We can't stop the time change, or the weather, but what if you could find some help and support with other areas of spring's arrival?
We are all ready for spring with it's promise of warmer temps, beautiful flowers popping up, the sound of birds...but it can also have a down side...those acute respiratory issues... Try out these simple sprays and rollers and help make this season's arrival easier on your nose...
Changing Seasons Oral Spray
This little bottle will be your springtime bff! Applying oils topically and diffusing are great health habits, but there is even more benefit to using oils as dietary supplements. Try this out to give your respiratory system a little TLC this season!
- 10mL glass spray bottle
- 1 drop each Lavender Vitality, Copaiba Vitality, Peppermint Vitality
- 2 drops Orange Vitality, Lemon Vitality
- Splash Thieves Mouthwash, optional
- Filtered water.
- Add all ingredients into a spray bottle and shake well. Spritz into your mouth daily or as desired!
Raindrop Oral Spray Sometimes our defenses need a little extra boost, and this combination of oils is our go-to when we need something a little ‘more.' The Raindrop Massage Technique is a powerful health tool, so we're using some of those oils on, around, and in our bodies when we need it!
- 10mL glass spray bottle
- 1 drop each Oregano Vitality, Thyme Vitality, Peppermint Vitality, Basil Vitality
- 2 drops Lemon Vitality, Orange Vitality
- Splash Olive Oil
- Filtered Water
- Add all ingredients into a spray bottle and shake well. Spritz into your mouth daily or as desired. Note: this one may tingle a bit, similar to OTC throat sprays.
DIY Nasal Rinse
Grab your Neti-pot and whip up your own oil-infused sinus rinse!
- 10 drops Lavender essential oil
- 15 drops Copaiba essential oil
- 8 Tbsp of ultra fine salt (unprocessed, no iodine) Mix well and store in a sealed glass jar. To use, dissolve 1 tsp of salt mixture into 1&1/2 cups of distilled water (or water from a Berkey filter or boil and cool some water), then add to your Neti pot and use as needed.
DIY Season's Change Capsules
Make using your Vitality oils easy with this simple hack!
- 2oz glass dropper bottle
- 30 drops each Lavender, Lemon, Peppermint, Copaiba Vitality
- Olive oil to desired dilution (about 2 Tbsp)
- When you're ready to make a capsule, fill an empty vegetable capsule with a dropperful of the blend and take as desired.
Sinus Support Steam Pot
When you're needing some relief from the pressure that spring can cause your sinuses, try this trick!
- Bowl of very hot, steaming water
- 2-3 drops Peppermint Essential Oil
- 2-4 drops Dorado Azul Essential Oil
- Add essential oils to the water (start with the lower end and add more as desired). Place a towel over your head and sit with your head above the steam bath to open the airways.
Happy Noses Roller
This is a great roller to use anytime you need some sinus relief, but it is especially great after doing the sinus steam pot!
- 10mL roller bottle
- 20 drops each Dorado Azul, Idaho Blue Spruce
- 10 drops DiGize, R.C.
- 5 drops Peppermint
- Roll over the sinus cavities as desired. Take care when using near the eyes and dilute more if desired. If you get it too close to your eyes, simply apply coconut oil over the area.
Be well,
Well...they may not actually do the nitty gritty spring cleaning of your house, but they will help your home smell like you just did all the cleaning! Spring cleaning diffuser blends below!
Spring is coming so our food choices are going to start looking a little different, too. How about some new recipes to try with those vitality oils? (Remember, vitality and regular label oils are the same on the inside...they are just labeled for different uses to stay F D A compliant.)
Lavender Collagen Latte
You know I'm not a coffee girl, but I've heard this is pretty yummy...and it can help with those springtime blooms as well since Lavender Vitality is a great choice when the pollen begins to fly.
- 12 ounces brewed, strong organic coffee
- 1/4 cup milk of choice
- 1T organic maple syrup (add more to taste)
- 1 scoop Inner Beauty Collagen
- 1 drop Lavender Vitality essential oil
- Optional: electric milk frother Grab your favorite coffee mug and line the bottom with maple syrup, about 1T. Pour the brewed coffee on top and stir gently to mix. Add the milk and essential oil to the frother, and wait while it warms. When ready, pour the milk into your coffee, top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a small drizzle of maple syrup or a small sprinkle of raw sugar if desired!
Lemon Herb-Infused Olive Oil
Use these creations to spice up your cooking, dip your warm bread in, or as a finishing touch to salad dressing, roasted meats, or fish!
- 10 ounces olive oil
- 2 drops Rosemary Vitality essential oil
- 4 drops Lemon Vitality essential oil
- 2 drops Basil Vitality essential oil
- Handful of freshly sliced lemons
- Handful each of rosemary and basil Pour the olive oil into a big pot or saucepan. Keep on low heat until it starts to bubble. Mix in the herbs and let it cook until the oil is fragrant. Be sure not to brown the herbs. Turn off the heat and let the oil cool. Add the drops of Vitality oil into the mixture. (Remember, less is more. Vitality oils can be potent, so start with fewer drops and add more for a bolder flavor.) Funnel the mixture into the bottles.
Citrus Vinegar
- 12 ounces white wine vinegar
- 1 small grapefruit
- 1 small lime
- 1 small orange
- Orange Vitality essential oil
- Lime Vitality essential oil
- Grapefruit Vitality essential oil
- Slice your favorite fruit and put it in a 16-ounce bottle or jar. Pour vinegar into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Pour hot vinegar into your bottle or jar over the fruit. Let it stand at room temperature for 8 hours. Add Vitality essential oil. Shake well before using, as oil and vinegar don't mix.
Do you look forward to the free products each month as much as I do??
As promised, here are your spring cleaning diffuser blends...put away those candles, no more smoke to wash off the walls. Pull out those diffusers and welcome all the spring goodness into your home.
Want to learn more with us each week? Join our Facebook community at Intentional Wellness for weekly live calls, mindset work and encouragement! Hope to see you there!
Hey, hey, my friend!
Question for you...When you are at the end of your life, you will come face to face with your regrets. All the things you wish you had done differently. What will yours be?
According to Google, the top five regrets people have are wishing they had lived a life that was true to themselves, not one that others expected them to live; they hadn’t worked so hard at their job; that they had expressed their feelings; they had stayed in touch with their friends; and that they had let themselves be happier.
What if I shared with you one thing Dr. Edie from Life Mentoring School says will change your life? Would you be interested? Would you be up for the challenge, so you don’t face the same regrets?
Any guesses what that one skill is that will change your life?
It’s Love. Did you think unconditional love was a skill??
Every beautiful thing you have created in your life has been from love. Friendships. Your home. Your environment. Your family. And, loving others even creates more love in you.
Love just doesn’t happen, but you can create it just by making the decision to love and to get better at it.
C.S. Lewis said, “Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more.”
What would you do if you felt unconditionally loving? Practice those things. All the time. No matter what. It takes courage to love unconditionally.
How would love show up? What would it say? What would it do? How would it act? How would it think? Remember…you get what you think about…so what if all you focused on was love?
Do you know anyone who is a master of unconditional love? That loves no matter what? How do you feel when you are around them? What about after you have been with them? That feeling of love lingers, doesn’t it?
Is loving unconditionally hard? Absolutely. You will still struggle because we all see things differently. You think you are right and they are wrong. They aren’t doing their part, or they aren’t doing it right…It’s all in your perspective
What about those people who are a bit harder to love? They are your teacher…your assignment…your curriculum. God gives you those difficult or hard people because He knew committing to loving this person would bring up sooo many unlovable things in you that need to be worked on…I’m sure you can think of a few people in your life that are here to teach you lessons, to teach you how to be a better person, where you need to grow, where you need to let go.
Learn to receive love. Open your heart and be receptive. Stop listening to the negative stories your brain wants to tell you.
Love is what makes things beautiful, and magical. Choose love. It’s a skill to practice. Are you up for it?
If you are up for a little more emotional work, mark your calendar and join us for our next “Second Sunday” event, March 12 at 2pm. We will be talking about and exploring emotions and learning about some great tools to help you on your journey. Again this month, space is limited, so simply hit “reply” and let me know you would like a spot. If you are like me and feel better with an adventure buddy by your side, feel free to invite a friend who could also use this information.
Hey, hey, my friend!! Ready to continue our chemistry journey? We’ve talked how your oils are affected (or not affected) by heat, cold, light, air, adulteration and shelf life…now let’s talk about water…
What’s your guess? Does water affect your oils?
Are you one who likes to use your oils in your bath or shower?? Dr. Stewart tells us there is really no problem with the water changing the chemistry of the oil. He says the challenge is to add the oils to your bath so that those concentrated little drops don’t come into contact with sensitive body parts and cause unpleasant burning. He suggests combining the oil with a gel or with Epsom salts and pouring the mixture under the running faucet so the oil is dispersed throughout your bathwater, and not floating around in concentrated areas. He also said mixing aloe vera or a liquid bath soap in the tub before adding your oil also helps by emulsifying and dispersing the oils harmlessly throughout the water.
Be sure to choose your oils carefully though…Hot oils like peppermint, oregano or cinnamon could result in a "memorable" experience…be sure to use common sense… 😉
By using your oils in a hot bath or even a whirlpool, it allows your body to absorb them through your skin as well as through inhalation. Soaking in a hot tub with a few drops of eucalyptus or another oil high in 1, 8 cineole, is a good way to get relief from those symptoms of being under the weather and for breathing support. Be sure to look up that 1, 8 cineole and see what it’s secret is!!
You can also check out your Essential Oils Desk Reference for more info on how to use your oils in your bath.
So, what about diffusers? Did you snag a few more this week during that incredible sale?? I did…you can never have too many diffusers…Anyway…
Some inexpensive diffusers operate by floating the oils on a surface of water in a tray with a fan that blows through to disperse the oils into the air. Some chemical alterations may take place, but that isn’t the problem. The problem with these fan type evaporation diffusers is that the lightest compounds in the oil blow off before the heavier ones, so you never get the whole oil into the air at the same time. Some oils, like cassia and cinnamon, are denser than water, and don’t even float, so they wouldn’t work in a diffuser like this at all.
The best diffusers use atomization. Oils are forced through a pinhole by a high pressure stream of air and it then explodes into billions of droplets so tiny that they consist of only a few molecules each. The oil vapor that results contains all of the ingredients of the oil in the same balance as it was in the liquid form, so you get all of the effectiveness and benefits.
Spraying the oil at a high velocity through the nozzle also energizes the oil, raising the level of oxygen carried by the molecules and increases its frequency, so the healing potential of the oil is increased to a higher level.
Using oils on your skin alters the chemistry of the oils based on your chemistry. If you have ever smelled a perfume from a bottle and then sprayed it on, you know that firsthand. You don’t know what it is going to smell like until you apply it. The resulting smell is a chemical combination of the perfume and its reaction to the substances in and on your skin. A perfume that smells great on one person may smell yucky on another, depending on their unique chemistry.
The sweat glands of your body brings waste products to the surface which are eventually washed away when you bathe or shower. They are usually proteins or decompositional by products of proteins. Essential oil compounds can react with these substances, changing the smell, and even alter some of the constituents that pass through your skin and into your body. Since no two people have identical bodies or chemistry, oils may not have the same effects on different people.
The therapeutic effects of an oil are a combination of the chemistry of the oil and the chemistry of the person receiving the oil. This is one reason different oils work, or don’t work, for different people and the intelligent application of oils requires some experimentation on your part.
Experimenting on your own with pharmaceutical drugs would be dangerous, but playing with the oils is safe enough for anyone who simply uses a little common sense and doesn’t go to extremes.
Any local friends interested in a women’s wellness event?? Local women, businesses, health related, coming together to share what they offer? Maybe a class or two? Sample sessions? I’m considering pulling one together for Nov/Dec if there is enough interest…know anyone who might like to share what they do/offer?
Be well,
by: Vicki Lyn Merrill© CRTS, LSH
Holistic Practitioner
Certified Vitality Lifestyle Coach
207 480 0356
All Rights Reserved
Without Prejudice