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

Physical Ailments

Overworked and Sore Muscles

Spring time is here and everyone is busy getting their house in order. Spring time is such a busy time, that sometimes we overdo it.

After a busy weekend or day of cleaning, scrubbing, sorting, packing, unpacking, etc. You know what I'm talking about. Spring Cleaning - something everyone dislikes, but after it's done, you have such a great feeling of accomplishment!

Not to mention working in the gardens and yard. Raking, digging, pulling, pushing, lifting, and all the bending and stretching. Getting all that fresh air!

Most of us are using muscles and joints we haven't used in months!! Especially like we are now!

Consequences - you bet - all kinds of sore and tired muscles.

When you use muscles, like you do when you clean and do yard work, you cause them to build up a lot of waste product (lactic acid) that is trapped in the muscle tissue. In order to relieve this soreness you need to help increase blood flow, drink plenty of water and eat nourishing food and give your muscles a little rest, at lease for a few hours.

Did you ever notice that when you have a sore muscle you are always touching it and rubbing it gently? This is your body doing something very natural to encourage increased blood flow to the affected muscle tissue.

Well, aromatherapy has some even more pleasant ways to encourage and increase the blood flow, to help the body remove the lactic acid.

Draw a tub of warm water, add a few of your favorite oils and enjoy a nice warm soak for 20-30 minutes. Dry off with a brisk towel rub. Then apply your favorite lotion, creams or if you have someone that can give you a light body rub using a Carrier Oil .

Adding essential oils that relieve pain and soreness to your carrier oils will also help.

Go to our "From the Recipes Files" page and check out several of the SORE MUSCLES RECIPES (links are found at the bottom of the page).

Here is another recipe to try.

Rosemary - 10 drops
Peppermint - 10 drops
Basil - 5 drops - 10 drops
Mix together and add to 1 ounce of Almond Oil . Shake well.
Use this massage blend to work on sore muscles.
This recipe is especially good for sore back muscles.

Emotional Concerns

Stress, STRESS, STRESS

When I decided to write about stress, I didn't realize how much it involved. Upon doing the research for this month's article I discovered three main levels of stress. (Some divide Stress into 4 and 5 levels but for aromatherapy purposes I will divide in to 3 levels.)

So I'll be covering Stress in 3 parts (one each issue for the next 3 issues) with suggestions using aromatherapy you can do for each level.

Please realize that if you are suffering from the most severe form of stress - Adrenal Burnout or Total Exhaustion - please seek and follow the advise of your physician. Also remember, aromatherapy can be used complementary, to help you with all levels of stress.

Stress comes in varying degrees. We all suffer from Stress. It can't be avoided. Most of us are able to cope with life and the stress we are exposed to day in and day out. We do not let things bother us.

Mild Stress (Level 1) - the kind caused from day to day life - you may feel tired, be easily irritated, have a few aches and pains and even have an occasional day of mild depression - a day of the blues.

Stress (Level 2) - This level is more involved and can have underlying physical problems, chronic infections, allergies, constant feelings of anxiety and depression, even underlying viral infections may be causing stress. You feel like you never get enough sleep. And the sleep you do get isn't good quality.

Severe Stress (Level 3) - This is the most dangerous to your health and well being. You are very depressed and are to the point where you may 'give up'. You feel hopeless, fearful and wish to withdraw from society. You are totally exhausted. This level and even in some advanced cases of level 2 you should seek help from your Physician.


MILD STRESS

Getting plenty of rest, eating right, exercise in moderation, taking time out for yourself all help our body and mental state to cope with day to day stresses.

But what happens when all of sudden you miss a night of sleep - you have a sick child, a bad day at work, a near mishap while coming home, no one liked what you fixed for dinner. Wow, nothing like getting dumped on!

Let this happen a couple days a week and pretty soon, you start to feel the stress. Most of the time we don't have day after day of stressful situations, so we have plenty of time to recuperate.

Stress can also appear from good situation, happy occasions. Buying a new house, having a baby, getting your dream job. On the surface these are all happy or good things. But each one has underlying stress producers.

In it's mildest form - Stress is just the normal for everyone - the things that occur every day that we can cope with.

Here are a few things you can do to stop stress before it can get a hold of you:

• + Remember to take time for yourself each day.
• + Relax and breath deeply for 10 minutes.
• + Make changes in your life to make things easier.
• + Do a personal inventory and see if you can make changes in areas that don't make you happy. Being happy doesn't necessarily mean - laughing, joking or even smiling. It means feeling content and safe inside. Of course Smiling never hurts!!
• + Use essential oils throughout the day to help you feel energized, and have mental clarity. After a long day, diffuse oils to help calm and relax you. Essential oils can help relax you so you can sleep.

Beauty and Skin Care

Cracked Skin

Cracked skin - sore, painful and sometimes even bleeding. We aren't just talking about dry skin, We are talking EXTREMELY dry skin, to the point where you barely move a finger and you end up with a deep fissure and very rough skin. It is sore and painful.

If possible you need to limit the use of soap and detergents. Try to stay away from drying agents and the skin sanitizers which have allot of alcohol in them. After washing your hands. Dry them gently and immediately apply a lotion or cream. Apply lotion and creams every few hours and especially at bedtime.

Prior to going to bed at night, some folks will benefit from a moisturizing hand soak, followed by applying a carrier oil or thick cream to their hands and then putting on a pair of cotton gloves.

One of the best oils is pure virgin coconut oil. It has natural healing properties and a nice light scent of coconut. Expeller pressed Coconut oil and Fractionated coconut oils work too and are scent free.

Other good oils include Jojoba with a little Evening Primrose or Rosehipseed oil added.

Simply soak in tepid (not hot, not cold - just barely warm) for 10-15 minutes. You don't want to get "pruney" skin but you want to add moisture to the outer layers of the skin by soaking. Add a few drops of essential oils - Lavenderis always good. After soaking immediately put lotions, creams or oil on and put on those gloves.

Cracked skin can become infected so you may want to add some Lavender and Rose essential oils to the creams, lotion or oils you are using to help heal more quickly.

Most important is to drink plenty of fresh water each day. Dry skin on the outside is often times a indication of not drinking enough water in the inside!! Notice I said water. Your body needs water. So many beverages are diuretics and will just cause further dehydration of your precious skin.

Try this blend to quickly heal fresh cracks.
1 ounce Massage lotion
5 drops Neroli
5 drops Helichrysum
10 drops Lavender
Apply as often as necessary.
This blend had essential oils known to help regenerate new cells to rapidly heal those cracks.

Around the House & Garden

Potpourri

Has your potpourri from last fall and winter become neglected?? Don't throw it out!! Just revive it!!

Simply add your favorite essential oils to your potpourri, shake or stir it up and you are ready to enjoy it again for several more weeks.

To me this is a time to experiment with new combinations and /or use up old oils that are about to expire.

Of course, you can buy new ingredients too, but why not freshen up what you already have?

For those that don't want to mess with that we do have cute little potpourri dishes. All you have to do with them is add a few cotton balls with your favorite scents dropped on them. Replace the cover and let the essential oils evaporate over time. (You can put potpourri petals, shavings, etc in the dishes too).

Here is a Flowery blend you can add to your Potpourri dish
Rosewood - 4 drops
Geranium - 3 drops
Grapefruit - 2 drops
Petitgrain - 2 drops
Palmarosa - 2 drops
Orange - 2 drops

Blend then drop onto the contents of your Potpourri dish.

Recipes to try

BIRCH HILL HAPPENINGS NEWS

Hello Everyone,

We're back from our Mid-winter Break - Thanks for understanding while we took a little time off.

WOW - We took a trip to Arizona - We were expecting lots of Sun and dry weather.

Well, it was raining when we arrived and a week later(when we boarded the plane to leave) it was raining again!!

Of course, in between, we did see some sun, and the temps were in the upper 60's and even hit a high of 73 one day. All in all it sure beat all the cold and snow in Minnesota.

But wait a minute - we took a trip from Apache Junction (this is where Al's Dad lives) to the GRAND CANYON and we drove through a lot of snow in the mountains. We had lunch in Sedona, one of our favorite stops when we are in Arizona.

The Grand Canyon was totally awesome and awe inspiring. Al and I couldn't believe how VAST it was until you actually see it!

We also went to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. They were very interesting and fun to see too.

The rest of the vacation saw Al, our son, Austin and his wife, Cheri golfing every day. Al loves his golf. His Dad who is almost 75 was fighting a cold but did manage to get out with them a couple days.

Cheri and I took a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright's "Taliesin West ". We had a 1 1/2 hour hike in the desert and a 2 hours tour of the house and complex. I sure learned allot about Mr Wright and desert life.

Most of the vacation while they were golfing, I visited with "Dad" and watched a little TV, read some books and took several NAPS!!

Of course, we returned to reality once we arrived back in Minnesota. Three short hours on the plane and we went from warm temps to landing in Minneapolis in a snow storm!! Then a 3 hour drive home just ahead of the worst of the storm. Oh well, we enjoyed our time away.

We have a couple of new and exciting products to tell you about this month.

We have a new synergy blend - Tei-Fu   Some of you may have heard of it before. It is a special blend of pure essential oils from a formula developed thousand of years ago by the Chinese.

Tei-Fu has many wonderful properties and is said to be great for many aches and pains. Headaches, sore muscles, arthritis and rheumatism. Insect bites and stings - pain just seems to disappear.

Can be used for fever blisters, minor burns and scalds, relief from the ravages of poison ivy.

When it comes to upper respiratory infections such as colds and flu, Tei-Fu helps with the stuffy noses and congestion.

Nausea and vomiting can be subdued also, especially when associated with motion sickness.

We have just begun to use it. We do love the smell of it. Tei-Fuis not offensive at all. It reminds you of the smell of the 'sweetheart candies' seen at Valentine's day. I love to diffuse it even if nothing else but for the wonderful smell it has.

We do not blend this ourselves, we purchase it from one of our trusted and beloved suppliers.

He is keeping the recipe to himself. Although we do know it has some great oils in it, we don't know which ones specifically. We know it has Wintergreen, menthol and camphor and of course a bunch of others.

In any case, if you experience pain and discomfort, we suggest you give it a try.

Mix it with a lotion, cream or carrier oil and apply to the sore and painful areas. Again, using the basic mixing of no more than a 2% dilution. (About 15-20 drops to 1 ounce base)

If you decide to try it, Please let us know. As we would love feedback on this new blend.

Now onto our next new product.

We weren't able to continue carrying our past "Personal Fan Diffuser" as our current supplier decided to discontinue it.

We began a search for another small, compact unit that you can pack in your purse or suitcase. A personal fan and aromatherapy diffuser you can use by your desk, beside you bed or in a small hotel/motel room.

After looking at 2 different styles we decided on the diffuser that can be either battery operated or plugged in with an optional AC adapter.

We found the cute little "Ultra Breeze". The Ultra breeze comes with 3 pads and has a 3 speed fan. It is small but powerful. We feel this new aromatherapy diffuser is just what many folks have been looking for and now is available.

It is reasonably priced at $15.97 without the adapter or $23.97 with the adapter. It used 4 AA Batteries (sorry, but they are not included).

If you don't want to use it as an aromatherapy diffuser it provides a gentle breeze to help cool you down - easily held in your hand or sits up easily with it's own self storing foot rest.

For more information and to order - Click here.


For those that missed last month's newest product I thought I'd leave the information about it in this issue.
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.

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.

As always, if we can help you with any aromatherapy question please send us an E-mail at bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

‘til next month,

Yours in Aromatherapy,
Alan and Penny

E-mail us at bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com

**Resources for information in this newsletter (including recipes) and others were obtained from the following sources:
"Aromatherapy A Lifetime Guide to Healing with Essential Oils" by Valerie Gennari Cooksley
"500 Formulas for Aromatherapy" by Schiller & Schiller
"The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Aromatherapy" by Schiller & Schiller
""The Fragrant Veil" by Elisabeth Millar
"The Fragrant Mind Aromatherapy for Personality, Mind, Mood, and Emotion" by Valerie Ann Worwood
"Aromatherapy An A-Z" by Patricia Davis
"Aromatherapy for Vibrant Health and Beauty" by Roberta Wilson
"Aromatherapy through the Seasons" by Judith Fitzsimmons and Paula M Bousquet
"Advanced Aromatherapy The Science of Essential Oil Therapy" by Kurt Schnaubelt, Ph.D.
"Aromatherapy Companion" by Victoria H Edwards
"We have a large reference library and confer with many books while answering questions on Aromatherapy.
"Practical Aromatherapy for Home and Garden Decoder"
"Aromatherapy Decoder"
"Advanced Aromatherapy Decoder"
The Decoders are available from Birch Hill Happenings