Methods

---

Methods of Using Essential Oils

(The information below comes from a Butterfly Expressions booklet written by LaRee Westover. Click here to order this book.)

One of the nicest things about essential oils is the grand variety of things that you can use them for and the stunningly wide range of ways in which to use them. I have tried to break these many methods down into categories and give you simple instructions for each. Any method that you can imagine is probably also a good one, so feel free to be creative and experimental.

Direct/Topical Application   Olfactory Administration   Water Magic   Miscellaneous Methods

Direct/Topical Application

Because of the molecular structure of essential oils (the molecules are extremely small and the chemical structure is quite simple), they absorb readily into the body through the skin. This effect can actually be increased by the use of a good carrier oil and it allows you to use less of the more expensive essential oil with the same therapeutic effect.

Acupressure points have been used for centuries as a means of accessing and correcting imbalances in the energy systems of the body. Essential oils applied on these points can be very effective –and certainly less invasive and scary than needles and less cumbersome than holding the points or even placing magnets, etc. on them.

There are many good books showing these points and how and when to use them. Two of my favorites are Reference Guide for Essential Oils by Connie and Alan Higley and Releasing Emotional Patterns with Essential Oils by Carolyn L. Mein. The book by the Higleys is almost a Bible of Essential Oil Therapy and gives excellent reference materials on blends that are similar to the ones that I have available, as well as information on most single oils. It also contains one of the most complete (alphabetical by problem) Remedy Guides I have found anywhere.

A few guidelines and suggestions for Topical Application:

• Directly: Apply the oils directly on the area of concern using one to six drops of oil. More oil is not necessarily better since a large amount of oil can trigger a detoxification of the surrounding tissue and blood. Such a quick detoxification can be somewhat uncomfortable. To achieve the desired results, one to three drops of oil is usually adequate.

• Feet: Placing oils on the feet is a very fast way to get them absorbed into the body because the feet have abnormally large pores. Other areas of quick absorption are behind the ears and on the wrists. (The wrists are nice because they are constantly waving in front of the nose.) 3 - 6 drops per foot/ear/wrist are adequate.

• Children: When applying oils to infants and small children, always dilute with a good Carrier Oil. 1 - 3 drops in ½ teaspoon (or even more) of Carrier Oil will do the job nicely without risk of skin irritation or overdose.

• Wash: You can use an essential oil–diluted in distilled water–to wash infected areas such as wounds, grazes, cuts and for other body and facial treatments.

• Lotions: Essential Oils can be added to prepackaged lotions and creams or to ones of your own making. Be sure that the lotion you use is perfume free. Buy the simplest, purest product you can find. It is usually best to dump the lotion into a bowl so that you can stir the oil into it thoroughly and uniformly. Wearing the oils as a perfume or cologne perhaps falls into the olfactory category, but I have included it here because you are putting it on your body.

• Layering: individual oils and blends is preferable to mixing your own blends and certainly preferable to mixing blends. Layering is the process of applying one oil, rubbing it in, and then applying another oil. There is no need to wait more than a couple of seconds between each oil, as absorption occurs quite rapidly. A good example of this is in the use of the blends Warm Down (for muscle relaxation and inflammation) and Pain Aid (for pain relief and healing). Layering them makes them far more effective for muscle injuries than either one used alone. Another good example is Women Wise and Deeper for menstrual pain.

• Blending: Mixing your own blends is a tricky and complicated business. There are many books on the market that have blend “recipes” in them. I have found very few of them to be any good. Here are a few simple rules to live by:

1. Oils have to go into a blend in a particular order. If the book does not mention this, the author probably doesn’t understand it and the blends are probably poorly put together.

2. Some books (by otherwise seemingly reputable people) will tell you to put the largest quantity oils in first. This is bogus! The order of an oil depends on things called ‘notes’ (pungency of the odor and longevity of the oils therapeutic qualities, basically) and properties (whether the oil is a Base, Equalizer, Enhancer, etc. This refers to how the oil interacts with other oils and is very important). If you read, study and think you may be able to turn out very fine blends with a sufficient amount of practice. Professionals go to several years of schooling and practice, practice, practice (an expensive thing to do, I can tell you first hand!) before they get it right. You will have to use your own judgment on this. I, personally, love playing around with blending. It’s more fun than cooking creatively!!!

3. As a general rule Do Not Mix Oil Blends. Blending is fine art. A blend has its own unique frequency; mixing it with another will produce unstable and uncertain results.

• Auricular Therapy This is a method of applying the oils to the rims of the ears and, occasionally, the ear lobes.

• Compresses Fill a bowl with two quarts of hot water. Add the desired essential oil. Stir the water vigorously and wait a few moments for the oil to rise to the top (You might not be able to see them). Lay a towel across the top of the water. After the towel is completely saturated, wring out the water. This will leave much of the oils in the moist hot towel. Place the towel over the area needing the compress. Cover with a dry towel and a heating pad. Leave on location for one to two hours.

• Shampoo and Scalp Treatment Oils such as Sage can treat or prevent hair loss. Roman Chamomile prevents (or covers to a certain extent) gray hair in lighter hair colors; rosemary does the same for brunettes. There are many other oils for hair and scalp treatment. Just mix the oil into the Shampoo or Conditioner–preferably a fairly natural one. I do this one application at a time by putting the Conditioner into my hand and then adding a few drops of oil.

• Massage The human body holds every thought, feeling, trauma, pain, distress, tension and emotional crisis within its muscular structure. Massage can release much of this and a massage with a well chosen essential oil can be of particularly great benefit. Massage can also help improve circulation and essential oils can also aid in this process. The following chart show which parts of the body are most likely to hold what kinds of stress. The information contained therein is based loosely on information found in The Fragrant Mind by Valerie Ann Worwood. You may find it useful and informative.

Body Parts and Stress
Body Area	Emotions
Back of the Neck	unable to express feelings
Throat	unable to express emotions
Upper Chest	sadness and/or regret
Outer Shoulder	afraid of letting go
Back of Shoulder	fear and/or sadness
Upper Arm - biceps	fear
Forearm	anxiety and/or insecurity
Hip - outer thigh	to much responsibility
Upper Thigh (front of the body)	overburdened
Outer Thigh	sadness
Lower Chest - center (Solor Plexus Chakra)	fear of love - abuse issues
Head/Neck/Solor Plexus/Tailbone	stress and tension
Inner Ankles	depression
Calf Muscles	overwhelmed

Olfactory Administration

Odor molecules travel to the top of the nasal cavity and fit like little puzzle pieces into specific receptor cells on the approximately ten million olfactory nerve cells. These millions of nerve cells serve to transfer electric impulses to the olfactory bulb which, in turn, sends those impulses along to the amygdala and then to the limbic system of the brain. (The amygdala is directly responsible for storing and releasing emotional trauma and responds only to odor.)

Because the limbic system is directly connected to those parts of the brain that control the autonomic nervous system; i.e., heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress levels, and hormone balance, essential oils can have some very profound physiological and psychological effects (Higley).

The sense of smell is very sensitive: We can detect up to one part of fragrant material in 10,000 billion parts or more. A nose can differentiate several hundred different odors at the same time. Fragrances can bring about the deepest emotions and sensations. Much like happiness or love or laughter, the smell of something familiar can take you by surprise and then fade away. An odor can bring you either memories of happy times or take you back to scenes of severe distress.

The sense of smell is closely related to memory; olfactory memories are very accurate and almost indelible. Since the olfactory system is, literally, the doorway to the subconscious, it would be logical to use aroma in psychotherapy. This is, in fact, being done, but the research is new and in early stages and made difficult by the fact that every person’s associations are different. There are some oils, however, that seem to have certain effects on a great number of people. You will, without doubt, quickly develop your own list of favorites.

A few facts, guidelines and methods for Olfactory Administration:

• Diffuser: There are a wide range of diffusers on the market. They are divided into two basic groups: heated and non-heated. Heated ones are usually bowl types–such as electrical potpourri pots - or plug-ins and light rings. These types rely on heat to activate the molecules of the essential oils and are wonderful–as long as too much heat is not used. Some humidifiers are designed with a little bowl in front of the steam outlet. As the steam passes over the oil, the molecules are diffused. Heat tends to put more of the oil into the air quickly, but they also dissipate more quickly. For a simple method, place a few drops of oil into a bowl and pour hot water over it. Oil molecules in the air remain and are effective for healing purposes long after the aroma has vanished. There are non-heated diffusers on the market that have specially designed filters to disseminate the molecules. These work well, but are extremely expensive. My favorite diffusers are simple fountains, bought cheaply at Wal-Mart, or check out Palantic.com for a wide variety of mister diffusers.

The literature will tell you that you need fountains with specially designed motors so that the essential oil will not ruin it. Essential oils are not really oily–unless you have adulterated it with a carrier oil to cut costs. Real, pure essential oils do not clog motors, although the balsams and resins require that you clean your fountain or diffuser well after each use. I have had some of my diffusers for years and they are still going strong, day in and day out! Learn to read labels carefully as many, if not most, essential oils (not ours!!) have a little almond oil, etc. added to them.

• Sniffing: This is the simplest method imaginable. Simply open the bottle and take a whiff. Or you can put a little on a cotton ball and place it in a vent or in front of a fan. I have put the cotton ball into a zip-lock bag and carried it with me. Placing in a tissue or handkerchief also works well. I love to place a drop or two of oil on my pillow at night.

• Inhalation: Place a few drops of an essential oil in a bowl. Add hot water. Place a light cotton dishtowel, etc. over your head and hang your head over the bowl. Inhale deeply. This is a great method for oils such as Eucalyptus and blends like Breathe Free and Respiratory.

• Room Sprays: Put warm water into a plant mister, add the essential oil and shake vigorously. Avoid spraying over fine furniture and fabrics, as well as anything that could be damaged by water. This is very effective at removing odors and for disinfecting purposes.

Water Magic

There is a common misconception that essential oils and water do not mix. This is not true. As was explained in the section on diffusers, pure essential oils are not really oily at all, and most of them (the balsams and some of the resins are an exception) mix readily with water. Research published in the scientific journal Nature detailed the work of thirteen scientists which showed that, even when anti-bodies were not technologically detectable in a highly diluted aqueous solution, the ‘memory’ of them lingered on, making the solution still biologically active (Homeopaths have known of this phenomenon for over a century). Detractors of this research said, “we will have to abandon two centuries of observation and rational thinking about biology because this can’t be explained by ordinary physical laws.” Dr. Jacques Benverniste, head of this research team, later had his findings confirmed by independent labs in Israel, Canada and Italy.

When you see an essential oil floating on top of the water in your bath, remember that the entire body of water is imprinted with the properties of that essential oil (Tisserand). Water is an excellent conductor of electricity, which is an important point to keep in mind when you consider that the human brain is 90% water and brain activity is electrical in nature. It is known that substances put into bath water often enter the body by osmosis. This is good news for the use of essential oils and alarming when you consider the chemicals present in our water!

• Baths: Run the bath as usual, then add the drops of essential oil and swish the water around. Keep the bathroom door closed to keep the aroma in the room. One interesting bath method is to place the oil in milk powder and then place the milk powder in the bath. Diluted oils used in the bath are gentle to sensitive skin and give aromatherapy effects at the same time. 2 - 5 drops is enough. More than that of some oils can cause skin irritation!

• Foot Bath: Fill a large bowl with warm water and add the essential oil, swishing it around. This method can be used to pull toxins from the body or, by using soothing/calming oils to facilitate relaxation and sleep. Other oils could be used to stimulate the immune system or to increase circulation. This is one of my favorite methods. Again, 2-5 drops is enough.

• Hot tub or Jacuzzi: Much like use in a tub. Here again, some literature says that an oily residue may be left on the pipes. This may be true with heavy balsamic or resin oils, but because of their basic nature these oils are not typically used in the bath anyway. If the oil is pure and undiluted with a carrier or extender oil, there should be no problem with a residue which water will not readily wash away. You can also place a few drops in the bottom of the shower.

Miscellaneous Methods

• Gargle

Many people like to use essential oils in a gargle. If you choose to do this, you might try mixing the essential oil of your choice into water. One source recommends mixing the oil into a teaspoon of honey, then diluting with warm water until the honey is thoroughly dissolved. I liked this, but it was way too much work. Do not swallow this mixture–water or honey method–and never use more than 1 - 3 drops of any oil.

• Dishwasher, Dishwater, Washer, Dryer

Essential oils–pure ones, at least–can be added to the dishwater or put into the dishwasher (1-2 drops is sufficient) to clean, disinfect and fight bacteria when family members are ill. I use them in the wash to fight the smell of oil, grease and gasoline, and on dryer sheets to improve the smell of my wash.

There are all sorts of recipes out there for cooking with essential oils. I am convinced that they are buying their essential oils in culinary shops and that the oils have been diluted. I have tried cooking with my essential oils. The recommended number of drops are way too much and too strong!! One drop of Mandarin or Lime in a batch of frosting or cookie dough is offensively strong. 3 drops of Peppermint in a whole batch of ‘green drink’ gives your mouth a real cooling sensation!

I have tried mixing a drop with a Tablespoon of cooking oil and then using it–much like the extracts you can buy–and have been pleased with the results. Pure, undiluted, high quality essential oils, in my personal opinion, are not meant to be taken internally!!! There is simply no need to do so!