Surround Yourself With Lavender - by Debra Mauldin, Certified Aromatherapist

It’s that time of year, again. People start to feel bad, lethargic, irritable, and depressed. Many gain weight. For some people the winter months are merely an annoyance. For others, it can be a major problem. Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder, or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) affects twice as many females as males.

Aromatherapy can help you beat those ‘winter blues’. A growing body of scientific research supports the fact that women react more strongly to aromatherapy. Scent has a profound effect on the emotions. The limbic system processes both odor and emotions, therefore, aroma and emotions are inseparable. Essential oils can cleanse, release, and balance our thoughts and emotions. Aromatherapy affects the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our individuality.

Essential Oil of Lavender is one of the safest and most widely used oils in aromatherapy. Lavendula officinalis is a wonderful oil for depression. It has a steadying influence on the psyche. Lavender’s balancing effect calms uncontrolled emotions, removes indecisiveness and emotional conflict, and helps to bring the feelings under conscious control. It brings a sense of rationality to the conscious mind.

Lavender Essential Oil works to calm a variety of nervous disorders including excitability, nervous tension, panic, and hysteria. It emanates a mellow peacefulness and induces sleep. If you suffer from ‘winter blues’, surrounding yourself with Lavender, can help. Use Lavender Incense around your home. Place Lavender candles in every room. Lavender Sachets can be placed in drawers, closets, etc… Essential Oil of Lavender can be used in Light Rings, Diffusers, Aroma Lamps, or Potpourri throughout the home or office. Other ways to strategically incorporate the scent of Lavender into your home include: Put a couple of drops of oil onto a cotton ball and place in your vacuum cleaner bag, place a couple of drops of oil onto a cotton ball and swab the light bulbs in your home or office, sprinkle a couple of drops of Lavender oil onto your pillows.
Simply inhaling Lavender Essential Oil releases various neurochemicals in the brain and you will experience a physiological change in body, mind, and spirit. When Lavender is inhaled, serotonin is released from the raphe nucleus of the brain, producing a calming influence in the body.

Using Essential Oil of Lavender in a massage or bath, will influence your psyche and work on the tissues and organs of your body. The oil is absorbed through the skin via hair follicles and is diffused into the bloodstream and the lymphatic system. The combination of smell and touch causes powerful responses, physically and emotionally.

Lavender is one of the few essential oils that can safely be applied directly to the skin, undiluted (neat). Wear a few drops of Essential Oil of Lavender in this way as a body perfume oil. For a massage oil, mix 5 drops Lavender Oil to ¼ oz. carrier oil (olive, sesame, jojoba, sweet almond). Lavender Essential Oil can be placed directly into the bath (3 – 5 drops), mixed with sea or Epsom salts (5 drops to 1 oz.), or used in Shower Gel or soaps.

Some recommended alternative therapies for treating SAD include: light therapy, natural sunlight, exercise, and adequate nourishment. Remember to eat healthy, drink plenty of water, rest, and try aromatherapy. It can make a difference in your winter prospective.

References:

	The Woman’s Book of Healing Herbs By: Sari Harrar & Sara Altshul O’Donnell 1999 Rodale Press, Inc
	Aromatherapy Blends & Remedies By: Francesca Watson 1995 Thorsons
	The Essential Oils Book By: Colleen K. Dodt 1996 Storey Books

---

Copyright © Debra Mauldin, Certified Aromatherapist