If you’ve been around for awhile you are familiar with my obsession with essential oils as a foundational part of my self care routine.

Similar to how our body craves different types of food at different temperatures during different seasons, we can vary what essential oils we use in the hot summer months versus the cold winter months to best balance and support what our body needs.

If you're newer to essential oils, or just want to learn more, here is some info that I find super interesting and helpful in understanding the science behind why they are such a potent holistic wellness tool to have in your arsenal.

What are essential oils?

Essential oils are distilled from shrubs, flowers, trees, roots, bushes, fruit, rinds, resins and herbs. That distillation process pulls out all of the natural healing properties that the unique species of plant created to keep itself alive and thriving so the essential oil is then giving us access to those properties in a very concentrated form.

How do essential oils work?

Essential oils can work with your body on multiple levels.

They provide support for every system in the body: your skeletal system, muscular system, circulatory system, endocrine system and your hormones, respiratory system and immune system.

They support brain health and a healthy weight.

They are used extensively for emotions and for spiritual support.

Here are two of my favorite ways (among many):

Physical

One of the ways essential oils can work with the body is through the nervous system. Certain essential oils have adaptogenic properties, which means they can either stimulate or relax your nervous system, depending on what your body needs in the moment.

Emotional

Our Olfactory Nerves (our sense of smell) accesses the limbic system of the brain, which is the seat of our emotions. Because these olfactory nerves are only one synaptic jump away from the unconscious brain, in a way that sense of smell bypasses the conscious brain and goes straight to the subconscious brain. It’s the reason why a certain smell, like fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, could take you back to your grandmother’s house when you were a child. (And yes, that one is absolutely true for me!)

Essential oils contain a compound called Sesquiterpenes. When an essential oil has an especially high level of this compound, (oils like Frankincense and Sandalwood), it helps to increase the oxygen in the limbic system of the brain which in turn “unlocks” the DNA and allows emotional baggage to be released from cellular memory.

My Top 5 Summer Essential Oil recommendations

Grapefruit
Royal Hawaiian Sandalwood
Citronella
Lemongrass
Rosemary

*SAFETY TIP: Make sure not to apply any citrus essential oils on your skin where it will be exposed to sunlight as these oils are photosensitive.

Not only do these all smell delicious and just like summer, I use them for everything from bug repellant to cooling down on a hot day to nourishing my hair and skin after spending a day in the sun.

Here is a fun recipe blend for your diffuser.

Interested in learning more about how to incorporate essential oils into your self care practices? Shoot me an email so we can set up a Free Consultation so I can answer any questions you have and provide specific recommendations based on your goals!

To your highest wellbeing.