Create this soothing mist by an aromatherapy guru.
This DIY stress-relief essential oil mist is good for calming your nervous system when your stressed, anxious or feeling frustrated. Yeah, you can spray it a lot. Just mist it around your head and breathe in the essence. It’ll go straight to your nervous system. The key is to buy high-quality, therapeutic-grade essential oils (otherwise you get the scent but not the true effects). More on that below the recipe…
Recipe for Anti-Anxiety Essential Oil Mist
What you’ll need:
A small spray bottle like this, preferably glass
Ingredients:
Frankincense is a bronchodilator, meaning it opens up your lungs when you’re anxious and it’s hard to breathe.
10 drops rose geranium essential oil
6 drops frankincense essential oil
8 drops neroli essential oil
3 drops Roman chamomile essential oil
3 drops sandalwood essential oil
8-10 drops lavender essential oil
Few drops of vodka (or rubbing alcohol)
Filtered water
Directions:
Essential oils are not water soluble, so start with adding a few drops of vodka (or rubbing alcohol) to the spray bottle to help the oils infuse with water to make the mist. You will not smell the alcohol, just the oils. Add all of the essential oils. Then, fill the remaining spray bottle with filtered water.
Note that when you’re making therapeutic blends like this one, it may not smell perfume-y, but it’s going to work.
This recipe and tips are provided by lifelong aromatherapy expert and healer Roz Zollinger of Heal Center Atlanta, with whom I had the pleasure of sitting down and creating this lovely blend for personal use.
How to Use an Aromatherapy Essential Oil Mist for Stress
I suggest making several and putting them in your purse, on your desk, by your bed…wherever you might need to spray that goodness. Just don’t put it in your car because extreme temperature fluctuations aren’t good for the oils. Then, mist it whenever you want or need to get a dose of calm.
When you roll on an essential oil, it absorbs into your circulatory system. When you smell it like with a mist, the brain immediately reacts.
An aromatherapy blend for stress relief also makes for a thoughtful homemade gift for loved ones!
Plus, you can use the above essential oils in other ways beyond a mist. You can use them on your skin if blended properly with a carrier oil or put them in your aromatherapy diffuser in your home or office.
Where to Buy Quality Essential Oils
Everybody I know has some kind of essential oil. It seems like you can buy them anywhere now. It’s one thing if you’re using them just for pretty scents, but if you want a true therapeutic effect (like that Roman chamomile penetrating your nervous system to calm it the f*ck down), then you have to buy the right stuff that hasn’t been deteriorated due to heat or synthetics in manufacturing.
“It’s about getting to know the companies,” says Zollinger. “The farm the oils come from don’t necessarily have to be organic, though oftentimes there’s more respect for what they’re growing. It’s about respect for the product, herb or plant and the process it’s put through to keep it pure.”
Two reputable brands that Zollinger likes are Nature’s Gift and Eden Botanicals. They both get their products tested and can supply the gas chromatograph, which is like a computer system that tests for quality.
Happy spritzing!
Read more about how to use essential oils in this Essential Oils 101 article.