Essential oils are not new and many people have used them or have at least heard of them, but most people know for aromatherapy uses only. Before January 2013, I didn’t know that essential oils had healing properties and could replace allopathic medicines. My knowledge of essential oils was limited to their uses as fragrance, as the feel-good oomph addition to body massages and spa treats. Even when I bought cheap but pure essential oils to make my own natural household cleaners, I had no idea that essential oils were precious, amazing, powerful, life-changing, life-saving!
My oil journey started with reading a Facebook post of a dear friend who lives in Canada about how Lavender essential oil healed her toddler’s bruises when he rolled down the stairs. It was an incredible story as I had never heard of Lavender being a bruise-buster. A bit unbelievable but I knew that my friend was to be trusted.
A few days later, my 3 year-old bumped his head against the wall while jumping on his bed. Yup, nothing unusual for little boys! Still, I couldn’t ignore the big and growing bump on his forehead and his screaming. I recalled my friend’s story and whipped out my Lavender oil which I had bought from iherb.com to add to the laundry, vacuum cleaner, vinegar cleaning solution, potpourri,… I dabbed some of it to the by-now awesome bump and waited. Hey! The swelling went down in a few minutes and he stopped crying! It works! Wow I was amazed and excited about the experience.
I quickly sent a message to my friend about my experience, totally excited. Her reply later that day got me worried. She asked “What brand of essential oil did you use? Is it safe to be applied on the skin?”
Ooops! The bottle label says “Not to be applied on the skin.” What have I done? What have I done to my son? I kept an eye on him all day to make sure that he didn’t suffer any harmful effects from my negligence. Thank God he was fine! But it was nevertheless a scare for me.
So I did my due diligence to find out what essential oils were and what were safe to be used on the body – I asked my friend, I googled and researched on the internet, I bought the Essential Oils Pocket Reference from Life Science Publishers and read it from cover to cover. Finally, I was ready to try Young Living Essential Oils! I signed up as a member (will be posting on how to do that soon) and bought my oils at wholesale prices.
Since using the essential oils, my family has not required allopathic medicines, is healthier and hardly falling sick and even if we do catch a bug, we recover much quicker than before. Gone are those days when we would pass a bug to each other and take turns to fall sick, when a cough would linger for weeks after a bout of flu, when I would agonise about feeding my children so much medicine knowing that it might have long-term side effects, when I had to endure headaches and pains as I am allergic to pain meds. Now I use essential oils like Peppermint, Lavender, Frankincense and Clarity to soothe headaches. My children ask for oils when they don’t feel well or when they have a cut, bruise or any pain.
Really happy to clear our cabinet of these medicines, most of which were unopened, because we don’t need them anymore!
Yay! Very thankful for natural remedies which don’t just deal with symptoms but bring the body to balance and make us healthier! I want everybody to benefit from the amazing healing power God has given us through nature!
I’ll be sharing more in future posts on how and what we use essential oils at home. In the meantime, check out this medicine cabinet makeover chart.
Check back here soon!