I have to admit I didn’t quite understand what the big deal was about “Essential Oils” until I attended my first aromatherapy class in October 2017 with Singapore-based yoginis, Denise Keller and Suraya Sam. It fascinated me that they walked around the class dropping drops of oil on palms before every asana. By the time we lay down in Savasana, the room had turned into a cozy cocoon of subtle fragrances, each providing a soothing tingling sensation to the sensory nerves.
By Kavita Chandran
I went and bought myself some mini bottles the next day and started dropping some lavender and citrus oils in a diffuser at home— and those spots soon became my happy places. I knew then that these weren’t just fragrances, they were therapeutic facilitators in play. And so, I started reading up on them.
Essential oils are plant extracts, and they contain compounds that repel pests and help ward off bacteria. Because they are capable of fighting infection, these compounds have innumerable physical and mental benefits.
The little bottles are also expensive because it takes many plants to produce few drops of oil. “To produce eight ounces of lavender essential oil, a grower needs to distill 75 pounds of freshly harvested lavender plants,” explained Hope Gillerman, author of Essential Oils Every Day, to YogaJournal in the U.S. “That’s the equivalent of 250 plastic bins of salad greens!”
I slowly began to understand that these little drops were really meant for medicinal and therapeutic use, not for recreational purposes. I also realized I am a bit behind in reaping the benefits of these amazing extracts. So, when an “Aromatherapy Training” opportunity opened up for yoga teachers in Singapore, led by Ed Dailey from Young Living, I signed up. We had written about Ed in our previous edition, and how he was a nurse-turned-yoga-teacher who incorporated essential oils in all his teachings. To my surprise, the class was packed with yoga teachers who were craving to know more about the benefits of essential oils. Training under Ed was a delight. His attention to detail, his teaching style and his pure love and belief in essential oils prompted me to do more research and learn to incorporate them in my teachings as well.
With some clarification provided by Young Living’s Chrystal Yip, I found eight oils that work well with different moods, which I have listed for you—and hope that you can harness the healing power of essential oils as much as I am learning to do.
This article was first published in the print edition of Yoga Journal Singapore, which is now Yogahood Online.
