Category: Aromatherapy
Heart Oils for Mind, Body, and Spirit
With RECEPTIVITY being the theme for this month, let’s think about the act of opening our hearts. I love it when I’m in yoga class and am prompted to “shine my heart”–for me it’s such a centering practice to envision my heart as a source of radiant light that, by pulling my shoulders and arms back, and gently bending backward, I can intentionally and SHINE out to the world. It’s the essence of receptivity to me. I feel the love expanding from me AND within me.
Ahhh…beautiful. Now, on to the essential oils. All essential oils can effect the body, the mind, and the spirit. It’s what I love most about them, as mind, body, and spirit are all connected. What one might consider to be the most stereotypical botanical representation of love, rose, is actually one of the best oils for the heart. Just as the petal of a rose is soft and delicate, so is the oil. It can take approximately 60,000 roses to produce just one ounce of this precious oil. Rose essential oil is calming and soothing while physically aiding conditions of the heart.
Another of my favorite oils for the heart (and one of my favorites in general) is neroli. Also a very expensive and precious oil, neroli is the essential oil to use for heart palpitations, severe anxiety, and panic attacks. It’s soothing properties not only calm the heart but can also calm irritated skin and abdominal cramps.
Each oil, after all, has a wide range of applications to help with various conditions. Aromatherapy is as intricate and complex as the essential oils are themselves. Just in writing this I can feel my heart expand in gratitude for being introduced to this art and science.
If you’re interested in a custom blend using rose, neroli, or any other beautiful heart oils to sooth you spirit, mind, or body, please connect with me! You can send me an email at cristinzegers@gmail.com and we’ll work together to create something derived from nature, specifically for you.
RECEPTIVITY: Video Blog for February
The theme for February is RECEPTIVITY. In order to fully enjoy and be present in the fantastic relationship of your dreams, we need to get past the doubt, the negative thought patterns, the self-criticism around love. We need to fully stand in our worthiness. We all deserve to be a part of beautiful loving relationships…first and foremost with ourselves.
Frankincense Essential Oil: Stillness
Essential Oil of Frankincense is my feature oil for this month of January when we are focusing on cultivating stillness. Many of us are familiar with frankincense and it’s friend myrrh, as they were introduced to us as children as the gifts (along with gold) that were brought to the baby Jesus. Frankincense is, in fact, mentioned many times in the Bible and is used frequently to this day in religious ceremonies around the world.
Energetically, frankincense works not only to ground us, but to connect us to our spiritual selves. It’s resinous nature and woody, earthy scent roots us when we’re feeling flighty or anxious. It also brings clarity to a busy and worried mind. There are many other beautiful ways to use frankincense to bring balance to the physical body, but for this month’s purpose consider using this rich oil in your meditation, prayer, or yoga practice. It blends beautifully with flower oils to open the heart as you connect to your deeper self.
If you’d like to talk to me about a custom essential oil blend, please message me! Sometimes we just need a little help from nature to nudge us out of our heads and back to our hearts.
Stillness : Video blog for January
YIKERS!! I’m putting my face and my voice out there to the world! Channeling Eleanor Roosevelt here and doing something that scares me. There are several things that might be changing in my virtual space in the coming weeks, and one thing that is being added is a monthly theme, shared via VIDEO. I am a rookie and I’m starting from the beginning, but it’s the information and the inspiration that matters. So, go ahead and learn about his month’s theme of STILLNESS, start following http://www.rootbloomandsoar.com if you don’t already, and keep an eye out for blog posts that support the work we’re going to be doing in January towards getting still, tuning in, slowing down, and listening deep.
That’s it, Cristin…press Publish…take a deep breath…they’re gonna love it
The theme for January is STILLNESS. Be aware. Put the phone down. Sit. Shhh. Wait—keep sitting. Breathe…deep. Smile. Close your eyes. How do you want to feel in your skin? Feel that. Smile. Be grateful. Breathe.
Mama Retreat: Part Two
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” ~Albert Einstein
Nesting in a campsite is one of my favorite things to do. Upon arriving at my temporary home on my Mama Retreat, I first pulled out my oil burner and lit a candle under a lovely, relaxing and centering blend of essential oils I created just for this trip. It doesn’t take long for smells to infuse Rosebud–she’s only about 10 feet by 6 feet. As I pulled out the couch and made my bed, my sense of smell was telling my mind that I was THERE. I was present. I fluffed by lightweight down comforter, arranged my pillows, and settled an extra blanket at the foot of the sleeping area. I swept the floor.
Outside I set up my camping chair and little side table facing the woods. I was fortunate the park was only about half full so I had several empty camping spots around me, and a wonderful deep wooded view. A favorite tapestry was spread over the picnic table and I draped my worn and well-loved prayer flags over a post and secured them to the side of the camper. HOME.
I didn’t want to waste any more daylight hours and miss the opportunity to see a little bit of this natural oasis, so I followed the trail leading out of the camping area to explore a bit before dinner.
The crunching of the Earth beneath my feet, the cool breeze through the slightly rustling leaves, my camera and my water bottle in hand. Just me. Just me in the woods.
The trail was marked by little yellow diamonds nailed to trees. This is one of the first ones I saw:
I wasn’t the first one to walk this path and feel happy, to feel alive! Of course I wasn’t! There is a natural peace that enters the body when it’s in nature. I believe that God is everywhere, and when I’m out in nature I feel deeply connected to that powerful source that is within me, and all around me. The way we live our lives these days…driving our cars, televisions on in the background, rushing from one commitment to the next, unconsciously moving from the moment we wake to the moment we crash in exhaustion at the end of the day…we don’t offer ourselves the time to find that place within ourselves.
They say it’s in the in-between moments that God speaks to us. What that means to me is, in our crazy go-go-go lives we fill every in-between moment with something. We’re so focused on productivity, checking everything off our to-do list, being efficient with our time, accomplishing, doing…we forget how important it is to BE. To be still. To be contemplative. To pause and let all the stimulus that we’re exposed to resonate with our souls. This is how we connect to that infinite source within ourselves. It’s not easy, I know! But it’s vital–it’s vital to our wellbeing and to the wellbeing of our planet. It takes me removing myself from my everyday life and my everyday environment to link to that stable, unmoving, grounding force. And now that I’m linked up again, I can pull myself back every day, if even for a few moments, and find myself again.
So on that first evening I broke through the woods and standing on a ledge of smooth stone, I gazed out over the canyon.
Pictures can’t do it justice. The vastness made me feel so physically small, but so much a part of something so much bigger than I could ever imagine.
Why Aromatherapy~
“The best and most efficient pharmacy is within your own system.” ~Robert C. Peale
If we have something that ails us, there is a way to stay within the system that we are so intricately connected with: the system of life on Earth. Before we go for a pill that is created in a lab, essential oils, that are derived delicately from some of the most potent and powerful plants on the planet, are a sensible and legitimate first step.
Different flowers, plants, trees, fruits, and seeds contain life energy that can help bring our own life energy back in to balance. When we’re in balance we feel well; we are alert during the day and rest well at night, our muscles and limbs move with ease, our internal systems work smoothly–as they are designed, we have a sense of centeredness, of well-being.
There is a family of essential oils that are extremely effective for each of the systems of the physical body: respiratory, circulatory, digestive, hormonal, adrenal, muscular, and so on. Many oils also work directly with our spiritual and emotional selves: open us up to love, calm our anxieties, uplift our spirits, and focus us for prayer or connectedness with our higher selves.
If there is a desired state-of-being, there is an aromatherapy blend that can be employed, along with our most imperative intention, to bring us closer to that state. Is it to be focused? Is it to be worry-free? Is it to be playful? Is it to be grounded? Is it to be healed?
Aromatherapy is a gift given to us by our natural and our spiritual world. It is using the essences of pure nature–the manifestation of spirit on Earth, along with pure intention–of practitioner and of user, to bring us closer to a natural state of balance. The way we were designed to live. Peaceful. Happy.
The smell of good business
What does a fitness studio smell like? No, I don’t mean stinky sneakers and stale lockers. I mean, what does the business of a fitness studio smell like? I’ve had great fun blending some oils to create a scent that represents a new business in my community. The sense of smell has the power to inspire all sorts of activity, emotions, and associations. Essential oils can physiologically invigorate the body, bring blood flow to muscles, and help control body temperature. New business ventures can be strengthened and invigorated with the injection of the life force energy of nature. In a subtle way, aromatherapy can be used in conjunction with feng shui, design, lighting, and music to create an environment that meets your objectives as a business owner.
Helping clients feel powerful, beautiful, and strong. There are oils that can aid in that goal.
Creating an environment that soothes, inspires, and motivates. There are oils for that.
Building a business based on truth, compassion, and generous abundance. Yes, there are oils that speak to those values.
I’ve been clearing my mind and making notes as I work with the individual oils to allow my intuition to come through in the blending of this specific concoction. And if I may so say, I think it smells wonderful! But it’s not up to me. I look forward to sharing it with the visionary behind this business to see if it resonates with her. Listening is such an integral part of the practice of aromatherapy. Listening to the people you are serving, and listening to the messages as they come through you on how best to be of service. And the amazing feeling of contentment and peace that I feel after doing this work is such a wonderful reward.
You Are What You…Smell Like?
These days every celebrity has their own fragrance line. I wonder if J Lo wears Love and Light or if Justin Bieber really is drawn to women who wear Someday? Even if Natalie Portman does wear Mademoiselle (my favorite perfume du jour) it can’t smell the same as it does on me. That scent just works with my chemistry, if you ask me. But these are mass-produced fragrances with varying levels of quality ingredients. Let’s break it down and think about the BRANDING of a person, or a place for that matter, as it relates to a scent.
One of my favorite classes while I was studying Aromatherapy was near the end of the course when each person identified an essential oil that they most thought represented me (and I in turn did this for everyone else in my class). After weeks of sharing stories, space, laughs, tears, knowledge, and wisdom, and of learning the essences of these incredible oils, we had all grown quite familiar.
For me it was Sweet Orange. Lovely! 
As I think about my Feng Shui clients and the inner work they are doing to create the lives that they dream of, I can’t help but consider…what does that smell like? Each of the essential oils has properties and powers that can reflect that of someone’s spirit. Blend a few together and you could have a wonderful recipe for success!
Like art or food or nature–what you’re drawn to is what will serve you best. I would love to build a practice of Aromatherapy blending that is custom for each person on their individual journey. Adjusting the life-force energy in our homes, enhancing it with the life-force energy of essential oils, working with the life-force energy within our own bodies…I’m INSPIRED!
Aromatherapy
Did you know that the sense of smell is the only sense that bypasses our intellectual brain and goes directly to our emotional brain? That means that scents can stir up emotions and sensations before we even identify what it is we’re smelling. For me, I recognized the smell of my Grandma before I ever knew that it was rose that I was smelling. I remember playing in her bathroom as a child and splashing on her rose water in her big claw-foot bathtub. When I have something rich and savory cooking in the crock pot all day I know my husband gets excited for dinner as soon as he walks in the door because the smell of the house gives him that anticipatory feeling that comfort food is in his near future.
Each essential oil has it’s own unique powers to reach that emotional center within us and change or enhance the way we feel. Knowing that, it’s easy to see how we can use essential oils to aid us in times of need. When we’re feeling depressed, stressed out, fatigued, overwhelmed, anxious…nature has created a life force in plants and flowers that can bring us back to balance. Using the essence of the botanical we can connect with our true essence.
Stay tuned for more insights on aromatherapy, qualities of specific essential oils, and recommendations on their usage.
Root Bloom and Soar 