Connie Scheel
Connie Scheel has taken the month’s topic on sleep and added some essential oils, of course. Her journey with the oils for her own “Divine Homework on Sleep” offers you, our Footsteps In Eden Reflexology readers, some excellent ideas for coping with your own falling asleep challenges. Connect with Connie on her Young Living website, Etsy Shop, and Facebook.
by Connie Scheel
Awakening Refreshed
I’ve been given Divine Homework. God has a great sense of humor. You may recall that last month the theme for Footsteps in Eden’s blog was laughter. So, it was humorous when I was asked to write about sleep and essential oils, because sleep’s been a challenge for me the past several weeks.
I started my Divine Homework by making a list of the things I was already doing right in the sleep category based on this article, 37 Science-Backed Tips For a Better Night’s Sleep Tonight from Huffington Post.
How many did you check off? My list had 13, leaving me room for improvement. These jump out at me as do-able:
Set a consistent bedtime and wake pattern.
Turn off all electronics an hour, or so, before bed. (Gulp.)
Sunlight first thing in the morning.
Don’t stress about this sleep challenge.
This last one is a biggie, and it’s where essential oils can play a starring role. Are you wondering which EOs are helpful for sleep?
Lavender is a wonderful place to start, or return if you haven’t used it for awhile. It’s well known for it’s relaxing properties, and is an over all balancer.
Peace & Calming may help you wind down after a busy stress-filled day. This is particularly good in a room diffuser, or you can rub 1- 2 drops onto the bottoms of your feet.
Cedarwood helps stimulate the pineal gland which releases melatonin. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that controls your sleep and wake cycle, and is affected by light. Your body’s production of melatonin slowly decreases with age which may make it more difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep. (Remember Wonders of Cedarwood from Dec 2013?)
Valor encourages balance and ahhhhhh to the end of your day. This blend has Frankincense which works to help restore balance in your nervous system. Rub 1- 2 drops into the underside of your big toes about 30 minutes before your bedtime. It may also end snoring.
RutaVaLa is a blend you may not have heard of, but if you’re challenged by getting to sleep it may be quite helpful. It’s a blend of Ruta graveolens (rue) oil, valerian root oil, and lavender oil. It’s amazingly helpful for releasing tension and negativity. This blend helps induce sleep and relax your body, thanks to to the Valerian EO. Valerian helps calm the voluntary as well as the involuntary nervous system which is richly valuable. The Rue EO also assists balancing your sympathetic override and helps to lower your cortisol (a stress hormone).
I am blessed to have all of these EOs in my collection right now. For my Divine Homework, I used each of them for 2 nights in a row as an experiment. Our frequencies (our energy), is always changing. EOs have their own unique energy, or frequency. It’s important to be willing to try a couple different EOs to find a good frequency match up. Sometimes I forget about this and find myself feeling frustrated when a particular EO isn’t working for me. This is why I did this experiment, and I encourage you to experiment too.
My experiment showed me that Valor and RutaVaLa are best matched to my current frequency. My Divine Homework also taught me to take better care of myself, be willing to change and welcome relaxation. I’d love to hear about your experiment!
