Essential Oils & Breath: Evidence-Based Holistic Stress Relief for Modern Life

How We Breathe Could Also Affect How We Feel

Breathing doesn't just fill our lungs with oxygen and help us stay alive, it could also affect the way we think and feel.

Did you know that in the UK 47% of us can't cope with life due to stress and on top of that stress can cause 60% of illnesses and disease (not to mention skin flare ups - a stress in itself to manage!) . I think it's about time we start to listen to our bodies before they break!

Here are a few of my tips that have helped me deal a little better with stress:

• Breathing from my diaphragm and not shallow breathing with breathing techniques. Box breathe example: visualise a box draw each side, inhale for 4 counts, pause for 4, exhale for 4, pause for 4 and do this until you feel more you.
• Essential Oils - I have created sets to be with you throughout your day to promote calm. A smell reaches the amygdala part of the brain in 22 seconds calming our fight or flight response to "rest and digest". The greatest thing about oils you can blend your own super power or what you love as an aroma - no one size fits all (want to add an extra drop of lavender your fave...why not!). Also how you breathe it in you can use a diffuser, facial steam, face oil, bath, inhale straight from the bottle for a quick fix!

 “When we inhale essential oils, especially certain ones that can create a sense of calm and peace, these oils can quickly stimulate our bodies to influence our emotions through olfactory receptors in our nose that can stimulate the brain in 22 seconds,” Jaclyn Tolentino, senior doctor at Parsley Health. “Essential oils used via aromatherapy can also have an effect on the body’s endocrine system. For example, the cortisol hormone is often heightened during anxiety, and a series of slow breaths with the aroma of an essential oil can calm down the cortisol response (the stress hormone) and create a grounding and soothing effect.”

Pillow talk: A few drops on your pillow.
Quick fix: A few deep inhalations from the bottle or on our keyring diffuser.
Roller Ball: 10 drops in our roller ball with sweet almond oil.
Shower: Add 2-3 drops of each to the corner of the shower and enjoy the benefits of steam inhalation.
Bath: Add 6 drops to a tsp of base oil (sweet almond) to the bath.
Hand or foot bath: Add 6 drops to a tsp of base oil (sweet almond) to a bowl of water.
Steam Treatment: Add 2 drops of each essential oil to a bowl of steaming hot water. Place your face close to the bowl and cover the back of your head and bowl with a towel to trap the aromatic vapours. 

Aroma diffuser directions with blend your own pure oil sets:

LIVE CALM

2. Busy Day boost. Add 2/3 drops of each Eucalyptus, Lemon and Peppermint to maximum 100ml cool water. Switch on automatically shuts off 0.5/1/3hrs.

REST CALM

4. Evening calm. Add 2/3 drops of each Lavender, Geranium and Frankincense to maximum 100ml cool water. Switch on automatically shuts off 0.5/1/3hrs.

Find out more

• Yoga is incredible I teach @beckys_body_balance which is a mix of yoga, tai chi and pilates to music. I love the connection and space we hold together in class and boosting flexibility, strength the endorphins too whilst understanding breathing to get through especially the pilates tracks with core - exhale out through the mouth on the tough bits.

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  Face Yoga - not only great to help skin glow and wrinkles, face yoga is great mindful practice with blend your own face oil and breathing in the scent. Time out to blend to your skin type and time to relieve stress in the face muscles, Carelle @fireflyformula is amazing at showing techniques using face oil sets.  Have you ever heard some one say don’t put anything on your skin you wouldn’t eat? Did you know the skin is our largest organ and will absorb anything you pop on into your bloodstream, lets stick with natural products and if you blend your own you know whats in them. 
  Want to know more find out here 

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  Journaling with my diffuser - I pop on my diffuser for 30 minutes and take in a deep inhale. I anchor my thoughts of the highlights of the week or remove any negative ones by popping down on paper! Self care Sunday is the best time to reflect for me. A few journal prompts for you:
  • ONE :: This week I want to feel…
  • TWO :: My intention for this week is…
  • THREE :: My focus for this week is…
  • FOUR :: Where do I need to create space this week?
  • FIVE :: This week I will care for myself by…
• Sleep and eating patterns - so your body always know when you are getting ready for bed and being fuelled. We give our kids a night time routine why don't we? I love to remove myself from blue screen lights (TV/Phone) at least an hour before bed, breathe in a Rest Calm oil set while massaging my skin (used with a sweet almond oil base oil) 6 drops of pure essential oil to 1 tablespoon and pop myself (slippy!) into an epsom salt bath for 20 mins great to help you sleep with magnesium to add too. Also I eat at regular times so my body has a routine - no caffeine past midday. Bath recipe here

Breathing affecting how we think and feel - The Science Part 

According to a new study, researchers have discovered that the rhythm of our breathing creates electrical activity in the human brain, and the effect is slightly different depending on if we use our mouth or nose to breathe, and if we're inhaling or exhaling. 

This activity was seen in three areas of the brain: the piriform (olfactory) cortex, which processes smells; the hippocampus, which controls memory; and the amygdala, which is tied to emotional processing.

"One of the major findings in this study is that there is a dramatic difference in brain activity in the amygdala and hippocampus during inhalation compared with exhalation," says neurologist Christina Zelano.

"When you breathe in, we discovered you are stimulating neurons in the olfactory cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus, all across the limbic system."