Sharing what I got in this month's order, a few staples and an old friend...

Sharing what I got in my monthly order. A few staples in our house, plus an old friend:  Thieves Mouthwash, Thieves essential oil blend, Valor essential oil blend, and Joy essential oil blend.  

I start each day with all of these: mouthwash used to rinse and gargle as well as dip floss in before running it between my gums and teeth, Thieves blend on soles of feet before socks to support immune system (I repeat before bed too and more often if I catch something), Valor on wrist pulse points (love the smell, is calming and empowering), Joy on heart chakra (self explanatory and smells lovely).


Information on each product from Young Living website: (click on links/titles for more details)

Thieves Fresh Essence Mouthwash:  "Even with regular brushing, children and adults can miss areas of the teeth and gums. Young Living’s Thieves Fresh Essence Plus Mouthwash freshens and provides a whole-mouth clean using our signature Thieves oil blend—a carefully crafted mix of Clove, Lemon, Cinnamon Bark, Eucalyptus, and Rosemary essential oils. Your teeth and gums will benefit from an invigorating clean that’s free from harsh alcohol and artificial dyes and flavors. The spicy-sweet flavor of Thieves combined with Spearmint and Peppermint will leave you with fresh breath and a pleasant taste to give you the confidence you need to face the day."

Thieves Essential Oil:  "Thieves essential oil blend is a powerful combination of Clove, Lemon, Cinnamon Bark, Eucalyptus Radiata, and Rosemary essential oils that fills any space with a rich, spicy aroma. As one of our most popular products, it’s no wonder that Thieves is included in so many of our home cleaning and personal care products. It is a key ingredient in Thieves® Cleaner, Thieves® Waterless Hand Purifier, Thieves® Wipes, and Thieves® Foaming Hand Soap. Thieves blend is your go-to for an invigoratingly clean and spicy scent that smells more like fall baking than harsh cleaning formulas."

Valor Essential Oil:  "Valor essential oil blend is one of our most popular products and a favorite of Founder and Chairman of the Board D. Gary Young. A truly unique blend of Black Spruce, Blue Tansy, Camphor Wood, Geranium, and Frankincense, Valor has a woodsy, grounding aroma that is great for massages and other topical and aromatic uses. Use it to greet each morning with a positive attitude or to refocus at the end of a challenging day."

Joy Essential Oil:  "Create an environment of romance and warmth with Joy essential oil blend. With its combination of floral and citrus essential oils, including Ylang Ylang, Geranium, Jasmine, Palmarosa, Rose, Bergamot, Lemon, and Tangerine, this unique and feminine fragrance is sure to be a favorite. Diffuse Joy around the house for an environment that is pleasant and inviting, or dab it on your neck and wrists for a natural floral perfume. This essential oil blend invites togetherness and is used adoringly by members all around the world."

"FEATURES & BENEFITS"

• "Produces an aroma that brings joy to the heart, mind, and soul"
• "Supplies an uplifting aroma that can be enjoyed alone or combined with any YL personal care product"
• "Contains Ylang Ylang essential oil, which inspires a romantic aromatic atmosphere"
• "Creates a joyful and happy aromatic experience when applied to wrists or heart"

Let me know if you need any oils or products from Young Living.  I am happy to order for you when you need it or tag along on my next monthly order which goes out the 9th of each month.

All the best in health and happiness,

Angela

'Tis the Season

Some of my favorite oils featured this month with Young Living:

Frankincense is my all time favorite scent. I love using it for bedtime relaxation on soles of feet, back of neck, or diffusing - also for skin care putting a drop with my facial moisturizer or plain old coconut oil.

Christmas Spirit is great for diffusing this time of year. It's a blend of Orange, Cinnamon, and Spruce.  

And, Peppermint is great for a pick me up with a drop in the mouth for fresh breath or a drop in the hands, rub together and smell to clear the sinuses.

I would love to share more about these products with you if you are interested.   Let me know if I can  support you in becoming part of the Young Living Family.  Members get many benefits - one of which is purchasing the oils at wholesale prices (a 24% discount).  Contact me or go online to join using my member # 1333337.  

Feel free to share how you use your oils or any questions you may have.  We are inspired by each other!

Monthly Comfort

Turning to my Clary Sage oil again for comfort.  I go for it each month when I am menstruating and feeling crampy.  I put a drop or two in my hand and rub it on my abdomen.  An act of self-love: so nuturing to rub the sore belly and allow the clary sage to relax the cramps and sooth my belly.  I look forward to using it because I love the smell.  I put it on several times a day, because I deserve that much love.  We all do!



Pair that with a cup of Red Raspberry Leaf tea and I'm feeling pampered.  I was even motivated by seeing Robin Rose Bennett at our Holistic Moms Network Natural Living Conference this weekend to get back to steeping some Red Raspberry Leaf with Stinging Nettle for an infusion that will be ready to drink tomorrow.  She has wonderful recipes for herbs and instructions for making infusions in her book:  The Gift of Healing Herbs:  Plant Medicines and Home Remedies for a Vibrantly Healthy Life.


I would love to share more about this information with you if you are interested.   And, let me know if I can help support you in becoming part of the Young Living Family.  Members get many benefits - one of which is purchasing the oils at wholesale prices (a 24% discount).  Contact me or go online to join using my member # 1333337.  Feel free to share how you use your oils or any questions you may have.  We are inspired by each other!

Learning about and using Lavender

I found this great article about lavender, debunking the myth that it mimics estrogen, and listing many great uses for it.  I have used lavender essential oil on my daughter's boo boos to clean and heal them.  We use it at night to help relax and get a good night's sleep.  And, I have it lined up as one of the oils I use daily with coconut oil to moisturize my face daily.  Others include frankincense, myrrh, copaiba, melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree), and geranium.  I love how my skin feels using the cleanser from Ann Marie Gianni and coconut oil with essential oil as moisturizer.  My skin has never felt so clean and smooth.  I'm not sure which contributes the most as I have been using these two together for awhile now.

Go to this link for the article:
http://www.annmariegianni.com/is-lavender-estrogenic/

This is Young Living

Below is Young Living's recent Seed to Seal Video.  Check it out.  I haven't posted an essential oils blog in so long.  Life is Good.  Busy.  And with its usual ups and downs.  Just like everyone else.    Using Young Living Essential Oils and products has become an established practice in our daily life.  It has been over two and a half years that we have grown our interest, knowledge, and utilization of these products.  And, we feel our lives have changed for the better because of it.

Here are some of our daily routines:

1)  Now that cold and flu season is returning, we put Thieves on our feet in the morning before putting on socks and sometimes at night before bed as well - especially if we have been around others who are sick.

2)  Our bedtime oils to aid in relaxation and sleep include: Frankincense, Lavender, and Peace & Calming.

3)  My morning routine includes:  Valor on wrists and Joy on my heart center.  Sometimes I include Harmony on my solar plexus and White Angelica over my head and whole body.

4)  During the day, I often use Deep Relief when I feel my neck getting stiff or my knee getting cranky.

5)  One of my favorite drinks this summer was putting a drop of orange into a glass, followed by some ice, and water, plus a couple peppermint leaves from the garden.

6)  Abundance is another favorite oil of mine.  I like to put it on my wrists like a perfume.  I also do this with Valor and Joy on occasion, depending what energy I want to create for myself.

I would love to share more about these products with you if you are interested.  Check out the video.  And, let me know if I can help support you in becoming part of the Young Living Family.  Members get many benefits - one of which is purchasing the oils at wholesale prices (a 24% discount).  Contact me or go online to join using my member # 1333337.  For those who are already online, feel free to share how you use your oils or any questions you may have.  We are inspired by each other!

Here's to your health and happiness!

How we use essential oils to boost immunity and care for cold symptoms

Autumn is here.  The leaves are falling like snowflakes outside my window.  Along with the beauty of the season comes the potential for congestion, runny nose, sore throat, cough, etc.  Unfortunately, our family has already experienced these symptoms.  Whether they were from allergies or cold virus, I don't know.  What I am thankful for is the practice of using essential oils to help alleviate these symptoms.

At this time of the year, my family gets back into the habit of putting Thieves oil on the soles of our feet every morning before putting on socks and shoes as a foundational practice to strengthen the immune system.  Thieves is a blend of clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and rosemary essential oils.  When one of us starts to get symptoms, we increase the frequency of this practice, putting it on at bedtime and other times during the day to strengthen the immune system's response.  Additionally, we use our Home Diffuser during the day to help the affected family member get well and to help protect the unaffected ones.  Diffusing Thieves helps eliminate airborne bacteria.  When I was having some symptoms last month, in addition to putting Thieves on the soles of my feet, I brought my diffuser and Thieves along to my yoga classes for a nice aromatherapy experience as well as protection from and intervention for illness for my students and myself.  Last year, I did this for all of my children's yoga classes as well.

In addition to using Thieves, we use the blend RC to help with congestion.  RC is a blend of three types of eucalyptus, myrtle, pine, marjoram, lavender, cypress, tsuga, and peppermint essential oils.  We apply to chest and back or diffuse it to breathe it in.  It is a pleasant aroma to experience whether with cold symptoms or not.

Also for nasal congestion, we use Peppermint oil.  I like to put a drop on my hand and rub them together.  Then cup my hands together and breathe in the Peppermint.  Start slow.  It can be a strong scent depending on your response to it.  If it isn't too strong, cup your hands all the way to your nose and breathe in deeply.  You will notice a difference within a few breaths, maybe the first.  Just be careful not to get it in your eyes because it will burn.  If you accidentally do, close your eyes gently to let it pass.

I am happy to report that my daughter's symptoms lasted only a day.  My symptoms lasted a few more days; however, they weren't as intense or debilitating and didn't stay around as long as they could have.  I feel the foundational practice of using Thieves daily and the intervention of using it along with RC and Peppermint as needed, helped us navigate this first episode of the season.  We will continue our practices with essential oils throughout the fall and winter.  And, I will continue to share our experiences with you.  I would love to hear about your practices with essential oils.  Let me know if you are interested in using any of these blends or products for yourself and your family.

Perhaps I'll see you in yoga class or at the next Holistic Moms Network Meeting.
Wishing you all the best!

May we know peace in our hearts, peace in our homes, and peace in the world.
Angela

How we used essential oils on summer vacation, Part 3

My daughter and I had so much fun exploring Disneyland, California Adventure Park, and SeaWorld SanDiego (thanks to recommendations from friends). She loved meeting the characters at Disney and seeing the shows at SeaWorld.

The thing about SeaWorld compared to Disney is the lack of shade.  So even though we did our daily sunscreen routine and wore our sun hats, I still got some sunburn on my upper back.  When we got back to the hotel, late, my daughter asleep, after driving back to the hotel with the gas tank on empty -- I mean the indicator was on the last line by the time we pulled into the hotel -- I put on my favorite Indu aromatherapy lotion and added a few drops of Lavender oil to soothe my skin and calm my nerves.  I did the same to my tired and blistered feet.  Applying the lotion and adding lavender helped to soothe my sunburned skin as well as help me to relax after a long and overstimulating day and have a good night's sleep.  I did the same to my daughter as she was sleeping even though she fared better in the sun - just a rosy pink to her skin - thank heavens.  I found that my sunburn didn't sting or bother me for this episode as it has in the past.

I recently read a newsletter post from my friend, health coach, and essential oils mentor, Amara Wagner about making a spray bottle of water with Lavender and Peppermint in it to soothe sunburn.  I still need to do that.  Sounds like a great idea with the cooling qualities of Peppermint, the soothing qualities of Lavender, and the anti-inflammatory properties of both.

One of our last uses of the oils on vacation came during the plane ride home.  All was going well with the exception of some serious turbulence that my daughter thought was fun just having come off of 4  days of amusement park rides.  It was getting late and we wanted to try to get her to sleep but she had other plans.  So I got out my Peace & Calming, put some on myself, had my husband smell it because he was also tired and a bit stressed, and then put some on my daughter to help her calm down and get some rest.  She did then allow us to put on her pajamas and she drifted off to sleep.  I think it helps that she knows that is part of our nighttime routine at home.  Just about every night we put an essential oil on her feet and our own before bed (as well as diffuse a second oil sometimes).  Usually, Peace & Calming or Lavender to help get a good night's sleep or Thieves if we were around someone who was sick that day to boost our immunity.  For example, the night we arrived in CA and had just spent 6 hours on the plane, we all rubbed a couple drops on the soles of our feet before bed. My husband asked, did you bring the Thieves?  Of course.  And also, the night we arrived home from our trip -- round 2 of 6 hours on the plane, we put it on.  Probably some of you feel the same way about being on the plane for so long and breathing the same air with so many people.  The potential to catch an illness seems pretty high.  We all stayed healthy during our vacation and after : )

And so, that is how we used essential oils on our vacation.  I'm so glad we had them.

Stay tuned for more sharing about how we use essential oils.  We use them everyday, multiple times a day.  How about you?  I would love to hear from you.  And if you have any questions about the oils I use or how to get them, drop me a line:  angelacays@aol.com.  I would be happy to support you on your journey into essential oils.

And, one final reminder about the free essential oils workshop Amara Wagner and I are giving at Highland Yoga in Butler on Tuesday, August 13th from 10:30am-12:00pm after my 9am yoga class.  Let us know if you are coming.  We look forward to seeing you there to share our passion about essential oils in person.

All the best to you!

May we know peace in our hearts, peace in our homes, and peace in the world,
Angela