Essential Oil Basics
Essential oils are organic compounds extracted from plants that have therapeutic properties. They can be found in the plant’s flower, stem, leaves, fruit or bark. The oils are the “lifeblood” of a plant. They protect the plant from disease, provide nutrients and help fight off pests and other invaders. The chemistry is extremely complex and may consist of hundreds of different and unique chemical compounds. This is what gives each oil its unique attributes and characteristics.
Essential oils aren’t the same as cooking oils. Kitchen/cooking oils are greasy and taken from the fatty part of the plant, seed or nut. Some of these oils can be used as “carrier” oils. Oil users use Carrier oils to dilute the very powerful essential oils. These are olive, coconut, avocado, grape seed or jojoba. When applying essential oils to your skin, carrier oils can help spread out the oil to a larger area, or can protect your skin from “hot” oils. Hot oils are essential oils like peppermint, clove and cinnamon bark that can sometimes irritate sensitive skin if used on their own.
Our oils reach every cell in your body within 20 minutes when applied topically to the body. They also act on the limbic system of the brain when inhaled and can help regulate your emotions. Essential oils can even help clean toxins from the air and can be used for effective cleaning too!
Young Living oils can be used aromatically, topically and internally.
Aromatically – They can be used in a diffuser, inhaled from the bottle, or even added to a cotton ball or clothes pin and placed in shoes, sports bags, or car vents to make your spaces smell great.
Topically – Oils can be applied on the skin. As mentioned above, some oils need to be diluted with a carrier oil while others can be applied directly on the skin with no dilution or “neat” as we call it in the oil world. You can add a roller top to your Young Living oils for easy application. It’s also fun to make roll-on blends to apply on wrists or back of neck, etc.
Internally – Young Living also has a line of oils called Vitality (with the white labels), that can be used internally. I add oils to my water, to my cooking & baking and also to empty capsules to use as dietary supplements.
Young Living’s essential oils do not go rancid or expire and maintain their health benefits as long as they are stored properly…not in direct sunlight. So my investment in the health of my family isn’t wasted, since we can use our oils for years.
More benefits and uses of oils
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