How Essential Oils Can Enhance Your Travel Experience Naturally

By Kim Morrison
Founder and Director, Twenty8

How do you feel when you walk along a river, through a pine forest or a beautiful garden? Rested. Restored. Energised. Peaceful. Happy. This is the power of nature and the unseen healing energy that surrounds us when we are in its presence.

Did you know that you can create that same feeling on a train or a plane, in the office and in the home?

Many cultures dating back centuries have understood the power of essential oils extracted from plants to heal and restore a balance to the body. Long before prescription drugs were our mainstay, people used plant oils to heal many illnesses and emotional challenges, in fact they were often the main treatment prescribed for stress, sleep disorders, anxiety, travel sickness, food cravings, depression and energy fluctuations.

Our sense of smell contributes enormously to the quality and enjoyment of our lives, our health and our well-being. It is the mind-body interface.  When we travel things like time zones, fatigue, jetlag and different foods can effect how we feel, and not always for the best.

When we understand how smell influences our moods, our emotions – even the choice of our mates it makes sense that it could help with every day remedies and living too! It is the main organ that contributes to our enjoyment of our sense of taste. Smells also warn us of dangers, such as fire, poisonous fumes and spoiled food and gives us awareness of our place in the environment.

Having said that it is a sense almost forgotten, the fact is that we take our sense of smell for granted. There are no travel destinations or galleries displaying smells like art. There are no concertos written for the nose. And unlike colors which we have named down to every hue, we do not even have a vocabulary written for smell, it is almost impossible to explain the smell of something to someone who has not smelt it!

Yet this mysterious sense and its power to influence the body is one of the most profound when it comes to mood and emotions. Let’s look at how this ancient art works: Whenever we inhale an aroma our body responds.

Smell is a chemical sense, which means whenever you smell an aroma a chemical reaction takes place as the aroma travels up the olfactory system to the limbic part of the brain, the constituents of the aroma are identified and the body releases its own chemicals and endorphins in response.

That is why you can smell Lavender and you feel more relaxed and calm, or energised and alert when you smell the stimulating oil of Rosemary.

Smells are also closely linked to our emotions, and this is because smells evoke memories. What is exciting is that we can anchor ourselves positively to smells to create the response in the body that we want.

When we feel homesick or overwhelmed when we are away from home we can instantly transport ourselves right back into the moment as if we were back there. A simple spritz of a familiar essential oil and it can instantly settle your mood and calm your emotions, it’s that powerful.

This is because the gentle, yet powerful, stimulation of the limbic system, our moods, emotions, and other effects on the mind and body can be manipulated through scent. Since the fastest way to change our emotions is through our sense of smell, this sense is our most primitive, yet most influential sense of all.

The other powerful way Aromatherapy works is through the skin. Whenever we massage essentials oils onto the skin in a cold pressed carrier oil like jojoba, macadamia or peach kernel, the essential oils are quickly picked up by the blood stream and transported around the body, supporting the immune, nervous, lymphatic and circulatory systems.

All high quality essential oils are antiseptic, antibacterial and some are even considered anti-viral. This means using essential oils daily either in a massage on the skin, or in a bath or when applying a drop or two directly onto a certain area you can have profound impact on your health.

This is a wonderfully natural way to protect your health when on the road and traveling.

True aromatherapy involves the use of pure high-grade essential oils, these are the only way to ensure that the desired result will occur. Synthetic oils do not contain the therapeutic properties of quality essential oils and can cause rashes, burns and other allergies or irritations.

Our brain’s ‘feel good’ chemicals (serotonin and endorphins) are released only through certain aromatic scents.

So how do we use these potent little oils when traveling? Aromatherapy is one of the most versatile natural therapies – from vaporising and bathing to massaging and spritzing, or simply inhaling from the bottle, these oils work their magic through their beautiful, subtle yet profoundly powerful aromas.

Adding a few essential oils to your travel kit is a powerful health guarantee. Here are a few to consider traveling with.

Peppermint – can help with unexpected headaches, digestive troubles, jetlag or lethargy. Inhaling Peppermint can increase oxygen to the brain and give a good sense of clarity. Peppermint is great for inhaling, dabbing on the temples or dropping on the tongue. You can rub a couple of drops over the stomach region if you have indigestion or bloating.
Lavender – there is nothing quite like this oil to help calm and unwind. A drop or two on your pillow (at home or in a hotel) can enhance a better sleep. You can also place a drop on your temples to soothe the mind.  And a lavender bath is a fantastic ritual on your first night into a new destination to support balance of the circadian rhythms. Lavender is your first aid kit in a bottle so if you happen to endure burns, bites, stings, rashes or skin upsets then this is definitely the oil to call on!

It is also magical how we can effect those around us. Anyone who is ‘breathing’ will feel its effects! Simply by placing a few drops into a vaporiser at the dinner table or before everyone rises in the morning, or by adding a few drops into a beautiful candle lit bath, or even 1 drop onto a tissue and into the air vent of the car are all easy ways to help people feel more relaxed, calm, energised, romantic, happy, healthy or joyful. And the best part?  It all happens within seconds.

Aromatherapy is more than just breathing in certain smells and scents. It is about achieving the perfect balance and harmony in ones life and it is the combination of certain scents, or oils, which help achieve this. Aromatherapy is about bringing the connection of nature back into your life and in turn that connection within.

For more information on how to use essential oils, which are the best methods of use, how they can cure an ailment or settle the nerves, ease travel ailments and how they can enhance our health, wellbeing and skin the book ‘Like Chocolate For Women’ has all the answers!

In the meantime you can also check out www.twenty8.com for more information on individual essential oils, blends and aromatic tools.

Kim xx