Sleep

If people have problems sleeping, very often they’ll grab the lavender in some form & use it in their bedroom. For some this works, and for others it doesn’t. I often hear people say they've had problems sleeping and have found that the lavender has kept them awake. Why? There's quite a few reasons: one may be the type of lavender you’re using and another reason may be the quantity of oil you've used.

Something a lot of people don’t realise is that Lavender actually has a balancing effect on the central nervous system, so in low quantities it helps you to relax and in higher qualities it actually stimulates! If you've sprinkled quite a few drops on your pillow or in your bath, you may find yourself awake for longer than you expected.

So, what can you do?

 - If you do want to use Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia), make sure you're buying a good quality lavender so you can be sure its what it says on the bottle. If it’s a cheap bottle it may well have been adulterated with chemicals that won't have any therapeutic value, which means you're likely not to get the response you hoped for. Its hard to know if someone is selling quality oils, so its worth checking if they're a member of the aromatherapy trade council. The ATC has a list of members who abide by a code of ethics so you know they're aware of where their supply is from and that they have tested the oils being sold to ensure their quality.

- Make sure you only use one or two drops of lavender, so it is more likely to be relaxing.

- Try a High Altitude Lavender, it’s more expensive but it’s grown higher up the mountain so it contains more of a chemical which makes it more relaxing than other types of lavender. It will still be called Lavendula angustifolia, but should state on the bottle that its High Alt Lavender.

- If you don't like Lavender, or you'd like to try something else, you can try Ylang Ylang Complete (Cananga odorata), Roman Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) or Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea)

To use any of these oils, simply take a cotton wool ball, add 2 drops and put it inside your pillow case (make sure children or pets cant get to the cotton wool ball). If you want to use them in a  child's room you may wish to invest in a diffuser, personally I find the zen range very good as they include an automatic switch off, and you can also use them as a nightlight. I raved about these so much that Jane Kershaw, Spirit, now stocks them in Bristol!
Make sure you order your oils from a reputable supplier, and always check the Latin names to ensure you have the right oil.

If it's stress keeping you awake then you may find regalar therapies help you to de-stress a little. If you want to use oils and you're in any doubt about them, get in touch with a qualified aromatherapist who'll be able to advise you further.

Book Reviews

I've been a bit quiet lately as I've been doing a bit of reading. It started off with Anita Moorjani's 'Dying to be Me'. This was an easy read and in places did repeat itself, but, I really noticed a shift after it. That ingrained thought of western belief that you need to be accountable for something is completely blown away by her experience.

The fact that this lady was terminal, on her deathbed with hours to live was incredible. To see how she still allowed orthodox medicine to investigate her claims, although she was sure of her cure was interesting, as it shows how we all still subscribe to the belief that the doctors can provide explanations and will know more than we do.

Once I'd got through that one I then moved onto Gill Edwards, 'Living Magically''. What I didnt realise at the beginning, was that this has echos of Anita's message as well. Life isnt meant to be hard, it's meant to be fun & for some reason we think we need to make it harder than it needs to be! I was a bit dubious at the beginning as she includes channelled sources, but it actually all made sense. She includes meditations and ways to work out what your life lessons may be, how your ego gets in the way and how to release your inner children (and how to not even bother trying to rationalise with your adolescent!!)

So what have these books taught me? Its absolutely fine to be completely selfish (or demonstrate self care) because at the end of it all we're not going to be condemned to a very hot place for a long time and we're not going to get extra brownie points for completely ignoring our own needs. There's no point stressing over there not being enough hours in the day to do all the cleaning...as long as my kids dont go down with any dodgy ill hygiene diseases, we're doing fine. Those voices in your head are actually absolutely fine, apparently its really normal for every person to have several different personalities (as Gill was a pscyhologist I find it interesting that she doesnt see that as some mad complex personality disorder) and it's ok to eat a bit of what you want, its the guilt at the end of it that's usually the problem. There were lots of other things that I think have been working behind the scenes, so you'd have to read them yourselves for your own bit of personal growth & revelations.

Since then I've started on Gill Edwards 'Conscious Medicine'. At the time of writing the book she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer three years before and had chosen to explore different approaches to 'cancering', acknowledging the dis-ease was trying to give her a powerful message. While I'm aware that Gill died last year, I'm impressed that she lived without any medical intervention for so many years. I must admit I've taken a bit of  a break in the last few days (after dropping it in my bath and needing to wait for it to dry!) & have dipped into Kurt Schanubelts 'The Healing Intelligence of Essential Oils'. This is a great book for aromatic medicine, but it is hardcore, so I wouldnt recommend it as an introduction! Its great for explaining how essential oils work in the body and how viruses cannot build up resistances to oils due to the compexity of their nature and non-standardisation (one of the reasons often quoted as why essential oils are not safe, because every bottle can contain a slightly difference composition based on when it was grown, harvested etc). I probably wont get to finish it just yet, but watch this space!

Oh, and I also shouldn't forget that in between I am proof-reading my friends thriller book...don't worry, I haven't forgotten you want it back by the end of May!