Essential OilsI often wonder how Essential Oils have become such a big advocate of Natural Wellness and Health.It seems to be everywhere you look on social media, people talking about them and using them every day and sharing the incredible journey they have with Essential Oils. Essential Oils have been around for centuries and are used as natural medicine.Not just something that smells nice, but hey, that smell plays an integral part in wellness using Essential Oils.Aromas have a substantial psychological influence over us. Historically, a sense of smell was one of the most potent constitutes of behaviour and survival. Unfortunately, our acute sense of smell seems to have taken a back seat in today’s world. Our vision and hearing senses seem to be at the forefront, where our sense of smell is the most subtle means of communication.When a baby is born, the first thing they inhale is the different aroma’s in the air and uses its sense of smell to recognise its Mumma and form that bond and security.When we walk in nature, we stimulate our vision with pleasant scenery, we feel the air and sunlight on our skin, but at a subconscious level, we are swimming in all kinds of aromas.The subtle sense of flowers, leaves, earth and bush quietly communicate with us. The Olfactory System plays a big part in Essential Oils. This is connected to the Limbic System, a group of limbic brain structures involved in the sense of smell, which triggers memories and influences our emotions. The limbic system also works with the nervous, respiratory, circulatory and immune systems of the body.
Essential oils can be absorbed through the skin, which is the bodies largest organ. Essential oil penetrates through the pores and hair follicles, is absorbed by the capillaries and eventually reaches the bloodstream. Once the essential oil has circulated throughout the body, done its job, it will be expelled from the body.There are a couple of techniques for extracting essential oils from a plant, steam distillation, cold pressing and solvent extraction; each method gives a different product.
Steam and cold press are the most common form of extraction where the plant material is placed on screens and streamed, often superheated at high pressures that pass through the material. This has the effect of drawing out the volatile components.
Essential oils are very volatile and potent due to chemical components in each essential oil, so they need to be handled with care. They do carry contraindications which means some vital oils might interfere with specific medication.Essential oils are generally recommended to be used externally, meaning applying to parts of the body or aromatically, which is diffusing the oil that sends particles into the environment we breathe in. Then, the olfactory system kicks in and does its job. Essential oils definitely help target part of the physical body and play a crucial role in helping with emotions. I will also say that some oils help with the spiritual connection.
Flower Essence
As a flower essence practitioner, I have seen hundreds of people journey through challenging situations in their lives, supporting flower essence remedies. Flowers attract energy to them. This is the secret behind the forms, colours, scents and consciousness that they manifest.
As humans, we have a love affair with flowers dating back centuries. Flowers were placed on graves. Flowers help with many rites of passage from marriages, births, celebrations, sickness and death. Can you imagine a world without flowers?When we feel ungrounded or sad, we generally head to nature or buy a bunch of flowers to help heal that part of us that needs some natural nurturing. Nature holds a potent energy/vibration that most folk can’t see or feel, but on a subconscious level, we know this. It is natural to want to hang out in nature.So all flowers hold healing properties, and Flower Essences are different from Essential Oils by how they are produced. Essential Oils are incredibly potent compounds and aromatic compounds. Where Flower Essences are subtle as it is the vibration used when processing the flower to make flower essences. Flower Essences do not smell like the flower they represent. This means that the vibration from the flower works with your subtle body or energy body and helps to unravel the blockages that are creating one not to move forward.Flower Essences are produced very differently from their cousins, there are several ways that flower essences are made. One way is through using a particular blossom of a flower, allowing it to soak in water over a certain period. This allows the vibration from that flower to penetrate into the water, which is then strained and preserved into flower essence mother stock.You might be thinking flowers are vibrations! Most definitely, we are all made of energy, and so too is our kingdom of nature. The flower you resonate with the most or are drawn to will have the vibration you need to work with.Experiment, find a flower in nature, your garden that you are drawn to and allow yourself to sit with this flower, placing your hands just over it, so the vibration from the flower is felt in your hand? ( If you can’t feel anything, that is fine )
Bring a situation forward that perhaps you want to work through, tune into your feelings and notice what has come up “for you”. You might feel calm, happy, sad, annoyed, angry. This is the healing process of the flower that you are experiencing. Allow yourself to just sit quietly and let the process unravel.Do I prefer one over the other? Sometimes yes, I do? If I am working with emotional issues, flower essences are my first preference. For any physical problems, essential oils are my first preference. Then I will also work with both essential oils and flower essences together. So they both play a vital part in wellness.