Do you secretly dream about sleep?

... there is an essential oil for that!

okay ... which one is the best?

Well, that depends.

• How long have you struggled with sleep?
• Are your troubles with sleep related to medication and / or a health condition?
• Is it hard for you to fall asleep?
• Or, do you fall asleep easily, but can’t stay asleep?
• Do you find it hard to go back to sleep after waking up during the night?
• Does the idea of sleep scare you? (this was a big one for me)

While there is only one root cause, the concerns that stem from that vary which must be considered.

Ancient cultures consistently factored in both physical and emotional states for their remedies … somehow understanding the body / mind connection. Today, we know that every neurotransmitter and hormone has a role in the brain as well as the body. Yet, it’s far too narrow to fall for the belief that the body follows the mind. If the body is taxed / stressed for one reason or another, the brain is now notified that pro-inflammatory processes are necessary.

The brain informs the body as much as the body informs the brain.

The origin and evolution of what it means to worry: ‘c. 1300, wirien, "to slay, kill or injure by biting and shaking the throat" (as a dog or wolf does), from Old English wyrgan "to strangle," from Proto-Germanic wurgjan (source also of Middle Dutch worghen, Dutch worgen, Old High German wurgen, German würgen "to strangle," Old Norse virgill "rope"), from wergh-, from PIE root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend."

The "strangle" sense generally was obsolete in English after c. 1600; the figurative meaning "to annoy, bother, vex" is by c. 1400. Meaning "to cause mental distress or trouble" is attested from 1822; intransitive sense of "to feel anxiety or mental trouble" is attested by 1860.’

Oddly, to worry about something or someone is accepted as a normal way to go about your day. Although we encourage one another not to get caught up in it , worry continues to whisper in the privacy of your mind.

What does anyone worry about? Something that hasn’t happened yet .. and that’s even if it does.

Worry is endemic to humans and has almost as many faces as there are people on this planet. Why?

Kahlil Gibran said it best: ‘Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.’

While worry is not the only issue when it comes to lack of sleep, it is a factor in the pro-inflammatory processes triggering inflammation and symptoms in the body. And if you say you’re not actively thinking of something, let’s be honest and admit that you’ve worried long enough to have trained your brain to be on guard, ‘shoulding’ and ‘what-iffing’ situations in the far recesses of your mind.

This is where genuine essential oils come in. However, before using any, the trick is to stop yourself from getting stuck in the prescriptive, fix it mentality.

If what you want is to hopefully sleep tonight, then there are a plethora of websites that list their recommended oils for sleep. If you visit enough of them, you’ll begin to see they’re basically saying the same thing.

Side note: as you look at other websites and see such suggestions as cedarwood, lavender, sandalwood and chamomile (sometimes they identify the one they’re referring to but not always) … it is in your best interest to ask them which oil they’re talking about. Many oils have multiple varieties. Therefore to seek generalized ideas, you are doing yourself a disservice by not asking questions. This is the predominant reason why people say that aromatherapy doesn’t work! Companies are not providing their customers with important information … and that’s even if they know!

Over the weekend, my ex-husband’s wife mentioned that she wanted to come back as a cat in her next life because they sleep. Puzzled by the statement, I looked at her sideways before she went on to qualify her statement with ‘I don’t sleep. Sleep is not something I do.’ When I told her there was an oil for that, she automatically jumped to doubting me because sleep has alluded her for decades. Sadly, I knew that feeling all too well.

As a very young child, night time was an extremely frightening and stressful time for me. Battling night terrors and hallucinations, going to bed was torture between the ages of 5 and 12. While these experiences eased up as I grew, they didn’t go away. I simply found relief in the ability to flop around in the restlessness that quickly became the new norm with the onset of my monthly cycle.

As a parent, sleep was something everyone else did, especially when my youngest adopted daughter also couldn’t sleep and chose to play with sharp objects during the night.

Feeling proud of the fact that I could exist on very little rest, I mentioned it to my doctor during an annual checkup. He flashed a look at me and sternly stated that I was causing damage to my heart and if I didn’t start sleeping, my life was in jeopardy.

Melatonin, herbal remedies, oils, and over-the-counter products did next to nothing. Interestingly enough, I was approached to assist some patients participating in a sleep study with oils so that they could actually stay asleep. Success!

Applying the same thinking with my own issues and I too was able to rest. Forty plus years is a long time before finally getting a true night’s sleep … only to wake up and be completely thrown off by had just happened. Could I do it again? It turns out the answer was and continues to be ‘yes’.

Today, it’s one of the first questions I ask a person when they come to me for help with a particular concern. ‘How well do you sleep?’ Most people have normalized minimal sleep. What’s more, they’ve tried countless things with little to no improvement.

Yet, quality sleep is essential for sustaining good health. Chronobiology is a field of study that focuses on the circadian rhythm and CLOCK gene. This is exactly why detailing your health story is necessary for determining the best oil selections for you.

Clearly, there are certain oils recognized for their ability to help you sleep tonight, with no real guidance for use or guarantee. Then again, poor sleep is not an isolated problem. It’s a symptom of a system in distress.

Using genuine oils that support your brain’s ability to restore homeostasis requires more than a few drops in a diffuser or using a roll-on as needed. Unless difficulty sleeping is something new for you, consistently getting a solid night of rest is going to take an unconventional approach. You must partner and work WITH your body.

Chronic issues with sleep means your brain is accustomed to operating a certain way. In order to achieve a good night's sleep, you must retrain the networks. It takes a commitment and willingness to break the habit of being on alert … because that’s what this is … your brain is currently committed to the ceaseless worry and concern over making sure things work out the way you want … whether you are actively engaged in the thoughts or not. Your brain is trained to be reactive.

To disrupt this, you must think differently.

For example, I had a client that struggled to sleep year after year … not unlike me. However, his story was different and using oils at night when you’d think was the best time to use them didn’t change his situation. We altered the way he used the oils to applying them in the morning. The intention was to flip / reset his internal clock. Had he not been working with me, he would have given up thinking that oils were a waste of time and money.

But with a little guidance and support, he made the changes and found his way to a restful night … time and time again.

In my ex-husband’s wife’s case, she has a history of mental and emotional struggles along with menopause. While we have come to accept that sleep issues are linked to aging and menopause, there is no way they are! Children, like adults, have a hard time sleeping whether it’s going to sleep or staying asleep.

The challenges we face are due to stress reactions happening around the clock, not realizing that the popular methods for relieving stress are not enough to establish homeostasis.

Homeostasis: the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.

Humans are chronically in the fight or flight mode.

Stressors, emotional and environmental, set off a series of chemical reactions in the body that are not being eased. Humans are the ONLY species fighting to stabilize their system so that it can actually shift between ‘fight, flight or freeze’ and ‘rest and digest’. This is because we do not cooperate with ourselves, others or the body. We seek to control an outcome in some way .. even with the best of intentions.

Now you can absolutely go with the recommended remedies. Perhaps it’s unnerving to even consider a new method to retrain your system to sleep.

OR, you can give it a go. Seriously. What have you got to lose? A night of sleep? You’ve been there and done that already. And to be quite honest, if these highly suggested ways worked, why aren’t more people sleeping better?

Because the body is stressed beyond its ability to thrive.

Look … is your mental health worth it? What about the quality of your life? Truthfully, if it doesn’t work, your no worse for the wear, and can always go back to what you were doing.

However, before you choose to write it off completely, take this in for a moment: this functional model empowers the brain's innate capacity for homeostasis, enabling both brain and body to become more resilient in the face of stressors. It’s an innovative method that supports the brain's ability to shift from reactive to responsive states.

By leveraging the profound connection between your olfactory system and neurological processes, the body is guided towards a state of enhanced adaptability and balance. Unlike traditional approaches that often focus on suppressing or managing stress responses, this method honors the system's own regulatory mechanisms. This empowers individuals to not only overcome the immediate effects of stressors but to develop a stronger, more flexible nervous system over time. The result is a transformative journey towards lasting well-being, where you no longer just cope with stress, but thrive despite it.

What are your thoughts on this? The secret to your success is unlearning the need to fix a problem and micromanaging your body. Can you feel the tension in this?

When you think about giving it a rest and relaxing into a method that empowers your system, can you feel the resistance drop?

The challenge is the doubt that follows … like me … This too good to be true! AND, good things don’t last forever!

These are only true because you’re fighting possibility!

If you’re ready to give it a go, there are two ways to do this.

You can email me for details on how to pre-register for a self-paced program on getting to sleep! Your purchase includes pre-recorded videos and downloads that dive even further into how to reset your internal clock for lasting well-being. The program will be released by the end of September 2023 and when you sign up now, you receive half off plus one month free access to the new revolutionary aromatherapy membership.

The second path is to work with me 1:1 which includes personalized oil blends and guidance. To get started with this, email me with the word ‘personalized’ in the subject line.

And as always, sending you love for peace in your heart!