Essential Oils for Addiction and Emotional Barriers

Essential Oils, powerful tools for conquering addictions and blasting through emotional barriers.

How many times have your efforts to walk a healthier path been diverted by entrenched habits, hidden emotions or budding addictions? Negative behavior loops keep us lost and wandering on our journey to find happiness, purpose, and achieve our goals. These loops also apply to mini-purpose journies like finding happiness in wearing those skinny jeans again!

Essential Oils can support emotional shifting, redesign undesirable habits, and empower resistance to addiction or cravings.

Essential Oils are volatile plant compounds that deliver specific effects when used aromatically, topically or internally (if labeled as safe for ingestion). When creating your new healthstyle, Essential Oils can enhance, support and conquer your greatest challenges. Many challenges are rooted in negative emotions, undesirable habits, or addictions. Aromatherapy, which has been practiced and revered for centuries in cultures around the world, is now on the cusp of becoming a mainstream therapy. 

Shifting emotions from negative to positive can have a big effect on how you approach your day, which supports a better week, month…year. It’s like clearing your desk before starting a new project.

The place to start…meditation. But, you knew I was going to say that!

(If you don’t have Essential Oils yet, click here to get started)

Essential Oils + Meditation = Emotional Deep Cleaning

If you haven’t added meditation to your healthstyle, or have had trouble “doing it” here is my simple approach:

>First, choose an Essential Oil to unblock undesirable emotions or memories.

Based on your state of mind or awareness of emotions that you want to shift, select an essential oil as recommended by this guide. Place a drop on your inner wrists and inhale the aromatic molecules through your nose and into the membranes that stimulate the olfactory bulb. This sends nerve impulses to the amygdala region of your brain. Our emotional memories are stored in the amygdala. These impulses can enable access to stored memories and repressed emotions. The chemical constituents in Essential Oils can provide a valuable key to unlocking troubling memories and emotions. As a result, you can realize the source of these deep-seated emotions and hopefully begin to set them free, creating new perceptions to move forward with.

>Second, I use a meditation app. Select a meditation “melody”, and set the timer for 10 minutes. Find a comfortable, quiet place where you can sit or lay down. Begin with slow deep breaths. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth five times to relax. Then, close your eyes and breathe normally, acknowledging and dismissing thoughts as they drift through your mind, then re-focus on your breathing.

If your mind wanders… just focus on your breathing.

That’s it!

I meditate once or twice a day. This practice significantly improves my mood and focus as it clears away some of the subconscious rubbish left behind that is impeding my flow.

Here are a few of my favorite oils for clearing negative emotions:

  • Cassia – The Oil of Self-Assurance to bring gladness and courage to both heart and soul.
  • Lavender – The Oil of Communication to calm insecurities that are felt when one expresses their true thoughts and feelings.
  • Bergamot – The Oil of Self-Acceptance relieves feelings of despair, self-judgement, and low self-esteem.

I use these oils to support a positivity and unleash creativity:

  • Wild Orange – The Oil of Abundance encourages us to let go of scarcity mindsets and inspires the creative senses.
  • Ylang Ylang – The Oil of the Inner Child assists in accessing intuition or “heart knowing.”
  • Clary Sage – The Oil of Clarity and Vision increases one’s ability to visualize and imagine new possibilities.

Essential Oils have an immediate effect on the brain’s neural-receptors via the olfactory nerve.

Studies show that aromatic (inhaled) use of pure essential oil will remain longer in your cell tissues (4-6 hours) than by topical or internal use. For this reason, I like to make nasal inhaler tubes with Essential Oils to address specific needs (like happy hour evasion or motion sickness). These discreet little tubes are powerful, pocket-sized tools for disrupting addictions and cravings. Unlike our other four senses (taste, touch, sight, and sound) our brain does not filter or interpret scent. Essential Oils have an instant effect on the brain’s neural-receptors. In addition to unlocking the attic doors to our emotions, Essential Oils have the ability to directly affect change by a chemical response when combined with simple brain training affirmations.

Here are a few of my favorite nasal inhaler blends and affirmations:

Happy Hour Evasion (to break free from the nightly glass of wine… or two)

  • 4 drops Wild Orange
  • 2 drops Rosemary

Affirmation: I am strong and love myself with healthy habits. Repeat the affirmation with each inhalation. Twice for each nostril usually works for me.

Substitute for the wine: sparkling water with a drop of Juniper Berry Essential Oil and a slice of lime.

Food Craving Crusher

  • 4 drops Grapefruit
  • 2 drops Basil

Affirmation: I respect and nourish my body with healthy food. Repeat the affirmation with each inhalation. Twice for each nostril usually works for me.

Substitute for noshing when not really hungry: LaCroix grapefruit sparkling water with a drop of Grapefruit Essential Oil or decaf coffee with a drop of Cinnamon Essential Oil.

Extra Tip: Move! Take out the trash, make the bed, work on a project or strike a yoga pose…just move to divert the thought process driving the craving.

Essential Oils are powerful, especially when used in combination with meditation and brain re-training affirmations. Embrace Essential Oils in your healthstyle journey to unlock emotional barriers and illuminate the pathways to your happiest self. 

Love this approach? Get started with Essential Oils!