In this newsletter we will try to help you further your knowledge and use of essential oils.

Physical Ailments

Fatigue or "When your Get up and Go, Got up and Went!"

Ever feel like you need about 10 hours more sleep and you just got out of bed?

Fatigue is just that way. You've gotten several hours of sleep, but you just don't have the 'get up and go power' you feel you should. If you are like most folks, you have to drive yourself to fight through the fatigue.

Look out, here comes that cup of coffee or two or three! Don't want to drink so much coffee?

Essential oils can help you feel more energetic, productive and alive. Do realize though that essential oils can help but if your fatigue is due to an underlying health problem the best they can do is give short term relief.

Fatigue can be caused from excess physical exertion, but emotional stress, depression, hormonal imblances, low blood pressure, poor nutrition and dieting, are just a few things that may be causing the fatigue.
If you can't figure out what is causing your fatigue, please see your doctor.

If your fatigue is due to a poorly funtioning thyroid or if you are near adrenal gland 'burnout', you should seek further medical care. Aromatherapy can still be used complimentary to any treatment for both.

Make sure you do eat right, exercise appropriately, get plenty of uninterrupted sleep and do something for fun.

Any of the Citrus oils Orange, Lemon, Grapefruit, Petitgrain, Neroli, and Bergamot are great at stimulation and boosting your energy. So are Peppermint and Spearmint.

While you are combatting fatigue you should pamper yourself. Take stimulating aromatherapy baths or showers first thing in the morning. Inhale Energy boosting essential oil blends throughout the day.
Remember to quit using stimulating blends by 6:00 in the evening so you will be able to relax to get a good nights rest.

The following blends are great and may be all you need for that early morning or after lunch pickme up.

Energy Boosting inhalent blend
Rosemary - 8 drops
Elemi - 6 drops
Peppermint - 4 drops
Basil - 3 drops
Ginger - 1 drop

Blend in a small bottle, add to a small diffuser or smell from the bottle.

The following blend will help support adrenal gland function if that is contributing to your fatigue.
Fatigue Help
Spruce needle - 5 drops
Cedarwood - 2 drops
Peppermint - 1 drop

Always remember short term Fatigue means you need more rest, Exhaustion could be an indication of a more serious health problem.
In the meantime, enjoy these energy boosting essential oils.

If you are short on time to mix your own blends be sure to check out our
Mint Energizing Blend , Herbal Energizing Blend Citrus Blend, Enlivening Blend, Inspiration Blend , Revitalizing Blends .

Emotional Concerns

Love, Romance and Aphrodisiacs

Al and I are romantics at heart and just love the month of February.
Hey, what am I saying? We love each month!!

But February, appears to be the month of Lovers. We thought it would be fun to talk about essential oils and their use as Aphrodisiacs during this month for Romance and Love!

Throughout history, sweet smelling scents have been used to lure your beloved to you.
Blame it all on Mythology - Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love.
The source for the word Aphrodisiac. An aphrodisiac is a substance used to increase sexual desire or enjoyment.

There are several essential oils that bring about wonderful euphoric feelings and others when applied to the skin give wonderful sensations.

The fun thing with essential oils is the fact you can use them subtly and see wonderful results in your relationships.

You can use essential oils in perfumes, room scenting, bathing (including hot tubs), in the bedroom (on the sheets and pillows) and massage oils.

The most commonly known and used Aphrodisiac and romantic essential oils are: Jasmine , Neroli, Rose , Ylang ylang , Sandalwood, Other oils known to arouse Black Pepper , Cedarwood , Clary Sage, Clove, Patchouli, Pine, and Vetiver.

Mix a few of these blends up (do it soon, so they can blend well) for use on your next romantic encounter.

Romantic Massage # 1
Cedarwood - 2 drops
Clary Sage - 2 drops
Orange - 1 drop
Vanilla 10% - 5 drops
Almond oil - 1 ounce

Romantic Massage # 2
Jasmine - 2 drops
Orange - 2 drops
Sandalwood - 2 drops
Ylang ylang - 1 drop
Almond oil - 1 ounce
With both these blends, give a slow loving massage.

In the mood for Love
Rose, - 2 drops
Sandalwood - 3 drops
Massage lotion 1 - 2 tablespoons. Apply on face, body and arms.

We have a couple of premixed blends you may want to use for diffusing including Sensual Blend and Exotic Blend.
Our Aphrodisiac Massage Blend is very popular especially now and all year long.

Of course blending your own blends are always fun and exciting too.

Beauty and Skin Care

Gums and Oral Health

The world is obscessed with sweet smelling breath. But then again, we should be.

Oral health can indicate the health of your entire body.

If you have healthy gums and teeth, your over all health is generally pretty good too.

If you have poor teeth and gums, you should seek medical attention and review your overall diet and nutrition.

What to do when you have the occasional sore gum or tooth? There are several essential oils known to help with many oral and gum problems. Simply add to a couple ounces of warm water and rinse or and gargle several times a day.

A Simple refreshing mouth wash
Lemon - 4 drops
Peppermint - 2 drops
Add to 2 cups distilled water, Shake well before each use.
Swish a mouthful for about 1 minute and spit out.
This is an interestingly refreshing mouth rinse.

For a Toothache put one drop Peppermint and 1 drop Roman Chamomile in 2 ounces of warm water. Soak a small cotton ball and apply the solution soaked cotton to the affectd area or tooth in the mouth.

Therapeutic Gum Mouthwash
Myrrh - 6 drops
Tea Tree - 10 drops
Peppermint - 1 drop
Lemon - 3 drops
Almond oil - 1 teaspoon

Mix together and apply a small amount on your gums once a day, after brushing your teeth and rinsing your mouth with mouthwash. If the source of irritation, or gums do not heal, please see your dentist.

Around the House & Garden

Sweet Smeeling Sheets

Crawling in between the sweet smell of sheets is very romantic all by itself. There are a couple different ways to make your sheets and bed smell wonderful.

The simplest is to add several drops of essential oil to a 4 oz spray top bottle, add some distilled water, shake well and Spritz the sheets. Let dry a little, then finish making the bed.

Some folks prefer using Floral waters, they are wonderful too.

Or if you are doing laundry and have a full load of sheets you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oils to a damp clean washcloth and add to the load of sheets. The sheets will smell wonderful.

If you are scenting the sheets and beding for a romantic encounter, see the list above for Romance.

Recipes to try

BIRCH HILL HAPPENINGS NEWS

Hello Everyone,

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful time of the year, now that the Winter has finally settled in for the whole country.

And look, Valentine's Day (how romantic) and Spring are just around the corner!
You might want to try a few of the above suggestions for a wonderful evening (or day) with your Sweetie!

We have an exciting new product to tell you about this month.
This product is something we have been looking for, for several of our customers for some time now. We are so pleased to have found this unique and beautiful personal inhaler type aromatherapy diffuser. They come in 4 beautiful colors. Are very easy to use (and reuse) and can be personally scented for each situation you may feel you need to carry and use immediate diffusing with you.

Lightweight, elegant and very portable, this beautifully shaped accessory is easy and practical to use for both men and women. They are a little larger than the size of a tube of lipstick.

Simply dis-assemble the top from the bottom, remove lower casing, unscrew the 4 ml bottle. Add a small piece of cotton to bottle. Add 4-5 drops of the essential oil(s) you want to smell. Screw bottle into the nasal base, re-assemble and use.

Al has been carrying one around for a couple weeks and is still using the first few drops of oil he added to the bottle. He put peppermint in his. Al is very impressed with the ease of use (discreet)and holding power and containment of the essential oils.

They retail for $14.97 and for our customers we will also be adding an additional empty 4 ml bottle to use to quickly and easily change scenting. Buy 2 and get $2.99 off the price of the second inhaler.

For more information and to order click here.

Jasmine is finally back in stock! Yeah! We have been out for awhile but it was well worth the wait as this Jasmine if fantastic!

Also, Melissa 5% and Beautiful blend are available again. Sorry we were out but we had to wait for our supplier to get restocked. (Beautiful blend was out because we needed the Jasmine ).

With the Cold, drying winter weather, don't forget to use plenty of lotions and creams. We are well supplied with Sorbolene cream. This is the best cream for dry skin we have ever seen and used.
It comes unscented, of course, but you can easily add essential oils to make your own personal scented cream or lotion.
Remember Sorbolene cream can be thinned down with water or other carrier oils to make a lotion that works for those preferring a lotion to a cream. Adding a special, personal blend of essential oils to help heal dry damaged skin will make the cream even better.

We have several other wonderful unscented lotions available too.

Before we close for this month, just to let you know, we are not going to be in the office from February 10 thru the 20th.

We are taking a little mid-winter break and going on vacation to see Al's Dad in sunny Arizona!!

Al, his Dad, our son and daughter in law are going golfing and Penny's soaking in the sun by the pool!
We do plan on a side trip to the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest too!

You can still place your orders as usual over the internet, but orders placed between February 10-20th won't be shipped out until we return to the office on February 21st. Place your orders early, as we fullfill orders in the order in which they are received.

We hope you've been having a great winter too! We'll let you know about our trip in the next issue!

‘til next month,

Yours in Aromatherapy,
Alan and Penny

E-mail us at bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com