Tips to Reduce Your Stress Levels

With the past year behind us the way that it unfolded, we have all experienced stress multiple times and in multiple forms. How can we use essential oils to reduce our stress levels? Important in answering that question is to start at the source, where does our stress come from? Stress impacts our overall health and can affect us in multiple ways. Our bodies will manifest stress even before we are consciously aware that we are stressed.

“Stress is not what happens to us in life, stress is how we perceive what happens to us in life.” - Science of Essential Oils on Instagram

Stress is also the body’s reaction to pressure and the feeling of being threatened. We all experience stress at some point in our lives, some more than others. We also cope differently with stress, but that it affects our body directly is true for all of us. Stress can be motivating, it can be blinding and it can be demanding. There are different ways we can try to fight stress, different rituals and simple actions. Essential oils can enhance the effects of those ways and proceedings.

Essential oils can help reduce our stress levels in multiple ways, a few examples are: support calm, memory, sleep and enhance energy levels. Imagine taking a regular bath, and the difference to when you add essential oils, or meditating without essential oils in comparison to meditating while diffusing or using essential oils that promote tranquillity.

I have highlighted a few different ways to reduce stress levels and how to incorporate essential oils:

• take a few deep breaths while inhaling lavender essential oil
• practice yoga while diffusing frankincense essential oil
• add Epsom bath salts with some geranium and lavender essential oils to a bath. Because essential oils don’t mix with water, the best way to incorporate essential oils in your daily, weekly or monthly bath is to mix them in with some bath salts!
• meditate while diffusing a blend of lavender, cedarwood and roman chamomile essential oils
• go for a walk and roll some diluted ylang ylang, patchouli and or vetiver essential oils behind your ears
• diffuse a blend of bergamot, cedarwood and marjoram to promote a good night’s sleep

Yoga and essential oils go hand in hand

When I feel stressed or tensed, I tend to turn towards my yoga mat, the place where I can reconnect to my individual consciousness. The word ‘yoga’ indirectly means ‘to join’ or ‘to unite’, indicating to unite the mind and body. Yoga is a powerful and relaxing exercise that is rooted in spiritualism, many of its poses have meaning beyond the strengthening and lengthening of muscles. I started using the Downdog app in May, when it temporarily got offered for free due to the pandemic. When the free offer ended I decided to go for the paid subscription as the app offers a variety of personalised yoga practices that actually got me moving!

As soon as I feel the tension creeping up my neck and shoulder, the squinting begins and I feel that my heart starts to run faster, I grab my yoga mat and open the Downdog app. I choose the parts of my body I would like to focus on, choose the length of the practice and either choose my own music or go with the music that is incorporated in the app.

What follows is a short body reading to decide what essential oils I will be diffusing during my practice, some of my favourite oils to diffuse while practicing yoga are frankincense, lavender, cedarwood and bergamot. These oils help me to get grounded and to focus, to connect to my inner self and to be able to find a deeper connection. Essential oils elevate your yoga practice and help the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.