Essential Oils have been around for thousands of years, but many are just now realizing their benefits, including myself. Until a few years ago the only essential oil I knew of was tea tree oil. Thankfully a whole new world has been opened to me to support the health of my family naturally with essential oils.
And although there are so many uses for these oils, today we’re just going to talk about our top 10 calming essential oils. Calming essential oils that can help restore sanity when things feel like they’re spinning out of control…
Ever feel like that? 😉
So How Do Essential Oils Work?
Essential oils are extracted from flowers, grasses, herbs, trees, and resins to name a few. Pure essential oils are usually extracted using steam distillation or cold pressing. Citrus oils are extracted by cold pressing, usually the rind, of the fruit.
These oils contain hundreds of components that effect your body at the cellular level. And within a second, essential oils have the ability to effect your mood and state of mind.
It is important to distinguish essential oils from synthetic fragrances, which have no therapeutic effect, just pleasant aromas. Unfortunately, most candles and air fresheners also contain a long list of synthetic chemicals, including formaldehyde. But essential oils, on the other hand, are the basis of aromatherapy – a holistic and alternative treatment that takes advantage of natural aromas, which are present in plants, flowers, and woods, to bring benefits to the body, mind, and spirit.
Our Top 10 Calming Essential Oils
The following essential oils are safe for children over 1:
- Mandarin – Light, fruity, citrus top note (organic, cold-expressed from the fruit peel mandarin essential oil)
- Roman Chamomile – Fresh, rich, sweet, fruity, apple-like aroma middle note (organic, steam distilled from flowers Roman chamomile essential oil)
- Lavender – Sweet, floral, herbaceous middle note (organic, steam distilled from flowers lavender essential oil)
- Palmarosa – Sweet, floral, rosy, geranium-like middle note (organic, steam distilled from grass palmarosa essential oil)
For adults you can add these oils to the list:
- Ylang Ylang – Rich, sweet floral base note (organic, steam distilled from flowers ylang ylang essential oil)
- Bergamot – Fresh, spicy, floral, citrus top note (organic, cold-expressed from the fruit peel, bergaptene free, bergamot essential oil)
- Cedarwood – Woody, balsamic, rich dry overtones base note (organic, steam distilled from wood and sawdust cedarwood essential oil)
- Bulgarian Rose – Very rich, deep, sweet-floral, slightly spicy middle note (organic, steam distilled from flower petals Bulgarian rose essential oil)
- Orange – Sweet, sugary, and citrus top note (organic, cold-pressed from the fruit peel organic essential oil)
- Geranium – Heavy, sweet, floral middle note (organic, steam distilled from flowers and leaves geranium essential oil)
This is not an extensive list as there are hundreds of essential oils out there, but it’s a great starting point. Essential oils react differently in our bodies. So an oil that works great for me, may not work for you. It’s all about experimenting and finding what works for you.
How to Use Essential Oils for Relaxation
Now that you have a list of relaxing essential oils, how do you use them? Well, there are many ways to incorporate them into your routine including:
Diffusing – This is a great way to create a calming, spa like environment in your home. Add 4-6 drops (or whatever your diffuser directions say) of any of the oils above and turn it on. A great calming combination to diffuse is lavender and cedarwood. For small children only a few drops are necessary.
Here is a great tutorial for DIY Essential Oil Reed Diffuser Air Fresheners and these DIY Essential Oil Diffuser Necklaces would make a great gift (for others and yourself)! Also, you don’t want to miss our post for How to Make Essential Oil Blends for Personal Inhalers.
Massage – Dilute the essential oils with a carrier oil for an amazing, relaxing massage. Not sure what a carrier is or which one to use? Check out this post that explains several of our favorite carrier oils.
For your sore muscles you will surely love our DIY ‘Kitty Balm’ Recipe (like Tiger Balm®). You should check out our lovely DIY body butter recipes, too…and the beautiful body butters that Jess sells in the Pronounce Skincare shop!
Also note that when using essential oils externally on children (and adults, too!), it’s important to safely dilute them according to their age. According to “Aromatherapy for the Healthy Child“ these are considered safe dilution ratios:
Age | Essential Oil per 1 oz Carrier Oil |
---|---|
Newborn – 6 months | 0-1 drop |
6-12 months | 1-2 drops |
1-4 years | 1-5 drops |
5-7 years | 3-6 drops |
8-12 years | 5-10 drops |
Healthy Adults | 12 drops |
This is a handy chart for healthy adults that you might want to ‘pin’ and keep around, too…
Baths – Essential oils can be added to Epsom salts or diluted in a small amount of carrier oil and added to your bath. Once again for little ones, only a few drops of oil is necessary. Word of caution: do not add essential oils directly to the bath water. Always mix with epsom salt, bath gel, or a carrier oil. Essential oils and water do not mix so your oils will just sit on the top of the water which can cause skin irritation.
Here are two non-toxic bubble bath recipes that use essential oils and this is a fantastic DIY Bath Soak Recipe (that helps Jess’s toddler’s eczema!) Perhaps DIY Chlorine-Blasting Bath Bombs might work well for you and your water (and this post talks about a fantastic whole house water filtration system Jess and her hubby installed themselves).
Linen or Room Spray – It is so easy to make a calming room spray. Add 3-5 drops of your oils to a 2 oz spray bottle and fill it with water. Shake it up and spray in the air or on your linens before bed.
Here is a great DIY Room Freshening Spray and here are some tips for cleaning the air with essential oils.
It doesn’t have to be complicated to enjoy the benefits of calming essential oils.
What are your favorite calming and relaxing essential oils? What would you add to our list?
*for information regarding EOs during pregnancy this is a good read, and also check with your health care professional
Comments 1
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