What’s in the Mix? Blending Ideas and Prompts is a weekly exercise designed to spark your imagination and get your creative juices flowing. Each week you’ll find a question, a suggestion or a prompt that will help you identify where you’re stuck, where you are flowing and where you need more education. Mostly, prompts are just fun!
About This Week’s Prompt: If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, you might be suffering from a major case of the winter blues – lack of daylight and fresh air, low motivation and wanting to eat comfort foods all the time. What essential oils, hydrosols, CO2s or absolutes would you pull off your shelf to create a blend that will help revive and uplift a sagging spirit this time of year? If you need some ideas, you want to have a listen to the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast Episode 004 on Aromatic Remedies to Beat the Winter Blues.
Share your answer in the comment section below! Let’s inspire each other! By leaving your creative ideas int he comments sections you might give someone a great idea for a listing blend, and someone might give YOU a great idea. Who knows, maybe you’ll become inspired to create a new product or an entire product line from something that is sparked by this exercise!
I live in IL where the weather changes daily. My go to blend for uplifting is one I call Carpe Diem. It has the essential oils of Spearmint, Grapefruit and Lime. I use this in my diffuser.
Sara, living in Illinois, you certainly know about long grey winters, just as I do in Pennsylvania. I love the name of your blend and I can see how your choice of oils would uplift a sagging spirit. I can imagine this in your diffuser as you’ve suggested, or even a spray bottle to mist around the house as your family is getting up in the morning. Thanks for sharing Sara!!
I live and practice massage therapy in Oklahoma where weather is crazy and stressful. One of my winter massage oil blends is ” Holy Trinity ‘ Orange, Lavender, and Sandalwood. It’s very comforting.
Hi Kelli, my husband is from Enid Oklahoma and I’ve visited many times, so I know exactly what you mean about crazy weather! And yes, unpredictable weather can be stressful. I absolutely love the name of your blend! And Lavender, Orange and Sandalwood would be a comforting, heart-soothing, stress reducing blend to be sure. Well done! What carrier do you use in your massage blends?
My massage medium fior winter is a mix of primarily Jojoba, avocado oil and shea butter due to the dryness resulting from using heaters during winter . I change this up accordingly with the seasons .
Ylang Ylang and Palo Santo is my go-to winter blend for the diffuser next to my bed. Living in Maine I’ve learned to embrace the weather for what it is… not to waste time dreaming of other seasons or patterns or places. Every type of weather has its own message and lessons to teach us.
Kim, Ylang Ylang is one of my go-to oil when I’m feeling the winter blahs, but I hadn’t considered Palo Santo, though I can imagine they are lovely together. Next to your bed is the right place for such soul settling essential oils. And yes, I agree about embracing what you have where you are. Weather can be a great metaphor for life. Embrace it or Move! 🙂
Hi Liz,
I live in the northeast right in the middle of blizzard central, I made one for myself, my carrier oil was avacado and I combined, geranium Pelargonium asperum; pine Pinus sylvestris; mandarin Citrus reticulata; and spearmint Mentha spicata. I did a 1% dilution. It is a lovely body oil. Love your podcast, I just started listening to them, a big thank you for educating.:)
Hi MA, first of all thank you for your kind words about the podcast. They are a lot of fun and that people are learning about essential oil and aromatherapy is a plus! Blizzard central is certainly the kind of place where one could experience the winter blues! Your oil choices are fabulous, especially with that bit of spearmint and at a 1% blend, just subtle enough to be effective but not overpowering. And Avocado is SO nourishing for dry winter skin – great choice of carrier!
Thanks Liz,
I had a good laugh at myself when I saw how
I spelled avocado, my Boston accent comes out, I say cah instead of car, and avacado instead of avocado, lol!
I used this week for Valentine’s Day yoga classes at my studio a blend of bergamot, patchouli and grapefruit. They got a dose of straight lemon before. I walk around the room and assist with my hands, so they got big wiffs of it as I touched them. I then placed a few drops on a tissue while they laid in relaxation.
Oh no! I had just posted a long post and forgot to put my info in at the bottom before posting. When it made me go back, it erased my post! So I recommend you put in your personal info below FIRST before posting! 🙂 I shall try to recreate what I wrote:
1. I just taught a class that included a recipe for a “blues” inhaler: My recipe is: 1 drop Ylang Ylang, 8 drops Sweet Orange (sinensis), 2 drops Lemon, 6 drops Lavender (angustafolia).
2. When I was first learning aromatherapy, I had just learned about Bergamot when our then 10 year old daughter became ill and was home sick from school for almost a week. She was better but incredibly cranky and whiny and miserable. I had one of those ceramic oil burners with the candle and the well for water at the top. I closed her windows, lit the candle, added several drops of Bergamot into the water in the well , shut the door and left for 20 minutes. When I returned to check on things, she was a completely different child! All happy, and energized and looking forward to seeing her friends again! Bergamot is great alone, but you could put it with Lemon, or Sweet Orange, or Lime….
3. One oil I used to use a LOT in a diffuser or inhaler but I rarely see people write about is May Chang (Litsa cubeba). A real lemony sherbet kind of oil. I love it! I now live in California but used to live in New England so I know what snowy winters are like. I imagine any of these “sunshine in a bottle” oils would be great for the blues. Hope his post makes it through! 🙂
I live in Colorado and find I am drawn toward a blend of some of the woodsy scents, like Norway Pine, Cedarwood, Silver Fir, even Scotch Pine. These are soul-soothers for me. A little peppermint to lift the spirit or one of the citrus oils can be added as well. I make a room spray and it’s the first and last thing I do in my bedroom each day. I’ve also made it as a lotion which I carry around with me.