Essential Oils 101

For as long as I can remember, I was always fascinated by the power of plants and herbs. The smell of lavender can make me smile during a rough day, drinking lemon tea can boost my energy, and using peppermint on my temples can soothe my headache. I usually try to find natural remedies for common ailments in my life, so when I discovered essential oils, I was hooked!

My first experience with an essential oil was with an oil called tea tree. I was looking for a way to heal razor burn, but nothing seemed to work. I think I tried every single product on the market before a friend told me about tea tree oil. It seemed so strange to me that one single oil, diluted in some coconut oil, could potentially help clear up something so stubborn.

I was willing to try anything and it was a bonus that this remedy was so natural. Before bed, I mixed 1-2 drops of tea tree oil with some coconut oil and applied it to the troubled area. When I woke up, the stubborn razor burn was almost gone and the swelling had totally disappeared. What seemed like a miracle was simply mother nature doing her work. There are powerful plants all around you and using essential oils is the most accessible way to bring their gifts into your life.

1. What are essential oils?

Essential oils are a gift from the earth. They’re the essence of a plant, distilled and prepared for you to bring the power of nature into your home. Essential oils give a plant its scent, protect it from hazardous environmental conditions, and assist it with pollination.

Inside many plants, hidden in roots, seeds, flowers, bark, are concentrated, highly potent chemical compounds. These natural compounds are essential oils - so essential oils are naturally occurring, volatile, aromatic compounds.

2. Why should I use essential oils?

Using essential oils as part of your daily routine will bring mother nature’s energy directly into your everyday life. They’ll help you find perfect balance in a holistic way by nourishing your mind, body, and emotions. Each plant will deliver their qualities and energetic blueprint into the tissues of your body.

Think of each oil as a personality with different characteristics and qualities. As you spend time with them each day, you will begin to develop a relationship and understand them more and more.

3. How can I use essential oils

The first way to use an essential oil is topically. Topical use is the direct application of an essential oil to the skin. It's a way to experience the power of essential oils while offering beautiful benefits for the skin and entire body. Be mindful that you may need to dilute the oil with a carrier oil like coconut or sesame. You can also add it to your favorite lotion.

The second way to use an essential oil is aromatically. Our sense of smell is directly connected to the limbic system in our brain, the part of the brain involved in our behavioral and emotional responses. When we inhale an essential oil, its beneficial qualities enter into our being immediately.

The third way to use an essential oil is internally. Please be very mindful that this should only be practiced when you know you can ingest the oil. Most oils on the market are adulterated in some way and have harmful chemicals in them, making them unsafe to use internally. If you know how your oils are sourced and you know they’re safe to consume, then keep in mind that one drop of peppermint essential oil is equal to 28 cups of peppermint tea. Essential oils are very concentrated and more potent than the whole plant material. High quality oils may be taken internally, and in small amounts.

4. A guide to lavender

Lavender supports you when you experience any inability to speak your truth because of past experiences in your life. She addresses any fear around expressing something, but withholding the deeper meaning of it. She helps you face your emotional honesty in all situations and communicate from that found truth.
Practices, routines, and rituals for working with lavender:

add 5-8 drops to a bath with epsom salts
mix with oils for your Ayurvedic Abhyanga Practices or into your lotions

5. A guide to peppermint

Peppermint reminds you that this life can be full of happiness and that you don’t need to be controlled by fear. Peppermint helps you to stay above emotions that tend to bring you down and wear you out. Peppermint has a way of giving you permission to dance through our day and rise beyond negativity and lower emotions. She is that friend that holds your hand when you’re in the shallow water and need that boost to make it into the ocean.
Practices, routines, and rituals for working with peppermint:

diffuse through your home when you need an afternoon pick-me-up or during/after cleaning to promote ultimate freshness
dilute 1-2 drops with a carrier oil and rub on chest, shoulders, back of neck

6. A guide to lemon

Lemon oil is made from the rinds of lemons and is one of our most versatile oils with many ways to use. She teaches us to be mentally present, focusing on one thing at a time. Lemon oil calms fears and insecurities and restores confidence. Emotionally, lemon encourages a lightness and playfulness in the heart and brings about uplifting moods.
Practices, routines, and rituals for working with lemon

use to clean phone + computer charger wires
drop 1-2 drops into palms, rub together and inhale anytime you feel exerted from work or studying

7. A guide to tea tree

Tea Tree is known for cleansing on this physical plane, but it also is extremely powerful for cleansing the energy around you. It’s an oil of energetic boundaries and clears energetic baggage. It releases codependent relationships from your life and moves all toxic relationships away from you. Tea Tree breaks the ties you have to the negative relationships you have formed, creating the space to create healthy connections that support your personal space, energy, and boundaries.
Practices, routines, and rituals for working with tea tree

add several drops into a spray bottle and mist around your home to clear negativity and promote safety

add a few drops to a glass spray bottle filled with witch hazel and use after shaving to soothe razor burn and prevent bumps + ingrown hair

8. A guide to frankincense

This powerful oil reveals false truths and invites you to release lower vibrations and energy that’s no longer serving you. It supports you in creating a healthy relationship with the masculine roles throughout your life and in finding peace in those relationships. Frankincense works like a shield to protect you from negative forces and influences that come in and out of your life.
Practices, routines, and rituals for working with frankincense

mix with facial toners, oils, and lotions to prevent and help current skin imperfections - frankincense mixes well with lavender for this!
drop 1-2 drops on the crown of your head to raise the quality of your meditation. Oils applied to the crown of the head move directly into the brain, nourishing all tissues, thoughts, and ideas

Essential oils help bring nature into your home and help you find a deeper connection with the plants that exist all around you. Once I began working with essential oils, my appreciation for flowers, herbs, and trees grew immensely. I realized how disconnected I’d become from the world around me and the gifts of the earth that were at my fingertips.

One of my teachers always says that it’s better to know a million things about one plant than to know one thing about a million plants. If you feel a calling towards one plant or one essential oil, use it in all the ways you can find to use it. Perhaps even find the actual plant and see how it feels to sit with it and to be in the environment it grows in.

In a world where it’s all too common to feel disconnected to nature, essential oils will provide you with instant access to nature and all of the benefits and gifts that come with the plant. You also cannot separate one benefit from the plant. For example, if you’re using peppermint on your sore shoulders, you can’t take away the fact that you’ll also feel a bit happier and more uplifted. Using one oil for one issue will also bring many of its other benefits into your life.

Lisa BermudezMay 3, 2024