Health, happiness, and oils!

Health, happiness, and oils!

Monthly Archives: December 2013

Ginger Essential Oil

28 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by lazycatoils in Essential Oils

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essential oil, essential oils, ginger

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is something most of us are probably familiar with – especially at this time of year with gingerbread being a fairly common treat over the holidays!  Many people use ginger root in tea or food preparation to aid in getting over a cold (or help keep one at bay when you feel it coming) and to help with digestion.

The essential oil is steam distilled from the root of the ginger plant.  As well as digestion mentioned above, Ginger EO is good for helping combat nausea and motion sickness.  It is good for respiratory issues like congestion and is an expectorant (helping you get rid of the mucous build up).  It is also a warming oil that is beneficial to circulation and can have some benefit on arthritis and muscle aches.

A couple of things to keep in mind – ginger is an anti-coagulant and the EO is photosensitive (meaning it shouldn’t be used on an area that will be exposed to sunlight within 24 hours).

This is an energizing EO that I’m looking forward to using a bit more often in the new year and while I seem to have gotten away from eating ginger in the past few months, I plan to correct that – starting with some ginger cookies that I’ve made.  Okay maybe not the best way to get my ginger but it is tasty!

Myrrh Essential Oil

14 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by lazycatoils in Essential Oils

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essential oil, essential oils, myrrh, resin, skin care

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh – words that many of us associate with this time of year! As the story goes, these gifts were brought by the wisemen to the baby Jesus.

Myrrh (Commiphora myrrha) is a great essential oil that has been used as an incense and for medicinal purposes for centuries. It is an astringent EO with antiseptic and antimicrobial properties and helps support the immune system. It is often used in mouthwash and tooth powders to aid in the prevention of gum disease. Myrrh is a wound healing EO and is used in ointments applied to minor skin abrasions.

The essential oil is distilled from the resin of the trees. Resin is the substance that ‘bleeds’ from a tree when it is cut or tapped. Kind of like tapping a maple tree to get syrup except that the resin for myrrh is much thicker and hardens when it is exposed to the air.

I find it a very calming EO that does wonders for my skin as well, helping to tighten and soothe it – especially useful at this time of year!

Reflexology

07 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by lazycatoils in General Health

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Jan Benham, reflexology

My path to find my current teacher, Jan Benham, started in 2011 with an internet search on reflexology courses. I wanted to find a class that did not involve me taking an entire year or two year long massage therapy course. My search led me to Jan’s website and my path shifted slightly as I decided to actively pursue the aromatherapy side of things.

This past week Jan announced her course schedule for 2014 and she’ll be teaching reflexology in Toronto in October 2014! You can find a full list of Jan’s classes here: http://www.aromashoppe.com/course-schedule-52-c.asp

What is reflexology? It is the application of pressure on specific areas of the feet and hands (generally). The areas correspond with zones in the rest of the body and the stimulation of the area helps the zone rebalance.

Personally I have long believed that taking care of your feet helps your entire body. There are over 7,000 nerve endings in the feet and they do quite a lot of work everyday. And most times we don’t even think about them. Even when our feet are tired and sore, we are generally apt to just sit for a while to rest and not do anything directly to assist our feet.

While it is several months away, I’m looking forward with great anticipation to taking the reflexology course next October!

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