Essential Oils for Chronic Stress & Trauma
with Aisha Harley and Dr. Louise Rose
So…everyone gets stressed, right?
But right now, we are finding that people are more stressed than ever before and for much longer periods of time.
The pandemic has created new and different sources of stress in our lives and so this topic is perhaps more important than ever. We are also seeing how trauma stored in the body can affect our ability to live a healthy, happy and balanced life!
Perhaps before the pandemic you had found ways to deal with your past traumas or your stress by socializing, adhering to certain routines or eating certain foods, maybe our current circumstances have changed that for you and thrown your healthy routines totally out the window. Maybe you had a weekly hangout with friends that you can no longer have in person right now. Perhaps you are realizing that you need human connection more than you thought. Or perhaps you are dealing with chronic stress for the very first time and are realizing that you need to find ways to cope.
You are not alone!
It’s important to find ways to heal from trauma and ease daily stress in a healthy way.
Why?
Chronic stress is a precursor for much more serious illnesses and health complications. Learn how to manage chronic, serious stress in your life and you could completely transform your health long-term!
Trauma is more than an event (or events) that happened to you. It can create seemingly endless cycles in your life that you want to change. These could be physical cycles like poor digestion or sleeplessness. But they can also be emotional and social - like decreased resilience, feeling numb, inability to relate to others and consistent anxious feelings.
Trauma and stress create big problems. We love this quote because we have found it to be true in our years of experience:
“Shock and developmental trauma compromise our ability to regulate our emotions and disrupt autonomic functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, and sleep.”
- Laurence Heller PhD
In some ways, our brains are stuck in the olden times. When we are stressed all the time, our brain does not know the difference between a stressful week at work and running nonstop from a predator. They are not wired to know the difference between being chased by a lion and our daily stresses and fears. Now, you might expect that when we feel afraid and stressed out, we would take action…right? Well, not necessarily.
If you’re been feeling hopeless and unable to act, this may have something to do with that. This inability to act is a pattern, and it’s a natural and normal response to stress.
You’ve probably heard that acknowledging a problem is the first step in healing from it, right?!
This is true in addiction but it is also very true for trauma and stress. Before anything else, acknowledge that you’re dealing with stress or trauma. Realize that what you’re going through right now is normal, and that you are not alone in this. This is the first step and it is so important.
Not only is this normal, but your brain and body are built for this natural rise and fall. Just like you are stuck in a loop, you absolutely can get out of it.
In this post, we will give you suggestions on how to use essential oils into your lifestyle in order to change your relationship with stress and trauma.
We will be giving you several suggestions, so we really suggest that you choose just 1 or 2 and start consistently implementing those for 30+ days, then adding in more. You’ve probably heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit, and we agree with that! So don’t get overwhelmed- start small.
It is also SUPER important to understand that essential oils work best in frequent, daily doses. Instead of just using a ton of essential oil once a day, begin using them in small amounts a few times per day and notice how differently they make you feel! This is the true power of plants.
So if you’re feeling stuck, out-of-balanced and like your days are stuck on repeat, here is your oil guide…
Choose your own adventure.
We suggest that you choose maybe 2 of these oils to begin with and consistently use them for 30 days, then branch out from there! For example, you may want to begin your journey with Lavender and DigestZen so that you can work on sleep, stress, anxious feelings and digestion. Just 2 oils can create a ripple effect in your life.
Below we will detail each of our favorite stress & trauma support essential oils and what they can do for you. Then we suggest that you get 2 of them
You can watch the full webinar here:
Lavender: For stress, sleep & relaxation
Lavender essential oil is widely-known and commonly used in bath and beauty products. But if you have not yet experienced pure doTERRA Lavender essential oil, you might be shocked upon first using it to discover how potent and powerful it is. Lavender contains a chemical constituent called Linalool which helps our brains calm down and relax.
Lavender is a “regulating” essential oil. It can help you regulate your nervous system, which can be disregulated by stress and trauma.
How to use Lavender:
Begin by pouring 1-2 drops of Lavender into your palm and rubbing your hands together. Cup your hands over your nose/mouth area and deeply inhale for 30 seconds.
Note how this makes you feel. Are you feeling more relaxed? More in control of your emotional responses to problems? Calmer? More focused? Do this throughout the day whenever you feel overwhelmed. It is common to keep a bottle of Lavender in a workspace! Using it at work (whether you work from home or in an office) is an effective way to remind yourself to use this technique often (remember- small, frequent doses are the best way to use oils!) in order to see results from it.
You can also use Lavender in an essential oil diffuser. If you have not yet used a diffuser, it is a small device that you plug in and fill with water and just a few drops of essential oil. It vaporizes the water and oil and spreads it out into your air so that you breathe it in! This is effective because the essential oils communicate with your olfactory system.
Balance Blend: For grounding your emotions
Balance blend is a mellow, gently woodsy essential oil blend that is grounding for the emotions.
The oils in Balance help create feelings of safety and connection to the Earth. We suggest that you use Balance by rubbing 4-5 drops into the soles (bottoms) of your feet every morning! It’s also fantastic to use it with a small meditation exercise like this one:
Rub Balance blend into your feet and sit in a chair, with your back straight and your feet on the floor. Close your eyes and take several long, deep breaths.
Imagine that you are a tree and that you are growing roots out of your feet into the ground. Imagine those roots connecting deeply with the earth: Beyond the floor of your home, beyond the layer of dirt that lies on the surface, deep into the rich earth full of nutrients and minerals. You are the type of tree that no one can pull up, you are so deeply rooted!
Trees pull nutrients from the ground and disperse them into their branches. Imagine yourself doing the same!
DigestZen Blend: For an upset stomach
One of the most common immediate, physical concerns of people with trauma and high levels of stress is digestive upset. If you find that you frequently have issues with an upset stomach, starting with something simple and strong like DigestZen could really help you.
DigestZen is created with a combination of oils that aid digestion naturally: Peppermint, Ginger, Fennel and Cardamom. You can use it internally or topically!
We suggest that you pour 2-3 drops into your palm and massage it into your stomach when you’re not feeling your best. For quick relief you can also put 1 drop in a glass of water and drink it! You can be sure that a doTERRA essential oil is safe for consumption when it says “supplement facts” on the side!
Floral Oils: For deep trauma support
Our favorite floral oils are Rose, Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, Neroli and Magnolia. Floral essential oils are known for their ability to comfort us.
They feel nurturing, healing, divine and intimate.
There is a reason floral oils are used in perfumery! And there is a reason we are drawn to them specifically in times of healing and when we need emotional comfort. Smelling a rose or anointing yourself with sweet jasmine flower is heavenly.
When our customers ask us for trauma support, floral oils come up in the first 5 minutes of our conversations with them every time. These 5 oils are so beautiful!
Where there’s trauma, there are frequently other things: Addiction, pain, suffering, substance abuse, sleeplessness, anxious thoughts. We like to refer to these floral oils as the “Bliss Bubble” creators. When you are deep in suffering, it is helpful to have those in your life: Little bliss bubbles that create feelings of relief without the unhealthy side effects of those other substances.
Using them is simple!
Roll them onto your heart, wrists and palms. Breathe them in deeply. Breathe in, pause, and allow yourself to fully feel what’s going on with your emotions.
Ylang Ylang in particular has the ability to help us regulate a normal blood pressure. Apply to the wrists at least 2-3x daily on pulse points!
For intense healing energy, use Jasmine. With Jasmine, we like to recommend that you roll Jasmine into your wrists and rub them together, holding them together for at least 60 seconds. Doing so might seem silly at first but it is a very important technique: There are some wonderful acupuncture points on our wrists. The acupuncture point on our wrist is called “Shen Men”, the protector. When we need protection of the emotional kind, using kind and nurturing floral oils on our wrist can be helpful.
If you are a survivor of sexual trauma, we recommend using Jasmine, Neroli or Rose. Essential oils are not a replacement for therapy and other therapeutic practices but they can create feelings of safety and nourishment. Using floral oils is helpful on an energetic level.
Each of these come in a roller bottle from doTERRA and the suggested protocol is to roll the oil on your lower abdomen, all the way down your midline. You should also frequently use them on your heart. Rose in particular is beautiful heart medicine. If you feel like you cannot relate to others, if you’re feeling shut down or if you feel jaded emotionally, use a floral oil every single day to support you. In fact we hear wonderful testimonials from individuals who bring floral oils to therapy with them and use them actively on their heart while participating in talk-therapy. This is a fantastic way of using your oils productively in your healing process!
*The link below takes you to a guest cart with all the suggested floral oils at retail prices.
Add or subtract what you want from this cart to grab them at retail prices, or click here to activate a membership and get them at 25% off.
Rosemary + Peppermint: For feelings of sudden panic or being out-of-body
It is common for survivors of trauma AND individuals struggling with chronic stress to have episodes of panic and sudden breathlessness.
And while essential oils are not a substitute for mental and physical health professionals, we highly encourage you to begin using Rosemary and Peppermint if this describes something you have been dealing with! The key is to use pungent, intense strong oils that pull your mind back to the physical world and jolt you back into your body.
During times of panic and unrest, there's a narrowing of our senses and a feeling of shutting down. Pungent oils such as Rosemary and Peppermint open up our senses so that we can perceive our immediate environment more clearly and come back to our physical selves.
Keep Rosemary and Peppermint with you at all times. When you need them, grab them and put 1 drop of each in your palm. Rub your hands together. Cup them over your nose/mouth and inhale for 30+ seconds. After this, massage a couple drops of each into the back of your neck and sit down, breathing deeply.
We know that when we smell aromatic substances, the olfactory bulb in the nose is really closely linked to the limbic part of the brain. We can affect our emotional center almost instantly when we smell an essential oil!
Cassia: If you are stuck and not taking action
There are spices in our food, and they nourish us and help us digest. Spice oils also serve us emotionally!
When you are feeling stuck emotionally, frozen in time, you should consider using a spice oil such as Cassia (or Cinnamon, or Black Pepper)!
Use 1 single drop of Cassia in your essential oil diffuser when you’re feeling limited and stuck. Take note of how it makes you feel!
Cassia is super strong so make sure not to overdo it. You can add something sweet in the diffuser as well for a better aroma: We love Cardamom + Cassia oils together so your house smells like beautiful, powerful pumpkin spice!
Start small and notice the changes…
We hope you decide to grab a couple of these oils and create a daily routine that works for you. These are the oils we recommend for people who are in need of daily stress management and trauma healing. The buttons above are for checking out as a guest, but it is substantially cheaper to get oils at wholesale. Either way, we hope you begin using these beautiful oils!
About Dr. Louise Rose:
Dr. Louise Rose believes in the profound healing power of nature, particularly the therapeutic action of water, plants, and lights. She works with patients at her clinic, Rose Cabinet Medicine in Northeast Portland, Oregon. She helps people reconnect with their inner vitality, increase their energy and become more emotionally resilient.