I know, I know I’m SUPER late to jump on this oil train but if y’all have been keeping up with Zach’s medical stuff this past year then you know I’ve been looking for some ways to help keep him from getting sick as well as help our entire family live a healthier lifestyle. I’ve had a Young Living kit for awhile and have dabbled in some blends and such when the kids have had the crud, but I want to get better and learn more! Nikki is a super sweet friend of mine who is SO knowledgeable about all things oils AND goes above and beyond in answering my questions and helping me learn. I’ve never posted about oils on the blog and asked her if she’d like to do a post for me to help both MYSELF as well as others like me have a better understanding of just what all this “oil stuff” is about!
***
Hey everyone! When Emily got in touch with me many moons ago
about doing a blog post about Young Living Essential Oils, I was super excited!
That meant I get to share my passion for educating others what Young Living
Essential Oils (YLEOS) are and how they have literally changed our family’s
life. Thank you, Emily, for reaching out and most importantly—thank you for
your patience as I worked this up for your blog. I hope your readers thoroughly
enjoy & learn at least one thing from this.
I am Nikki Ellis-a daughter of Christ, wife to a one of a
kind husband, mother of five children (three here with me & two in heaven),
sister, and friend. My little family just relocated from our beloved town of
Hahira, GA to Thomasville, GA and have spent the past few months settling in
and soaking in the lazy (& some not so lazy) summer days. When we decided
to start a family many years ago our plate started to begin to fill up. Without
a relationship with Christ and YLEOS, there’s really no telling where we would
be right now.
Let’s take a trip back to the past; circa early 2014. A past
where a struggling new mother of two was trying to hold it all together with a
brand new four-year old who and a four-month-old who didn’t believe in sleeping
{thank goodness that has changed in the past three years!} I think most of us
who are moms know how this season in our lives is. Sleepless nights, never
ending loads of laundry, hardly any special time with your significant
other/spouse; let alone, any time for yourself was taking a toll on me,
physically & emotionally. I had just learned to know it was a season and
that it too, “shall pass.” Until one day, I was in the middle of a nursing
session, cruising Facebook, and see an acquaintance post about an Essential Oil
that would take all your Stress Away. And it was called Stress Away—simple as
that.
We all know Facebook has turned into a platform for selling
products, educating others and ahem, our political views. And I had recently
been seeing a lot about these magical essential oils. And my best friend had
been using them for a year or so and was always telling me stories of how they
were changing her family’s lives and NATURAL. So, I decided to buy a bottle of Stress
Away for myself. At this point, what did I have to lose?
I got the bottle in the mail, read the super EASY
instructions and applied generously to my wrists and the back of my neck. Within
minutes, my disposition and my body began to relax. I’m going to be honest. I
thought the first few times were a coincidence but when I started applying to
my children during meltdowns or periods of complete chaos, I would always get
the same result. The stress would dissipate and all was right in the world
again. And then after a month of this….my thought was, how can I get my baby to
sleep? And FOR REAL. There’s an oil for that. But, I’ll save that story for
later 😉
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Fast forward three and a half years later and I use YLEO’s
from literally the moment I step into the shower in the morning from when I’m
tucking myself in bed late at night. They have literally transformed our lives
and have actually made things simpler for our family. Simple? I’ll take that
any day! What are Young Living Essential Oils? I’m so glad you asked!
Essential Oils are the aromatic, volatile liquids distilled
from plants. The oil can be obtained from the seeds, roots, an entire shrub,
flowers, leaves and trees. Each essential oil can contain hundreds of different
chemical compounds. I like to refer to essential oils as the blood of the
plant. Just like our
lifeline is blood streaming through our body to give us life, the same thing
applies to essential oils: it is the oil that goes through the plant giving it
life. The majority of plant essential oils are obtained by steam
distillation to release the plants’ precious oils. And only one company, Young
Living Essential Oils, has received my trust and endorsement. Young Living
guarantees to provide only 100 percent pure, therapeutic-grade oils produced
from carefully identified plants with natural chemical profiles that match or
exceed recognized world standards. To learn more specifically about this
amazing and beautiful process, check out www.seedtoseal.com
on how Young Living makes sure we only get the best!
Now that we know what essential oils are, how can we use
them in our lives to receive the most benefit from them. I’m going to explain
three methods for you: Aromatically, Topically and Internally.
Aromatically: You can receive benefits from YLEO’s by
simply smelling an oil from the bottle from itself. Research shows that it only
takes 22 seconds for essential oils to reach your brain. So, yes, your mood can
be lifted that quickly! The most common way people use essential oils is by
diffusing them. Personally, this is how I fell in love with EO’s. People can
experience physical changes, mental alertness, clarity, relaxation, emotional
release and much more by just inhaling EO’s. If you are a beginner, I do
suggest taking it slow and steady when using an oil for the first time. What I
tell my distributors when they first receive their Premium Starter Kit is to
place 1-2 drops of whatever desired oil you want to try first—Lavender,
Peppermint & Lemon are always a good place to start. Once your body is
acclimated to the oils you can increase the number of drops you use. I usually do
4-5 drops of each oil now! If you do feel like you are getting a headache, this
probably means your body is need of a detox. If you have any questions about
what this means, please let me know!
Topically: Depending on the oil and the directions,
you can use the oil neat (without carrier oil) or dilute (with carrier oil) and
place on the vitaflex/acupressure points or on the area of concern. You can mix in things like bath
salts, shampoos and conditioners, lotions, toothpaste, body scrubs and more.
For children 2+ and adults, I recommend using one teaspoon of carrier oil per
one drop of essential oil. For children/infants 2 and under I recommend one
tablespoon of carrier oil per one drop of essential oil. This is how I have
always administered EO’s to my children’s skin and have never experienced a
reaction and I am extremely conservative when applying to my little babes. I
always suggest doing a ‘test’ area to make sure there is no reaction to an
essential oil. If you are a mom, I also suggest using the oil on yourself
before applying to children.
VitaFlex are the acupressure
points of the Feet/Hands/ears. They correspond with organs or other locations
on the body. For children, a go to place
to apply essential oils are the bottoms of their feet.
*Carrier oils that are
recommended are Young Living’s V-6 carrier oil, coconut oil, olive, grapeseed,
jojoba & avocado oil. Pease do not use coconut oil if you or your children
have an allergy to nuts (as a precaution).
Internally:
Yes! You can ingest Young Living Oils. And one more reason to love the company
is they have created the “Vitality Line” which are oils that are labeled in
white which make it easy & clear to know they are safe for ingestion. It
really doesn’t get any easier than that. I personally love using oils in my
water on a daily basis to help with cravings and for energy. And they always
come in handy when I’m missing a lemon or a lime in one of my recipes for
supper! Usually 1-2 drops is sufficient when using internally because essential
oils are extremely concentrated. In a bottle of Lemon YLEO it takes 75 lemons
to fill it! That’s a lot of lemons.
So, why do I choose Young Living
out of all the other companies out there? In a nutshell:
·
Young Living is the pioneer in the essential oil industry.
They have 20+ years of experience and they are the world leader in essential
oil research and the distillation process.
·
Young Livings are beyond Organic. They are 100% PURE.
No chemicals, pesticides or herbicides used on their farms. NONE!
·
Each batch of oils is rigorously tested in house for
therapeutic viability(and if it doesn’t pass the test, they are thrown out with
no looking back)
·
Young Living owns AND farms their own farms across the
globe.
·
YOU AND ME can actually visit the farms and participate
in the harvest/distillation process—this is a dream & goal of mine.
·
Their oils are currently being used in over 50 U.S.
Hospitals by doctors and nurses!
·
With over 125 single oils and blends, Young Living has
the largest selection available.
·
Their customer service & product guarantee is
AMAZING. I literally called for advice on how to handle a situation I have
never encountered and they gave me a $20 credit to go towards my next order.
All I asked for was advice. And I got it PLUS a free oil!
·
The support and education through the Young Living
Community makes for an amazing Young Living Experience.
And why do I even use essential
oils? At first, it was because it supported my emotional well-being. I am so
grateful for essential oils to help me embrace my emotions and help balance
them in a healthy way. However, the more I dug, scoured the Young Living
Website to learn and research {which I still do daily}, the more I realized I
am letting far too many chemicals into my home which can be disruptors to my
family’s health. Let me state two facts.
1) The
#2 cause of death in the U.S. is cancer. 1,620 people a day die of cancer. 1 in
3 cases are directly linked to poor diet, physical inactivity, weight, or
chemical exposure. The American Cancer Society says only 5 to 10% of all cancer
cases are gene defects. 5 percent. That means 95% of cancer cases are under our
control. It’s what we allow into our homes and into our bodies.
2) The
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health studied 2,983 ingredients
in our products at home-and found 884 toxic ingredients. 314 of them caused
biological mutations. 218 caused reproductive problems. 778 were toxic to the
human body. 146 they knew caused cancer tumors-but were allowed in the U.S.,
even though they are banned in other countries around the world. Many of these
chemicals are allowed in common cleaning supplies-things under your cabinets
right now. Things that I used to clean with and my babies would crawl on the
floors or we would bathe in every day.
So, my family is my why. I do it
to keep us healthy as possible. I am not perfect in any way and I am still
finding things daily that I need to change to keep us healthy, but slowly and
surely, we are working on it and I’d love the opportunity to help you get started
on your YLEO journey. It is the best investment one can make.
When someone comes to me on where
to start with Young Living essential oils, I always direct them to the Premium
Starter Kit(PSK). It contains 11 of the most used or as I would like to call
them, every day oils, that are easy to get a grasp on. It also includes such
VALUABLE information and resources that are essential for a new user.
Young Living really does make it
so easy for us members. One of the reasons I love the PSK is because it allows
you to dive in at your own pace at an amazing price. With the PSK you are
literally getting over $300 worth of product, resources, samples, etc for $160
plus a membership that allows you to order whenever you want with NO strings
attached (yes, you heard that right). And you get yours truly, to ask as many
questions as you like. I promise, there is no such thing as a dumb question.
And I promise, I was right where you are four years ago! If you’d like to learn
more about the Premium Starter Kit & Young Living, I welcome you to my
website: https://www.myyl.com/shimmerco02.
And if you would like to learn more about the 11 essential oils in the Premium
Starter Kit and how they can change your family’s life, please contact me! I do have a
Facebook group where I announce & hold classes, tips, and information about
essential oils. To be a part of that, please find me at The Living
Well! (Sidenote from Emily: I’m a member of her group and am learning SO MUCH!)
If you’re ready to dive into the
world of the best essential oils on the planet, go HERE and select ‘Become a Member.’
And you remember I would share a story for you on how I got my youngest to
sleep through the night? If you’ve stuck around this long, here it goes! My
kids have never been the best sleepers and I was ready to get my littlest
little to sleep through the night because waking up every 2-3 hours was not the
best for a mom of three and he was FOURTEEN months old. It was time. I had
tried a few oils and they had succeeded in calming him down {he’s my wild
child} but they didn’t work with his system like I had hoped for helping him to
make it through the night. And then, I was introduced to Sleepyize-a
beautiful blend put together with children in mind. The first night we used it,
we were out of town and he slept through the night—which he normally sleeps
awful when traveling. He slept through the night the rest of the weekend and it
continued on when we got home. Needless to say, this oil is in the diffuser
every single day for naptime and bedtime. And I am happy to report, he is still
sleeping VERY well! And on that note, it’s bedtime over here! Live well, Y’all!
Blessings!
Nikki Ellis
My work has been featured on Love What Matters, Today Parenting and Babywise.Life. I'm also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.
You can read more about our family on my About Me page. Also be sure to follow along with me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!
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