%%title%% %%page%% and Cleaning, Allergies & Mental Health

We all love essential oils, that goes without saying. Essential oils let you naturally support your health, both mental and physical. But Plant Therapy is about more than just essential oils – we are passionate about all things natural living.

So today we’re answering your questions not just about mental health, but everything related to natural living!

Natural Living: Mental Health

Nyree Preiser asks: “What is good to help with mood swings and tension?”

Hi Nyree! Mood swings are the worst, I completely understand! Especially as we go into the Holiday season, which is filled with magic (but also stress).

There are a lot of things you can do to naturally help reduce tension, stress and mood swings that come with it.

Essential oils won’t cure your emotional issues (such as depression, anxiety or stress) but they can absolutely help boost your self-care routine. But before we get into that, check out our blog post on inhalation. Essential oils are especially great for pairing with meditation to help reduce stress and tension.

So how can you use essential oils during meditation?

1. Diffusion

Using Plant Therapy’s AromaFuse Diffuser makes it easy to fill your environment with wonderful scents that help with relaxation and focus. Just start diffusing a few minutes before you meditate, and enjoy the way the essential oil or blend deepens your connection to your environment and helps you feel more peaceful and positive.

If you want to try a specific oil, you can check out our Meditation Blend. It helps evoke a calm alertness that will help bring you into a deep meditative state of mind.

2. Topical application

Certain essential oils are known to enhance the meditation experience. When appropriately diluted in a carrier oil, essential oils can be applied to several areas of your body, including:

Wrists
Temples
Soles of your feet
Behind the knees

More great blogs about meditation:

To learn even more about how essential oils can help support mental health and natural living, check out these other great blog posts:

Natural Living: Allergy Relief

Sally Mullins askes: “With fall and winter quickly approaching in Indiana, and my sinuses wreaking havoc on me most of the winter, I would much appreciate any recipes for a diffuser and inhaler recipes or any other suggestions. Thanks in advance.”

Help with allergies is one of our most-asked questions here at Plant Therapy, and one of my family personally deals with every year.

You have allergies like woah. So does my 7-year-old son. And I’ll let you in on the single best natural allergy aid I’ve found.

Clear Again Blend!

I seriously can’t talk enough about this blend and its amazing ability to help with allergy symptoms! Our Marketing Director, Mykeah Kranzler, recommended this blend when I started working at PT and we’ve been using it ever since. Literally every night during the Spring and Fall, when my allergies are the worst.

Diffuse Clear Again or keep it in a personal inhaler. I have some serious, unpleasantly not-pretty seasonal allergies and this blend is my savior. I diffuse Clear Again at night and it drastically helps my breathing, itching, and sneezing (and helps curb the miserable runny nose, too).

We also make a KidSafe version of Clear Again, Sneezy Stop, for kids under 10.

Now, this might sound like an advertisement for a Plant Therapy blend, but I swear to you this product is on my “must-have” list even if I wasn’t working for PT. It’s that good!

But in case you don’t want to run out and buy Clear Again, there are tons of other essential oils that are also great for allergy symptoms.

Our team here at Plant Therapy Certified Aromatherapists have nailed down 5 essential oils that really help ease symptoms caused by seasonal allergies.

If you want to read even more about essential oils and allergies, we have some great blog posts so you can do a deeper dive into this hot topic.

Natural Living and Allergies, More Tips:

1. Keep your house vacuumed! This has been a game-changer for me, and I’m not kidding when I say we vacuum our house almost every day.

2. Change your air vents. My husband has been religiously changing our vents every two months and it’s helped tremendously with the air quality inside our home (which means fewer allergies!)

3. Dust your car’s interior. I keep a package of wet wipes in my car and wipe the interior of my car down every couple of days. It’s amazing how much dust and pollen can accumulate when you have your windows down.

4. Use Himalayan Sea Salt! There are many ways to use Himalayan Sea Salt, and it’s a fantastic natural air purifier. I have not one, but three Himalayan Sea Salt lamps in my house, but even better is a salt inhaler.

A salt inhaler is probably one of the lesser-known ways to use Himalayan Sea Salt, but it shouldn’t be overlooked! It can help bring down inflammation and ease breathing. But how does it work? Basically, when you breathe through a Himalayan salt inhaler, moisture present in the air you breathe gathers microscopic particles of Himalayan salt from the inhaler and brings them to your lungs. This, in turn, helps bring down inflammation by moistening mucus membranes in your lungs.

Check out our blog post on all the ways you can use Himalayan Sea Salt in your life.

Natural Living: Cleaning

Kerrie Dingler wants to know: “I’d love some cleaning ideas. I currently use vinegar water for most things. I have a cat and a 7-year-old son.”

Hi Kerrie! This is a hot topic in natural living and we get asked all the time how to start replacing your cleaning products with safer, more natural versions.

You’re already off to a great start! Vinegar is a fantastic natural cleanser and great for a base for your DIYs. But there are also tons of other ways you can boost your natural cleaning routine.

Essential Oils – Obviously!

There are essential oils that have properties that are effective for cleaning and that can be added to your routine.

Some of our favorites for cleaning are Lemon, Orange Sweet, Lavender, Palmarosa, or Tea Tree. When I need something easy and already-blended, I reach for Germ Destroyer as an addition to my cleaning DIYs.

If you don’t have kids, there are some great non-KidSafe oils for cleaning. Lemongrass, Basil, and Thyme are wonderful for use in a DIY cleaning spray. You can also try combining Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, and Peppermint, Not only do these oils smell fabulous together, they’re super effective for cleaning purposes.

If you’re looking for recipes to use in your cleaning routine, check out this helpful blog post, The Guide to Spring Cleaning.

Deodorizing

If you need help with zapping foul odors, you can try checking out our Deodorizing blend. It really works! I’ve used in to make this carpet cleaner.

DIY Deodorizing Carpet Cleaning Powder

What you’ll need:

Container with shaker lid
2 cups baking soda
Deodorizing blend

Add Deodorizing to your cart

What you’ll do:

Put 1 cup of baking soda into a container.
Add 10-15 drops of Deodorizing.
Add another cup of baking soda and 10-15 more drops of Deodorizer.
Shake well, sprinkle on carpets and allow to sit for 30-60 minutes before vacuuming.

All-Purpose Cleaner

If you’re looking for a great all-purpose cleaner that goes a step above simple vinegar, try this recipe (my personal favorite).

Natural All-Purpose Cleaner

What you’ll need:

5 oz water
3 oz white vinegar
1 tsp dish soap
4 drops Eucalyptus Globulus
6 drops Tea Tree
8 drops Blood Orange
8 oz spray bottle

Add all these products to your cart

What you’ll do:

Add everything to the bottle and shake to mix. Spray and wipe off to clean!

Disclaimer: Due to the water content, this product should be stored in the fridge and used within a week. Otherwise, add a preservative, such as Optiphen Plus or Germall Plus.

We have so, so many wonderful blog posts on natural cleaning, here are some more resources:

And don’t forget to head on over to our Safe Essential Oil Recipes Facebook group for even more inspiration and information!