Oils That Help with Grief

Grief is a deep emotional pain that all of us will experience at one time or another. When it comes, sometimes it's so heavy that we don't know where to process it.

It might even feel too difficult. But processing grief is healthy and normal. If we don't process it, it stays trapped in our bodies in ways that harm us.

So if you're reading this wondering how to process your grief, I'll share some oils that helped me. But first I want to explain why they're helpful in the first place.

Essential Oils are considered the essence of the plant. They are the most potent form of the plant distilled down into an oil form. They have an amazing way to connect our brain and soul together through their scent. The part of your brain that connects scent is known as the amygdala. The amygdala is responsible for our emotions and memories. When you introduce a smell it might automatically be connected with a memory (good or bad) and your brain uses it to help process. Certain scents are known to be helpful for our emotions and neurons. Isn't it amazing how God designed our bodies in such a way?

Let's talk about the oils:

*in order for the oils to be effective, there needs to be a steady use of at least a week (although you might notice a difference sooner!)

Release: This is a blend of 16 different oils. It has high floral smells (like Jasmine and Ylang Ylang ). It's meant to help you "release" deep and heavy emotions. I first started using the oil when my brother and father passed away. It quickly became something that I went to a lot during that initial shock. I noticed that when I used it, I found that it was easier for me to feel an emotion that I would rather keep locked away. I diffused it a lot in my diffusers. I also one night rubbed a diluted form on my shoulders before going to bed. When I woke up, I felt much lighter.

Peace & Calming II: Sleep is a very hard thing to get when grieving. This is another blend designed for relaxing. Relaxing is something hard to do because when we're in grief (emotional distress), this signals to our adrenals something is wrong and we're put into constant fight/flight/freeze mode. It might seem like a paradox to try to calm down during a really stressful time, but your body is designed to survive. It needs to know it's physically safe before it can address emotional pain. Especially at night. If your body doesn't feel physically safe because of the grief, it's going to make you alert and awake. When you don't get enough sleep, that puts an added stress on your body, on top of the emotional distress, making you vulnerable to getting sick. (Which is not what someone needs when they're trying to process grief. When I diffused this oil, it send a signal to my brain saying "I am safe here.", and allowed me to relax even if I was hurting.

Stress Away: As stated above, we need to relax. This oil is another blend but has strong notes of lime and vanilla oleoresin. Lime is actually a great citrus oil that helps with emotions. For me, I've always loved lime anyways, but having it in this form also gave me a uplifting boost when the pain got to be too much.

Orange: It might seem contradictory to use this oil, but it's one of the "happy" oils. Most citruses have uplifting scents that boost our moods. But what I loved about using orange is that I felt grounded while feeling like everything might not be alright but it will be eventually. It was a very hopeful smell when I needed it. My personal favorite was diffusing both Release and Orange together. I wanted to feel my emotions without feeling swallowed whole by them.

Tranquil Roller: Cedarwood, Roman Chamomile, and Lavender consists of this roller. This was my nighttime routine. I rolled it on my shoulders, lower back and ankles. It put me in a calm state of mind before going to bed. It took me using it for three days to notice a difference. I noticed the difference because the fourth night I didn't use it and got horrible sleep. Now, I rotate my oils out but I still feel sleepy when I use it.

Oils aren't an end all be all for going through grief. There are still so many layers to grief. But hopefully this can be a tool in your tool chest that will help you. If you want to use what I suggested above, click here.

One last thing, if the weight of grief gets to be too much, make sure to seek out a trusted clinical counselor. There are parts of us that we don't always understand and we might just need a trained outside help that specializes in what we're going through. It's not a sign of weakness to ask for help.

I'm praying for you and the grief you are experiencing...