A few years ago, a friend of mine tried selling me on using essential oils. I wanted nothing to do with it because I figured it was just another money-making gimmick that would be a waste of money (and we know how much I hate wasting money).

Needless to say, I moved on and forgot all about it.

Until one day when we were visiting family out-of-town. We were supposed to go to a theme park when Violet started crying, doubled over in pain in her gut. She ran to the bathroom and….I don’t need to tell you the rest. Except that she was in horrible pain and I didn’t know what to do. Every few minutes she was running back to the bathroom in tears. I didn’t even know if there was such a thing as Immodium or Pepto for kids, but I told Brian just to go find me something at the drugstore. My sister-in-law asked if she could first try something she had in her cupboard.

ZenGest.

Willing to try anything to help Violet, I agreed. She put one drop on her belly and literally within minutes, Violet was back to laughing, playing and ready to go. I was skeptical, though. She told me to put it on her belly every 2 hours for the rest of the day. When we returned, I figured the episode that morning was probably just a fluke and stopped putting the drops on her belly.

Sure enough, after 3 hours, she was back in the bathroom starting the whole thing all over again. I tried the drops and within minutes, she was fine again.

That was when I realized that there may be more to this whole essential oils thing.

I started buying everything I could, but quickly realized that I was spending money on oils that sounded good, but I just didn’t use. So, I evaluated what oils I loved and used constantly and now I just buy those.

Here are my favourite and most used oils/blends.

Easy Air
Respiratory Blend
I use this when we have stuffy noses. I put this in the diffuser at night and also a drop or 2 on the chest. I also use this when I travel. When the air in the plane feels stagnant and stuffy, I usually open the bottle and take a few whiffs (or if it’s really gross air, sometimes I put a tiny drop under my nose).

Citrus oils
I just put citrus because there’s something about diffusing citrus oils that invigorate your senses and wake up tired minds. My favourite citrus oils are grapefruit, orange, lime and lemon.

Deep Blue
This is a gym favourite! When you’ve worked out and your muscles are recovering, Deep Blue cools and relaxes them better than icy hot or anything like that. I keep a bottle of the rub in my gym bag. This is also great for those times when Aunt Flow comes to visit. A little soupy mix of FCO, geranium, peppermint and clary sage topped with Deep Blue and I quickly forget that there’s an angry contract negotiation business meeting happening inside my abdomen.

Peace
Have you ever just asked for peace and quiet before?

Yes.

All. The. Time.

I am generally a great sleeper. By that, I mean that I can hit my pillow and be deep in solemn slumber within seconds of closing my eyes. However, when I can’t, sleep eludes me like a missing puzzle piece.

It’s gone.

I used to mix Juniper Berry (very easily my favourite oil), Lavender, Grapefruit, Ylang Ylang and Vetiver when that would happen, but then doTERRA came out with an oil blend called Peace. I’m certain it’s the exact combo that I would mix because it smells exactly the same as my concoction. Anyway, this stuff is the bomb! (does that mean I’m old when I say things like that?) I would use this over a sleep aid any day!

ZenGest
If you read my story at the beginning of this post, you know exactly why I keep this around. This is also an oil I love to travel with because you never know when your gut is going to turn on you in a foreign country.

I do use other oils and blends, but these are my most used oils. There is one other blend that I put together, but it is a top-secret bedroom type oil (and one I wouldn’t want to go without)…send me a message if you want the low down on that oil.