Episode 114: How to Start Using Aromatherapy Featuring Debbie Carson

doTERRA: The term aromatherapy has existed since 1937 and was coined by French chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé, who developed a curiosity in essential oils through his work. But aromatherapy has come a long way since 1937. And today, we're going to talk about how you can utilize it in your life.

Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA, the podcast where you'll hear exciting, useful, and simple everyday uses for essential oils from experts in the field. If you like what you hear today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. We always appreciate hearing from you.

Today, we're excited to talk to Debbie Carson about how she uses aromatherapy throughout her day, as well as her recommendations of which essential oils to use. Debbie, thank you so much for joining us today.

Debbie Carson: You're welcome! I'm glad to be here.

doTERRA: So this is a topic that I think a lot of people are curious about but may not understand how it works exactly. So can you tell us a little bit about what aromatherapy is?

Debbie: Yes, aromatherapy is when you are inhaling the oils through what's called your olfactory system, which is your nose, and your sinuses, your nasal passages.

doTERRA: And how do people usually use aromatherapy in their lives?

Debbie: Well, one of the best ways that I really like and one of the first things I did when I got in doTERRA was buy a diffuser. We have several varieties of them. Our diffusers are excellent quality. They're like hospital-grade plastic, so they hold up well. And it's so easy to do.

Most of the diffusers just—you take the top off, or wherever the compartment is, put a little bit of water in, drop your oils in, and then you just put the lid back on, plug it in, and it's good to go. And they're awesome.

doTERRA: And that absolutely, like you said, it's so simple and so easy, something you can do in just a few minutes and have that benefit in your home. That's amazing.

Debbie: Yes, and another thing that's really fabulous about the diffusers: they're very easy to keep clean. And I can share that with you a little bit. You just dump all your water out when you go to clean it, take a little bit of white vinegar, clean it with like an old toothbrush, something like that, around the compartments inside. Rinse it out thoroughly, let it dry, and it's good to go. Sometimes they'll get so they don't operate quite as well. They just need to be cleaned.

doTERRA: That is, like you said, so simple, so easy. Everyone can do that part of it. Aromatherapy definitely isn't hard when you have a diffuser with you in your house.

Debbie: Yes!

doTERRA: So here's the big question that I think a lot of people want to know is how do they know what essential oils to use for aromatherapy?

Debbie: OK, one of the best ways probably would be to, you know, just open the bottle and smell it. If it's something that you enjoy smelling, then by all means, try it in your diffuser. You know, if it's something that—to be totally honest, I'm not sure Tea Tree is one of those things everybody wants to smell through their house all the time. It's beneficial, but it may not be everybody's choice of smell.

But I do have an experience that I just wanted to share. I thought about this. It's so cute. I mean, I was brand new in doTERRA, had my diffuser going with On Guard in it, no joke, On Guard, which is so, so good. And so I was diffusing it, and one of my family members walked in—I just don't remember who it was exactly—and said, “Oh, what are you baking? That smells so good!” And I felt so rotten because it was nothing in the oven; it was coming out of the diffuser.

So they're awesome. And you know, another way, there's aromatherapy jewelry. You can—I've got one on right now. It's a little clasp, or a little locket type of thing that opens up, has a little pad in it. You can drop the oils on there.

You can put an oil on your wrist and simply smell your wrist. And that is like the most basic aromatherapy. So anything that you would like the smell of. To be honest, I have like I made a bunch of room sprays at Christmas time with one of my leaders, and she—it was so funny. She liked all of the treesy, woodsy smells, and I liked a lot of the flower smells. So we're switching back and forth, sharing the oils. But I'm making more of mine with the flower smell. She's making more of her’s with the Siberian Fir, Douglas Fir, all those kinds of things. So just whatever you prefer, really.

doTERRA: And I love that aromatherapy is so customizable that way. You find what connects with you and what is going to make you feel the best.

Debbie: Yes, that is really—that's really what it is. And don't be afraid, especially in your diffuser, you want to experiment, you want to put citrus oils with treesy oils, or woodsy oils I guess you call them, or flower oils with citrus. Like, honestly, Wild Orange with Spearmint, Wild orange with Peppermint, they just smell so good together.

And the only thing you want to be careful is if you're putting it directly on your skin is maybe take just a teeny bit of like one drop or just touch the lid of the bottle and try it on your skin to make sure that you're not going to be sensitive to that oil.

doTERRA: Absolutely. My final question for you is, can you take us through how you use aromatherapy throughout your day?

Debbie: Yes! First off, if you saw my house, you would probably not have to ask that, when you'd see all of it. I have tons and tons of roller bottles all over my house because I'm one of those people. To me, one of the things I love about doTERRA is the creativity.

You—like—I'll take some oils that I just like the smell of or something that I think will help me or whatever. And I'll put it in a bottle, put a combination in there, two or three oils, you know, roll it on my wrist, and then I'll go around and smell it. And that's just awesome. Put it on the back of my neck. There’s just different things that you can use them for.

It is definitely a good way to try to wean out some of the air fresheners and some of the candles out of your home because they are very toxic. And, you know, I just had a posted thing on my Facebook today, so this is fresh in my mind. But you can also get dryer balls, put essential oils on your dryer balls instead of using all the fabric softener, fabric sheets, which really gum up the filter, and then toss your clothes in the dryer with dryer balls with essential oils on. You talk about making your sheets smell good. You know, it's amazing.

doTERRA: Absolutely.

Debbie: Another aromatherapy thing I do is take a drop of Serenity and just spread it on my pillowcase because it has no coconut oil or anything and it’s straight of the bottle, it won't stain. And I just put that on, and it smells so good while I’m going to sleep.

doTERRA: Those all sound so amazing. I love the ideas with putting it through your laundry or through your sheets just to have that smell with you throughout the day.

Debbie: And another thing too is—I know I had shared with you that this is just something I'm really interested in—is memories are very much triggered by smell. That's the number one sense, like the five senses. The number one sense that triggers memories is smell. So if your—say your mother, your grandmother, this is when I think of my grandmother. When I think of my grandmother, who's been gone many, many years, I think of lilacs because she liked this lilac smell, fragrance, whatever, and she would smell like that all the time.

So, you know, when you smell something like, I will—I'm in Florida, which I don't know if everybody knows that, but I'm in Florida. So we have lots of citrus trees down here: wild orange, lemon, whatever. So and especially my favorite citrus oil is Green Mandarin. So when we peel a mandarin orange or something, oh, my goodness, the Green Mandarin oil we have smells just like that. So when I—it's my favorite diffusing single oil is Green Mandarin. Love it. Makes my whole house smell like I just peeled a tangerine, you know? So if that's a good memory of being out in the yard, peeling tangerines, you know, whatever kind of thing, those smells can trigger those great memories. It's amazing.

doTERRA: Absolutely. And I think you hit that topic so well that smells are so powerful. And we can make those connections, and that's part of why aromatherapy can be so beneficial, because we have those memories. You know, the good memories associated with smells and aromatherapy can help bring those back to us, which is incredible.

Debbie: Yes, very, very powerful. They're just—it's amazing what the oils can do, just smelling.

And another thing, too, if you like to make up like—you want a scent. I wouldn't say perfume because they're not really perfumes, but if you want an essential oil scent that you want to roll on as your scent for the day, one of the best ways to do that is to take whatever bottles you think you want to put in that roller bottle and just put those bottles. And just this sounds funny, but run them under your nose, you know, just kind of smell them like that. And that'll tell you for the most part, if those oils will smell good together when you put them in a rollerball.

doTERRA: Absolutely. Well, Debbie, thank you so much for joining us today, for sharing all of your expertise and tips for aromatherapy. We really appreciate it.

Debbie: You are so welcome. And I so appreciate you asking me. I love talking about the oils!

doTERRA: Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you liked what you heard today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. Also, if you want to try any of the products you learned about, go to doterra.com or find a Wellness Advocate near you to place an order today.