As you’ve likely noticed, the topic of essential oils has suddenly popped in the media. It seems like at least once a week, I encounter an article, a blog post, a YouTube video, or a news segment that references essential oils in one way or another. If you didn’t know better, you might think that using essential oils was the newest or hippest fad, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. When I first learned about essential oils, I had been living in New York City for 13 years. I was born and raised in Scotland, so even though I loved the intensity and aliveness of New York, living here was extremely stressful. The fast-paced life in New York required me to make a big adjustment from the slow pace I had grown up with in Scotland. Don’t get me wrong, I love living in New York! But just like anywhere, living here can really affect people emotionally, and almost everyone I meet is experiencing certain levels of anxiety, nervousness, and insomnia. Before I began using essential oils, I was easily stressed, and feeling anxious became a daily occurrence. I felt trapped in the cycle of stress and anxiousness, and I could not seem to find a way out of it. When I experienced such relief from something “natural,” it seemed too good to be true. Incorporating essential oils into my day-to-day life has helped me find and feel more balanced. As you can imagine, the stresses of living in such a fast paced city can add up. For me, the onset of my anxiety and digestive issues were gradual. One day, I couldn’t just keep overlooking my body’s responses to my daily stressors any more. My stomach became upset every day, I was constantly on edge, and I struggled to let the anxiousness go. I was happy and my life was great—why was I so anxious all the time? I mentioned my upset stomach to a friend of mine who is a chiropractor and essential oil wellness advocate with doTerra, and she recommended I mix a drop of peppermint oil with some carrier oil and rub it into my belly. When she mentioned that there were other essential oils that would help me feel less anxious, I didn’t know what to think. I did, however, know there had to be another way to turn the volume on my stress levels, and I was willing to give my friend’s recommendations a try. Nothing else seemed to help, and I was sick and tired of feeling this way. When I got home that night, I tried what my friend suggested, and within minutes, my stomach was no longer upset. An added benefit was that the peppermint seemed to cool me down from the inside out, which was fantastic since it was the middle of summer. It wasn’t long before I had fallen in love with essential oils. Now that Western media has taken notice, more and more people are becoming curious about essential oils and how they can be used. While some oils are well known for their therapeutic qualities, most oils don’t get enough attention, and I’ve found that people are still unclear about the benefits of essential oils. I’d love to offer you a few helpful tips I’ve encountered, in hopes they’ll inspire you to keep learning about the ways these plant-based oils can improve your life. – Essential oils have been used therapeutically for centuries. –Not all essential oils are created equal. High quality, pure oils can be tricky to identify, since the essential oil industry is unregulated. I’ve found doTerra to be the highest quality. Do your homework so you know where your oils come from and how they are made. –Most of the oils you can find in drugstores or department stores are actually synthetic. They may smell nice, but be aware that artificial aromatic oils offer no therapeutic benefits. Go for pure, always. –True essential oils are derived directly from the plant. Any oils that are diluted or mixed with other ingredients won’t have the same benefits as pure essential oils. Even if the differences in scent are indiscernible to you, the artificial oil will have no therapeutic benefits, and the synthetics can actually deliver chemicals into your system by way of the largest organ in your body: your skin. Did I mention how important pure essential oils are. – Essential oils, in their purest form, can support the body in ways you may never have considered. For example, lavender is used to calm emotions, so its aroma is perfect to inhale when you are feeling upset or stressed. It will also help you get a restful night’s sleep. It is also great for soothing skin irritations and so much more. One of my greatest joys is seeing people discover and benefit from incorporating essential oils into their everyday lives. Pure essential oils that are high quality (like doTerra, for example) have health benefits that can dramatically improve the quality of our lives—the possibilities for how you can use and incorporate pure, therapeutic quality essential oils are nearly endless. From calming anxiousness, opening up breathing passageways, improving digestion, relaxing tense muscles, increasing circulation, to stopping a hot flash in its tracks—and so much more—finding easy, simple ways to use these high quality, therapeutic grade, pure essential oils is an easy yes. Next time you’re awake long past your bedtime, try a drop of doTerra’s lavender essential oil behind your ears before you climb into bed, and see how it helps ease you into sleep. I can tell you from my own experience, and the hundreds (or maybe thousands) of people I’ve met in the last five years who have taken this simple challenge: People all over the world seem to be shocked when they learn, first hand, that a dab of lavender behind the ears right before bed can bring on sleep faster than counting sheep jumping over the moon. So, while it might seem like a wives’ tale rather than the salve to soothe a chronically sleepless soul, I urge you to start here, right where you are, and check it out for yourself. I’m confident that in this essential-oil-exploration, you’ll find your favorite, as well as a reason for why this is so. So, try an experiment with an essential oil, read test reports and ingredient lists, and verify processing plant stories for yourself. Join us as we all trudge the road toward improved vitality as we seek out ways to be our own essential oil wellness advocates. You owe it to yourself.

Diane Gjelaj is originally from Scotland and has been living in NYC for the past 18 years. She became fascinated by the holistic health field about ten years ago and began her journey with Body-Talk, Hypno-birthing, Doula, and Feng Shui certifications. She realized through her studies that she wanted to help others achieve harmony and balance in their lives. In 2011, she founded her company, Serene Living, and a year later experienced the power of doTERRA essential oils for her own personal health challenges. This led her to decide to share the power of these essential oils with the world. She now spends her time educating people about ways to manage their health with these powerful plant extracts. She also leads a team of hundreds of men & women who are also on a mission to help others find safe and natural solutions for their health care needs. To find out more or to get in touch with Diane directly, visit www.mydoterra.com/sereneliving