The Emotional Benefits of Essential Oils: Essential oils have the ability to touch our emotions with their powerful aromas.
Our most primal sense is our sense of smell and it has surprising influence over our thoughts, emotions, moods, memories, and behaviours. Scents are experienced long before words.
Because olfaction is different from our other senses and is processed through different pathways in our brain, the experience of an aroma is impossible to describe with words.
Unlike images and sounds which have a direct route to our thalamus and straight from there to our eyes and ears, smell winds its way through other regions of our brains, including the areas where our memories and emotions reside. This process takes place on an unconscious level. For this reason, the aromas of essential oils can have powerful influences on the creation of health and well-being.
We generally live in states of dis-ease and discomfort, surrounded by negativity in the environment, society and others around us. This is why stress level is so high and so many of us suffer from depression, chronic pain and a multitude of other illnesses. We are so programmed to this negative way of life that it is incorporated in our everyday language.
We ‘burn’ with anger, ‘tremble’ with fear, feel ‘choked up’ with sadness; our ‘stomachs turn’ with revulsion. Everyone tends to experience unpleasant emotions as unpleasant bodily symptoms and thus to feel physically distressed when emotionally distressed.Dr Barsky
To achieve balance in our lives it is important to have control over our thought patterns, emotions and feelings. As mentioned earlier, essential oils have the power to enhance our state of well-being on an unconscious level. They will create a healthy mind that in turn will give you a healthy body. There is no doubt about the mind body connection; true health can only be achieved when the body and mind are fully aligned.
Essential oils carry biologically active volatile compounds in a highly concentrated form. This means that a very small amount is required to bring about immense therapeutic benefits.
This has to be pure, therapeutic grade essential oils from plants, NOT perfumes or synthetic fragrances, containing allergenic compounds; toxic, potentially damaging to health.
Below are a list of essential oils that can enhance your health and well-being:
| Problem | Essential Oils |
| Pain | Lavender, chamomile german, ginger, juniper, lemongrass, eucalyptus, rosemary and marjoram |
| Insomnia | Lavender, chamomile roman, frankincense, benzoin, cedarwood atlas,vetiver |
| Stress | Lavender, lemon, bergamot, peppermint, vetiver, and grapefruit |
| Depression | Peppermint, chamomile roman, lavender, and geranium |
| Anxiety | Lavender, bergamot, rose, lemon, chamomile roman, orange, sandalwood, rose- geranium |
| Memory and focus | Rosemary, peppermint and sage |
| Stomach sickness – vomiting | Mint, ginger, lemon, orange, ginger, fennel, chamomile, clary sage, and lavender |
| General tiredness | Black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, angelica, , tea tree, rosemary, sage, and bergamot |
