How to Use Essential Oils for Anxiety

Video Transcript

DEBBIE MANDEL: Greetings everyone. I'm Debbie Mandel, a stress management specialist and author of "Addicted to Stress." In this clip, we're going to talk about how to use essential oils to reduce anxiety. Anxiety is fear-based. It's where your imagination runs wild into negativity and it may cause you to freeze and avoid many experiences that could enrich your life. Anxiety involves a multiprong approach. One thing that can really help you and use with other methods is dabbing on a little essential oil. Now, I like essential oils because they contain the fragrance in a pure form. Lavender being the number one fragrance for stress management along with citrus and vanilla, feel free to experiment with your own blend. The fragrance helps relax an anxious person by reaching the limbic brain which is in hyperalert mode to calm down. It helps you come back to your body which is very important especially if you experience generalized anxiety disorder and this seems to be common in our day and age because we retained those fear-based memories. The five points that you should remember to reduce anxiety with essential oils are: look for a pure form of the essential oil and experiment with what you like during the good times; number two, you don't want a commercial spray; you don't want any pollutants or anything that's too harsh; number three, you could dab a little essential oil on your forehead like lavender when you close your eyes to relax your body or to meditate for synergy of reducing that anxiety; number four, if you are a caregiver to an elderly person who is stressed such an Alzheimer's patient, rubbing a little lavender oil on the soles of the feet is very soothing and calming on a visceral level; and number five, see what really makes your heart sing during the good times, so you cultivate a good memory for the unsteady times and you will be able to conquer your fears to meet new challenges.