Does stress rule your life? Do you feel that you’re missing out on joy, abundance, and happiness because negative emotions are bringing you down? It’s easy to feel stuck, frustrated, and paralyzed by overwhelming stress and anxiety, but it doesn’t have to be that way. And you can support your emotions naturally with therapeutic-grade essential oils.

Essential oils can be useful for cleaning, cooking, maintaining good health and promoting well-being, but if you haven’t tried using essential oils for soothing stress, you are missing out on a huge benefit that essential oils have to offer.

In our stressful, ever-changing world, there are many sources that can be used to manage emotions. So you might be wondering, “Why should I use essential oils to manage my stress?”

First, one of the biggest reasons to use essential oils for stress management is that they are natural, safe substances that won’t cause harmful side effects, or endanger your health and body. Many of the “solutions” we use to manage stress or deal with our emotions can end up hurting us in other ways. Using essential oils for stress management provides a safe and simple way to deal with complex emotions that are constantly changing.

Second, essential oils provide a great way to quickly alter your mood. In many cases, you can start to feel the calming, soothing, or uplifting effects of an essential oil from the moment that you open the bottle.

Inhaling essential oils, applying them to your skin, or diffusing them in the air allows you to quickly alter your mood and reduce your stress because the oil will generate an emotional response within the brain from the first sniff.

Lastly, essential oils provide you with a convenient way to manage mood nearly any time of day and in any location. While there are other healthy ways to manage your emotions, such as speaking with friends or a counselor, doing physical activities like yoga, or meditation, these options aren’t always practical right in the moment when you wish to alter your mood.

However, essential oils provide a simple way to manage your emotions anytime, anywhere.

When you are overwhelmed with grief or sadness, need to be energized and motivated, or need calming and peaceful feelings throughout your day, essential oils can be helpful in managing your mood and reducing your stress.

We are familiar with lavender and recognize it as a very calming, soothing, relaxing oil. Lavender is amazing for managing stress, but there are many other incredible options as well.

Going beyond lavender, here are 5 essential oils for soothing stress.

Lemon
Lemon and other citrus oils have powerful, stress-relieving properties. Lemon is also very uplifting to the mood, so it’s great at alleviating sad feelings and promoting a positive mood. Used aromatically, lemon promotes health, healing, physical energy, and purification. Its fragrance is invigorating, enhancing, and warming.

Frankincense
Often called the “king of oils”, Frankincense promotes feelings of peace, relaxation, satisfaction, and overall wellness when used aromatically. Frankincense helps to focus energy, minimize distractions, and improve concentration. It eases hyperactivity, impatience, irritability, and restlessness. It can also help enhance spiritual awareness and meditation.

Bergamot
Bergamot has both calming and uplifting properties, and it’s a wonderful oil to use to help dissipate anxious and sad feelings. It is also purifying and cleansing for the skin while having a calming effect. Bergamot helps relieve tension and refresh and uplift your mood.

Ylang ylang
Ylang Ylang is used to lessen tension and stress and to promote a positive outlook. It provides a very calming effect on your mood. This is a great oil to apply to your wrists for a sweet, floral perfume. Ylang Ylang is calming and relaxing and may help to alleviate anger. Ylang Ylang blends really well with bergamot.

Roman chamomile
You’re likely familiar with chamomile through its use in tea. Ancient Romans used the oil for courage during war. Roman Chamomile has a calming effect on the skin, mind, and body, so it’s a wonderful option for reducing stress and calming your mind. With its calming and relaxing properties, it can help support restful sleep and alleviate feelings of sadness and stress. It helps to reduce anxious, irritable and nervous feelings. Roman chamomile can also be used to soothe and clear the mind to promote peace and patience.

How to use:

The best way to use these oils for emotional benefit is aromatically and topically. Simply breathing in the oil will impact your mood immediately. You can add a few drops of oil to a diffuser or simply take the cap off the bottle and inhale.

Topical use is another great method and it allows you to take the scent wherever you go. Apply 1-2 drops of oil to areas of the body where you can smell it such as your wrists, chest, neck, etc. Essential oils make great non-toxic perfumes! You may want to dilute with a little carrier oil like coconut oil.

NOTE: citrus oils increase photosensitivity, so avoid areas of the skin that will be exposed to the sun.

When it comes to choosing your essential oils, quality matters. Not all oils are created equally, and most essential oils on the market contain synthetics or fillers.

Just so you know, there are 4 grades of essential oils available today.

1) Synthetic grade: these are for perfume, scented candles, and industrial purposes. They’re marketed for aromatherapy and in retail and craft stores. They haven’t been deemed safe for internal use and are highly likely to contain pesticides and artificial fillers.

2) Food (GRAS Standard): these are the oils used to add flavor to foods. They have little to no nutritional or medicinal value and likely contain fillers.

3) Therapeutic grade: these oils are used in aromatherapy and have some health benefits but haven’t been deemed safe for internal use. They usually contain fillers.

4) Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade: these are rigorously tested and are free from pesticides, artificial fillers, preservatives, or other impurities. They are beyond organic and are the purest essential oils available.

The best essential oils are all grown by experienced farmers in their indigenous lands, meaning they are grown in optimal conditions and therefore produce the highest quality of oil. That means that when you open up your bottle, you’re getting the purest and most potent essential oils available.

I would love to hear from you! What are your favorite essential oils for managing stress?