Aromatherapy for the Mind
Top 10 Essential Oils for Mental Health
“I believe that for every illness or ailment known to man, that God has a plant out here that will heal it. We just need to keep discovering the properties of natural healing.”
― Vannoy Gentles Fite
**Disclaimer- This blog post is not medical advise, be sure to consult with your primary care doctor before trying out new aromatherapy methods.**
As a massage therapist, it would be remiss of me to not post about one of my favorite wellness tools. Aromatherapy is a simple and practical method used in my everyday practice to encourage the wellbeing of my clients mind and body.
Investing in your health is probably the single greatest form of self-investment. It is only when you get a runny nose that you truly apprecite the simple act of breathing. We too often take for granted the amazingly consitent machine our bodies are. Our bodies do an excellent job of keeping us alive and protected even though we abuse them with little sleep, poor nutrition, and minimal movement.
The world we live in today is viewed through a sedentary screen. We keep up with our friends through likes online, get groceries delivered, more and more jobs are remote and we can even find a life partner on an app! The future is here!
Yet with all those technological advantages more people are depressed and anxious than ever. You would think with all the extra time we save by working and living online we would feel more free and happy, yet it seems to be the oppostie. Self-neglect is at an all time high.
We are the most well connected, disconnected generation yet.
Thankfully I can see the tide turning. People are starting to value mental health, genuine connection, and authenticity again. Using technology to promote wellbeing instead of allowing it to further seperate us. Genuine self-investment takes you as you are and supports gentle and hollistic growth forward.
The mind and body work in tandem, a team of thought and feeling that make up the unique you you see in the mirror everyday. Self-neglect is hard to avoid in the fast-paced culture we live in today. Those with senstive souls can especially struggle to maintain their carefully balanced peace. Keeping anxiety, stress, and depressive tendencies at bay sometimes requires an extra step or two.
At some point or another, you have probably come across aromatherapy or essential oils. With the current push towards holistic health practices, tools like aromatherapy applications are becoming more well-known.
Whether they are intended for healing or you simply enjoy the smell, essential oils pack more of a punch than we often give them credit for.
What Is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy is a holistic healing treatment that uses natural plant extracts to promote health and well-being. Holistic meaning: “Characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the symptoms of a disease.”
Sometimes called essential oil therapy, aromatherapy uses aromatic essential oils as medicine to improve the health of the body, mind, and spirit. These essential oils, when combined, directly promote the enhancement of both physical and emotional health.
Essential oils are made through a handful of various methods: Steam distillation, solvent extraction, CO2 Extraction, Maceration, Enfleurage, Cold Press Extraction, Water Distillation, and lastly Water and Steam Distillation.
In this post, I will highlight only one: Steam Distillation, the most popular method. This method is used to extract and isolate essential oils from plants. This happens when the steam vaporizes the plant material’s volatile compounds, which eventually go through a condensation and collection process. It can take several pounds of a plant to produce a single bottle of essential oil, making each bottle precious.
For the full list of processes and explanations see here.
Using plant extracts as a method of healing is not new on the scene. Aromatherapy has been around for thousands of years. Ancient cultures in China, India, Egypt, and elsewhere have incorporated aromatic plant components in resins, balms, and oils. These natural components were used for both medical and religious purposes, which has continued to evolve into these modern times.
Top 10 Essential Oils for Mental Health
For today I will highlight my top 10 essential oils that aid mental health; they are as follows:
- Relaxation: Lavender
- Sleep: Chamomile
- Meditation: Orange
- Anxiety: Sandalwood
- Stress: Holy Basil
- Mood Enhancer: Lemon
- Grounding: Valerian
- Multi use: Rose
- Depression: Jasmine
- Rest: Ylang ylang
Let’s break them down further into their scent profiles, and the top benefits they offer for your mental health:
Relaxation: Lavender
Scent profile
Lavender has a delicate, sweet smell that is floral, herbal, and evergreen woodsy at the same time. It has soft, powdery, or smokey notes as well. Some lavenders have a more medicinal camphor smell that is closer to the balsamic resin scent of rosemary.
Benefits
Lavender essential oil is one of the most popular and versatile essential oils used in aromatherapy. Distilled from the plant Lavandula angustifolia, the oil is most known for promoting relaxation. But also has benefits that are believed to treat anxiety, fungal infections, allergies, depression, insomnia, eczema, nausea, and menstrual cramps.
Sleep: Chamomile
Scent profile
Wild chamomile is herbal, sweet, and fresh, more reminiscent of the tea we drink to calm ourselves or beckon sleep. The oil steam-distilled from German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) is more sweetly smoky, with hints of apple.
Benefits
Chamomile has been frequently used as a mild sedative to calm nerves and reduce anxiety, to treat hysteria, nightmares, insomnia, and other sleep problems. When used on the skin, chamomile might help with skin irritation and wound healing.
Meditation: Orange
Scent Profile
The oil has a sweet, light, fresh, and fruity aroma. Perfumers use it mostly as a top note, but it blends well with other fragrance notes. Its scent is recognizable, bright, and upbeat to everyone, reminiscent of summer and warmer days.
Benefits
The bright scent can also heighten the senses and increase alertness that, when combined with the calming effect, can create a balanced mood that’s great for meditating.
Anxiety: Sandalwood
Scent Profile
Sandalwood has a distinct fragrance profile that is exotic, sweet, creamy, smooth, and warm. Used with other fragrances, sandalwood forms an excellent base for more complex scents and adds nuance and warmth to the scent profile.
Benefits
Earthy and warm, sandalwood essential oil also features anxiolytic properties, which make it great for reducing anxiety. The oil portrays strong anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and antifungal properties that are not only used for removing bacteria and germs from the body but also effectively treat wounds and improve healing mechanisms.
Stress: Holy Basil
Scent Profile
Sweet, pungent, clove-like, somewhat bitter green/herbaceous aroma, with a soft balsamic-woody undertone; very persistent sweetness.
Benefits
All parts of the holy basil plant act as an adaptogen. An adaptogen is a natural substance that helps your body adapt to stress and promotes mental balance. It has also been found to reduce: sleep problems, forgetfulness, and exhaustion.
Mood Enhancer: Lemon
Scent Profile
It is described as clean, fresh, and sparkling. This fresh and cheerful aroma is widely used in colognes, perfumes, and various body-care products, to create an invigorating and sharp citrusy composition.
Benefits
Lemon essential oil is a natural mood lifter and stress-reducing oil with a bright aroma and many properties that can contribute to a positive mood. Also known to reduce anxiety and depression, ease morning sickness, improve skin, and relieve pain.
Grounding: Valerian
Scent Profile
This base note has a warm, woody scent with musky and earthy notes. This calming essential oil has a strong aroma that is considered an acquired scent by some. It is pungent and musky and will stand out in a blend. Similar to catnip, valerian is grounding for humans
Benefits
Valerian oil is a powerful herb with sedative qualities and is a safe and effective all-natural remedy for sleep and stress-related conditions.
multi use: Rose
Scent Profile
Roses have been dubbed the “king of flowers.” With a lemony fresh scent with various nuances of powder, wood notes, or fruit, that is feminine, clean, and intensely romantic.
Benefits
Rosehip oil is rich in essential fatty acids and antioxidants, which are integral for tissue and cell regeneration in the skin. Rose essential oil has many beneficial properties like an antidepressant, antiphlogistic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, and antiviral. It is also used as an aphrodisiac, astringent, bactericidal, cholagogic, cicatrizant, depurative, and an emmenagogue. More so, this essential oil also has hemostatic, hepatic, laxative, nervine, and stomachic properties. All in all, an excellent choice, and not just because it’s the first of my two favorite scents.
Depression: Jasmine
Scent Profile
Jasmine is floral but with a richness and a touch of the wild. The scent itself has been described as exotic, sensuous, intense, warm, and sweet.
Benefits
Known to increase alertness and energy levels, evidence also shows that it can have a calming effect. Often used as an antidepressant, aphrodisiac, and sedative. It is also said to enhance the immune system, boosting blood circulation, optimize hormonal levels, and relieve stress.
Rest: Ylang Ylang
Scent Profile
Ylang-ylang is a yellow, star-shaped flower that grows on the Cananga tree (Cananga odorata). The tree grows in countries like India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and parts of Australia. The oil can be described as having a deep, rich aroma that’s slightly sweet and floral. It brings hints of custard, jasmine, banana, neroli (bitter orange), honey, and spice. It also bears characteristics of earthiness and greenery. While some people detect a subtle rubbery or metallic note with this essential oil.
Benefits
People apply ylang-ylang oil to the skin to promote relaxation, kill bacteria, lower blood pressure, and decrease anxiety. It is loaded with organic components that promote the appearance of healthy hair. The smell of ylang-ylang oil is used for memory and thinking skills and is my second favorite essential oil. Truly, the scent is unlike any other I encourage you to try it out for yourself!
So there are my Top 10 Essential Oils for Mental Health, a mix of soft florals, bright citrus and calming earthy tones. Aromatherapy for the mind at its best! But how should you use them? In my experience there are two best ways you can use essential oils to gain their benefits: aromatically and topically.
How to Use Essential Oils
Aromatically:
When using essential oils aromatically there are more than a few ways you can do it.
A diffuser: A device that produces an aromatic mist when water and your choice of essential oils are added. Inhaling the scent allows for a more gentle method of absorption.
Pendants: Allow you to store some of the oil and carry it with you on a necklace to slowly diffuse as you walk around.
You can place a few drops on a cotton ball or handkerchief and inhale from there to help dilute and distribute the smell so it is not as concentrated. You can place a couple of drops on your pillowcase to inhale as you sleep, or simply hold the vial a few inches from your face and waft in the scent.
Topically:
When using any essential oil on your skin, topically, it is important to always have a barrier between you and the oil. Essential oils require dilution to prevent adverse reactions. As a general rule, you should keep concentration levels of essential oils below 5 percent. Use any carrier oil like grapeseed oil, olive oil, coconut oil, or almond oil, when you want to apply it directly to your skin to soak in the benefits without causing a potential reaction on sensitive skin. This topical method works just the same when added to your unscented lotions, and is a great way of pampering your mind and body when inhaling the relaxing scent while massaging it into your skin.
Another way to apply it “topically” would be to add a few drops of your preferred scent to your bathtub along with a couple cups of Epsom salts and soak in the tub for at least 15-20 minutes. Be aware, as they are oils, they will not combine with the water and will float on top. In this method I would still suggest diffusing the essential oils with a carrier oil along with the epsom salts to help avoid any sensitivity problems.
My personal favorite method is creating a kind of aromatherapy roll-on perfume for rest and relaxtion. I blend Rose, Lavendar, and Ylang-Ylang with grapeseed oil (great for sensitive skin) in a roll-on tube and apply it to my wrists, chest, and behind the ears before I sleep. Works like a charm!
*Remember to always read the label directions for each oil before use, and do not put essential oils in eyes, ears, nose, or other areas with sensitive skin.
*A side note when using any cirtus essential oil, try not to expose your skin to direct sun after, it can encourage a sunburn.
Final Notes
Aromatherapy is an easy and practical way of supporting your wellness through not only the action of applying the oils, but the active thought process behind prioritizing your health.
Aromatherapy is a simple and effective way to invest in yourself by investing in your mental health. With benefits that go beyond skin deep.
These are 10 of many essential oils with stress-reducing and mentally enhancing properties. I encourage you to do some research of your own and find essential oils that work best for you and your own unique needs and wants. There are hundreds of essential oils out there with many different benefits, so go out, and have fun exploring the wonderful world of aromatherapy!
Until nest time,
