Transcript*

The Sacred Pause of Self-Care

Hello dear friends. It’s Dr. Sarah.

As the holiday celebrations move into the New Year, many are taking stock of their priorities and what areas in their lives need some TLC.

While focusing on resolutions and working hard to achieve them is the norm, I want to offer you a different way to transform. This is through calming your mind and body so that you can better access your inner wisdom with more ease and clarity.

Only when our own cup is full can we be fully present for others. For this reason, I believe that taking time for self-care is one of most important gifts my clients can give themselves throughout the year. If we are running on empty, it is almost impossible to be available to the exquisiteness of the precious moments, be grateful, find joy in our lives, and create lasting change.

So, I am offering you a gentle reminder to be more nurturing to yourself into this new year. To help you do this, I will highlight two of my previous video blogs and a social media post which focuses on soothing the mind and body.

You can pick and choose which ones resonate with you and what may best serve you to optimize your wellness journey.

As always, all the links to the articles, research, and references will be posted at the end of the accompanying video blog and transcript.

So, let’s get started.

 

Self-Care and Stress Relief Resources for a More Nourishing New Year

Below are some resources to help you have a more nourishing new year by focusing on your own truths. By calming down the stress response with healing aromas and turning inward, you can shift your life based on your own desires. This allows for lasting change because it is based on what you prioritize, not on what you think you “should” do.

 

1. Five Essential Oils to Decrease Stress, Lower Cortisol, and Increase Happiness Over the Holidays (and Every Day)

In this post and video, I review the benefits of essential oils for our physical and emotional health. I also discuss some of my favorite oils to tame the stress hormone, cortisol, while improving mood.

Topics include:

  • Nine ways essential oils calm the brain and body
  • Three of my favorite single oils to lower cortisol and ease the mind (clary sage, lavender, and bergamot)
  • Two essential oil blends, Stress Relief and Joyful Blends, to assist with the mind-body impacts of overwhelm

 

2. Overcoming Loneliness with Scents (by Jenn Pressimone, Clinical Phyto-Aromatherapist, Herbalist, & Scentpreneur)

Loneliness is a reality for many. Oftentimes, one can feel lonely, isolated, or misunderstood as they are going through changes. This emotion not only impacts the mind but can also cause imbalances in the body. Furthermore, body woes can compound feelings of isolation.

According to Jenn Pressimone, feeling abandoned, deserted, and unsupported are interconnected to three main organ system imbalances. These are the liver, gut, and glandular system. The resulting alterations cause digestive, mood, and hormonal issues.

Jenn offers a three-step solution to shift your mindset from feeling lonely to feeling connected by using essential oils:

  1. Smell essential oils
  2. Smell them while saying your affirmation
  3. Be present and aware of the positive feelings that happen when you are smelling your essential oils and saying your affirmation

This process is based on the concept of neuroplasticity, which is a rewiring of neural pathways in the brain using the sense of smell. In this method, pairing an aroma with an affirmation creates an association in the brain between the scent, the affirmation, and shift in mood. (This is a shortened application of the concepts of the Aroma Freedom technique.)

Specific classes of oils suggested for this method include:

  • Spice oils to ignite your inner fire and passion.
  • Tree oils to help you feel grounded and minimize wishy washy feelings and scattered thoughts.
  • Citrus oils as allies for boosting mood. When you sniff lemon, orange, lime, bergamot, pink grapefruit, and/or yuzu, you will get an instant smile.

Learn more and get a DIY video.

 

3. Essential Oils for Stress, Holiday Havoc, Resiliency, Mental Health, and Mind-Body Harmony the Whole Year Through

In this article and video, I reveal my favorite blends and essential oils for overall wellness, resiliency, and emotional balance.

Topics include:

  • Four essential oils to enhance physical resiliency
  • Two emotional oil blends to enhance courage and calm the brain
  • A duo of essential oils’ combinations to ignite belief and spark hope

These specific aromatic tools can be used to help you have a more fulfilling and nurturing start to your new year.

 

Summarizing the Importance of Self-Care Through All Seasons

Making sure we are in-tune with our inner wisdom will lead to more meaningful transformations.

This is especially important in our modern world that vies for our attention. Marketing can play on our insecurities and make us feel inadequate unless we live up to unattainable standards or buy the latest gadgets.

When we take time to “stop and smell the oils” not only are we enhancing our emotional and physical resiliency, but we are also allowing our minds and bodies to realign with calmness. This provides an opportunity to access our own truths. From there, we can prioritize how we want to move forward, based on our own decisions, rather than following diet culture or societal pressure and harmful messages.

Wishing you a very nourishing and happy New Year.

 

If you like this content, please spread the word by subscribing to my YouTube channel and newsletter. This will allow us to reach more people and help to empower them with natural health information and safe, evidence-based essential oil education.

As a subscriber yourself, you’ll stay up to date on my latest clinical tips, blogs, news, and podcasts. You will also be the first to hear about the release of my upcoming brain health program!

 

Resources:

*Transcript has been edited for grammar and ease of reading.

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Disclaimer: This material is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prescribe for any illness. You should check with your doctor regarding implementing any new strategies into your wellness regime. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. (Affiliation link.)

This information is applicable ONLY for therapeutic quality essential oils. This information DOES NOT apply to essential oils that have not been tested for purity and standardized constituents. There is no quality control in the United States, and oils labeled as “100% pure” need only to contain 5% of the actual oil. The rest of the bottle can be filled with fillers and sometimes toxic ingredients that can irritate the skin. The studies are not based solely on a specific brand of an essential oil, unless stated. Please read the full study for more information.

Thanks Pixabay and Canva.