I use essential oils all the time in my healing practice and for my own benefit. Here I discuss ways I have incorporated oils into my life. Spiritual Aromatherapy

How do you use essential oils & which ones are your favourites?

I have forgotten about that, well I do need to get some more essential oils and I probably will have to order them (no one in town sells them). I must admit that I don't really have favorites yet I usually smell them and it's almost like they pick me, I won't be looking for a particular scent but will latch on to a certain one at the time.

Great article Lauren! We love aromatherapy in my house! I make a blend of lavender, peppermint and tea-tree for that time of year when colds are running amuck! My kids LOVE to inhale it. I also put a few drops of lavender in a spray bottle with water and spray it over my kids at night. They call that their "magic" spray. It's so cute to see them lay there with their eyes closed, grin on their faces and they sniff the wonderful smells.

Lavender and Peppermint are on the top of my list of personal favorites. My clients love to start with lavender to relax them, then end with peppermint to open those sinuses after lieing face down for 40 minutes <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Mandarin is another favorite of mine! I also love cedar. It makes me feel very grounded when I've been working with clients who are quite airborn LOL.

I have a couple of funny stories about aromatherapy... one time I had a client come in and ask me to use mandarin on her - it was one I had used before. She loved it because after seeing me she went shopping and everywhere she went she would hear people saying "mmmm... what smells so good??"

I got myself the "Thieves" blend from Young Living oils. It's got Cinnamon, clove, rosemary, lemon and eucalyptus. It smells most strongly of cimmamon and clove. I was wearing it as I went through a local bookstore. I could hear people commenting on it LOL. Cinnamon and clove are very familiar to us... many of us have childhood memories locked in with those scents, and I could hear people commenting on how familiar it was to them, and what was that scent? LOL.

I used to make up a 'sleepy time spray' just the same way, now I use a drop of lavender on my son's pillowcase when he can't sleep. People need to know that one or two drops of lavender makes you relaxed- more is stimulating! I learned this lesson years ago the hard way...I thought if a couple of drops is good then ten must be better...didn't get a wink of sleep <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Cinnamon oil smells very strong neat, but divine when diluted. Makes me think of hot cross buns. I'm going to have to get a cedar oil, that's one I haven't tried yet.

Let us know which oil picks you Eva. I've got you down for sandalwood for some reason <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I have been wearing essential oils instead of perfume for a long time. Most perfume bothers me, but oils do not. My favorites for around the house are cinnamon and strawberry (dates back to high school), and lavender. I love cedar also. And lemon if it is just lemony and not sweet lemony.

Funnily enough I'm not good with synthetic perfumes either. Even some 'posh' ones turn peculiar on my skin- they smell of fly spray on me! Fortunately essential oils are cheaper than most perfumes & smell much better too.

I've just received a selection of 'Archangel' blends made from essential oils in New Mexico. They are on a carousel & I pick my oil of the day by spinning it. I had Archangel Michael today- very sweet, jasmine type fragrance. I'm not sure that Archangel Michael actually smells like that, but it is a very pleasing way to scent yourself & call in your angels at the same time.

OH I'm SO happy!! I'm new here (this is my first post) and I'm currently very "bogged down" as I'm reorganizing my TONS of Aromatherapy notes. I know of no one that knows of aromatherapy that I can talk to...but now I have you all here!! I'm excited!! I haven't yet bought any oils. I gathered notes 2 years ago, and am currently organizing everything. Once I have my mind "on track" I will start my collection and use them for household/health/spiritual/emotional...ALL that good stuff! I can't wait <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

And here we have it ladies and gentlemen - probably the only woman in the world who uses Chanel N�5 as mosquito repellent - !!

My mother is a fully qualified reflexologist and aromatherapist. She lives and practises in Italy, and the house always smells divine. She can only do two or three Aromatherapy massages per day, because of course, she absorbs the different oils through her own skin, and the cocktail effect can be quite interesting at times!!

Some essential oils are extremely expensive... jasmine and Rose for example, but they do beat any perfume absolutely hands down.
Lavender is the 'Amethyst' of the Essential Oils world, I would say..... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hello Waterlily & welcome to you <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Chat away to us here about your oils & I think Jennie on the Bodycare forum has an essential oils thread too.

LOL Alexandra posh perfume smells so vile on me, all those glamorous ads & bottles & they may as well be full of Raid <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> Thank goodness for the oils. I have someone who thinks I smell divine naturally, so I'm not complaining really <img src="/images/graemlins/queen.gif" alt="" />

You do need to be careful with the oil combinations. At the end of our focus day on oils we were all starting to feel a little overcome & that was just smelling them, not applying any.

Funnily enough I think of lavender as akin to amethyst. Rose is the equivalent of rose quartz too.

The sense of smell is extremely potent, as a trigger of emotion... the smell of good food cooking, or a gardenful of fragrant flowers.... smells can trigger off a memories too... it's extraordianry how most people , if asked to name the senses in order of significance, would put this at the bottom of the list.
The sense of smell can do more to enhance or change our moods than many would believe possible.
never underestimate the power of the nose - !!

I LOVE this! I had never looked at it that way, but now that you say it, it makes perfect scents! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I love Jasmine and Rose too... darn that they are so expensive. Someone gifted me with a tiny little vial of Pikaki (which smells just like Jasmine to my nose) and I wear it all the time.

Hi and welcome Waterlilly!

One time I was finishing up a massage and I suddenly got the smell of pancakes with warm maple syrup and bacon. It was so yummy smelling but strange as it was about 6:30 in the evening. I told my client what had just happened and she said "that's so funny, I was just thinking that's what I'd make for dinner tonight." LOL.

So apparently, there is also a clairvoyant sense connected with smell LOL. Clair-olfactory? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Before I got into the healing arts I used to love wearing perfume... my choice was Calvin Klein's Obsession. Of course I gave up the perfume when I changed vocations, and then when I would try to wear perfume on special occasions my sinuses would swell terribly!

Yes there is a psychic sense of smell- but I'm not sure what it is either. This weekend a beautiful perfume kept wafting elusively whilst I was teaching.

You are right about smell & memory- a smell can transport us back to a person or place we haven't seen in years.