From the moment of conception, everything you eat or apply to your skin filters to your baby. The baby will hear everything you hear and feel everything you feel so pay attention to the kind of music you listen to, the movies you watch and try to keep the tension in your life at a minimum. This is a time in your life when you should eat and drink only the best of everything, cut out bad habits and definitely give up smoking.

Many essential oils are safe to use while you are pregnant but there are also some that you should avoid. The ones that are safe for you to use are tangerine, mandarin, grapefruit, geranium, chamomile, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang and lavender. You can use these oils in a bath, shower, as a massage or in one of the room methods. During pregnancy, always use the minimum amount of essential oils.

Pregnancy is both a beautiful and stressful experience for women. Since the baby is so connected to the mother, when the mother is stressed out her baby may feel stressed out as well. Taking a relaxing soak with aromatherapy bath oils can put mother and child in a good frame of mind.Not only will a relaxing soak with bath oils reduce stress, it also surrounds the mother with beautiful smells. Many pregnant women report sensitivity to smell. Doctors recommend mothers surround themselves with pleasant smells to ease the mind and prevent nausea.

You can dilute 5 drops of any of these essential oils – tangerine, grapefruit, geranium, chamomile, ylang ylang, lavender in 1 teaspoon of shea, grapeseed, or almond oil to make a wonderful bath oil. If you or a loved one are going through a difficult pregnancy and have a hard time relaxing, consider giving bath oils a try.

Eating natural foods like greens, broccoli, figs and prunes and also drinking lots of water can help with constipation. Choose organic products so you leave out the toxins from chemicals used to grow so many of today’s foods. Be very careful about choosing your foods during pregnancy because all the “natural” foods might look natural but contain some very unnatural products. Because of the unnaturalness of today’s food and pressure on the pregnant woman’s digestive system, constipation is a common ailment during pregnancy but do not use chemical laxatives.

Besides eating natural foods, another excellent way to clear the bowels is to take a glass of water and add 1/4 teaspoon of green clay, which you can find at your local health food store. As the clay passes through your system it absorbs toxins in your body and passes them on out. While you’re at the health food store, you can also look for psysillium husks. These are pure fiber and can be taken in capsule form or raw. They will also clean out all the gunk hiding in your bowels.

Patchouli essential oil is handy to have around whether you are pregnant or not.  Just add 30 drops of patchouli to 2 tablespoons of liquid shea oil or sweet almond oil in a dark colored bottle. Rub the oil all over the abdomen in a clockwise direction starting at the lower right hand side by the groin and rub right up to underneath the breasts, across to the other side and down to the groin hairline again.

It is very important that we pamper our skin before, during and after a day in the sun. After your day outside, you can nourish and replenish your body with this skin nourishing blend.

• 1 ounce coconut oil
• 5 drops orange sweet oil
• 3 drops geranium oil
• 2 drops rose absolute
• 1 drop ylang ylang oil

Add the coconut oil to a glass jar then drop the essential oils into the coconut oil and blend thoroughly. Use this oil after every sun exposure or just use it every day to nourish your skin.

I want to help the ladies and gentlemen who are wearing sandals after months of being cooped up in socks and boots because they don’t realize how dry and cracked their feet look to others! First, exfoliate your feet by using a salt or sugar scrub in the shower to help remove dry and dead skin, eliminate the appearance of cracked heels, and start the healing process. If you also have calluses on your feet, gently use a pumice stone to start sloughing the callus down but do it gradually over a week or more.

The second thing is to give your feet a deep moisturizing treatment with either raw shea butter or shea butter cream by coating your feet with the butter and then putting your socks on before going to bed. You can do the deep moisturizing treatment as often as you like but don’t forget to moisturize your feet after each shower too. The finishing touch for feet that look good in sandals is to give yourself a pedicure and, if you like, put on your favorite color nail polish and enjoy the summer!

A friend of mine who had breast cancer tells me that she believes she got the disease from using over the counter deodorants all her life. I don’t know if this is true or not but I’ve heard it before and I’m not willing to take any unnecessary chances  with my health so I use all natural deodorant products. You can get a pre-made natural deodorant but below is a recipe for a natural deodorant you can make at home using essential oils. This product is all natural and smells wonderful.

Natural Deodorant Spray

• 4 drops black spruce oil
• 4 drops cedarwood oil
• 4 drops cypress oil
• 4 drops lemon oil
• 2 drops petitgrain oil
• 4 fluid ounces aloe vera gel
• 4 mls solubol (dispersant)
• 1 size 4 ounce pet spray bottle

I gave you information and history about patchouli yesterday but today I’ll be more practical so you can use that bottle of patchouli you just bought. Patchouli has many therapeutic uses like: acne, antiperspirant, anxiety, athlete’s foot and other fungal infections, dermatitis, dandruff, constipation, insect bites and insect repellent, impotence, eczema, frigidity, sexual anxiety, oily skin and hair, loose skin, stress related disorders, weight loss, water retention, and wounds.

As a deodorant or antiperspirant, you can put 2 or 3 drops on a cotton ball and dab it on your underarms. Do the same thing on any other fungal infection you might have, like athlete’s foot. Use 8 to 10 drops in your bath water to alleviate anxiety, to relieve constipation, or to ease water retention. Put 2 to 3 drops of patchouli in a diffuser to repel insects, to alleviate stress related emotional disorders and also to reduce the appetite when dieting.

If you have dandruff, add 2 to 3 drops of patchouli to an unscented conditioner and apply it to your scalp, leave it on for 3 to 5 minutes and then rinse. For oily hair, add 2-3 drops to a nickel size amount of unscented shampoo.  For insect bites, put 2 to 3 drops on a cotton ball and dab the affected area. To tighten loose skin after losing weight, add 2 to 3 drops of patchouli to 1 ounce of liquid shea oil or sweet almond oil and massage your body regularly. You can also add 8 to 10 drops of this oil blend to your bath water. Use 2 to 3 drops of patchouli on a wet cotton ball to cleanse wounds or to dab on oily skin.

Many people who hear the word or smell the pungent fragrance of patchouli think of the drug smoking hippies who indulged in free love during the sixties and seventies. Pathchouli is so much more than that! It was used in the East hundreds of years ago to scent clothes and bed linens. In the 1800s the English imported fabric scented with patchouli from India and began to associate the scent with fabrics.

Patchouli is an earthy, musky scent and while it is associated with fabrics, it can be useful in many other situations and it has therapeutic properties as well. It is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and anti-fungal. It can be used as an aphrodisiac or an insect repellent. It provides balance and harmony to the body and spirit and can even fight off body odor by acting as a deodorant and an anti-perspirant. Patchouli acts as an appetite suppressant making it beneficial to dieters all over the world. Patchouli also has the distinction of actually getting better with age; the older the oil, the fuller the scent.

Sweet almond oil has rejuvenating and nourishing benefits for your skin. This oil contains linoleic acid, an omega-6 essential fatty acid that research has proven to be antioxidant and to contain skin protective benefits.

Use sweet almond oil to:

• soften and moisturize your skin for a younger more radiant complexion
• sooth irritated areas of skin that feel warm and dry to the touch
• massage sore joints and muscles to release tension
• Make hair oil with sweet almond oil and rosemary essential oil, to add softness and shine to dull hair.
• Carry a travel-sized bottle of sweet almond oil with you to moisturize your hands after frequent washing.
• Use sweet almond oil as a carrier for your favorite roll-on essential oil blends.