Many of of my friends and family know that I use essential oils religiously, though they may not know why. I try not to foist my beliefs on others, but in doing so, I may have actually been so reticent that people may not realize what a powerful tool they can be. I’d like to explain here why I believe so much in essential oils.
I found essential oils several years ago. At the time, I had no major health issues, but I suffered from a lot of minor annoyances that really dragged down my quality of life. I ate relatively well and I walked a couple of miles daily with my dog, but I was still gradually gaining weight. My skin felt dull and dry in places and excessively oily in others and I was losing my hair. With chronic congestion, severe acid reflux, and swollen, achy joints, I was averaging 3-4 hours of sleep each night and was lethargic and moody. Between prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, and supplements, I was taking handfuls of pills every day AND I still felt like crap.
One of the changes I made in my life was the addition of essential oils. Through extensive investigation (and trial-and-error!), I learned of the oils and oil-infused products that supported my wellbeing in the most natural, sustainable, and enjoyable way possible. And my health and emotional outlook changed dramatically!
I am still a “work in progress,” but I am healthier, more centered, and happier than I have been in years! I haven’t used a prescription medication—or even an aspirin—in over seven years and I sleep like a log. I spring out of bed each morning, and relish walking along winding creeks and wooded trails with my dog. I feel more at peace, more excited about my vision for myself and the world around me, and more empowered to embrace the future.
Essential oils transformed my life! They are potent, yet natural and bioavailable components of an incredible fulfilling and healthy lifestyle. I feel empowered and in control of my physical and emotional wellbeing.
So now you know!
“I feel good, I knew that I would!
I feel good, I knew that I would, now!
So good, so good, I got you! ~~James Brown
I remember dancing with my dad to this James Brown tune when I was just 6 or 7 years old. My dad had just got home from work, and that song was playing on his transistor radio. I was reading a book, but when that song started, he quickly put down his lunchbox, I put down my book, we kicked off shoes and sneakers, and shimmied, shaked, and slid around the room! Good times…
I abso-friggin-lutely love dancing!
I love the feeling of my body reacting to the beat of the music. I love the sensations: sweat dripping down my face and the curve of my back, my fingers snapping, hips and pelvis gyrating, feet stamping and twirling, the air vibrating to the bass against my skin. I love the feeling of other bodies around me: movin’ and groovin’ to the beat. I love the visceral feeling of not processing the experience mentally, just letting my body respond and lead and control what it wants to do.
I grew up during the years of disco. Back then, friends and I would pile into the car and head down to the discos at the Jersey shore. Disco was a space for all races, ages, and lifestyles to meet on the dance floor, loud and pulsing and charged with flamboyant, physical energy. I didn’t drink much or do drugs (in fact, I was the designated driver before there officially WERE ‘designated drivers’!). I didn’t need intoxicants—the beat was my drug. I could dance for hours, trancing out on the experience, and be even more invigorated and super-charged the next day.
It turns out there are good reasons for that. Because dance is exercise, it conveys the physical and emotional benefits of exercise.
Dance can improve cardiovascular health, balance and strength, helps boost your mood, can be a social activity, and is highly inclusive—no matter your age or physical make-up, if you can move, you can dance!
Movement and dance are also extremely expressive. When I dance I drop the issues and worries of the day, even if just for a few minutes, and ‘let loose.’ It reduces stress and just feels good.
Some 50+ years after those James Brown sessions with my dad, I’m still dancing. Sometimes, I go to the local San Antonio spot, The Bonham Exchange (I am panting for the day when it reopens—Amanda and Leilani—we’re there!), get my bottled water, scope out which room I want to start in, and start moving. And when I'm there, I'm sometimes just bobbing to the beat, and other times clearing a swathe across the dance floor. Sometimes, I am just in my house, alone, shaking my groove thang when an irresistible tune comes up on Spotify.
Mostly, I’m just feeling—the music, the beat, and my body.
“You can dance, You can jive, Having the time of your life
Ooh, see that girl, Watch that scene, Digging the dancing queen!” ~~ABBA
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Sometimes the alarm goes off, more often, I wake up 5-10 minutes before it’s set. I spring out of bed and quickly move through my morning toilette: mouthwash, brush teeth, throw on walking clothes, grab my ear buds, phone, and key.
Then I get the leash and hook it on Sno, my Akita, and MY DAY HAS BEGUN! It is now sometime between 6:45-7:30 am and I’ve headed out for my daily walk therapy.
Sno and I walk religiously unless the weather is pouring rain. We don’t walk that far—between 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 miles each morning, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world. The first part is along the 410 access road, but the rest is in the neighborhood between Los Patios and MacArthur High School.
My walks are transformative—easing me from my sleep beautifully into the day. It feels as if my thoughts have a whirlwind of fresh air sweeping through them! That air clears away the sleep-induced confusion of dreams and half-formed impressions, making room for the insights that my subconscious has produced.
I am surrounded by blue skies and the sun just peeking above the horizon. I feel blessed and alive and thoroughly awakened!
The benefits aren’t all just emotional, though. Walking is one of the best ways to get the juices flowing, improving circulation, raising the heart rate, and loosening up joints stiffened by the night in bed. But that’s not all, walking can reduce bone loss and strengthen leg and abdominal muscles.
It’s no wonder I feel like a NEW WOMAN when I get back to the house!
Something I just learned—but makes total sense—was that walking can have positive mental benefits, too! When I walk, apparently I am lowering my risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. And in addition, the studies have shown that people who walk even one mile gained improvements in their quality of sleep, reduced their risk of disability, and actual lived longer lives than their non-walking counterparts.
And finally, a study has proven—corroborated by MY own experience—that walking releases natural painkilling endorphins to the body – one of the many emotional benefits of exercise.
The study showed that the more steps people took during the day, the better their moods were and those moods were reflected in their overall personality.
This wonderful medicine helps me to remember why I am alive, to connect with nature and often my neighbors, and allows me to start afresh every morning.
People would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a sports program that can guarantee those results. I get all of that, and more EVERY MORNING for free!
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Do you sit for 4 or more hours a day? Afterwards, do you sometimes feel incredibly stiff or even suffer pain in your back, legs, and feet? Then this post is for you!
About 10 years ago, I suffered excruciating back and knee pain. I had orthotics in my shoes, used a Chinese massage ointment, and tried acupuncture. I was taking several OTC pain meds every day, and was seeing a chiropractor 2-3 times a week, but nothing lasted more than a couple of days.
It was only when I added yoga, and in particular, hip ‘openers,’ that everything fell into place for me! First, My Official Disclaimer: I am not dispensing medical advice nor am I claiming that my chronic condition was at all similar to anything you may be experiencing. Many conditions respond to the various treatments that I’d noted above. In fact, my body did respond initially, but the relief only lasted a day or two.
However, having said that, consider the following!
Prolonged sitting causes your hip flexors to get tight. Then, when you go to stand, they pull on your lumbar spine, which leads to a multitude of lower back problems.
For people in a sedentary society, daily hip flexor stretches are important to help counterbalance the prolonged hip flexion of sitting for hours. The best thing to do if you sit at a desk or behind a computer a lot is to incorporate daily hip flexor stretches (yoga enthusiasts call them “hip openers”) into your daily routine. But hip openers are not just to “fix” some sort of ergonomic problem; practicing them regularly can make you healthier, more graceful, and more productive!!!
How??? Here are some of my favorite benefits of hip openers
- Releasing Stress: Hip openers stretch and strengthen muscles that are directly connected to our stress response. I didn’t realize that the muscle that attaches the lumbar spine to the femur bone is actually triggered when we feel stress. So, while I rarely need to literally “fight” or “flight,” when my body experiences stress, this muscle is still triggered. I found this muscle can carry a great deal of residual tension and benefits greatly from being stretched with hip openers.
- Alignment: This was one of my main issues! My tight hips caused strain on my lower back by pulling on the spine, on my knees, and even my feet. When my hips are open, there is more range of movement, better circulation, and much more support for the muscles of my back and my spine!
- Expand Creativity: This was an unexpected benefit! Energetically, the hips are associated with the sacral chakra, or the creative center. And the hips hold and support the reproductive organs–the organs of creation. It was only after I’d been doing hip openers for a bit that I noticed that focus on this area helped me to unlock and support this creative center. My body was moving freely, and so were my creative juices! I will blog more on this in the future—this has been the source of so much exploration and fun over the past few years!
Of course, there are tons more benefits. These are just the results that I started to experience almost immediately upon beginning hip openers. Of course, as they say, your mileage may vary!
Unfortunately, now that I no longer suffer pain when I miss doing hip openers, I am not as consistent as I’d like. However, when I can manage to do them several days in a row, my morning seems brighter, my mood is elevated, and I feel great!
My results are my best argument.
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I could just cry!!! It was a spring night in 2017 and I was lying in bed, alternating between staring at the ceiling and the clock.
I’d stayed up late the night before finishing up a project to meet a deadline and I’d BARELY made it through the day. My butt had been dragging!! I'd felt a like a zombie, trying to hide my undead condition during my noonday meeting. And then I knew I was exhausted when I fell asleep IN THE MIDDLE OF EATING DINNER (#facedowninsalad)!!!
‘Ok Kimberlyn,’ I thought, ‘This is fixable. Just get a good night’s sleep tonight!’ So I went to bed early—by my standards at least—about 10:15 pm. I woke up to go to the bathroom at exactly 1:26 (I checked the clock as I got back in bed). Then the hamster started running, and I began to think about some tasks that needed to be handled first thing in the morning, and….
It was all over at that point—I couldn’t fall back to sleep. I remember glancing at the clock REPEATEDLY over the course of the night: 1:58… 2:34…. 3:05… 3:29… you get the picture.
I finally fell asleep around 5:30 and dragged myself out of bed at 7, unrested, frustrated, and resentful.
Eating lunch at my desk (I was too exhausted to think about going out) I was trying to stay awake by browsing the internet. I searched on “insomnia,” and learned I wasn’t alone.
OK, fast forward to spring 2020. I’m talking to friends and relatives and I’m hearing HEARTRENDING stories of folks struggling to keep a normal schedule. People juggling working from home with managing their kids’ online school assignments, finding room for work spaces, fears about the health of loved ones or lost/decreased income, the confusion and frustrations of mixed messages about self-care and preventing infection.
What is the connection between those two stories? Stress and the lack of daily consistency.
I BELIEVE that the lack of a consistent, supportive schedule directly increased the amount of stress in my life.
Now, I’m not talking about a vacation when I’m looking forward to change and excitement. I mean that when it is time to get work done, the pressure of having to perform without a consistent support structure can take an incredible toll on health, well-being, and emotional balance.
I thought I’d share the techniques I used back then to keep myself from spiraling into a weeks- or months-long bout of insomnia. By employing these techniques, I built a better morning, and the benefits echoed throughout my day and night.
To help get you back on track, here are my TOP 3 TIPS to start building a better morning. And I promise you, the beneficial effects will ripple throughout your entire day. It all starts here …
1. (Re)Commit to a gently supportive schedule
The trick to a successful morning schedule starts the night before. Make a commitment to yourself to be in bed — and even schedule that bedtime into your calendar — a half-hour earlier every few days until you’re hitting the sack by 10 or 11 p.m.
Avoid making too big of a shift too soon (the mistake I made that night in 2016) and give your body a few days to adjust to your new bedtime.
Deep sleep is imperative because that’s where rapid eye movement (REM) occurs, vital to restoring bodily detox processes and keeping your body in balance.
Troubleshooting
If you’re having trouble getting enough rest, you may want to try one of these hacks …
- Supplement with melatonin at bedtime to promote relaxation
- Drink mugwort or chamomile tea an hour or so before bedtime
- Avoid exposure to all electronics at least 2 hours before bedtime, but know even 30 minutes before bedtime offers some benefits
- Diffuse lavender essential oil for 10 minutes or apply a drop topically with a carrier oil to your temples
- Practice meditation or prayer
2. Aim to rise between 5 and 7 a.m.
As your bedtime normalizes, shoot for 7 to 8 hours of sleep and wake earlier and closer to the time of sunrise.
Be sure to avoid electronics first thing in the morning and take a few minutes to say or write down things you're grateful for before stepping out of bed. Practice gratitude as a way to neutralize fear and increase happiness.
3. Build something to savor into every morning
You may have heard that Yale is offering its most popular course ever online for free right now. That class? “The Science of Happiness.” And one important lesson in that course focuses on “savoring.”
According to instructor Laurie Santos, PhD, “Savoring is the simple act of stepping out of your experience to review it and really appreciate it while it's happening.”
It can improve mood by helping us to remember the good stuff in life, it keeps us in the moment and increases gratitude.
Track your savoring experience to boost gratitude and help develop stronger healthy habits.
Here are some ways to savor a morning treat while also supporting your wellness …
- If you’re able, take a short solo walk and really savor the changing of the seasons
- Watch birds out of your window and take pleasure in their colors, songs and behavior. I put up bird feeders and installed a birdbath in my backyard, and I spend at least a half hour outdoors every morning drinking my tea and relishing my little bit of nature.
- Journaling saved my life! I committed to writing a certain number of pages longhand in a journal EVERY DAY.
- Start small—one page a day. You could write or draw or doodle, or just write an affirmation over and over again.
- DON'T PUT PRESSURE ON YOURSELF TO "PRODUCE." This is supposed to help you process your stressful life, not add to it! No one will read it other than you (and sometimes I found it useful to NOT read it after it was written). When I couldn’t think of anything to write, I would start with: “I don’t know what to write…” over and over again. Usually, about halfway down the page, something would occur to me and I’d be off to the races!
- Give it 21 days and see how you feel about it.
In fact, with ALL of the above, I would suggest committing to the practice for at least 7 days before expecting to feel any difference, and 21 days to really call it a part of your day.
I feel like a new woman—a happier, more fulfilled woman—now that I can look forward to my invigorating morning. Hope this works for you!!!
Do you have a morning practice? If so, what is your go-to routine to spring out of bed, seizing the day? Please let me know below.
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