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

This is Part 3 of our newsletters dealing with Stress.
See previous months issues if you missed Part 1 Click here
or Part 2 Click here

Physical Ailments

Stress - the Physical side (Level 3)

Here we are at Level 3. This is when chronic stress has become very serious. In this stage you are suffering from many physical ailments or complain constantly.

Constant sore throats, constant headaches, backaches, no energy, getting out of bed is extremely difficult due to lack of good quality sleep.   You could be headed for a heart attack, stroke or other serious health crisis.

Your body is telling you - things have got to change. As time goes on your physical exhaustion will continue to weaken you physically and then mentally.   You are Physically and Mentally exhausted. You have or are becoming ill due to adrenal burnout.

If you feel you are at this level, please see your physician.   You may have some serious health issues you may need attended before you reach a crisis situation.

If your doctor gives you a go ahead do continue to use essential oils.   Again, use the ones that you enjoy. And don't forget try a few new ones too.

Emotional Concerns

Stress - the Emotional side (Level 3)

Emotionally you are a wreck, you are depressed, withdrawn.   You don't feel like you can carry on - every minute seems like hours.   Nothing seems to make you happy.

If you are a perfectionist you can't get anything 'right'.

You are slowly withdrawing from people around you and shirking all kinds of responsibilities.

You appear to be giving up.   You hate this feeling, you don't understand.

You want to make things the way they were, but not sure where to start.

You feel like crawling in a hole and want to stay there forever, away from everything.

Where to begin the healing process?

As hard as it may be, you need to carry on.   You need to get up each day, put a smile on your face and continue on - one day at time.   If one day seems too long, carry on for an hour, - if that is too long, then for 10 minutes.   Everyone can do anything for 5 or 10 minutes.

Do something each day just for yourself!   This is important.   You have to take back your life.   Learn how to say "no" to others.   For many of us this is hard to do, but do learn how to do it now.

Take a walk each day for at least 10 minutes - You don't need to walk for an hour, but 10-15 minutes will make a big difference. .   Outdoors if possible.   Breathe deeply while you walk.

Set up new routines.   Include time each day to meditate.   This is a great time to use essential oils.

Get your diet in order.   Diet is what you eat.   There are weight loss diets, or diets for specific health concerns.   You are what you eat or don't eat!   Evaluate what you are eating and make changes and improvements.

Get plenty of rest - sleep.

Drink lots of fresh water!

Do something fun!! Do it everyday!

Did I mention get plenty of rest?   This really is a big part of healing.   Most people are extremely sleep deprived and this really doesn't help at all.   You need to rest and give your body time to heal.   Even if you don't fall asleep, you should lie down and rest everyday for 20-30 minutes.   Put your feet up, turn off the radio & television.   Let your mind be clear of everything so it does not have to concentrate on anything.   The best way to rest - climb into bed!   Shut off the ringer's on the phones too!

If you feel you just can't cope anymore, please seek professional help.

A great book on the physical and emotional aspects of nervous exhaustion and adrenal burnout is a book by Jesse Lynn Hanley, MD - Tired of Being Tired. (Click on the link below to read more about her book.)   This book is great especially for those who like to do what they can on their own. Most of us who are aromatherapy enthusiasts like to try to do things on our own.


In this book she explains all the levels of stress, leading all the way to nervous exhaustion and adrenal burnout.   This book is excellent for those of you that want to try to treat yourself, especially in the early stages of stress. She has many great suggestions.

Again, and she says it in her book too, if you are in adrenal burnout please be in contact with your physician.

There are many, many essential oils that help you deal with stress.   You have to choose the ones that make you feel the best.   Or that are effective for the results you are trying to achieve, whether it be calming, relaxing, uplifting, or giving you mental alertness.   Use them in the bath, or shower.   Just use them around the home, office, or in your automobile.

Mix them in lotions, or make a massage oil.   There are so many ways to use essential oils.

As always, we recommend you read about aromatherapy and the different applications and ways to use essential oils.

If you have a question, please feel free to e-mail us and we will try to make suggestions to help you along the journey to enjoy nature's beautiful scents to help you with your health needs, physically, emotionally and of course spiritually too!

We hope these articles about stress may have helped you or a loved one.

The main points we wanted to make is that Stress is around us all.   The way you deal with it, can make a difference on how it will affect your life and those around you.   Essential oils can make a difference in your health, physically and emotionally.   Using them can hopefully keep you on tract, so stress won't get to the point of a burnout.

There are volumes written about stress - it can be mild to serious.

Whatever stage you are in, essential oils can be used - at the very least, you can have something wonderful to smell that nature has made.

Beauty and Skin Care

Skin care for the Spring

Caring for your skin changes throughout the year as does the seasons.

The weather is in transition and this affects our skin the most.

Spring winds can cause damage to our skin.   Just like the sun, wind can dry out and literally burn the skin.

Your daily skin care routine may or may not change.   But you will need to consider the increased time you spend outdoors to help protect your skin from too much damage.

Be sure to cleanse your skin at the end of the day and apply moisturizers.

A great way to end the day after cleansing and toning is to apply a facial oil.   There are many combinations of essential oils for different skin types.

These oils should be mixed in 2 ounces of Jojoba . Jojoba is quickly absorbed into the skin and leaves no oily residue.   It is nourishing to you skin.

You can always add a little Wheat germ oil, Evening Primrose or Rosehip seed oil to this blend for extra skin nourishment.   Some women prefer to use Camellia oil as their facial oil or a blend of Camellia and another oil.

The following recipes can be mixed ahead of time and have a long shelf life.   Use just enough to apply a thin layer.   It should absorb within 10 minutes and not leave any residue.   If it does, you have applied too much.

Around the House & Garden

Bug Repellents!

Warmer weather and bugs. They go hand in hand and more!

We are often asked this time of year for recipes for repelling bugs.

Several essential oils are excellent at repelling insects.   The most common insect we wish to repel ? The pesky Mosquito!   In several US States - they like to call them the "State Bird"!! Minnesota included.

Just recently ABC news did a segment about natural and safe insect repellents.
(Go to http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=710928 to read the article.   Don't forget to come back. )
One of the active ingredients in the natural or botanical repellents was listed as Lemon Eucalyptus .

If you wish to use Eucalyptus Lemon we recommend no more than a 2-3% dilution.   You can mix it with plain distilled water, shake well, and spray on your skin and around your ankles, wrists, neck etc. Anywhere you know those pesty little bugs like to attack you!

Don't forget you can also mix Eucalyptus Lemon with any lotion so you can apply it to and soften your skin at the same time.

Some people prefer to mix with carrier oils - Sweet almond and Sunflower oils are excellent light oils to use. As is Fractionated coconut oil.   Fractionated coconut oil is known for its ease in being able to be washed out of clothing.

Many other essential oils are known to be great at repelling insects. Lavender, Geranium, Citronella, Eucalyptus, Sandalwood, Cedarwood and Pennyroyal. For another recipe for repelling more insects see our recipe section in this issue.

We now have available 2 premixed Insect repellants available on our site. Click here to learn more about them.   Both insect repellents are proven to be very effective.

Recipes to try

BIRCH HILL HAPPENINGS NEWS

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for Celebrating with us this past month.

We had a great time celebrating both our anniversaries and hope you were able to take advantage of our sale, as the next sale is several months away.

Springtime is a busy time of the year.  So remember to take time out and enjoy the scenery.
Here in Northeastern Minnesota the trees are just budding.  We don't have any leaves yet where we live, but go 50 miles south and you see what I call "mouse ears" - the tiny little leaves are just opening.  Of course if we would get some warm weather things would change!

During the past month we have had lots of things happening.

We started out the month with Penny's computers hard drive failing.  Of course, she had to rebuild all her files and reinstall several programs.

She had backups of most all her records but had forgotten to back up all the e-mail addresses from the folks who had signed up to be notified when she puts up new recipes in the Recipe files pages.

So we ask that if you would like to be notified when she has new recipes up please e-mail her at recipes@birchhillhappenings.com and request to be signed up again for the notification.
Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Needless to say, another lesson learned about being diligent on making backups of any and all of your important information, whether you are in business or not!

There are some minor changes happening with Birch Hill Happenings.  We are changing the name to
Birch Hill Happenings Aromatherapy LLC.   Not a big change and nothing else will be changing (the website will still be the same.)   You will still have the same wonderful essential oils, products and service as before.

Next we are happy to announce - For all our Canadian readers and those who have wanted to order from us and who live in Canada, We finally have our Shopping cart working for you to be able to place your orders over the internet.  You won't have to telephone us any longer (unless of course you want to talk).  You will be asked to choose the shipping method which is Airmail Parcel post. It is the least expensive way to ship into Canada.  Also, the shipping costs are close to what the shipping, handling and insurance costs are, but you will be sent an invoice in the mail after we have actually shipped your package and know the shipping costs.   We look forward to having new customers from our Neighbors to the north.

We have 3 new products to announce. We have two new Insect repellants available. Both have been proven to repel those nasty little flying insects. One is a blend of Catnip essential oil and several essential oils. It is mixed in fractionated coconut oil. It has several essential oils known and proven in research to be better than DEET to repel mosquitoes. Simply spray a little on the exposed skin and gently rub in.

The other is an old tried and true recipe that we have used for years and have decided to share it with our customers. We have used it while out in the deep woods, while hiking, fishing and camping. We have never been bothered like others around us have been. Mosquito's are such little pests! Click Here to learn more

Our other new product announcement is our Lavender Sachets. They smell great, are easy to use, and inexpensive. They are made with Lavender buds and our 100% Pure Essential oil of Lavender impregnated in scent beads. Currently we have the only the Pure Lavender Sachet available, but we are working on a variety of Lavender blended scents. Click here for more information and to order.
These little sachets can be tucked away any place you would like subtle scenting. Shoes, closets, boxes, Auto's, in your desk, dressers. Be creative and have fun!

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