Breathwork –  or diaphragmatic breathing – is a powerful tool for calming the body and mind and sending safety cues to your nervous system to help activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Your breath feeds and cleans your cells and supports efficient tissue repair.  Supporting healthy breathing can also really help to release tension, alleviate anxiety, and boost mood.  When you are afraid, your first reaction is to hold your breath – which can increase feelings of anxiety, rachet up your body’s stress response, and interfere with healthy sleep patterns. Essential oils can b ..read more

Anything that interferes with the flow of fluid or energy in your body blocks your ability to carry oxygen and nutrients to and remove toxins and waste from the cells.   This, in turn, significantly interferes with your ability to heal. These “interference fields” can include anything that creates an energetic or physical obstruction that compromises or prevents oxygen, nutrients, blood flow, and waste removal – which allows the cells in your body to regenerate and heal.  Over time, these obstructions may contribute to symptoms of chronic illness. Essential oils can help open an ..read more

I stumbled upon a blind spot in my healing. It has not been fun.  In fact, over the past week, I have been experiencing more overwhelm, fatigue, lethargy, distractibility, and lack of productivity than ever before in my life. The trigger was not a surprise to anyone but me. My former husband –  the driver in the car accident that killed my son and his friends – completed his prison sentence and was released last week.   The emotions this has released in me – all of the unspoken grief, anger, sadness, disappointment, and rage that my ex may never be able to discuss bubbled u ..read more

I am always cold. I keep my thermostat at 74 degrees and get cold when it drops below 72. I long suspected that my thyroid was to blame for my inability to regulate body temperature, but only recently learned that the vagus nerve and other systems of the body that can be supported by essential oils, play a key role in thermoregulation, the biological mechanism responsible for maintaining a steady internal body temperature. What is Thermoregulation? Thermoregulation is a homeostatic process that maintains a steady internal body temperature despite changes in your external environment.&nbs ..read more

I recently suffered a pretty painful betrayal. From a friend whom I trusted and supported for almost a decade.   Definitely a knife through the heart experience that stirred up not just pain and sadness, but clarity. I realized that I had noticed — but chose to ignore — red flags for years, both in the way this person treated others and the way they treated me. In other words, I had allowed disrespectful and undermining behavior by not standing up for myself or others.  And what is almost worse, I rationalized and made excuses for this person even when I knew in my heart that th ..read more

Inhalation of essential oils is one of the fastest, direct and most effective ways to shift your health. Research on Therapeutic Effects and Mechanisms of Essential Oils found that “Inhalation is the fastest and most effective way to induce responses in the central nervous system within a few seconds, altering blood flow in the body by controlling circulation through the autonomous nervous system.” Your sense of smell, which is part of the olfactory system, is one of the most powerful channels into the body.  In fact, your olfactory system is unique among the sensory systems for ..read more

Your limbic system works with your nervous system to help you regulate your emotions, like anger and fear.   In fact, your limbic system is often referred to as the “emotional nervous system” as it helps control your emotion health in combination with your parasympathetic nervous system. As you may know, your limbic system is a complex set of brain structures that helps you regulate emotional and social processing, as well as learning, motivation, and memory. Your limbic system in wired to respond to sensory information – especially the sense of smell – making essential oil ..read more

Your body stores toxic emotions along with physical toxins – like metals, mold and pathogens.  When you mobilize physical toxins, it is common to mobilize emotional toxins as well.  If you are unable to process and release emotional toxins, it can impede the progress of your physical detox. Research on the Health-promoting and health-damaging effects of emotions found that unprocessed negative emotions “appear to be associated and/or promote disease and ill-health.”  “The health-deleterious impact of negative emotion” – like anger, fear, sadness, grief, anxiety, and depression ..read more

Your parasympathetic “rest and digest” branch of your nervous system promotes gut health and has been found to reduce intestinal permeability or leaky gut. More specifically, your vagus nerve – the principal component of your parasympathetic nervous system – senses your gut microbiome and responds by dampening inflammation which decreases intestinal permeability (i.e. leaky gut), according to research on The Vagus Nerve at the Interface of the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis. As you may know, your body prioritizes survival.  This means that when you perceive any kind of mental, physical or emot ..read more

I have long noted – and personally experienced – that when I am stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, I literally cannot connect in a heart centered way, problem solve or think clearly. I only see the problems or the threats and cannot seem to see options for solutions or see the perspective of others. So I don’t even try. Instead, I focus on activating on my parasympathetic nervous system. The minute I calm my “fight or flight” impulse and begin to feel safe, I can calm down and effectively problem solve. I have spent years trying to find the science to explain what I am personally experiencing ..read more