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ayurveda, blissful living, healthy living, stress reduction, Uncategorized

Beginner’s Guide to Aromatherapy – Part 2: How to Use Essential Oils

In the last blog [https://ayurvedahealing.org/2014/05/20/beginners-guid…essential-oils], we talked about what essential oils are and how they can be used to support the body and mind. Today, we’re exploring some common essential oils, how you can use them, and where to get them.

Where To Buy Essential Oil

It’s important that you purchase the most highly therapeutic grade of essential oil available. When you go to the grocery store, it’s possible that you will see essential oil on the shelf for sale, but that’s not the grade you want and it shouldn’t be taken internally or diffused into the air. Generally, grocery store grade oil also contains fillers in addition to the pure oil and those fillers are not conducive to promoting health and wellness.

My favorite companies that specialize in essential oils are Young Living and doTERRA. Mountain Rose and Banyan Botanicals are also good options; these two companies specialize in herbs but they do offer highly therapeutic grades of oil. You can order oils online with any of these four companies.  

Common Essential Oils and How To Use Them

Lavender essential oil is fabulous for enhancing relaxation. If you’re feeling stressed, lavender is a great essential oil to diffuse in the air or put on yourself topically.

Lavender can also be ingested internally, so you can put a drop of oil in your water to feel the effects that way. Often you will smell lavender in a spa setting because it is so relaxing to the mind, body and spirit.

Lavender is also used to cleanse and sooth minor cuts, burns and skin irritations. If you have a bug bite or itchy skin, you can put a drop of lavender oil on it and the itching will stop. It is also healing for acne.

Lemon essential oil is an excellent source of something called D-Limonene, which is helpful in boosting the body’s natural defenses. It has a wonderful fresh citrusy smell, and it’s great for promoting energy and mental clarity.  

Lemon essential oil is a great jump-start for detoxifying your liver. Place a drop of pure lemon essential oil in warm water in the morning before you drink anything else to awaken your immune system.

When you go to the gym, put a drop of lemon essential oil in your water bottle to get natural, sustained energy. It also helps prevent that dry, cottonmouth and stinky breath that often accompanies exercise!

Peppermint essential oil is used to ease tension and promote a healthy respiratory system. It also combats mental fatigue and physical fatigue.

Peppermint essential oil  is oil that you can take internally. Keep your palate cleansed by putting a drop of peppermint essential oil in a glass of water. To relieve a tension headache, you can place a drop of essential oil on your temples and on the back of your neck to get instant relief. If you have muscle pain, rubbing a drop of peppermint oil on the area will instantly relieve the tightness and the discomfort.

Peppermint oil is very awakening and refreshing, so if you find yourself on a long drive, just take a sniff to awaken your senses and bring back mental clarity.

Essential oils are a great way to enhance your quality of health and wellness. I like to carry around tiny sample vials of lavender, peppermint, lemon, rosemary and basil for those times when I need a little boost through the day.

Which essential oils do you use, or are you interested in trying out? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts.

Wishing you much health and wellness!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

http://www.rochelelawson.com

http://www.healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

Twitter: @rochelelawson

http://www.stressassessmentmagic.com

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ayurveda, blissful living, health and wellness, healthy living, stress reduction, Uncategorized

Holistic Health is the Key to Optimal Health

Did you know that everything you need to be completely healthy and well is available to you right now? Listening to your inner wisdom and divine guidance to access optimal health is 100% possible, and in my experience, a Holistic Health approach is an excellent way to treat the mind, body and spirit.

In truth, it is possible to combine a Holistic Health regime with a traditional Western medicine practice and still have fabulous results. But if you’re newer to the idea of Holistic Health, it may be confusing it is necessary to keep your body functioning well. Here is a basic explanation of what Holistic Health is, and how it’s different than traditional Western medicine.

Traditional Western Medicine: Treating the Signs and Symptoms

Traditional Western medicine tends to focus on the signs and symptoms that are presenting. Whether it is an injury, a cold or virus, bacterial invasion or a disease process that’s already manifest, you’re likely to be prescribed pharmaceutical medications for just about everything.

Regular doctors want their patients to feel better and they know that if they make the signs and symptoms disappear, the patient will be happier. However, even though the person feels better, they still have the disease process or the illness because the root cause was not resolved.

Holistic Health: Prevention is Key

Holistic Health is a health modality that is focused on mind, body and spirit. The belief is that if any of those three aspects are not quite in sync, it manifests as illness in the body.

If we aren’t quite functioning at our highest level in any of the three areas, health challenges will arise at the weakest points in the body. Mind, body and spirit vitality are necessary for total health and well-being.

With a focus on prevention (although disease and illness treatment does occur as well), the Holistic approach uses natural remedies instead of pharmaceutical medications, which can be toxic and harmful to the body. The ultimate goal of Holistic Health is to restore and maintain balance in the mind, body and spirit.

Mind, Body and Spirit Connection

The belief is that what exists in the mind will manifest in the body because the two are deeply connected. Connecting with spirit as you focus on healing you mind and body allows for a greater semblance of peace, rest, and rejuvenation. There is a direct link between all three of them.

Illness can manifest in many ways that you may not expect, including anxiety and worry, lethargy, anger and rage issues. All these things will eventually present themselves in the body on a more physical level.

Peace and balance in mind, body and spirit helps the body naturally strengthen so it has a line of defense against disease and illness.

My first choice for health and wellness is Holistic. Have you had an experience with Holistic Health? What was it like? Leave a note in the comments below to join the conversation.

Wishing you much health and wellness!

Namaste,

Rochel Marie Lawson

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

http://www.rochelelawson.com

http://www.healthhealingwellness.com

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

twitter:@rochelelawson

 

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Yoga Goodness

Benefits of Yoga

 

Over the last several years yoga has emerged to a new popularity here in the west but it has been practiced for thousands of years in the east, particularly in India where it originated. It is believed that yoga is the sister science of Ayurveda and the two sciences work wonderfully together.

As yoga has become increasingly more popular in the western world, scientist have armed themselves with new tools that allow them to look even deeper into the body allowing to see what happens physiologically when a person practices yoga- not just asana or postures but pranayama and meditation. The doctors, neuroscientist, psychologist and other researchers are uncovering fascinating evidence of how the practice affects us mentally and physically and may help to prevent and assist in the treatment of a number of the most common ailments that jeopardize our vitality and wellbeing.

Dozen of studies are being conducted at places like Duke, Harvard and the University of California San Francisco in an effort to establish how truly beneficial yoga is for the mind and the body. While the studies of the impact that yoga has on our health and wellbeing are in the early stages, patterns are beginning to emerge that indicate that the knowledge that we have about how yoga keeps up healthy and well are just the tip of the iceberg.

Some of the benefits of yoga are:

·      Relief for certain types of chronic pain

·      Decreasing anxiety and depression

·      Less prone to emotional outburst

·      Positive moods, equanimity and emotional resilience

·      Helpful in treating insomnia and other sleep disorders

·      Helps your brain to stay sharp and work better

·      Better sex

·      Helps to reverse the aging at the cellular level

·      Fortifies the body’s ability to ward off illness ~ Immune booster

·      Helps to decrease stress

·      Lower inflammation or inflammatory levels within the body

·      Reduction of risk factors associated with heart disease

·      Helps to keep joints lubricated which allows them to move more freely

·      Healthier and stronger spine

·      Decrease back pain

·      Effective for maintaining a healthy weight

If you have been on the sidelines trying to figure out what yoga really is or if you should indulge in a yoga class, I say let the above benefits be a motivating factor for you to jump in and explore yoga. There are yoga studios popping up all over the place and I’m sure you will find one in your city or in a city close to you. Yoga is a great way to do something good for your body and mind that has lasting beneficial affects. So don’t be shy jump in and let your body and mind enjoy the benefits of yoga.

Wishing you much health and wellness!

Namaste,

Rochele Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

www.rochelelawson.com

www.meditationsforbliss.com

twitter:@rochelelawson

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

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Do You Have Resilience?

I’ve always thought that I was a pretty resilient person however after recently reading an article on resiliency; I realized that I have some work to do. Let me explain. You see there was a 40 year study conducted on the island of Kauai and it involved the development of children. During this period close to 700 children were observed in the area of their development. What was observed was that 1/3rd of the children grew up to be contented, successful and caring adults. The conclusion for this was that it was due to their great resiliency. These children had the ability to not let things get them down and to find happiness despite adversity.

Psychologists have discovered that resilient people share some of the same characteristics. It is based on this information that I discovered that I needed to do some more work in this area. Take a look at the information below to see if you have the characteristics of resiliency.

1)    Emotional control: Changing from a negative state of mind to a positive state

of mind is not a challenge for highly resilient people.

2)    Considered behavior: Resilient people are not easily distracted. They pursue

their goals with concentration and discipline. They do not give into their whims.

3)    Causal analysis: In negative situations they ask “why” instead of indulging in

being angry.

4)    Empathy: They are able to see things from another person’s point of view

and can change their perspective based on this information.

5)    Realistic optimism: They harbor no illusions about reality. ( It is what it is).

They have an optimistic outlook on life.

6)    Goal orientation: These people are always setting new goals and work at these

goals consistently.

            7)  Self- belief: They believe they can change themselves and their lives.

Now that you know some of the qualities of a resilient person, how many of these qualities do you exhibit or do you need improvement in areas?

After looking at these qualities and realizing that I needed to do some work in some areas to improve my resiliency, I decided to examine my practice of wellbeing to see how I could improve my resiliency. What I discovered is that I have some tremendous tools that I use and share with my clients to improve their health that can actually be used improve resiliency too. I have decided to share some of the tools that I use that are geared toward overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles and bounce back after a crisis.

Use the little irritations and challenges in your daily life as opportunities to train yourself to become more resilient.

Often people wish the world would change to suit them but in reality it just does not work that way. It is much easier to change yourself because you posses the ability to interpret and evaluate incidents in many different ways. You have the ultimate control over how you think and feel. If you have difficulty in this area here is something that may help you.

Find out which attitudes and convictions are responsible for your negative emotions. Once you do this ask yourself why you feel this way. Feel free to write this down in a journal or on a piece of paper. Writing it out helps you to see it in a more realistic and personal manner. Then write a new conviction opposite of what you have just written down that identifies how you want to feel. Cross out the old one and keep the new one with you where you will come across it frequently such as in your pocket, purse or wallet. Each time you come across it read it silently and once out loud.

While you can’t expect to change your old convictions immediately, when you realize how fabulous your new thoughts make you feel you will want to make the new thoughts a permanent part of your life. What is important to note is that as you do this you are increasing your flexibility while becoming more resilient.

Another tool you can use to increase your resiliency is to understand and question your negative emotions. Let me explain. The same situation may trigger different emotions in different people; the key is to understand what this reveals about you. When you know what makes you respond the way you do, it will become easier to control your emotions. For example, if you are often angry, ask yourself if it is because you feel someone has violated your rights or if it is something else. Being aware of this can be the key in permanently changing your convictions to a more positive state.

In Ayurveda, the goal is to keep the mind and body in a state of balance“bliss” as much as possible and increasing your resiliency is a great way to help your mind and body stay in a state of “bliss.”

Wishing you much health and wellness!

Namaste,

Rochele Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

www.rochelelawson.com

www.meditationsforbliss.com

twitter:@rochelelawson

http://www.facebook.com/rochelelawson

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Using Your Hands To Reduce Stress

Did you know that stress relief is in the palm of your hands or rather within your grasp? As the old saying goes “sometimes the answer is in your hands.” We have all heard of the various spa treatments that are aimed at relieving your stress. In fact many spas now offer 3, 5 and 7 day spa retreats designed to decrease your stress and improve your well being however I am here to tell you that you do not have to go to a spa or go on a spa retreat to relieve your stress, in fact you can do it everyday as often and needed and the best thing of all it is “free.”

 

 

I am so excited to share this with you because I know how much damage stress can do on the mind and body. When I work with a client, one of the first things that I do is an assessment on them. I take a look at every aspect that is important to my Ayurvedic assessment of the person. As part of my assessment I examine the hands. I look at the nails, the shape and width of the hand and I look at the fingers. I can tell a lot about a person’s wellbeing by doing this. The reason I share this with you is to help you to bring awareness to how fabulous your hands are, how much your hands say about you and your wellness status.

 

 

Because our hands are so important to us it only makes sense that we should be able to use them as healing tools for the body and the mind. By now almost everyone has heard of reflexology. Reflexology is a specialized foot massage focusing on various points on the foot that correlates to organs within the body and bodily functions. It is believed that when you massage certain points, that particular area of the body and be stimulated and if there is any blocked energy it is able to be released. If you have not had a reflexology treatment, I highly suggest that you do. Reflexology is not just a foot massage, it is so much more.

 

 

I mention reflexology as a way to let you know that it is not just for the feet alone. Giving yourself a hand reflexology treatment is a sensational way to relieve your stress and can be done just about anywhere. . In Ayurveda we believe that each finger represents one of the 5 elements as well as corresponds to a particular organ. For example, the thumb correlates to the element of ether and the brain. When the thumb is massaged it helps to balance the ether quality within the body and the brain. Below is a method that I use and share with my clients to help them stay joyful and calm.

 

 

The sequence outlined applies to each finger starting with the thumb. You can choose to do either the left hand first or right hand first, it does not matter. Just remember to follow the sequence for each finger on one hand before moving to the next hand.

 

 

1)    Start at the thumb. Very slowly pin the tip of the thumb with gentle pressure.

 

Then pinch the side of the thumb with your finger tips.

 

2)    Moving from the base to the tip, rub the tops and bottoms and then the sides of the thumb, using a vigorous back and forth motion.

 

3)    Next grasp the digit at its base and tug firmly with your opposite thumb and index finger, then loosen your grip slightly and move along the length of the digit to the tip, then release.

 

4)    Again using the thumb and the index finger of the opposite hand grasp the webbed between each digit. Tug gently for a couple of seconds, then release. Repeat for each finger.

 

5)    Now rest whichever hand you are working on palm down and use your opposite thumb to massage the back of the hand. Start by leisurely manipulating the knuckles and work downward.

 

6)    Turn your hand over and cradle your wrist inside and massage the inner wrist very gently with the opposite thumb.

 

7)    Next massage the palm, starting at the base of the fingers and working downward.

 

8)    Finish by pressing the opposite thumb deeply into the center of the palm of the hand that you are working on, holding the position for a few seconds. Let your hand hang by your side gently shaking it out and taking a few cleansing breaths before moving to the next hand.

 

9)    Repeat the above steps for each finger and then for the opposite hand.

 

 

This little hand reflexology treatment will do wonders for your mind and your body. You will immediately feel a relief in your stress level and your hands will feel great.

 

 

Wishing you much health and wellness!

 

 

Namaste,

 

 

Rochéle Lawson, RN,AHP,CMS

 

The Queen of Feeling Fabulous

 

 

I would like to share with you some more fabulous ways that you can relieve your stress.

 

You can pick them up here: www.freegiftsfromrochele.com

 

 

 

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