March Featured Article

Taking Care of Yourself with Aromatherapy as an Aromatherapist
By Sharon Falsetto, CA, BA (Hons)

Working as an aromatherapist is, to many, a dream job - being surrounded with scents and oils all day long and making lots of aromatherapy potions and lotions to make people feel better! What could be better? However, like many jobs, we often get so involved in what we are doing for other people that we forget to take a minute and take care of ourselves, too. But if we don't take care of ourselves, who will? And what better way to do it than with aromatherapy!

With this is mind, I decided to start paying better attention to my own body in 2012 by using aromatherapy. Although I do use aromatherapy in my daily skincare routine, it is not often that I think of using the aromatherapy bath scrubs, salts, candles and lotions that I make for other people, spending the time to take care of me once in a while!

If you take the time to look after yourself, you will find that your business and your clients will begin to benefit, too. Taking an aromatic bath, for example, will also give you inspiring alone time space where you can think more clearly and creatively for your business. Without the distractions of the outside world, alone with only the scents of the essential oils, ideas begin to flow more freely and clearly than when you are trying to answer e-mails, the phone, keep up with order queries and check what is going on in the social media world!

Certain essential oils can also help protect you against stress or winter colds; for example, the citrus oils such as sweet orange (Citrus sinensis), lemon (Citrus limon) or lime (Citrus aurantifolia) are great oils for lifting your spirits and dealing with sniffles at the same time. Use a candle fragranced by these essential oils - or add them to an aromatherapy diffuser. You can also put a few of drops, diluted in Epsom salts, in a warm bath and let the steam from the bath carry the aromas to your nose.

Aromatherapy can be used in various ways but sometimes bath scrubs and salts get put into the "luxury" box rather than the "necessary" box. But, made with right essential oils, scrubs and bath salts can be healing to your body. They take care of your skin and are soothing to the emotions, too. Choose beneficial essential oils for both the skin and the mind. Some of my favorites include rose (Rosa damascena), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and ylang ylang (Cananga odorata).

Here are a couple of my own recipes to help you make the most of your next soak in the tub. Just make sure you use aromatherapy candles made with essential oils for the full therapeutic experience!

Daytime Coffee Sugar Scrub
1 oz turbinado sugar
1oz brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground coffee
2 teaspoons jojoba oil
2 teaspoons almond oil
1 teaspoon raw honey
Mix all the ingredients in a jar.

I find that if you make this scrub the day before you plan to use it and leave it in the refrigerator overnight it is much better to use than making it just before you plan to use it. Apply to your body (avoiding the face) in small circular movements. Leave on for about five minutes and wash off. This scrub leaves your skin feeling silky smooth! You could mix in one of your favorite essential oils, too, but I find that the therapeutic benefits of both the jojoba oil and almond oil - plus the honey which has been used in skincare for centuries - is adequate. Just make sure you use raw honey (which maintains its therapeutic properties) and not the processed honey that is commonly found on the grocery store shelf.

Nighttime Bath Soak
2 oz sea salt
1 oz baking soda
15 drops lavender essential oil (Lavandula angustifolia)
10 drops ylang ylang essential oil (Cananga odorata)
10 drops sweet orange essential oil (Citrus sinensis var. dulcis)

Mix all of the ingredients together in a jar and add to your bath water as desired. You can also use Dead Sea salts, Epsom salts or Himalayan pink salts in this recipe, depending upon your preference. The mix of lavender, ylang ylang and sweet orange essential oils leaves you feeling relaxed, pampered and uplifted.

Bed Time Spritzer
2 oz distilled water
15 drops of lavender essential oil (Lavandula angustifolia)
10 drops of Roman chamomile essential oil (Chamaemelum nobile)

Mix the essential oils with the distilled water in a spray bottle and spritz onto your pillow before going to sleep. The mix of lavender and Roman chamomile essential oils is a great choice for those who have difficulty getting to sleep or suffer from occasional bouts of insomnia.

After spending a bit of quality aromatherapy time with yourself, you will feel relaxed, rested and ready to take care of others once again. Put your own body back in balance with a little bit of your own aromatherapy advice!

All recipes are intended for topical use only. If irritation occurs discontinue use.

Sharon Falsetto is a UK certified clinical aromatherapist who trained with Penny Price Aromatherapy. After traveling widely, personal circumstances led her to move to the United States in 2006; she founded her own aromatherapy practice, Sedona Aromatherapie, in 2007. Sharon creates custom aromatherapy blends for weddings, spas and therapists and has an extensive web-store of handmade aromatherapy products and gifts. She also has a graduate honors degree in business, a diploma in reflexology and over ten years experience of UK government health related services.

Sharon writes about aromatherapy through her own blog, Aromatherapy Notes, and through guest posts on blogs, websites, e-journals and paid articles in other publications.

Sharon is the NAHA Secretary and NAHA Regional Director for Arizona. To learn more about Sharon please visit her website at http://http//www.sedonaaromatherapie.com

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