Epsom Salt + EOs = Ahhhhh!

Soaking once a week in Epsom salts, with a few drops of your favorite EOs, will sooth sore muscles and improve your mood. I recommend spearmint and eucalyptus EOs.  Get the scoop from Dr. Karen Lamb, an Arizona naturopath.  Here's her list of steps for the best-ever soak:

1. Fill bathtub with hot or warm water.
2. Add between two and four cups of Epsom salt to the water.
3. Mix the water with your hands and allow the Epsom salt to dissolve.
4. Add five to ten drops of your favorite essential oil just before you step in the tub to maximize stress reduction.  Some common choices are lavender, rose or chamomile essential oils.
5. Soak in the bath for about 15 minute but no longer to avoid reabsorbing the toxins eliminated by the Epsom salt.
6. Shower immediately after the bath to rinse the Epsom salts from your skin, which can dry your skin.

Scents of the Season: Holiday EO Singles & Blends

Essential oils really shine this time of year!  Adding a few drops of EO to a pot of simmering water not only evokes special memories and feelings, but also can help keep germs from invading your holidays.  If you're lucky enough to have a nebulizer made for EO dispersal, remember to clean out the reservoir after each use, particularly if you use vanilla EO.

• Grapefruit, bergamot, cinnamon leaf and clove
• White fir
• Vanilla, mandarin, and cinnamon leaf
• Spearmint and eucalyptus
• Wintergreen

Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer with EOs

Ingredients

• 2  parts aloe gel (not juice)
• 1  part distilled water (not tap)
• 1  part grain alcohol-vodka (not isopropyl)
• 4-5  drops essential oil (EO) of choice (not fragrance oils)

Mix all ingredients in glass bowl.  Use a funnel to pour into container of choice.  

Tips 

• Re-purposed plastic squeeze-top bottles are great for travel use. 
• Tea tree EO is a great antibacterial for hand sanitizer and blends well with lavendar.
• Citrus EOs work really well, too, and smell great!
• Aloe gel is used as a thickening agent and moisturizer.
• Grain alcohol is a sanitizer without the smell of isopropyl alcohol.
• Distilled water will allow a clear product without mineral content.

Recipe source:  eHow

Four Thieves Recipe for Battling Bacteria, Viruses

Simple recipe!
The friendly folk at Mountain Rose have a neat blog.  Their recipe for making your own "Four Thieves" antibacterial blend can be tweaked by adding a few more oils to this quintet:
Lemon
Cinnamon
Clove
Rosemary
Eucalyptus

http://mountainroseblog.com/thieves-oil/