Essential oils have been used for thousands of years. With more and more people looking for natural health solutions, their popularity is growing, and for good reason. Using essential oils for yoga can add a little magic and extra sparkle to your classes.
Essential oils have countless uses, and each individual oil has unique qualities. When it comes to using essential oils to enhance your yoga experience, the most important thing is their ability to affect mood and energy. For example, lavender and chamomile oils are widely known for their calming effects, while peppermint and citrus oils are more uplifting.
For many years, yoga teachers have been incorporating essential oils into their yoga practice, sometimes designing entire classes around a theme enhanced by a particular aroma. Lavender oil can be used in a therapy class to help students relax, while lemongrass oil can be added to create a sense of focus and confidence.
Inhaling essential oils stimulates areas of the limbic system, which is a part of the brain that plays a major role in emotions, behavior, sense of smell and long-term memory. From ancient times to the present, aromatic plants have been and still are used to aid meditation and change moods. Scent can create an environment that promotes mindfulness and a sense of balance — further enhancing the benefits of your yoga practice.
Here is a simple 5-step method to do it yourself.
Step 1: Set an intention for your yoga practice
If you've practiced yoga before, you'll be familiar with the idea of setting an intention for your practice. If you're new to yoga, here's what it's all about: Every time you practice, you can call upon something you'd like to manifest into your life. Perhaps you are looking for strength, inner peace or awareness in your daily life. Some days it can be something even simpler: feeling gratitude for one small thing that brings you joy, basking in the love of a family member, or committing to doing that one thing you've been putting off for a while.
Step 2: Choose an aroma that can help you achieve the intention you set
We've compiled a short list of some of our favorite essential oils and ways to combine them with a specific intention:
- Lavender essential oil: For relaxation. Incredibly versatile, lavender essential oil is used to achieve a state of calm. Its subtle, soothing scent can relieve stress, anxiety and headaches. And as a sedative for your central nervous system, lavender also helps lower blood pressure and treat insomnia.
- Peppermint essential oil: For focus. Energizing. Improving concentration. Purifying. It has been scientifically proven that the smell of peppermint itself improves concentration, relieves fatigue, unclogs the sinuses, and even relieves sore throats.
- Patchouli essential oil: For stress relief. Inhaling patchouli essential oil, with its sedative properties and sweet, earthy scent, can stimulate pleasure hormones in your brain — and even promote better sleep.
- Lemongrass essential oil: For self-confidence. Lemony with an earthy undertone, the scent of lemongrass essential oil helps bring you a sense of calm and focus when you're feeling lethargic, anxious, or need help focusing.
- Tea tree essential oil: For mental rejuvenation. Tea tree essential oil embodies detoxification - with a refreshing and invigorating aromatic undertone.
- Meditation essential oils blend: For relaxation, body activation and emotional balance. The Meditation blend is a carefully designed combination of organic essential oils that accompanies the practice of yoga and meditation.
Step 3: Decide on a style of yoga or set of poses—and a place—that will help you with your intention
For example, if you want to relax and slow down, you can choose a restorative yoga class or even a meditation practice. If you need a great workout to feel energized, power yoga might be ideal. You may choose to take a class at a local yoga studio where you feel part of a community so you can benefit from connecting with others. Or, if you need some time for yourself, you can use a virtual class that you download from the Internet and spend from home. If you are a yoga teacher or experienced practitioner, you can develop your own sequence that is in line with your intention or the intention you want to share with your students.
Step 4: Prepare for your aroma yoga practice
This can be as simple as diffusing your chosen essential oil on a mat or exercise area - just make sure you dilute it in a carrier oil of your choice for safe use or use an essential oil diffuser. You can start your practice with meditation. Once you've done this, consider putting a few drops of your chosen essential oil mixed with a carrier oil into your hand. Then rub your hands together and inhale the scent. Do a short meditation with your hands in a prayer position or with your palms facing up on your lap.
Step 5: Practice and glow!
Choose your own sequence of poses or visit a yoga class that offers the possibility of using essential oils during exercise. Embrace your intention and the power of aromatherapy to refresh your mind, re-energize your body and renew your soul.
Bioeterica mixture of essential oils Meditation
For a unique experience while practicing yoga and meditation, in collaboration with professional aromatherapists, we have created a special blend of organic essential oils Meditation and roll-on with the same fragrance that can be used on the skin as perfume or as one of the many ways to use essential oils.
A carefully selected combination of rosewood, ylang ylang, frankincense, patchouli, pine and geranium essential oils help to relax, balance and activate the body, mind and spirit. This 100% pure and natural blend of essential oils is designed to accompany yoga and meditation, as well as an individual self-care routine.
Use a diffuser or nebulizer to disperse the mixture of essential oils in the yoga and meditation area, and apply the roll-on to the pulse points or the bottom of the feet before meditation.
You can find our line of yoga and meditation products here.
Using essential oils after yoga
Add a drop of your favorite essential oil to a spray bottle with water and spritz lightly on the rug before rolling it up to help prevent germs and keep the scent fresh and clean. In this case, it is preferable to use essential oils that have a fresh smell and disinfecting properties, such as essential oil of lemon, eucalyptus, peppermint, tea tree, and the like.
We can conclude that if the body, mind and spirit are intricately connected, so are all the senses. With the help of essential oils, they can all work together to give you a more complete practice experience and promote relaxation, focus, more energy, or any other feeling you want from your yoga practice.
Our recommendation is to choose essential oils of organic origin, verified chemical composition and correctly labeled components and chemotype. Due to their purity in composition, organic essential oils are safer to use, more potent and their effect is more pronounced.
Enjoy mindful exercise with Bioeterica organic essential oils!
