8 Ways to Use Essential Oils in Your Self-Care Routine
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GUEST POST: In this post Michelle will be discussing how to add essential oils to your self-care routine.
When it comes to practicing self-care, there are so many different ways to do it. Any activity that you engage in that takes care of your mental, physical, and emotional well-being is considered self-care.
Practicing self-care consistently is important to help you unwind, balance yourself, promote happiness, and positivity.
Did you know a great tool to incorporate into your self-care routine is essential oils?
Self-care and essential oils are gaining popularity lately as they both have claimed to help a person’s mental, physical, and emotional health in many different ways.
When you think of essential oils you probably think about just using them in a diffuser but there are many other different ways you can use essential oils in your self-care routine.
In this post, you will learn what essential oils are, different types of essential oils, and how you can incorporate them into your self-care routine.
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What are essential oils?
Essential oils are oils extracted from various different plants. They are normally used in an alternative medicine practice called Aromatherapy. Which is a way to help enhance a person’s overall health and well-being by balancing their mind, body, and spirit.
Different oils have different benefits.
Benefits can include relaxation, improved sleep quality, an uplift in your mood and energy, reduced anxiety, help with pain relief and inflammation, ease depression symptoms, and so much more.
See why this can be an effective self-care tool to add to your self-care routine?
Essential Oils to Use for Self-Care
- Lavender: One of the most popular essential oils with a floral and woody grounding scent. Lavender is used to help calm anxiety, overwhelm, and helps with relaxation. This is the best oil to use in the evening. Especially around bedtime because it helps your body relax, unwind, and promotes great sleep.
- Jasmine: A floral-scented essential oil that helps to calm your nervous system and unlike lavender it doesn’t make you feel sleepy. Jasmine is very calming, a great anti-depressant, and can help your skin.
- Ylang Ylang: Slightly sweet, floral, and earthy uplifting scent, this essential oil can help boost your mood, reduce depression, and help with anxiety. It is a great oil to help filter out negative energy.
- Rosemary: With a refreshing herbal smell, rosemary essential oil helps with mental fatigue, exhaustion, and the feeling of burnout. It helps to clear your mind and refocus yourself.
- Bergamot: This essential oil smells very citrusy which can be very sweet but tart. Bergamot can help with reducing inflammation and pain, improve your self-esteem/confidence, and help to uplift your mood to become more positive.
- Frankincense: This oil has a very aromatic earthy scent like a mix of pine and citrus. Frankincense is used a lot in meditation and yoga practices because of how calming and spiritually uplifting it can be.
Other essential oils to consider
- To help relieve stress and anxiety: Chamomile, cedar wood, and rose
- Promotes sleep and relaxation: Sandalwood and Marjoram
- Helps to uplift your mood: Orange, peppermint, and lemon
- Relieves aches and pains: Eucalyptus
- Helps with mental clarity: Sage, basil, lemon, and juniper berry
- For glowing skin: Tea tree, rose, and geranium
Ways to Practice Self-Care with Essential Oils
- Soak in the bathtub: After a long day, soaking in the bathtub is one of the best ways to unwind and relax. It is a great way to unplug without any phones and quiet time for yourself. A great way to soak in the bathtub is with Epsom salts infused with essential oils. A popular product is Epsom salts with lavender essential oil. But if you can’t find that you can always add regular Epsom salts with any essential oils you feel like you are needing at the moment. I love adding drops of eucalyptus and lavender into my bath. This help me to unwind and reduce any aches and pains.
- Skincare: Add essential oils to your face moisturizer, body, lotion, and even body sugar scrubs. It can help tone and hydrate your skin. You can either DIY products yourself or look for trustworthy products to help with your skincare routine.
- Use in a hot shower: If you are not in the mood or don’t have time to soak then you can always take a hot shower while using any essential oil shower bomb. Place the shower bomb on the bathtub floor and let the hot water run over it. The essential oils will be released in the air which you can inhale and have an amazing and relaxing experience with it. The hot water along with the essential oils will help release tension, improve circulation, and relax your mind helping you to unwind from the day. If you don’t have any shower bombs handy but have essential oils in hand you can add a few drops to your shower walls.
- Use a diffuser: This is one of the best and most common ways to experience essential oils in its purest form. Diffusers help with elevating your mood, helps focus your mind, and change the aroma and mood of your environment. You can use diffusers anywhere in your home and they will fill up the room with its amazing scents.
- Soak your feet: While you watch TV at night, why not soak your feet in essential oils? You can add a few drops of essential oils like lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, or chamomile to some warm water or Epsom salt water. Soak for about 20 minutes and your tired feet will feel so much better.
- Massage with essential oils: You can give yourself or have your partner give you a massage with essential oils after a long day. Normally you can find lotions with essential oils that are great for massaging.
- Add lavender essential oil to your pillow – Are you having trouble sleeping? Add some essential oils to your pillow to help you inhale the scent of lavender and fall asleep. Remember to only add a drop or two as oils are very strong.
- Use while meditating: Inhaling essential oils while meditating can be very soothing and calming. Meditation is all about being mindful. And when you are present and mindful about the scents around you it has a better effect on your mood and eases your mind, body, and spirit.
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Final Thoughts
Everyone is different and when it comes to essential oils the effect it has on one person can vary to another.
You have to find what self-care practices plus essential oils work for you.
Try out different oils. And remember to be mindful of how you feel when you use them to see what works best for you.
Do you have a favorite essential oil?
Author Bio
Michelle is the founder of “The Balanced CEO”. A blog where she talks about how to have balance as an entrepreneur and how to have a holistic approach to life. She hopes to inspire and help others reach their highest potential, become the best version of themselves. And live their dream life on their own terms by balancing and taking care of their mind, body, and soul.
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[…] Essential oils have been gaining popularity lately as it has been claimed to help a person’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being in many different ways. You can easily add essential oils to your diffuser or there are many different ways to use essential oils in your self-care routine. […]