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Balancing the Mind with Ayurveda and Medicinal Aromatherapy

4/18/2021

According to the World Health Organization, there are around 450 million people worldwide currently living with mental/emotional health challenges. The United States is in the top four countries with the highest percentage of mental illness. As we find ourselves navigating through these unprecedented times, the need to realign and come into balance is more important than ever.

Human beings are one of the most social species. Social connection and interaction is a critical component of our everyday life and is directly linked to our mental and emotional development from child to adult. A lack of this connection and isolation can lead to many imbalances that can manifest in body and mind resulting in a spectrum of mental and emotional health disorders.

With our current landscape of uncertainty, with isolation in practice due to Covid restrictions and the stress we are all feeling as the result, how do we connect back into ourselves and lessen the frenetic energy that is all abound?

Could it be as easy a smelling a scented candle or inhaling an essential oil? Not necessarily, however it can definitely help bring to us some clarity and uplift us through the mental fog. Approaching mental health should be looked at as importantly as you would look at a broken leg or broken arm with medical intervention. It's all about what tools do you have access to and how can you implement them once you’ve found them in your everyday practice.

As an Ayurvedic Practitioner, I come from the understanding that most of our illness starts in our emotional bodies and treats the body from a holistic point of view. Ayurveda translates to the “knowledge of life”. It recognizes that our bodies are a fine tuned mechanism that always wants to return to its natural homeostasis. Part of the work is about determining the individual’s constitution, where they are out of balance and how lifestyle interventions and natural therapies regain balance between mind, body, and spirit. For me, a very important question I ask my patients is how can they approach healing with preventative measures before popping a pill. That’s not to say that I don’t believe in Allopathic medicine and its accomplishments for science.

In my practice, I have come to rely on the help and wisdom of not only these powerful herbs/plants but their essences as well. If we look from the perspective that illness starts in our emotional bodies, any condition can then be treated with inhalation and topical treatment with essential oils. Essential oils are the volatile, aromatics, and chemicals constituents of a plant. Master aromatherapists equate essential oils to the life force of the plant even referring to it as the “joie de vivre” which means exuberant enjoyment of life. The chemicals are made up of alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, terpenes, sesquiterpenes, ethers, and esters. It can be derived from all parts of the plants as well; the flowers, leaves, resins, woods, barks, and roots. Each of these parts of the plant also produce essential oils that have a particular way they make us feel; sedating, active, cooling, and wound healing effects.

The oldest and time tested use of essential oils is the practice of inhalation which stimulates the limbic system. The limbic system sits in the brain and is responsible for how we deal with emotions and memory. Once we smell a particular essential oil, the limbic system translates the response to emotional stimuli where there is an immediate release of hormones and neurotransmitters and reinforces behavior therefore making it one of the quickest ways to bring transformation to our thoughts and feelings. One of the oldest ways to inhale essential oils is to put 3-5 drops of essential oils in a bowl of hot water. Place a towel or cloth over your head and breathe in. Nowadays we also have essential oil diffusers that can help clear the air and protect you from viral pathogens. Even when burning candles, although not as potent, can definitely shift moods and elevate oneself. Candles scented with particle terpenes (which are one of eight chemical constituents that are found in essential oils) are known for being very stimulating and have anti-viral properties. Essential oils are also accessible to most of us at our natural grocers.

For most of my patients, they have a daily self care routine that starts and is adjusted accordingly upon the moment they wake up. In Ayurveda we call this Dinacharya also known as morning rituals. As a part of their morning routine they give themselves a self-abhyanga also known as a self-oil massage. The formula is a seasonal Ayurvedic herbal blend with medicinal grade essential oils that I customize for their constitution and made at my clinic. The rhythmic motion helps to release joints and relax muscles for greater freedom of movement. The oiling of the body also stimulates blood circulation and encourages the elimination of metabolic wastes. Naturally there is an inhalation of the essential oils happening here. This form of self-care provides relief from anxiety, fatigue, circulatory disorders, rheumatic and arthritic problems, backaches and injuries.

Another aspect is Nasya, a traditional Ayurvedic herbal oil formula with medicinal grade plant essences, which lubricates the nasal passage, throat, sinuses and head. One to three drops of this formula is dropped/massaged into each of the nasal passages one at a time and inhaled with alternate nostril breathing. It is a significant remedy for congestion, allergies, sinusitis, headaches, and migraines and allows the return to full easy breathing.

My patients will usually have a morning digestive herbal tonic as well to stimulate the digestive juices. There is some form of movement/exercise of their liking, a meditation for a minimum of 5 minutes (increasing time as they get more accustomed to their routine), and then following up with a shower. The act of showering opens the pores of the skin and allows the plants/herbs/essential oils to penetrate at deep level. This morning routine is intended to nourish, strengthen, fortify, and ground.

The idea is accumulation of daily self care. The more you do it, the better you feel. The wisdom of essential oils inherently is the idea of the deep wisdom of our earth. Our plants are here to help us heal and find balance.

Warmly,
Sheila Govindarajan

Licensed Clinical Ayurvedic Practitioner +
Medicinal Aromatherapist
www.rasavedahealing.com

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April 18th, 2021

Balancing the Mind with Ayurveda and Medicinal Aromatherapy

Sheila Govindarajan

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