We have wrapped up the Summer Market schedule. It was really fun to be a part of the Lee Farmer’s Market again and to join the West Stockbridge Farmer’s Market. Now we are working on the Fall class schedule and looking at Bazaars, Makers Markets and Craft Shows to keep us busy. Check back here for an updated calendar of events. Kay
We are gearing up for the new season!
With the longer days and the teases of spring like weather, our attention is turning towards planning for the new season. Our Spring Aromatherapy Class Series has started and the first Craft Show/Market is this weekend. Look for the Blue Skye Wellness table in the old schoolhouse at the Chester Hill Association’s Maplefest on Saturday.
Our classes are a great way to learn how to safely use essential oils and to get some hands on experience with creating products. Call me to schedule a consultation for guidance for how to create effective blends.
Once you know how to handle the oils and how to use them you may want to schedule a consultation to learn which essential oils are most effective for your personal wellness goals.
In recent times Aromatherapy and the use of essential oils has become a recognized alternative and complementary modality for health and well-being. Increasingly essential oils are being used to support physical and emotional health. Unfortunately there is a lack of reliable information regarding safe and effective use of essential oils. It is important for those who are thinking of using essential oils to support a specific health concern to start off with a solid base of practical knowledge.
An Aromatherapy consultation serves a variety of purposes that hinge on the important principles of education and instruction. Aromatherapists do not diagnose, prescribe or treat a specific condition, but they provide educational resources, instruction and guidance about how essential oils can support the body’s natural tendency towards balance. In this effort it is important for the practitioner to impart industry recognized guidelines for the safe usage of essential oils.
An initial consult includes a discussion about the specific goal that is desired from using essential oils. A client may have a targeted concern or may just be seeking to learn more about using essential oils and the basic principles of Aromatherapy. General guidelines are shared regarding effective applications, safe formulations and recommendations for essential oils appropriate to the body’s systems to be addressed. A consult will ultimately enable the client to make informed decisions, while following safe usage guidelines. A beneficial result of the relationship between the client and the Aromatherapist is that it will provide a pathway for future access to reliable information.
Those who are new to Aromatherapy will find that starting off with the guidance of a certified practitioner will aid to reduce confusion, improve safety and ensure positive results.
Erin and I have had a busy start to our summer. We have participated in a few craft shows as vendors. It has been great fun and has provided some interesting learning opportunities. I am making products to highlight the self care aspects of Aromatherapy. My gently scented flax and jasmine rice heating/cooling pads and felted wool diffuser necklaces are examples of how aromatherapy can be used for stress relief and support. Erin’s personal care products demonstrate how essential oils can be useful in skin care products and effective in targeted blends for specific health concerns.
It has taken some research and effort to create products that are safe and that will work the way we want them to. We didn’t start off with the goal to sell aromatherapy creations but with our successes we find the need to share. Two of the products that Erin has worked on perfecting are outdoor sprays that are effective in repelling ticks and mosquitoes and other flying insects. Her formulations have gone through some reiterations but she has settled on two recipes that work well for us. We are getting reports from our students and customers that they are getting good results from both. The formulations are designed to use essential oils in a way that is safe for dogs and children, to have safe dilution rates, to be properly solubized into the mixture and to be preserved for a reasonable shelf life. We did this for ourselves and our customers who will go on to use these products. They are trusting us to provide all natural products that are safe and effective.
We have been amazed at the number of other vendors who are selling similar sprays that are just essential oils and water. Aromatherapists know that essential oils and water don’t mix without the help of a dispersant or emulsifier. The mixture of essential oils float on top of the water and provide poor coverage as well as neat undiluted doses, which can contribute to skin irritations and sensitization. This is poor practice and displays a lack of knowledge about how essential oils work. The unpreserved mixture has a maximum shelf life of one to two weeks before it starts to grow bacteria.
People at our shows are sometimes reluctant to spend money on our sprays because they think the natural sprays don’t last very long. It has been fun teaching people that there are easy guidelines to follow when creating natural personal care products. Guidelines for safe dilution rates, proper dispersion, age appropriate usage, restrictions for use with animals and awareness that some oils are contraindicated for certain medical conditions make us aware that natural is not always easy and inherently safe.
I invite you to ask your questions about specific essential oil properties, safe recipes and formulations and the most effective applications. Feel free. I am here for you.
Be well, Kay
One of the easiest and most effective ways to use essential oils is in an ultrasonic diffuser which diffuses the oils in a cool mist right into the air. If you go online and start looking for one of these diffusers you will be inundated with an endless supply of options made with many different materials, with different lighting options, in different sizes and from the very cheap to the extravagantly expensive. So how do you decide what is the best option? In our last post Kay discussed the benefits and precautions around diffusing and these are all good things to keep in mind. While most manufacturers will boast of the run-time on their diffusers, saying things like 10 HOURS OF CONTINUOUS DIFFUSION, we know that this is not ideal at all. In order to prevent over saturation of the olfactory system and habituation to the scent we should not diffuse for more that an hour at a time. For longer periods using less essential oils and an intermittent diffuser that cycles on and off for at least 30 minutes is ideal.
When we first started using essential oils I received a diffuser as a gift, and it worked fine but as mom started her journey to become a Certified Aromatherapist and shared what she was learning with me I found myself using it less and less. Why? Honestly it’s because I was to lazy to turn it on and off! I would tell myself to turn it off after half an hour and then forget, or not want to get up from where I was ensconced under piles of grading or cuddled up with a good book. Who cares that the diffuser was just a few steps away, I just didn’t want to bother. So I stopped using it. A few months ago I started searching for a diffuser that had an intermittent cycle so that I could use it without worrying about keeping track of time or disrupting my grading flow and I was surprised at just how difficult it was to find one! Most manufacturers are just trying to extend the diffusion time, they don’t seem concerned about the safest and most effective use of the oils, and likely they just don’t know. Some do have what they call an ‘intermittent setting’ but it is only 30 seconds on and off which is not what we want.
Plant Therapy has their AromaFuse diffuser which has 30 minute intermittent cycle, but it’s more than $50… And that is more than I am willing to spend, especially since my old one still technically worked. Finally, after ages of combing through the descriptions of diffusers on Amazon I found the LED Concepts ultrasonic diffuser which, unfortunately, is now unavailable.
~ Erin
Update: We have not been able to locate a source for a 30 minutes on and a 30 minutes off intermittent misting ultrasonic diffuser other than the Plant Therapy Aromafuse. There are however a few that have 30 minute shut off timers. The following is a list of a few of the models that we found.
Glass Marble Diffuser SUNPIN Essential Oil Diffuser Allure Aromatics PUSEAYZ Lavender Glass diffuser
We will keep looking. In the meantime, Be Well. Kay