oils. In essence essential oils are plant’s immune system. We are carbon based organisms just like plants and so by using essential oils we would be tapping into the plant’s healing power in the most natural form, says Jurga Proudlove, holistic health and fitness coach and doTERRA essential oils Wellness Advocate.
And now you might be wondering how do essential oils support a healthy body. There are three ways of using essential oils: aromatic, topical and oral/internal/for flavouring food.
Aromatic means diffusing an essential oil, dispersing it into the air so it can be easily inhaled. When an essential oil is inhaled, it can influence both the respiratory tract and the olfactory system. The surface inside the nasal cavity holds special nerve endings that capture aromatic molecules, creating our sense of smell. These special olfactory nerves, and the portion of the brain that processes these smells, are closely tied to the centers of the brain like amygdala that process emotions, long-term memory, and the autonomic nervous system and hormones.
The beauty of the aromatic use of essential oils is that once we inhale the aromatic compounds, their molecules will travel and reach different cells in our body, eg lungs and even cross the blood-brain barrier. The molecules of essential oils are very small in size and weight, they are lipid/oil based and so are able to penetrate our cell’s lipid based membranes where many synthetic medications can’t reach. Essential oils will support our body wherever that support is needed in many cases on physical as well as mental and emotional levels at the same time, that is my experience. (Jurga Proudlove)
While much is still being discovered about the complex psychological and physiological processes involved in emotions, researchers have discovered that emotions involve many different systems in the body, including the brain, the sensory system, the endocrine/hormonal system, the autonomic nervous system, the immune system, and the release or inhibition of neurotransmitters (such as dopamine) in the brain. Recent research has also begun to uncover compelling evidence that various essential oils and their components have the ability to affect each one of these systems, making the use of essential oils an intriguing tool for helping to balance emotions in the human body.
That’s why some oils like Wild Orange can be diffused not only at home but also in dental and GP practices to create a calming environment whilst patients are waiting for their appointments.
A second way of using essential oils is applying them topically on desired location, either by using an essential oil neat or diluted with a chosen carrier oil, eg fractionated coconut oil, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, hemp seed oil. Because essential oils are highly concentrated, some oils should always be diluted before applying them on the skin.
The topical application of essential oils is especially beneficial for supporting our body on physical level, eg support muscle and joint functions, ease occasional pain, soothe occasional skin irritations, maintain healthy circulation, protect against environmental and seasonal threats, repel insects.
Essential oils are also great for adding flavour or spice to meals and can be used orally or in capsules as medicines.
However not all essential oils available on the market are created equally. We need to be certain that the essential oils we are interested in using for health and wellbeing purposes have been thoroughly tested and certified as pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils. Other essential oils may contain harmful contaminants like residues of pesticides, insecticides and cheap filler chemicals which in fact may do more harm than good to our body when used and inhaled.
Choose only the best essential oils for yourself and your family. Self-educate about the many benefits of the natural plant based medicines and feel empowered to look after your health and wellbeing in a more natural way without any nasty side effects, lengthy waiting times and expensive synthetic medicines.
More information on the 100% genuinely pure and potent essential oils and holistic health, please visit www.jpdynamicfitness.com and contact Jurga Proudlove for free doTERRA essential oils samples.
References: Introduction to Modern Essentials, 9th Edition, 2017.
Photo references and credits: www.jpdynamicfitness.com.
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