Essential Oil Education

Remember when everyone had a fresh cut Christmas tree? The fragrance would fill the house and remind one of the reason for Christmas celebrations. Live trees are now cut weeks before and by the time they are purchased–there is hardly any smell left in them. And the artificial trees–well they smell of plastic! How can we recapture that wonderful Christmas fragrance? By diffusing therapeutic grade essential oils. Here is my favorite tree oil–Idaho Balsam Fir.

Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea). this is known as an oil of royalty. In the pine family, this oil is obtained through steam distillation fo the needles and branches. There is some evidence now that the “liquid gold” referred to in the Bible was none other than Balsam, an oil fit for kings and royalty. It was one of the three oils found in King Tutankhamum’s grave and is is now throught that balsam was the “Balm of Gilead.” This oil is good for respiratory and muscular system ailments. Holdegard of Bingen referred to balsam and said it was of royal nature and advised that it ought to be used as a medicine with great caution because it was so powerful. it has proven to be an anticoagulant and an anti-inflammatory. It can lower cortisol levels and has shown to inhibit MCF7 (Aggressive breast Cancer cells). This is a great oil for throat, lung, sinus infections, for fatigue, arthritis asnd rheumatism. Primary use–anti-inflammatory. You can safely diffuse this oil and apply it undiluted on the body or mix it with a carrier oil to rub the whole body. Word of caution–make sure you are using a therapeutic grade oil!

Next post I will continue this discussion.

PS: Want to get oils to diffuse during the holidays? Go to http://www.youngliving.com/HTSMsmith to order yours today.