Summer in the valley of the (surface of) the sun is intense. This will be my 25th Summer here, so I can say with some authority, it's not for the faint of heart. I've learned some tricks over the years to get through it though. One of the best tips I know-one that's been serving me since childhood-is simply a spray bottle of water. In front of the fan at home, in the car on the go. Keep a spray bottle with you to be your own mister.
So this weekend when we took a trip to a local farm (with baby in an non-air-conditioned car) I decided to give my spray bottle trick a little boost with essential oils. Many essential oils have cooling properties and are effective against fever, sunstroke, burns etc. So here's how I made my cooling mister:
Supplies:
Glass Spray Bottle
Distilled Water
Cooling Essential Oil of choice
(try Lavender, Eucalyptus, or Peppermint)
Simply fill your glass spray bottle with distilled water and add essential oils. I used a 4 oz bottle and did 5 or so drops of Essential Oil.
I chose Lavender because of its mildness (safe for baby) and versatility. When we're plenty cool, I can still use this as a calming aromatic spray or as an antiseptic on scrapes etc. Awesome stuff.
It worked great and kept us and our sweet girl even keel all (hot) morning!
Yes, today is my Birthday! Although I can't say the day itself is that exciting since becoming a Mom, the promise of the coming year has definitely got me pumped. My next year of life is going to be a big one! Tomorrow I start a 90 day challenge called Project Elevate. It's a great program my new dōTERRA family is putting on to help encourage me and others in our personal (and business)growth. These 90 days, it's my goal to take better care of myself and my family, get out of my comfort zone, and share essential oils to help as many lives as I can. I'm planning on winning some free dōTERRA product in the process too. (Suhweet!)
So, watch out, world. I'll be kicking it up a notch and taking this Essential Oil love to the streets. :P
Essential Oils don’t heal people. People heal people.
More specifically, people’s bodies heal themselves.
When I was in Massage Therapy school, I learned all kinds of
effective techniques for alleviating common issues in the body. You'd tell me a
problem, and I could tell you where you needed massage and why (even if it wasn’t
where it hurt).Some wise teachers
counseled my classmates and I not to get too entrenched in an overeager “I can
FIX it!” attitude, though….because we don’t
fix it. We don’t heal the body. We assist in the process, and the body heals
itself.
It’s the same with dōTERRA
Essential Oils.These oils
may seem like the ‘fix’ for all kinds of ills, (and sorry if I make it sound
that way sometimes…) but their comlex aromatic compounds aren’t healing anything… What
they ARE doing is providing the body with what it needs to heal itSELF.
The power to facilitate healing is so satisfying, but give
credit where credit is due. Your body is doing all the work!
So next time you have some Lemon in your water or put
Lavender on a scrape, thank your body!
Thanks for eliminating those toxins!
Thanks for sending white blood cells to keep me safe!
Buuuuut, like most big, strong, manly men, he's skeptical about essential oils. The weird smells, sticker shock, and doubts that they're really doing anything (for him) have kept my sweet husband-man a few cautious steps behind me on my essential oil journey. Who can blame the guy? This is all voodoo and hokum, right? :P
So, like any loving, patient, long-suffering wife....I put the darn oils on him anyway. :D
....And then I proceed to ask him all sorts of probing questions. Any difference? How do you feel? How's your... [insert ailment here]?
'I dunno.... Fine.... Pretty much the same.'
Curses.
Here I am beating my brains out rubbing oils on every little boo-boo and these stink bombs aren't even on his radar.
I stay determined.
I will prevail!
So, night before last, I pull up a youtube video. "I want to show you something...."
And we watch this video together...
The video is pretty self-explanatory, but here's the gist: A guy gets his finger pricked twice and his red blood cells examined under a microscope. One blood sample to begin with and then another taken 30 seconds after applying a single drop of Balance essential oil blend to his feet.
Yeah. ONE drop. 30 seconds.
Before.....
Clumpy, Dumpy, Frumpy. This looks to me like the dragging afternoon hours of a 9 to 5 job. Anyone feel like this?
and AFTER....
Now look at those cheery little guys! Chugging along, zipping on through with ease! Just having a grand old time!
....You'll remember from your 8th grade (or whenever you had it) biology class that Cells are the building blocks of life. What building blocks would you rather be made out of? Sign me up for the latter!
(Sweet! He's getting it!) I don't want to push it though, so I go about my evening business...While I'm getting my little miss ready for bed (diaper change with some Lavender for a diaper rash, On Guard and Breathe for a cough she's been fighting)...and Husband-man asks:
"So are you gonna put any of that stuff on me?"
(Huge inner grin! You bet your sweet patootie, I am! *throws mental confetti*)
"Sure." :) So Husband got a few drops of Balance on his feet before bed and we all settle down for the night.
In the morning, I ask him if he thinks it made a difference. He tells me yes, and definitely believe him, but I know what he's feeling is far out-shadowed by the evidence that sold him on it. Seeing is believing, right? Either way, I know he knows it worked. (*more confetti!*)
The moral of the story here? (Besides that Balance is an amazingly awesome and powerful blend...)
-It doesn't have to feel like an earth-shattering miracle to be beneficial.
And...
-Sometimes you just have to let the science speak.
While pregnant with my sweet girl, I started getting headaches. Bad headaches. The first migraines of my life. I still counted myself lucky, since I'd escaped the first trimester with little more than a couple nauseated weeks, but it was rough. I found myself, on a weekend away for my anniversary, lying perfectly still in bed breathing through the pain. I was never one to pop a pill for a headache, and I wasn't about to start while pregnant. So, my husband did what he could to massage it better and in the next weeks I looked for another solution.
I remembered a friend blogging about an essential oil blend that had helped her headaches. Scouring the internet, I came to doTERRA's PastTense blend
...wintergreen, lavender, peppermint, frankincense, cilantro, marjoram, roman chamomile, basil, and rosemary... I went back to the internet to check out the contraindications for pregnancy. Although everyone had their own opinions on the safety of each of the oils, the only one I really felt iffy about was wintergreen.
Wintergreen is 97% methyl salicylate (the active ingredient in aspirin, but naturally ocurring), so I gave it some thought. I wasn't going to be using that oil alone and I was much more comfortable with a natural compound than a synthesized one. I also believe in the intuitive nature of essential oils. If you feel drawn to an oil and feel good about the oil, it's probably an oil for you....so I ordered my first essential oil (along with some Balance, Breathe, and Peppermint just in case).
I rolled it on my forehead, temples and back of my neck and fell in love. In minutes, I was feeling better. The testimonials were SO right! And, as they say, the rest is history. This blend is definitely a must have and helps with so much more than headaches. Give it a try! Happy Healing! -Melissa http://www.mydoterra.com/melissawkimball/
Welcome to this little learning chronicle: "Oils For All". Here you'll find the musings of my ongoing learning experience with doTERRA essential oils. I hope you'll come along with me, use me as a resource, and share your knowledge with me too!
