This past winter was a little rough for my kiddos compared to the past couple of years. My kids have caught colds (allergy induced and otherwise) more so this winter. Even though I've used essential oil for years I've never had the opportunity to use specific blends created by Young Living Oils and put them to the test as I did this winter. Were these oils as good as people raved about?
Well, I’m convinced. I'm going to fill you in on what's been gFor starters I rarely get sick. I have been able to keep mine and my children's immune system strong via diet and supplements to make our bodies inhospitable for those buggers going around. However, it’s inevitable at times. Whether it's because we are slacking in our care or came upon a super-bug...whatever the reason, this past winter was a doozy for all of us. I had just bought my Young Living Starter kit at the start of the cold season last year. I was not new to the Essential Oil scene, but new to Young Living Essential Oils specifically.The Essential Oil blends were new to me. I was just familiar with the base essential oils such as Lavender, Peppermint, etc. As weird as this may sound but the first time I started to feel the start of SOMETHING coming on last year, I got excited and ran to test this stuff out! I whipped out my Young Living starter kit and got to working. I felt the usual tickly raspy-ness in my throat and my body was not feeling 100%. I typically fend this off with a lemon tea and supplement with Vitamin C for the duration. As well as get rest in an effort to not allow it to take hold. The lemon tea consist of hot water with a tablespoon of organic lemon juice. Well this time, I added a few drops of Thieves Essential oil into my lemon tea. A few hours later the symptoms were gone! Having done some reading thereafter, I found out more about Thieves Essential Oil and it's immune boosting properties. There is an interesting story on how this concoction came to be. This goes way back to the 15th century. Even though I vaguely remember hearing the story of 15th century thieves creating this blend years ago, this story still amazes me because of the mere fact that aromatherapy has been around for what seems like eons and people always knew of these natural helpers! So a group of thieves, knowing the properties of essential oils, formulated this blend which composed of Clove, Rosemary and other botanicals so as to keep them protected while robbing the dead and dying victims of the plague. Just WOW. Young Living's blend was inspired by this and so Young Living's Thieves was created using Clove, Rosemary, Cinnamon Bark and Eucalyptus Radiata. After my last super fast recovery, this bad boy hit the diffusers in my home after my little one came home sick after school. This was a reactive situation and I wasn’t particularly convinced if this helped or not while this was happening. This was a nasty bugger. She had fever, body aches, and low energy. However, she surprisingly recovered within a few days. I realized this was a pretty darn good turn-around considering that most would have a longer recovery period. Through the course of a couple of months, whenever there a was a sign of colds trying to take hold, I whipped out handy dandy Thieves Essential Oil and into the diffuser it went. It seemed to help keep whatever was trying to take hold at bay. About a month ago I had another opportunity to put Thieves to the test again. My 16 yo became ill. As much as I nag her to drink the green smoothies I make every morning and take her vitamins, she doesn’t do it as vigilantly as she should. Being as that may, she was doing just fine until she started really stressing out about a grade that dropped for a class. She is a great student and was being hard on herself with the way a quiz went. Within a few days of stressing about this, she became ill. The stress lowered her immune system and she became vulnerable. She had the whole gamut of symptoms: sore throat, body aches, fever, cough. After picking her up from school, I put her to bed and whipped out Peppermint EO (diluted 3 drops in a tsp of Coconut oil, and applied to pulse points and on forehead for fever), R.C Essential Oil (diluted 3 drops in a tsp of coconut oil, and applied to throat and chest for cough and respiratory system) and Thieves Essential Oil (3 drops diluted in a tsp of coconut oil and applied to bottoms of feet). I then added a blend of all of that to include Lavender EO into the diffuser at her bedside. I continued with that regimen for a couple of days and each day I noticed a remarkable improvement. I did also address her energetic bodies by giving her Reiki, a Chakra cleanse/balancing and applied some of the shamanic techniques I've learned thus far. A bit of an over kill maybe? Naaah. If you met my daughter you would understand :) On second thought, I think if you were to remember your life at 16 you'd get it! Days after caring for my oldest around the clock, she seemed to have recovered except for a sore throat. I stepped back a bit to allow her immune system to try to fight this off. And just when I thought we were done with this merry go around, my 7 yo reported the start of a sore throat. At this point, all I can think of is “Oh NO not her too!” I decided to wait this out and see if this sore throat would pass in another day or so, just hoping it would go away on its own. After a couple of days that sore throat didn’t go away. I decided to get back on the EO bandwagon and I diluted a few drops of Thieves in coconut oil, applied it to the bottoms of her feet and covered her footsies with socks. The next day, both of my kids reported that their sore throats were gone. Not only did it help my youngest but the diffused oil knocked out the remnants of what my eldest had. They both were fully recovered. Battle won! The results speak for themselves. I am definitely pleased! This stuff works y'all :) If you are looking to start on implementing a more holistic health regimen as a first line of defense for your family, purchasing a Young Living starter kit is a great way to get started. Check it out here. If you want to start out slower and just buy a few Essential Oils, no worries, you have that option as well. Be sure to use ID #3049916 so you can get started with the ordering process. This is what I received when I ordered mine.
...my next project is to use an EO blend that can alleviate the seasonal allergies that my kiddos suffer from frequently. I'll keep you posted!
Maria