As we continue to navigate our way through the fear epidemic, detaching ourselves from our amygdalas being hijacked by negative news and the weight of the world events can be challenging. The media, social networks, and advertisements are masterful at grabbing our attention and keeping us engaged. This is oftentimes to our detriment and for a lot longer than our intended “quick check.”

Thankfully, we have tools to support us and shift our brain patterns so that we can heal from past trauma and move toward posttraumatic growth. In this way we can deal with what we can control more constructively, process our emotions, and move through life with more intention, focus, productivity, and peace of mind.

The fact is that the world is always going to throw us curve balls and history shows we will likely continue to go through green and lean times. If we work now to be very conscious of our mental health and take care to nourish our mind and bodies, we are more likely to move through these trying times with greater resiliency and even growth.

This past month, I had the pleasure of partaking into two “purposely positive” podcasts.

Below is a link to and summary of my chats with Coach Tony Wechsler and the self-proclaimed “Nutrition Nerd,” Sarah Genovese on the subjects of spirituality in medicine and essential oils.

Essentially Everything About Essential Oils

What could make me happier than spending a little over an hour discussing all things essential oils with a new “Homie.” Sarah and I caught up after she heard my interview on the Ben Greenfield podcast and we reconnected via Instagram. (The good side of social media!)

On her podcast, Holistic Homies, Sarah and I took a deep dive into all things essential oils.

Topics discussed were:

1. How I got started with essential oils
2. The definition, properties, and characteristics of essential oils and why they have such diverse actions
3. Aromatherapy misunderstandings (the safety of ingesting essential oils and the use of carrier oils), myths, and different schools of aromatherapy
4. The history of essential oils
5. “The kindness of the design” of nature and how she protects us with plants
6. Do oils have a “frequency?”
7. The many benefits of rose oil (R, R)
8. The reason essential oils have so many effects on the mind and body
9. The influence of aroma on our mood and memory and how smell can enhance or decrease our experience
10. How essential oils are holistic and perfect for personalizing and individualizing medicine
11. How the body uses essential oils at the cellular level through receptors (highlighting copaiba oil and its impact on cannabinoid receptors)
12. Primary and secondary foods, the importance of relationships and connection in lifestyle medicine, and balancing health vs. diet culture
13. The concept of synergism in healing and with essential oils, holism vs. mechanistic medicine, and pursuing the quick fix vs. pausing and slowing down
14. Cooking with essential oils
15. Getting quality essential oils
16. Emotional essential oils and the joyful blend
17. Sarah’s SURPRISING three questions and my reveals (Yikes!)

Click here to listen in. (Approximately 1 hour)

Additional References on the Science of Essential Oils from My Published Reviews:

• Sniffing Out Pain Part 2: The Multimodal Actions of Essential Oils on Pain Perception and Pain Relief (Townsend Letter)
• Exploring the Complexities and Caveats of Safe Internal Use of Essential Oils for Pain: Highlighting Intestinal Discomfort, Part 2 (Townsend Letter)

Is Spirituality the Missing Link in Medicine?

Prior to my discussion with Sarah, I sat down with my friend, Tony Wechsler for his “Purposely Positive Podcast.” Tony and I discussed another topic dear to my heart and which I am very passionate about, spirituality in medicine.

This podcast was engaging and went deep into a level of healing that I feel is imperative yet ignored in medicine.

We discussed:

1. The sad stats in American Healthcare and the importance of treating the root cause of the problem
2. My background as a naturopathic doctor and how I got started in integrative medicine
3. How I became interested in spirituality and the concepts of the power of the placebo and belief in healing
4. How thought changes physiology and how placebos influence treatment outcomes, even open-label placebos (Along these lines we discuss how yoga shifts immune markers and cause epigenetic changes in the cell and how results for sham knee surgery are comparative to actual surgery)
5. Spirituality and mind-body medicine in relationship to placebos (same meaning, different terms)
6. Balancing belief with extremism
7. How prognosis effects health outcomes and using mindset as medicine
8. Allowing for discourse in science – using an integrative medicine approach vs. a narrowed viewpoint
9. The concept of the nocebo effect
10. How a doctor can impact a patient’s outcomes, expectations, and ability to heal
11. The healing power of laughter and the many untapped resources to health and healing
12. Personalizing medicine and nutrition to keep the body well vs. symptom suppression and focusing on pathology
13. How being healthy can be used as a resource to live a life of purpose and its link to spirituality
14. The power of hope
15. Using purpose to fuel change vs. labeling someone compliant with medication
16. Why we can’t ignore religion as an important aspect of healing
17. How to combine the best of conventional and integrative medicine for synergy and to use natural approaches to prevent side effects of medications and nutrient-drug depletions
18. Bruce Lipton’s Biology of Belief: how our environment, nutrients, lifestyle, exposures, and thoughts shape our body’s responses by turning off and on certain genes
19. Essential oils and how they bring the mind-body-spirit together
20. The history of using plants in spiritual processes
21. Uniting the biochemical language with the mind-body effects of essential oils

Listen to the podcast here. (Approximately 40 minutes)

The Latest Research on Spirituality

• Spirituality Improves Quality of Life of Caregivers and Heart Failure Patients (Science Daily)
• Spirituality and Medicine: A Surprising Pairing (Medscape)
  • Research from Johns Hopkins shows that daily 30-minute meditation practice may improve symptoms of anxiety, as well as depression.
  • A study in the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine indicated a reduction in anxiety following 6 weekly 1-hour prayer sessions.
  • Meditation can also be helpful during a panic attack because it triggers the body’s relaxation response, which counteracts the fight-or-flight mode experienced during panic attacks.
• Religious Involvement, Spirituality, and Medicine: Implications for Clinical Practice
• Molecules of Silence: Effects of Meditation on Gene Expression and Epigenetics

Summary: Merging Mindset, Essential Oils, and Spirituality into Medicine

It was a privilege and an honor to be a guest on my friends’ podcasts.

I hope you tune in and provide your feedback.

Now, more than ever, we need to be mindful of what we are consuming at the level of the mind, because our thoughts literally impact our reality and physical health.

It’s time to bring the whole person, body, mind, and spirit into medicine. Essential oils are one tool to merge them all, but there are many others.

What will you do today to break away from the fear epidemic and into a calmer state of mind?

Will you start with one small thing to contribute to the ripple effect?

Please share your comments below.

Feel free to comment on this post and share it widely.

Click here to learn more about my approach to whole-person, mind-body care.

Free resources and more education are also available to you here.

Stay tuned for an upcoming opportunity that can support you in holistic mind-body-heart-soul healing. (Join my newsletter below to learn more.)

Many blessings.

*Important Note:

If you struggle with mental health, please reach out for professional mental health support.

You may also wish to consider implementing holistic resources and partnering with a naturopathic doctor.

For example, I offer mind-body support for general mood issues using a functional medicine and wellness-oriented approach.