Essential Oils are more than just lovely smells, there is actually a therapeutic process going on in your nose which affects the limbic system in the brain; the area that governs the emotion center. Our nose is the fastest way to reach the limbic system.
As David K Hill, Chairman, Scientific Advisory Committee for doTerra says ” Essential oils are simply a mixture of volatile aromatic compounds. These compounds are able to interact with the olfactory (smell) receptors in the nose. Our sense of smell can have a profound effect on our emotions, and simply inhaling the aroma can elicit an emotional response. The smell receptors located on the upper surface of the nasal cavity make direct links with the limbic system of the brain, where the scent is perceived and processed.”
And from there the brain sends signals via the nervous system to other parts of the body, so smelling essential oils is just as beneficial as ingesting them and rubbing them on your skin. This can literally be done by smelling the bottle or diffusing them in a diffuser.
Healing
Essential oils can assist us with our emotional healing, but they can’t do the work for us. According to the book, Emotions and Essential Oils, here are five stages of healing with Essential oils.
1. Assisting us in healing the physical body
2. Assisting us in healing the heart
3. Assisting us in releasing limiting beliefs
4. Increase spiritual awareness and connection
5. Inspire the fulfilment of our life’s purpose
In this book there is a description for each oil and I have found them to be so spot on with what I have experienced and felt after smelling the oils.
For eg:
• Cedarwood is the Oil of Community
• Clary Sage is the oils of Clarity and Vision
• Douglas Fir is the Oil of Generational Wisdom
• Frankincense is the Oil of Truth
Tools
There are many tools out there now to guide you, apart from intuition, with Emotions and Essential Oils, there’s also an app for your phone called Essential Emotions Reference. You can buy along with the book a wheel chart you can use to select what emotion you are feeling or want to feel, and the corresponding oil you can use.
I have even tried a therapy where when you get in touch with a memory you want to clear, you smell the bottle until the memory fades or changes intensity.
doTerra even have a set of oil blends that target emotions: Peace, Motivate, Passion, Cheer, Console, Forgive.
So Essential Oils aren’t just lovely smells, they actually are emotionally therapeutic.