Essential Oils for Natural Wellness (and a giveaway!)

Here are Green Living Ideas we’re big fans of natural remedies, and essential oils are almost always a part of our plant-based solutions. If you’ve always wanted to learn more about this ancient yet modern healing method, read on and check out our awesome giveaway at the end of the post!

First, some basics: Essential oils are are fragrant compounds derived from plants, herbs, bark, and roots that contain beneficial properties and concentrated fragrance that can help our bodies in multiple ways. Essential oils can be made from many parts of plants:

• greens and leaves (basil, peppermint and eucalyptus)
• skins (lemons, limes, bergamot)
• roots (ginger)
• seeds (anise seed, black pepper, vanilla and juniper)
• flowers (chamomile, rose, neroli and lavender)
• woody parts (cinnamon, cedarwood and patchouli)

Essential oils are concentrated, potent plant extracts that can be used for aromatherapeutic healing and for other natural solutions for home and body care. Essential oils are most often used topically (with a proper carrier oil), in diffusers for scenting a room, or internally (but please note that not all oils are edible!). Oils can be used singularly or in blends to create a synergistic healing effect. Some oils work best alone (like patchouli, one of my favorite earthy, awesome scents), but others (like lavender) pair well with sweet, woody and citrus scents. Carrier oils are important to both dilute the essential oils and ensure the longevity of the scent. Carrier oils are generally made from other plants, like almond, coconut, jojoba, and more. Green Living Ideas was recently sent a review set of essential oil synergies by Plant Therapy. The synergies came packed in a cute little box and included their most popular synergies:

• Relax (a calming blend of Lavender, Marjoram, Patchouli, Mandarin, Geranium and Chamomile.)
• Sensual (a warming, floral blend of Ylang Ylang, Patchouli, Orange Sweet, Lavender, Sandalwood, and Jasmine.)
• Immune-Aid (a boosting blend of Frankincense, Tea Tree, Rosemary, Lemon, Eucalyptus, and Sweet Orange Essential Oils.)
• Germ-fighter (a helpful blend of lemon, clove Bud, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, and rosemary)
• Tranquil (my favorite featuring citrusy Bergamot, woody Patchouli, sweet blood orange, floral ylang ylang, and bitter grapefruit.)
• Energy (Peppermint, Rosemary, Lemon, and Eucalyptus.)

Though I enjoyed all the blends, I got the most mileage out of my Relax Synergy, Tranquil Synergy, and the Immune-Aid. The package happened to arrive when I was fighting a nasty cold bug, and gargling with the Immune-Aid helped clean the germies out of my throat, and within a day I felt much better. The Relax and Tranquil synergies feature some of my favorite essential oils and blended perfectly with a base of raw Shea butter or Plant Therapy’s mild Almond carrier oil. These oils are delicious on your skin after a warm shower, or after shaving your legs. Both warming and calming, these scents are beautiful and deeply relaxing. The Sensual blend is lovely, but a bit too floral for an evening with the boyfriend. The Energy is yummy as well, but generally I need calming instead of energizing, so I didn’t get to use this synergy very much either!

In addition to the synergies, Plant Therapy offers a wide range of single origin essential oils, including a small variety of organic oils. They also offer some amazing sets of essential oils featuring singles and blends. Plant Therapy was started by a certified aromatherapist and Naturopathic doctor who is a mother of eight children and the company is dedicated to natural health. She understands the importance of high-quality and affordable essential oils. They purchase from dependable sources to ensure purity and quality of their therapeutic oils.

And you, lucky readers, have the chance to win some of these great essential oil products.

Plant Therapy has generously offered an essential oil starter kit to one lucky winner. This kit includes a set of their Top 6 Synergies Set OR an Organic Essential Oil Sampler Set, in addition to a carrier oil of your choice, and The Essential Oils Handbook: All the Oils You Will Ever Need for Health, Vitality and Well-Being. They’ve also offered a coupon code for all readers to get 20% off their products; use coupon code greenliving20 (valid until May 8 2013). To enter, simply comment below telling us why you would like to try essential oils, and if you already use them, share your favorite way to use them in your life! Contest runs today (April 24) until midnight Hawaii time on May 1 2013; winner will be chosen at random with the random number generator. One entry per person, please. Please be sure to leave an email or website contact so we can tell you if you win! Good luck!

Full disclosure: Green Living Ideas was sent a review set of oils for this post and Plant Therapy is donating another set for giveaway, but we were not compensated in any other way.