Natural Body Guru

My daughter is a chiropractic doctor and also very health conscious regarding how to eat to live well. She sent me an article from Natural News about coconut oil, the same coconut oil I’ve been praising for use as a massage oil and to use in hair products. The article states that coconut oil can be used as a natural treatment for Alzheimer’s symptoms. Of course, pharmaceutical companies do not want this information to come out yet so they have time to market their own medical remedy of an Alzheimer’s treatment.

Coconut oil naturally has MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) that the medical companies have had some success using in their chemical products. MCTs occur naturally in coconut oil. It can be used to cook with or taken orally. It is very simple to administer the coconut oil. Two tablespoons twice a day taken orally has been shown to be effective for treating symptoms of Alzheimer’s. For more details, see the video by Dr. Mary Newport.

Watching your loved one’s intellect become disabled by the debilitating disease of Alzheimer’s is a disheartening experience. Living with and caring for a parent or spouse who no longer knows who you are may seem hopeless but aromatherapy massage can bring back your former closeness and introduce a new form of communication between the two of you. This is not a therapeutic massage, just a way to show love and caring so a gentle body massage or a foot or hand massage will do. The essential oils used in this aromatherapy massage will be not only pleasing to the Alzheimer’s sufferer’s senses and yours too, but could also reawaken pleasant memories. Any essential oil can be used but if the sufferer is your Mom and you know she always wore lavender perfume then lavender essential oil would be a perfect choice. Who knows what the Alzheimer’s patient, locked inside her brain, will experience with such an olfactory memory jerk?

Think back and try to recall the aromas your loved one favored and recreate them now. If you simply can’t remember, some good choices are the citrus essential oils of lemon, grapefruit, and orange plus the spices such as cardamom, coriander, ginger and nutmeg because they stimulate the gastric juices and also touch on the basic instincts of feeding and survival. In less advanced cases of Alzheimer’s you can incorporate the gentle fragrances of flowers such as lavender, rose, and geranium coupled with the spices mentioned above or even with basil or rosemary. Make a synergistic massage oil blend of 5 drops of rose, 5 drops of geranium, 2 drops of basil, 10 drops of lavender and 2 drops of rosemary essential oils. Add 5 drops of this blend to 1 teaspoon of jojoba or grapeseed oil and either give the full body massage, hand or foot massage or simply gently massage the neck and shoulder area.

I have been in the hereafter many times – I’m in the middle of a room but I can’t remember what I am “hereafter?” Recently I have been losing things like the cord to my cell phone, keys, books I am currently reading or who I was just getting ready to call. It is very frustrating but I refuse to let it get me down. I found the books and I no longer lose my keys, as long as I remember to put them on the hook I now use specifically for them. I know I am getting older but I don’t think I have dementia or Alzheimer’s yet; I just have lapses in concentration and that can happen to us at any age from childhood to our senior years. These lapses in concentration are probably caused by having too much on your mind or thinking about five things at once. There is no magic oil to bring back your memory but there are some essential oils that can help with concentration and thus make remembering things less difficult.

Use  the following essential oils in equal proportions in one of the room methods, either in a diffuser or in a plant spray for a simple and effective way to improve concentration:

• Basil
• Cardamom
• Ginger
• Black Pepper

Your brain is like an electrical circuit that can short out when switching from circuit to circuit making your mind go blank or get confused. This is a very involved subject that includes fortifying the brain with nourishing food and making certain your body gets certain vitamins, minerals, and micro-nutrients especially vitamins C and E, selenium and zinc. Pernicious anemia can be helped by taking vitamin B-12 and iron supplements and lack of potassium which accounts for memory loss in some of us can be remedied with potassium tablets. Tomorrow I am going to continue this subject with a discussion of Alzheimer’s disease. No, I don’t have a cure but I believe you will find some relief if you are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s.

I have had trouble with my feet since the 1990’s when I taught music in the basement of Randolph Elementary School. I never sat down during the day and we danced and marched around on a cement floor that had a thin carpet covering. Now that I’m older, my feet and ankles swell at the drop of a hat. I recently took off a pair of new shoes while visiting a friend but when it was time to go I couldn’t get my left shoe back on my foot and had to walk on the back of the shoe to get to my car!

The first thing I did when I got home was to sit down and put my feet up. My darling husband got out my foot bath (I got it years ago at Walgreen’s) and put 6 to 8 small marbles in the bottom with warm water. I rolled the soles of my feet over the pebbles very slowly for just a few minutes and then dried my feet.

While I drank a cold bottle of water, my husband added 15 drops of cypress and 15 drops of fennel essential oils to 2 tablespoons of sweet almond oil and massaged my feet and ankles upwards towards my knees including behind the knees. It felt wonderful and my swollen feet and ankles looked normal by the time we went to bed.

If your feet and ankles swell during hot weather, you can still use the above procedure but before your massage put a piece of ice in a plastic bag and massage the back of your knees until they feel very cold. Then rub the ice in the center of the soles of your feet.

Did you know you can have high blood pressure for years and not even know it? For some of us, there’s no apparent cause and it can go unnoticed for years even though it can lead to heart disease, kidney failure and stroke. Because of the complications that can come with high blood pressure, people with the disease often don’t live as long as those without it. The causes of high blood pressure are still unclear unless there is an underlying cause. Because the symptoms are often nonexistent or as common as headaches, tiredness and dizziness, the only way to keep track of blood pressure is to have it checked regularly.

To keep your blood pressure down look for ways to reduce stress, change your diet  to eat lots of fruit, vegetables, fish, poultry and pulses. Cook with olive oil, spices, onions, garlic and ginger and eat raw foods whenever possible.

Essential oils that can be used if you have hypertension are clary sage, lavender, geranium, neroli, marjoram, rose otto, melissa, frankincense, chamomile roman, petitgrain and sandalwood.

High Blood Pressure Body Oil

• 5 drops lavender
• 10 drops marjoram
• 15 drops geranium

Blend the oils together, then dilute by mixing 3 drops in 1 teaspoon of a carrier oil like almond oil.

High Blood Pressure Bath Blend

• 2 drops clary sage
• 5 drops marjoram
• 5 drops lavender
• 5 drops geranium
• 3 drops chamomile roman

Blend the oils together, then dilute 4 drops in 1 teaspoon of carrier oil per bath.

We are continuing yesterday’s blog with a couple of treatments to help you on your journey to increase and firm your breasts. For the first treatment, you will dilute 3 drops of cypress oil in 1 teaspoon of witch hazel. Add this to a bowl of cold water and splash the breasts alternately 10 times (at least) each. Alternate your splashes to allow for contraction and dilation. Then massage the breasts in circular movements with the formula below.

BREAST MASSAGE OIL 1

• 3 drops clary-sage
• 5 drops geranium
• 12 drops fennel
• 10 drops lemongrass

Apply this firming treatment every day after exercise.

BREAST MASSAGE OIL 2

• 10 drops lemongrass
• 10 drops cypress
• 8 drops spearmint
• 2 drops black pepper

Dilute these oils into 2 tablespoons of either grapeseed or almond carrier oil. If the ice-cup method is too cold for you, use cold water from the shower.

Increasing or decreasing our breasts is mostly out of our control. It mainly depends on our personal adipose fatty tissue which is  what gives our breasts their shape. We can, however keep them upright and firm if we start early and work hard at it. Exercise that involve the pectoral muscles will keep your breasts from showing signs of sagging or drooping. The breast stroke is an excellent example and another good breast firming exercise is pushing your hands against each other at chin level keeping the elbows stuck out on either side. Essential oils used with cold water and ice treatments can also help because the cold water contracts the tissue.

Splash your breasts or apply an ice-cup in circular movements around the breasts and follow up by applying massage oil. Massage is the best way to help prevent stretch marks caused by gaining and losing breast weight. The best carrier oil to use on breasts are grapeseed or almond. Make your massage oil using 5 drops of essential oil to each 1 teaspoon of carrier/base oil. The best essential oils to use for increasing and firming breasts are fennel, clary-sage, sage, lemongrass, geranium, cypress, carrot and spearmint.

Do you ever have trouble falling or staying asleep? Aromatherapy essential oils can’t cure your insomnia or the reason you have it but using the right oils can put you to sleep and help you stay there. If you have a serious sleep disorder I suggest you see your physician but if you only have an occasional bout of restlessness, the following tips are worth trying to see which method you like best.

Aromatherapy Sleep Aids

• put a drop of either chamomile, lavender or clary sage on a cotton ball and leave it close to your pillow
• make an aromatherapy bed linen spray in a plant spray bottle by blending 10 drops each of these calming oils with sedative qualities: lavender, chamomile, clary sage and bergamot in 1 cup of water
• take a relaxing bath (at least an hour before you plan to go to sleep) and add 5 to 7 drops of lavender or chamomile to 1 teaspoon of  jojoba or liquid shea oil then swish the mixture around in your bath water

Do you have baldness, thinning hair or certain types of alopecia? Many people use expensive prescription or over the counter medications to treat these problems but you may do just as well using a natural solution containing cedarwood essential oil. There are many benefits to using cedarwood besides hair loss. The most common benefits include:

• improves focus and wisdom
• promotes hair growth
• has anti-inflammatory agents
• cures toothaches
• strengthens gums
• reduces skin irritations
• relives spasms
• cures fungal infections
• repels bugs
• cures acne
• reduces cough
• stimulates metabolism
• regulates menstruation
• tightens muscles
• cleans out toxins

Cedarwood can be used to stimulate the scalp which can do so much for your hair. Your hair can weaken due to poor blood circulation in the scalp. By using a stimulant and massaging it into your scalp, you can get the blood flowing and wake up the follicles to promote hair growth. Use cedarwood to treat the following:

• Stimulate blood circulation in scalp
• Relieve fungal infections in scalp
• Promote hair growth
• Combat oily hair
• Relieve dandruff
• Make hair look and feel healthier

Shared by Amanda Robertson

Tranquilizer drugs, mostly benzodiazepines, are used to treat the symptoms of anxiety. These drugs are very popular and go by such names as Valium, Librium and Ativan among others. Another smaller group of chemical drugs are also used to treat anxiety symptoms like sweating and palpitations. These drugs are very popular and thousands of people use them and become addicted after only a short time. Besides addiction, there are side effects like headaches, excessive fatigue, depression, menstrual and sexual dysfunctions as well as skin rashes, nausea and other problems.

Aromatherapy offers a safe, effective and natural alternative to the use of chemical drugs to treat anxiety and stress.  It has also proven to be effective in assisting those addicted to chemical tranquilizers to stop their use, even after years. The best use of aromatherapy essential oils to help stress is before the person resorts to chemicals. There are many essential oils that can be used to reduce stress, especially when used in massage by an understanding massage therapist. The first oils to come to mind for this purpose are lavender, neroli and ylang-ylang.  Others that are also excellent choices are bergamot, chamomile, clary sage, rose and sandalwood.