Flowers for your Heart: Aromatherapy for Emotional Support

If you’d like to explore aromatherapy, all our single essential oils, therapeutic blends and other fragrant products are 15% off until June 20, 2024. 

Have you ever been overwhelmed by memory or emotion when smelling a scent? I’m sure you have, as was the mystic and poet Rumi in the 13th century;

Remembering your scent, wherever I saw a flower,
I smelled it and tears began to pour.

Scent and feelings are intimately connected. Smell receptors in our nose directly trigger the areas of our brains that control memory and emotions, so fragrance has the power to instantly impact our mood. Physically, inhaling essential oils causes measurable changes in markers of stress like cortisol levels, immune function and body temperature. Aromatherapy has harnessed this power for centuries to ease difficult emotions and help us navigate stress and anxiety. Here’s a few of my floral faves. 

Roses have been used medicinally, culinarily and in perfume making for thousands of years. The sweet scent of roses offers comfort in times of grief and loss. Pure rose essential oil is very expensive - it takes 250 roses to make a single drop of rose oil! Look for it diluted with a carrier oil like jojoba or try rose hydrosol, a natural by-product of essential oil production. Recent studies have shown that inhaling rose lowers cortisol levels, a key stress hormone.

Apply rose essential oil diluted in jojoba to the center of your chest, or spray your sheets and pillows with rose hydrosol especially if sadness or heartbreak are making it hard to sleep.

Rose geranium is lighter in scent than rose, while offering many similar benefits for intense emotions such as shock and grief, as well as emotions disrupted or dysregulated by hormone fluctuations such as PMS.

Diffuse rose geranium, or dilute 5 drops in a tablespoon of carrier oil for a soothing bath or massage oil, especially foot massage.

Another flower that has been used since ancient times is lavender. Its fresh floral scent can bust up brain fog and air out feelings of frustration, irritability and overwhelm. It’s relaxing but not sedating, so use it anytime of the day if stress and tension have you tied up in knots.

Use a few drops in a diffuser to make your space a sanctuary, or on a tissue on your nightstand to ease you into sleep if your mind is racing and won’t turn off. You can also try Sweet Dreams blend from Snow Lotus, which contains lavender, geranium and other calming oils. 

Always use common sense with essential oils. Don’t put them on your skin without diluting them, don’t ingest them, and make sure the oils you choose are safe for the children and pets in your home. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with stress, grief or other difficult emotions or life changes, Energy Matters practitioners are here to support you with individual care, including essential oils.

Let the flowers comfort you,
Kirsten Cowan L.Ac
Clinic Manager

PS Curious about essential oils? All our aromatherapy products including essential oils, therapeutic blends and roll-on perfumes are on sale until the Summer Solstice! Stop into the clinic for a sniff, check out my pre-recorded class on Essential Oils for Easy Stress Relief or email [email protected] for more information.