Natural Body Guru

For any burn you’ll probably want to use oils that have natural anti-inflammatory and analgesic (pain relieving) properties. Oils that contain a combination of these healing elements include lavender oil, rose oil, roman chamomile, eucalyptus oil, rosewood oil, lemon oil, helichrysum oil, and idaho calasam fir oil.

A great blend for burns that I rely on is the combination of lavender oil, rosewood, and ylang ylang oil. Together they provide anti-inflammatory help, pain relief, and act as a relaxant or sedative to help calm the nervous system and heal the skin, so next time you overdo it at the beach, I’d recommend having this blend on hand.

Note: We’re talking sunburns and burns from your hair straightener, not third-degree, here! If you have a third-degree burn, see your doctor or go to the emergency room. 

Source: Yoganonymous

I think aromatherapy should be a bigger part of people’s lives. I just have a feeling that not enough people know about oils and their healing properties. Instead of turning to something that’s unnatural, aka manmade medicine, why not try a natural healing remedy? I think it brings me closer to nature and all things natural, personally. I’ve always been a fan of natural remedies.

There are so many different essential oils available. Some help calm, some help take care of the skin, some aid with digestion, and the list goes on. There are so many things that they can do. Not to mention, they smell good, too. That’s an added bonus in my opinion, as people always say my house smells nice because of it. Pills and such from the store don’t usually smell like anything.

As far as essential oils go, I really like using them. I try to use them over man-made medicine whenever I get the chance. I just like using more natural methods to help heal or calm myself whenever I get the chance. The cultural shift to using more natural means has been a positive one, and I’m glad I can be a part of it.

Does your circulation struggle with heat? If you’re sorer than a triathlete after a big race or puffed up like an angry blow-fish, why not try using essential oils that increase circulation and reduce inflammation. These oils can be added to almond oil or grape seed oil to make massage oils and be rubbed into problem areas. Basil is one of the key essential oils for healing muscle inflammation—yes, the same herb you put on your pasta! Basil oil can be placed directly on the problem area or diffused. Eucalyptus oil is the perfect “anti” oil, working as an anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory agent. If you dilute it 50:50 in water and then diffuse it, the oil will even help to kill airborne bacteria. Like many other oils, a few drops can also be rubbed directly into the problem area. Just the tiniest drop of eucalyptus always makes me feel like I’ve wandered into the most luxurious of spas and am being waited on hand and foot.

Source: Yoganonymous

Having trouble sleeping in the humid weather? There are lots of elements that need to come together in order for someone to feel relaxed and have a good night’s sleep. Similarly, blends work best to solve the multifaceted problem of insomnia. Emma Mildon’s favorite essential oil blend for sleeping includes rosewood oil; which is grounding, relaxing, and holds antiviral properties. She recommend blending rosewood with frankincense, which is a mood balancer and de-stressor, and ylang ylang, which is an excellent oil for restoring the balance of your energies and recharging your energy centers. My favorite sleep blend is lavender and chamomile essential oil.

Source: Yoganonymous

 A homemade  facial mask takes only a few minutes to put together and once you have the basic ingredients ready in a jar or carton, you can have your own instant face mask made specifically for your particular skin requirements. If you are ready to start making your own facial mask, this blog is for you.

This is a recipe for a purifying, toning, soothing and rejuvenating mask. First, let’s just make the basic mask recipe so you can have it on hand. Since we often have areas of dry skin, oily skin and normal skin, you can use this basic mask recipe with several different facial formulas. We will be using green clay which you can purchase at your local drugstore or health food store. The recipe calls for 2 ounces of green clay and 3 teaspoons of corn flour. Mix the clay and corn flour together in a jar and keep it ready for combining into one of several different mask formulas that we will describe later. You can also use 1 tablespoon of this basic formula with enough of the other liquids needed for a particular recipe to form a paste and then add your chosen essential oils when you are ready. For each recipe, you will blend the ingredients together to form a smooth paste and leave it on your skin for fifteen minutes. Rinse it off with warm water and apply a facial treatment oil such as grapeseed or almond oil. Dab the face with a tissue after applying the oil.

Mask Formula for Normal skin

• 1 tablespoon basic mask
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon water
  Combine and use 1 drop
• 2 drops geranium essential oil
• 1 drop of rosewood essential oilyt

I have a routine that I follow every day. Because to me, that makes my life a whole lot easier. If I follow a routine, I don’t forget anything ever. I always get done what I need to get done. So when I’m getting ready for work, I never forget to use my essential moisturizers. They help my skin look absolutely gorgeous.

The one that’s the most important is my facial moisturizer. It keeps my face soft and smooth. Before I started using it, I looked like a real mess. My face was just so dry. I’m just really glad I was about to find it, because now I’m really happy with myself. My moisturizer helps keep my skin healthy and happy instead of dry and coarse.

While some people might think my routine boxes me in, I think it’s a great way to treat my morning. It would be way worse to forget something. I make sure everything is done, and that includes using my facial moisturizer. Because if I miss a day of that, who knows if my skin would get dry again. I love the way I look now, and my skin really thanks me for using my facial moisturizer.

When I get home from work, I usually open the mailbox and glance in to see if there’s mail. One evening I saw something moving in the box but I couldn’t tell what it was. I thought it was a huge spider so I turned on the flashlight on my phone. I saw a brand new wasp nest! Luckily, my husband was in the yard watering the grass and he came and sprayed water on them and they left but I thought they would return.

We decided to use peppermint essential oil to try and keep them away from the mailbox. We wiped out the inside of the box with a  face towel soaked in water and peppermint essential oil. Then we left the towel in the back of the mailbox. So far they haven’t returned and our mailman says we have the best smelling mailbox in town.

You can use essential oils to debug your home in lots of ways. Andrea Butje of Aromahead has a whole list of ways that I am sharing with you below.

• If you have an ant problem, try placing cotton balls with a few drops of peppermint essential oil on them at the places where you think the ants are coming in, and along any trails they usually make through your house.
• Make your own Aromatherapy bug spray! Andrea has a recipe here that you can use.
• To keep spiders and pests out of drawers and cabinets, put a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil on a cotton ball or paper towel, and place it at the back of the drawer.
• Discourage moths from living in your closet! Soak a few paper towels in frankincense hydrosol. Add two drops of juniper berry essential oil  and two drops of cedarwood essential oil to each paper towel. Drape them over the horizontal bars of a few clothes hangers in your closet. If your hangers don’t have horizontal bars, you can just drape the wet paper towel over the neck of the hanger. It will dry there and stay in place. (You can also use this trick in drawers.)
• Discourage mosquitoes from settling on screen doors, so they don’t find their way in when you open the door. Make a spray with 1 oz (30 ml) water and 18 drops patchouli essential oil. Spritz it on your screens.
• Worried about bed bugs? Make a linen spray with 4 oz frankincense hydrosol, 10 drops palmarosa essential oil, and 8 drops cedar wood essential oil. Make your blend in a 4 oz spray bottle.

Diffusing essential oils, using room sprays, and burning incense are also helpful for repelling flying insects from your space. Use the essential oils mentioned above to get creative! For the blends with water and hydrosols, it’s best to make them fresh every few weeks.

We have been working 10 hour days at work. That’s a long time to sit in front of a computer. By the time I go home, my back is killing me. It’s kind of hard for me to put an ice pack on my back. But I have found something that helps just as much. Peppermint essential oil is the best for soothing inflammation. It’s cooling, comforting and encouraging. Here is a peppermint massage oil for your back or any other sore muscles.

Cooling Peppermint Massage Oil

• 2 oz liquid shea oil
• 15 drops peppermint
• 5 drops lemon
• 8 drops grapefruit
• 15 drops lavender
• 15 drops cypress

Mammals are the only animals that have hair and we humans really love ours. Hair is mostly composed of a protein called keratin. Wikipedia says that this keratin assembles itself into rope-like filaments and these filaments determine the strength of the hair shaft. While the hair shafts that we see on each others’ heads is “dead” because it has no biochemical activity, it comes from hair follicles located under the skin. These follicles  include the oil producing sebaceous gland which lubricates the hair and the erector pili muscles, which are responsible for causing hairs to stand-up when you have “goose bumps.”

Particular care should be taken for African-American hair in natural styles to keep the hair soft and supple. Many hair preparations contain petroleum based products which can cause poor blood circulation, clogged pores leading to dandruff and dry scalp and hair breakage. Why have a natural hairstyle and then groom it with an unnatural product? Instead, use an easy to apply oil for natural styles that contains tea tree oil, shea butter and other natural fruit oils that will soothe your hair and scalp, moisturize it and prevent itchiness.

If you get a black eye, no matter what the reason, you have to live with it until it fades away which is usually about a week to 10 days. The eye itself is not really affected, but the fatty tissue and lack of muscle around the eye socket is a good spot for blood to accumulate after a blow to the eye area. When the blood is reabsorbed, different colors are released causing the extreme appearance of a black eye.

Aromatherapy essential oils can soothe and treat your black eye. All you need to do is add 1 drop of geranium and 1 drop of chamomile essential oils in 2 teaspoons of witch hazel and mix well. Then add this mixture to 1 tablespoon of ice cold water, shake well and soak a cotton ball or cotton facial pad in it. Close your eye and apply the cotton pad to the eyelid and surrounding area. Do this once a day during the length of your black eye or until it looks and feels better.