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A Simple Way to Stay Sane During the Holidays

You know that whirring-through-space feeling the holidays tend to bring? The crazy that comes with getting ready for a gathering or shopping til you drop!?

Everything tumbling around, moving overly fast, twisting out of the normal routine, and amplified by familial turbulence.

It’s enough to make you wish for some powerful, calming potion you serve your family (and yourself).

HINT: Not wine.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

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Try this: close your eyes and inhale the scent of warm gingerbread, mulled spices or freshly cut pine. There’s hardly anything as powerful as a scent to bring you back into your body and down to Earth.

If you don’t happen to have gingerbread cookies wafting their spicy aroma through your home at all hours, however—essential oils are the perfect shortcut.

This holiday season, as scheduling demands increase, credit card balances bulge, frazzled emotions intensify, and family gatherings loom, try using scent as that powerful, calming potion. Your family might not even notice the subtle warmth of scents like sandalwood when they enter your home, but the effects can be great nonetheless.

Grounding during the holidays can be simple. All you have to do is breathe.

4 Essential Oil Blends and Tips to Stay Grounded

Home Stable Home

Try diluting this blend in water and misting your carpets or floor rugs gently. The effect is similar to putting a rooting essential oil like Sandalwood on the bottoms of your feet—it’s calming and grounding—and this way guests can reap the benefits without you actually rubbing oil on their soles.

Recipe Mix:

  • 2 drops of sandalwood oil
  • 2 drops of bergamot oil
  • 2 drops of frankincense oil
Combine them in a spray bottle of water. Gently mist your floor coverings or bedding. (Be sure and test in an inconspicuous place before applying freely.)

Vetiver Massage Oil

Get rooted with vetiver, which comes from a unique grass plant. Vetiver grass grows roots deep down into the earth and the oil, with its warm and earthy aroma, comes from those roots.

Mix a few drops of Vetiver oil into a carrier oil like grapeseed or almond for use in calming massages. You can massage this oil onto your neck, shoulders, or chest or have someone rub it along your spine.

LEARN MORE about Essential Oils

Sweet Dreams Blend

If shopping lists are dancing in your nighttime head instead of sugarplum fairies, take time to ground before you sleep. Deep rest can make a world of difference as you tackle the holidays.

Recipe Mix:

  • 2 drops Roman Chamomile
  • 6 drops of Geranium
  • 3 drops Lemon
  • 4 drops Sandalwood
Once mixed, rub a drop of this blend into your pressure points (temples, wrists, back of your neck) before bed

Sandalwood oil for your holiday pleasure

Roll-on Calm

Oils can naturally calm your body’s “fight or flight” response, using scent to cue your body to “rest and digest.” When you’re on the go—maybe holiday shopping in a busy mall or battling traffic—you need that cue to act quickly.

Roll-on blends are wonderful to have on hand.

Here is one of the best ones to make yourself.

Recipe Mix:

10 drops Myrrh, 7 drops Patchouli, and 
10 drops Ylang Ylang

Add the mix to a premium-grade fractionated coconut oil. Then, put your blend in a small roll-on bottle and carry it with you wherever you go!

Next time that whirring-through-space feeling starts overtaking you —take a deep breath. Uplifting yourself is so much easier when you’re grounded.

Try natural remedies and aromatherapy as discussed above and test their effects for yourself. Use in moderation; they may smell great, but they're extremely concentrated.

And don't forget about Lavender, a staple for any essential oil collection! So many uses!

SHOP NOW for Essential Oils

* None of the statements in this blog have been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. None of the above recommendations are intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition or disease. Essential oils are naturally produced substances that can assist the body in its own healing process, but we make no claims whatsoever. Use with moderation and discretion.

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Enid R. Spitz / Heartmanity ContributorEnid R. Spitz / Heartmanity Contributor
Enid Spitz is a writer, yoga instructor, and works at the popular Lululemon. She previously lived in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA, where she was a newspaper editor and researched yoga for Traumatic Brain Injury. Heartmanity combines Enid's passions for social well-being, neuroscience, and yoga. When not writing or on the yoga mat, she is an avid traveller, and loves being outdoors.

Posted in Habits for Health

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