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A Natural Apothecary with Young Living Oils – Part III

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This is Part III of how to use Young Living oils every day as a natural apothecary.  These amazing oils can be used to relieve pain, to reduce stress or depression, or to fight colds, to name just a few of the many benefits.  Better quality oils generate more therapeutic effects.  If you use an oil of lesser quality, it might have little to no effect at all.  This isn’t because essential oils aren’t beneficial, it’s because that particular oil has little to no therapeutic value.  As with so many products, quality makes a difference.  For my family, I want the very best essential oil that I can find.

If you have not read Part I or Part II please read those as well.  Once again, when I suggest ingesting an oil I am only talking about Young Living essential oils.  I personally would never ingest any other oil and I would never recommend doing so with any other oil.

Lemon – This is such an amazing oil.  Can you think of any  substance that can eat through styrofoam with just one drop and also be safely used on an infant?  I certainly can’t.  Here is a fun thing to do with your kids – one drop of YL lemon oil on a styrofoam cup.  Watch as it instantly begins to eat away at the chemicals in the cup.  It’s pretty cool.  It makes me think about all those uninvited chemicals that are floating around in my body and I wonder (and hope) that when I add some lemon to my water or on my skin it is able to eat up all those unwanted invaders.  I really hope so.  Lemon oil gives a boost to our immune systems and is gentle enough for infants and young children.  It’s also part of my anti-wrinkle, brighten up my skin bed time routine (see the recipe under Frankincense below).  It is a photosensitive oil so use on areas that are not exposed to direct sunlight (like the bottom of the feet) if you are going outside after applying.  Here is a link to a PubMed abstract about D-limonene, which is found in lemon oil, and it’s clinical applications.

  • I like to add  a few drops to my water bottle for taste and so that I get a nice dose of limonene, an antitumoral that has been shown to not only inhibit tumor growth but to regress it as well.
  • Permanent marker on your walls?  Not a match for lemon oil.  Also works on sticky residues as well.
  • Massage into the feet for an immune boost if you are sick or feel like you might be coming down with something.  Can be used on infants, children or adults.

Purification – This is such a handy oil to have around the house.  It is awesome at deodorizing unwanted smells like my dogs when they are in need of a bath or when, on the very rare occasion,  I forget my laundry in the washing machine for a day too long.  My favorite ways for using this oil are…

  • A few drops in a spray bottle with water.  I use it in the bathrooms, on the dogs beds, even on the dogs themselves!
  • As a bug repellent, use the same spray bottle and spray clothes, skin or dogs to repel bugs.  Also use directly, undiluted,  on a bug bite.
  • A few drops on a cotton ball and vacuum up and you will deodorize your rooms as you clean them!
  • Use to clean cuts & scrapes.

Frankincense - I love Frankincense (ok, I love them all)!  At first I was not that  enamored with this oil when I got it.  But it has certainly grown on me.  I love using it at night before bed on my face.   It is a great oil for meditation or prayer and has shown in numerous studies it’s ability to shut down cancer cells without harming healthy cells ( genius!).  For links to that study and a lot more information about this incredible oil please see my post, “The Awesome Power of Frankincense”. Frankincense supports the immune system, is an anti-tumoral and is also great for skin.

  • Anti -wrinkle routine:  One drop lemon – use only at night, brightens skin (and lightens sun spots).  One drop frankincense & one drop lavender.  I put them on one by one.   As our skin cells take at least 30 days to regenerate do this at night for at least that amount of time.  I have personally seen improvement in less time though.
  • If you feel sick this oil can be taken internally, diffused or applied right on area of concern.  If you take internally, start with 3 drops in a double oo capsule.
  • Use one drop directly on warts or moles.  Repeat as often as needed until the desired effect has been achieved.

I hope you have enjoyed this three part series.  I have just touched on some of the many, many uses for these oils.  All of the oils in this three part series can be found in the Everyday Oils kit.  It is an awesome kit to have whether you are new to oils or have been using them for years.  The small bottles are perfect to keep in your bag or are great to travel with.  I love sharing these oils and I know that once you try them you will notice the difference.  Please contact me if you have any questions about any Young Living oils or products.

Can’t wait to get started using Young Living Oils?  Great! See my “How to Order Young Living Oils” page for more details.

Francine Smith blogs about Young Living Essential oils.  You can find more posts at www.younglivinglife.com

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A Natural Apothecary with Young Living Essential Oils – Part II

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This is the second of a three-part series.  Please note that when I speak of ingesting an essential oil, I am talking about ingesting only Young Living essential oils.  I would never recommend any other brand of essential oil.  If you would like to read Part I please check it out here.

Peppermint – I love this oil!  It is hard to pick favorites but if I had to, peppermint would be in my top ten.  It is one of my first-aid oils so I always have some on hand.  One drop of peppermint oil is equal to 28 cups of peppermint tea!  Essential oils are so concentrated, which is why one drop can be so effective.  For more information on how peppermint oil has been shown to reduce the symptons of I.B.S see this post.  Studies have also shown that by smelling peppermint you will feel more satiated after a meal.  Smelling peppermint will also help to soothe any feelings of nausea.

  • In water.  One drop (seriously, that is all you need) in a 32 oz bottle of water.  I keep used glass juice bottles around and use them to keep oil flavored waters on hand.  Peppermint is my favorite flavor for water.  It cools in the summer, soothes upset stomachs quickly and tastes sooooooo good.
  • Fever reducer.  When my son awoke in the middle of the night uncomfortable with a fever he said no to medicine but yes to oils.  I put 1-2 drops of peppermint oil on each foot and in less than 10 minutes his fever was dropping and he was able to get back to sleep (and so did I!).
  • One drop in your hand , rub hands together and inhale deeply….aaahhhhhhhhh!  Helps with sinus troubles and can also help with mental clarity and focus.
  • A drop across the brow can alleviate headaches.  Why use an oil over headache meds?  Oils work faster.  Really.  Way faster.  It’s very cool.

Peace & Calming – This is the oil that really got me started on Young Living.  My kids were having a hard time settling down at night and I was in need of some help.  My mother (aren’t mothers the best?) gave me a bottle of Peace & Calming.  Honestly, this was not my favorite scent (I do love it now) but reluctantly I gave it a try.  Long story short, after witnessing a miracle ( yes, it was!) when my kids finally fell asleep, I ran to my computer to see if I could order a vat of this stuff.

  • Peace & Calming. Knocks. Me. Out.  If I can’t sleep or have a chatty mind at bedtime, a drop on my neck or wrists or even on my feet will do the trick.  My kids love this oil (it was made for kids) and they drift off to sleep much faster when we use it.
  • Eases anxiety and can be used if you are stressed.
  • Can soothe cranky or hyper children.  I have seen my kids go from cranky to calm with just a drop or two.  If you have young kids you want this oil.  It’s amazing!

PanAway - Rocks!  If you have any pain, this is an oil that you want.  It is a blend that has wintergreen, helichrysum, clove and peppermint.  What do these oils do?  They will help reduce pain and inflammation, increase circulation and accelerate healing.  They will relieve swelling and discomfort from arthritis, sprains, and muscles spasms.  The two main ingredients in Bengay are methyl salicylate, which is wintergreen, and menthol, which is synthetic peppermint oil.  So why use the diluted, synthetic version for pain relief when you can use the pure undiluted essential oil?  Yeah, I have no idea why you would want to either.

  • Apply directly on area of pain – it doesn’t get much easier than that. If you have sore muscles, sciatica,arthritis or any kind of muscle or ligament pain.  Apply liberally.
  • Use across the brow or on the temples for headache relief.
  • Can also be used on pets to reduce arthritic pain.

Of course, these are just a few suggestions for what to do with these oils.  You can use Young Living oils in so many different ways, everyday.  Part of the fun is finding out what the oils can do for you.

Part III will be coming soon.  I would LOVE to hear how you use your favorite essential oils (hint, hint – some feedback please!)

Can’t wait to get started using Young Living Oils?  Great! See my “How to Order Young Living Oils” page for more details.

Francine Smith blogs about Young Living Essential oils.  You can find more posts at www.younglivinglife.com

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I got the secret sauce!

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Most of the posts on this blog are based on studies or newspaper articles showing how essential oils can help us live a healthier life.  All of that is really important to me but, at the end of the day, what matters to me most is my family.  When I do something or find something that helps my family I feel like I have done my job well.  I feel like I got the brass ring so to speak.  

Just over two weeks ago my son, who is 5 years old, fell at school while he was at recess and broke his nose.  Thanks to the lousy reception I get on my phone I did not get any messages for some time.  There I am at the gym just getting into a run on the treadmill, thinking of going a bit longer than usual, when I finally get a text from my husband saying he is on his way to urgent care. Needless to say I’m in my car in 60 seconds driving 5 mph in the pouring rain (Seriously???? I live in the desert!!!! ).

I get there and they are in x-ray so I have to wait a few more minutes.  It’s been almost 2 hours since the accident and it is such a relief for all of us, me, my husband and my son when I finally do see him.  I give him a big hug and just hold him for a bit, and when we were all settled I took out my "secret sauce".  On my drive up I was trying to remember what essential oils I had with me and I was hoping that I had lavender because that has worked so well with bruises and swelling in the past.  When I opened my bag I realized all I had was a bottle of valor.  When I was at convention Dr. Minke noted how good valor was for bruises and swelling so I had faith in it even though I had not used it before for that purpose.  Immediately, and I really mean immediately, after putting a drop, maybe two, ofvalor on his face, both my husband and I could see that some of the swelling went down.

 

There really isn’t anything they can do for a broken nose, they don’t set it and there is no cast to help it mend.  After trying to give him some Tylenol, which he has never liked, they said there was nothing else they could do.  It was too late for ice, which he would not have taken anyway, so we finished the paper work and headed home. Over the next week I went on to use either valor, lavender or copaiba on him when ever I could.  Basically, I used whatever I had near him when I thought about it.  Of course, it took some time for all the swelling to go and of course he did get some purple bruises around his eyes.  But, in less than two weeks his nose had set and the Dr. said it would take about 4.  His teachers, the ENT Dr., the nurses and many others have all commented on how quickly he has healed and how surprised they were that the swelling and bruising weren’t worse.  I smile and say to myself – I got the secret sauce!

9/22/10 I put some more oil on him when we got home.

          9/26/10 Out for some gelato with his big sister.  Note the dark spots on his nose, cheeks and chin are chocolate not bruising!           10/6/10 All better and as cheeky as ever!

 
Can’t wait to get started using Young Living Oils?  Great! See my “How to Order Young Living Oils” page for more details.

Francine Smith blogs about Young Living Essential oils.  You can find more posts at www.younglivinglife.com

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Young Living Essential Oils, Kids & Parenting

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When I first started using Young Living oils over 10 years ago it was because I fell in love with the scent of pure essential oils.  Once I smelled the blend Joy for the first time I never wore perfume again – ever.  My nose could no longer accept synthetic scents and my only choice was to use pure essential oils or nothing.  Even though I enjoyed the oils, I wasn’t sure how to use them and without all the information that is now available thanks to the internet I stopped using them for a number of years.  My mother who started with the oils when I did, continued to use them and benefit from them.  Every so often I would have her get me a bottle of Gentle Baby or Lavender to keep on hand.

Last year when my kids were 3 and 6 years old we were having a hard time getting them to settle down for the night.  We lived in Brooklyn, NY at the time and although I love city living it is a bit more stressful for everyone, including kids.  I was using lavender at night, putting it on their wrists or on their pillows and at first there was a bit of resistence but in time they enjoyed the new bedtime routine.  Then one night I realized I ran out of lavender, actually I think I just misplaced it, but either way it was gone.  It was time for bed and my son was not interested in going to sleep.  My mother, wonderful person that she is, had given me a bottle of Peace and Calming which was sitting on the shelf.  Now, to be honest, Peace and Calming was not my favorite scent so I was a bit unsure about using it but I needed to try something so I put it on my wrists and walked into my sons room and waved my arms around a bit.  In less than 60 seconds he finished getting dressed for bed and got into bed with a book.  It all happened so fast my husband and I looked at each other in amazement and that was when I knew these oils were something altogether different.  I had in my hands something that could soothe my kids in a safe and effective way and it was practically instantaneous.  WOW!

Now when they are hurt or upset they ask for the oils.  In the last year I have used Gentle Baby to soothe tired and cranky children, again with very fast results.  I’ve  used peppermint to cool a fever so my son could get back to sleep.  And I’ve used lavender over and over again for bumps, bruises, burns, cuts & bug bites.  The oils have slowly but surely become a part of our life, a life that I feel better about.  As my collection of oils has grown, our medicine cabinets have become more and more sparse.  We have children’s motrin if we should need it but we haven’t needed it in quite a while.  I will always see a Doctor if my kids are sick but I will also use my oils and I find that when they do get sick, as they will from time to time, an oil like Thieves is amazing in helping them get better faster and keeps the rest of us from getting it.  Big yeah for that!

When I tell people I use essential oils sometimes I get a certain look.  Like they are trying to figure out if I am for real or not, kind of like they heard what I just said but don’t really understand what I mean.  I don’t blame them because I know so many people simply do not understand what these oils can do.  There are so few places to get pure essential oils and the stuff they sell in the stores is often not pure so it makes sense that most have no idea of the power of therapeutic grade essential oils.  What I love, love, love is when someone jumps in and tries them.  I love getting that phone call, the “Oh my God”  phone call.  The “I used this on that and it worked so fast” phone call.  Because even though they hear what I’m saying or read the studies or whatever I think most people do not expect these oils to work the way that they do and when they do – wow!  Are the oils for everyone?  Nothing is for everyone but if you are looking for a way to take care of yourself, your family, even your pets, using less chemicals and more natural products than you may very well be looking for these oils.

From the moment I conceived my first child, and I have two now, I have been concerned about what “touched” them.  What foods, what TV shows, what schools they went to – and I know at times I have probably been too concerned over some things and not concerned enough about others – hey, that’s just parenting for you.  When I started with the oils, though I used caution, I felt like I found something that I could use that wasn’t tainted.  So often we discover that a product that might be good for you one minute, may turn out to be avoided like the plague the next.  With essential oils I am not using some faddish, new & improved product.  I’m using natural plants.  This stuff has been around for thousands of years.  There are over 1oo biblical references of essential oils , the Egyptians wrote formulas in hieroglyphics, tomb raiders left jewels and stole the oils because that is how valuable they were.  So I’m not worried that a report is going to come out next week that tells me that Frankincense is bad for me, actually a report will probably be coming out about how good it is for me.  I am cautious, I check which oils are ok for kids and in the last year every time I’ve used the oils on them it has been a positive experience.  Just the other day, my daughter was playing with a changing room door and smashed her finger.  She was quite upset and in a fair amount of pain and anyone nearby knew it, but as I put the oil on and asked her if it felt better she was still fussing a bit but it wasn’t because of her pain.  She was still in the mode of expressing her pain but her pain was no longer there.  Once she got it, that the pain was gone, she was up and out the door and ready to jump in the pool.  No need for ice, no swelling – I’ve never seen kids heal as fast and get over the upset and move on as when I use the oils.

As a parent I’ve noticed that when I’m feeling stressed, my kids can take on that stress.  I try, and sometimes I even succeed, to reduce my stress before it grows bigger and bigger.  I grab an oil and it is such a relief.  It makes me stop and smell something wonderful, that alone will reduce stress, but then all the amazing constituents get into my blood stream and get to work.  It is, hands down, one of the biggest benefits of using the oils.  They are easy to carry around, so I always have a couple of oils on hand, and when I need them I am so happy to have them because they work – fast.  Whatever your need is – easing stress, pain relief, more focus – there is an oil that can satisfy that need at anytime.

Can’t wait to get started using Young Living Oils?  Great! See my “How to Order Young Living Oils” page for more details.

Francine Smith blogs about Young Living Essential oils.  You can find more posts at www.younglivinglife.wordpress.com

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