Natural Body Guru

Yesterday we talked about treating cold sores with aromatherapy essential oils. Now let’s talk about preventing cold sores. When you feel that first tingle on your lip, treating it quickly can often prevent the cold sore from appearing at all. Unfortunately, it sometimes will appear anyway and it might even pop up in a completely different spot from where you felt the tingle.  I found a really good cold sore remedy that can prevent cold sores or speed the healing process if it does form.

To make your blend, use an amber glass bottle and high-quality essential oils.

Essential Oils for Cold Sore Relief

• 1 oz  aloe vera gel
• 30 drops sandalwood essential oil
• 3 drops eucalyptus essential oil

When you feel a cold sore coming on, apply a dab of this blend directly to the tingling or warm area on your lips. Use it once an hour until the symptoms resolve. You can also use it hourly if you already have a cold sore to reduce the duration of the outbreak. The ingredients have analgesic properties, so it helps ease the pain too. I recommend making a fresh bottle of this blend every few weeks. Thanks to Andrea Butje and the Aromahead Blog for this information.

Aromatherapy diffusers offer many benefits for your health, your sleep, your stress, and your overall well-being. They are a nice choice whether you are looking to get better sleep at night or to create an office atmosphere that is soothing and relaxing. I have enjoyed using a good diffuser for helping me to wind down at night and get into a blissful state of mind.

My diffuser adds to the décor of my home and it is a cute little way for me to have a relaxing atmosphere in my bedroom! I tend to be very wound up at night and full of energy. Sometimes, I work out later in the evening and that definitely doesn’t help. I tend to naturally be a night owl, so getting to bed early is always a struggle for me.

Finally, I have a good way to help myself calm down and get into the right state of mind at night. I have to be up early for work and I can finally wake up feeling fresh and ready, instead of feeling like all I want to do is close my eyes and sleep for a few more hours. Aromatherapy diffusers are an amazing natural way to improve your quality of sleep.

Cold sores seem to appear at the most inopportune times, don’t they. Just in time for that important occasion when you want to look your best. The good thing is, you can usually tell when one is forming. Here is a natural aromatherapy treatment that will have you looking your best for anything.

Put 1 drop of geranium on a cotton ball and apply it directly to the sore spot as soon as you feel it coming. Repeat this treatment every day. In addition, massage your whole body, including the face and neck with the following blend diluted in 2 tablespoons of jojoba oil:

• 10 drops geranium
• 10 drops lavender
• 2 drops thyme
• 8 drops lemon

I have a reader question that I would like to discuss today. Jenny asked if I would help her with more information on how to lose weight with patchouli essential oil. First, Jenny, there is no wonder drug or essential oil that will help you to eat less. It is really about self control and your own mindset that you want to change your body through diet and exercise. Visualize a piece of meat and imagine cutting and separating the fat from the lean part. If your diet consists of fruits, vegetables, fish and meat, your body tissue will look like the lean cut of meat. On the other hand, if you eat cakes and sweets, potatoes smothered in butter and fatty meats, you body tissue will be like the fatty part.

There are many essential oils that help fight fat but Jenny asked abut patchouli which can help dieters in several ways. First, it has the ability to diminish your appetite. Regularly put 2-3 drops of patchouli into a diffuser and let it diffuse through the air to reduce your appetite. This is a good way to balance the diet and exercise program you are on. You can also put 8-10 drops of patchouli into your bath water. This will not only help you to reduce your appetite, it may also ease water retention and bloating. Massaging your body with 1 ounce of a good carrier oil containing 2-3 drops of patchouli will also ease water retention and help you tone your body as your diet and exercise program help you lose weight. Jenny, I hope this is helpful to you and to any others interested in losing weight.

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.

Juniper essential oil has a very unique aroma—a warm, piney, resinous scent that feels very grounding and uplifting at once. It’s no surprise that juniper has been used throughout much of history as incense! There is even evidence of the Greeks and Romans using it in their homes, keeping bugs away and filling the space with a beautiful scent.

Juniper combines the centering quality of a resin, like myrrh, with the zest of a spicy oil, like clove. Imagine myrrh and clove going for a walk in the forest, and you can “get a sense” of juniper! (I accidentally typed “get a scent” the first time I wrote that, haha!)

An incense or a diffuser blend with juniper would be just right for a space like a yoga room or Massage studio, where it can help people feel in touch with their deepest, truest self, and inspire them to “take action” from that space.

Try this diffuser blend to tap into that!

Juniper’s “Sweet & Deep” Diffuser Blend

• 5 drops juniper
• 2 drops myrrh
• 1 drop clove bud

Drop the essential oils into your diffuser. Thanks to Andrea Butje of Aromahead for today’s blog.

We live in a society that adores the female breast. We show them off in revealing clothes, feed our babies naturally with them and let our husbands or boyfriends caress them. Even though we know we should, we hardly ever do the one thing that could save our lives and that is to examine them for lumps. Breast cancer does not run in my family but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t start with me.

All women should strongly consider using a natural deodorant and throw away their commercial deodorants containing aluminum salts. These products stop perspiration thereby trapping toxins in the body which can pose an increased risk for breast cancer. Perspiration is a natural method of excreting toxins from the body. Stopping perspiration is just as bad for our bodies as it would be if we tried to stop urination.

Using deodorants made from natural mineral salts absorbs moisture without introducing harmful chemicals,  like aluminum,  found in most antiperspirant deodorants,  into your body. If you are worried about odor, consider using essential oils under your arms because they are antibacterial and it’s the bacteria on your skin that causes the odor. There are a few essential oils that can be used neat on the skin for this purpose; lavender, tea tree and patchouli. You can put a drop on a cotton ball and apply it to your underarm area or put a drop directly on the wet crystal deodorant stone before using.

Heart palpitations are described as an abnormality of the heartbeat that causes you to be aware of its beating either at the normal rate, too fast or too slow. My husband had to stop drinking coffee because whenever he drank it, he could feel his heart beating much too fast. There is an aromatherapy treatment for heart palpitations. First, you can put 2 drops of lavender essential oil, 1 drop of chamomile essential oil, and 2 drops of geranium essential oil on a tissue and inhale it frequently.

Next, you can massage your whole torso regularly every night with 10 drops of lavender, 10 drops of chamomile, 3 drops of rosemary, and 7 drops of lemon essential oils diluted in 2 tablespoons of sweet almond oil. Lastly, take a warm bath just before you go to bed. Add 2 drops of chamomile and 2 drops of lemon essential oil to the bath water.

Your skin is a living breathing organ and it must be kept hydrated just like the rest of your body. To improve the condition of your skin and delay or even reverse the aging process, do the following:

1. drink plenty of water
2. eat a diet rich in antioxidants
3. wash your face with a gentle natural soap
4. use a good moisturizing cream

Be gentle when you wash your face and don’t scrub too hard because scrubbing is not good for your skin. I splash lukewarm water on my face and then make a soapy lather in my hands but you can also use a soft cloth to wash your face. After rinsing well, I use an astringent like witch hazel on a cotton ball before moisturizing with 30 second face lift.