The Beginner’s Complete Essential Oils Guide (and the Top Ten Most Used and Useful)

– Justin

What Are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are the plant’s own ‘medicine cabinet’ — protecting against infection, warding off invaders, and healing. Because are bodies are also carbon based, when we use essential oils they feel ‘at home’ and go to work on our behalf, helping our bodies to heal themselves, addressing core physical, emotional and spiritual issues as the root of disease.

Ultimately, “essential oils are a complex mixture of literally hundreds of different chemical constituents, including various terpenes, esters, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, oxides and more. Many of these chemical constituents have demonstrated properties in scientific research studies ranging from antibacterial to anticancerous to antioxidant, stress relieving, anti-inflammatory and so on.” (Source: Modern Essentials)

Essential oils are also extremely effective, having 50-75% more potency than herbs. When using essential oils, a little bit goes a long way. One or two drops is often sufficient.

Do Your Homework

If you’re seeking to use essential oils to promote healing in your life, one of the most important factors to consider is quality. The quality of an essential oil is key to it’s ultimate effectiveness (or ineffectiveness.) Food grade or synthetic oils will not assist your body in healing. Only therapeutic grade oils can do this, where obviously the purer the better.

Do your homework before investing in essential oils. While many companies may claim to have ‘quality’ or ‘pure’ essential oils, each company’s definition of those terms may vary. What does ‘quality’ mean to them? How do they define it? Is their definition of ‘pure’ the same as the FDA, which only requires 10% of pure oil in a bottle in order to be labeled ‘pure’?

One hundred percent pure essential oils are the safest to use. This means that there is nothing in the bottle except for the pure extract from the plant — no weeds, no pesticides, no fillers, nothing foreign. This level of quality in an oil will provide the greatest potency for wellness, and offer few or no side effects when used properly.

What do Essential Oils Do?

Essential oils work with our bodies to support them in performing their normal functions, such as fighting bacteria and viruses and regenerating cells. Some of the properties of essential oils include (but are not limited to):

• antibacterial
• anticatarrhal (removes mucus)
• antidepressant
• antifungal
• anti-infectious
• anti-inflammatory
• antimicrobrial (destroys pathogens)
• antiparasitic
• antirheumatic
• antiseptic (destroys macrobes)
• antispasmodic
• antiviral (inhibits growth of viruses)
• analgesic (relieves pain)
• Immune-stimulant

As you can see, essential oils have a lot to offer as natural remedies that can holistically assist and support our body’s as they perform their natural functions of renewing, healing and regenerating.

How Do I Use Them?

Essential oils will be most effective when incorporated into a holistic lifestyle, which begins with a proper foundation of nutrition, exercise, rest, stress reduction, and detoxification, followed by a proactive approach to self-care and informed medical care, when needed.

When it comes to using essential oils (the ‘proactive self-care’ part on the pyramid), consistency and frequency are key to success. For example, when handling acute challenges (onset of a cold or flu, headaches, etc.) applying 1-2 drops every 15-30 minutes will have more effect than lathering on dozens of drops only once.

If you’re dealing with chronic issues (pain, carcinomas, diabetes, arthritis etc.), then using the oils on a daily basis for an extended period of time will assist in healing. (Disease doesn’t happen over night, it develops over time. When we use natural healing, it also takes time to help our body reverse the effects of disease.)

One hundred percent pure essential oils can be used in the following ways (use caution when using oils that are not 100% pure, as they can be unsafe to apply topically or take internally):

Aromatically

Our sense of smell is a powerful way to reach our brain and olfactory system. Diffusing or inhaling essential oils can be a powerful way to affect memory, hormones, and emotions through this system. Inhaling oils can also have a quick and powerful effect on the sinuses, larynx, bronchial tubes and lungs. Some ways we can effectively inhale oils include:

• direct inhalation from the bottle
• 1-2 drops in hands, cupped over mouth and nose
• diffused into the room (via a diffuser)

Topically

Here are some ideas for using essential oils topically:

• direct application
• massage
• clinical techniques and applications (such as articular therapy, chiropractic, etc.)
• compresses
• baths
• reflexology
• acupuncture

One-hundred percent pure essential oils can be applied directly to the area of concern (certain oils may need to be diluted due to their strength or with sensitive skin, such as oregano or cinnamon.) One to three drops are usually adequate. The feet are the second fastest area of the body to absorb oils. Diluting oils with fractionated coconut oil is recommended for massage or for infants and small children.

Some people believe that essential oils that are not safe to take internally are still safe to apply topically, but because whatever you apply to your skin is absorbed into your body, you are, in essence, taking them internally when applying them topically, so only the purest, therapeutic grade oils should be used.

Essential oils are so small in molecular size that they can quickly penetrate the skin and enter the body’s blood stream.

Below is a chart showing how and where (and which oils) can be used to effect different body systems using reflexology on the feet. Reflexology can also be used on the hands or ears, and remember, essential oils can also be applied directly to the area of concern (i.e. on the stomach for a stomach ache.)

Internally

One-hundred percent pure essential oils are unique in that they can be consumed or internalized into the body. (Only pure, therapeutic grade essential oils should be used for internal consumption. Here are some ideas:

• added to a beverage (i.e. lemon in water to detoxify, cassia in smoothies.)
• taken in capsules
• used in cooking or recipes (however heating essential oils can alter their therapeutic benefits.)
• inserted vaginally or rectally (i.e. yeast infection, hemorrhoids, etc.)

Internal consumption of oils is especially beneficial when you’re trying to support those body systems, such as the digestive track. Drinking lemon or other citrus oil in water on a daily basis is a great practice for helping your body detoxify.

Precautions!!

1. If redness or irritation occurs when using essential oils topically, apply an oil – such as fractionated coconut oil or olive oil – to the affected area.
2. Essential oils should not be used in the eyes, inside the ear canal, or in open wounds. In the event of accidental contact with the eye, dilute with an oil NOT water.
3. Do NOT consume an essential oil internally unless labeled with a Supplement Facts box with specific dietary supplement, use instructions, and warnings.
4. Discontinue the use of an essential oil if you experience severe skin, stomach, or respiratory irritation or discomfort.
5. When using on children, apply a very small amount of the oil to test skin or other sensitivity. Do not use oil on a very small child’s hand as they may transfer to their eyes or mouth.

Because of their complex nature, one single essential oil can be used to address a variety of issues. For example, melaleuca, because of it chemical makeup, has the following properties:

• antibacterial
• antifungal
• antiinflammatory
• antimicrobial
• antiviral

You may have athletes foot, and decide to use melaleuca to treat it. Because of it’s complex structure, it is also boosting your immune system, and helping your body fight microbes. And unlike traditional over-the-counter and prescription medicines, you could use your melaleuca not only to treat athlete’s foot, but acne, boils, candida, canker sores, cavities, cold sores, coughs, ear infections, gum disease, hepatitis, lice, rashes, sore throats, staph infections, thrush and more (where else would you use only one medication to treat so many maladies? That’s why I love essential oils!)

However, because our bodies are also carbon organisms with complex chemical makeups, not all people respond equally to essential oils. Melaleuca may be effective for you in healing your athlete’s foot, but I may have better success with rosemary or thyme, simply due to the chemical differences we have as individual human beings.

When you begin using essential oils, it’s best to start with a variety of the ‘most useful’. This is so that you can have a wide-range of oils, not only to try on the variety of health issues you may encounter, but also to test with your body’s own chemistry to see which oils work best with you.
Top 10 Most Used (and Useful) Essential Oils

The following lists are not complete (meaning, there are more uses and properties to these oils than I could include )

Finish Reading here:

http://www.holisticdad.net/2013/12/23/beginners-essential-oils-guide/#sthash.U97eSSLC.dpuf

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http://www.holisticdad.net/2013/12/23/beginners-essential-oils-guide/