Refresh with your breath

Here we are in New Garden Park, PA where the inauguration of the Sensory Garden took place. A sensory garden is a great way to engage and stimulate all five senses, making gardening more accessible to people of all abilities.

As a "forever"student from the School for Aromatic Studies with Jade Shutes, I recently took the Aromatics and Mental Health class. My own aromatic journey started two years ago. I firmly believe this is the best school to learn everything about aromatherapy! The courses I have already taken have shaped me into the person I am today. So grateful about these stepping stones and also for the Communities I take part in. I recently joined the Aromatherapy and MH community with the colleagues who took the Aromatics and Mental Health class and I feel so supported and loved!

One of the presenters of the integrated sessions was Bobbi Misiti. I just loved this session so much I wanted to try out everything I had learned and teach about deep breathing. This was the perfect opportunity!

I was honored to hold a free mindfulness workshop and work with AnnaMaria, Dede and Colette. We started with the EOTT (see attachment) and ended with three breathing exercises. You only understand the material when you are teaching yourself, a reflection I hold dear to my heart (these are the words of a French teacher with 35 years of experience).

Essential oils and EFT.pdf

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About our breath

The respiratory system is one of the single most important systems within our bodies. We could live for days without food and water but only minutes without a supply of oxygen.

“Breathing is one of the most important ways for the body to eliminate waste products. Only 3 percent of the body’s total waste products are eliminated through the feces, 7 per cent through the urine and 20 percent through the skin. The remaining 70 percent of the body’s waste products are eliminated through exhalation.”

Many benefits of deep breathing

Studies have found that deep breathing exercises protect lungs from infection, improve sleep, and decrease stress and depression. Slowing down your breath brings balance to your nervous system and harmonizes the body. It synchronizes your breath rate, your heart rate, it lowers your blood pressure, it shifts your brain waves to the preferred alpha state. Slow breathing allows our body to communicate better. We need to be more aware of what we are thinking and how our thoughts affect our physiology. The human mind has a tendency toward the negative. On average, adults think 3 negative thoughts to 1 positive thought.

Here is a quote from the English poet William Wordsworth that I really like:

Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds.

It wasn’t until I did the integrated session “Minding the mind “with Bobbi Misiti that I learned to exhale through the nose. Because when you are breathing through your mouth, you are exposing yourself to everything in the air. By breathing through your nose, you not only filter out that junk, but you also take slower and deeper breaths, which sends signals to the nervous system to calm down.

Why is our sense of smell so important?

Our sense of smell has direct access to the amygdala and can potentially interrupt the stress response at the level, decreasing the magnitude of the sympathetic response to a stressor and supporting us in taking some breathing space. The amygdala is a small almond shaped region in the forebrain. (amygdala is the Latin word for almond). The amygdala is the integrative center for emotions, emotional behavior, and motivation. It is particularly involved with fear and anxiety, and it plays a central role in aggression. Olfaction is one synapse way from the amygdala.

Aromatic anchors

An aromatic anchor involves pairing a specific essential oil with a particular practice or intention, allowing the scent to become a sensory cue that triggers the desired emotional or psychological response.

EXPERIENCE + EMOTION + AROMA (key) = (locked in the hippocampus) MEMORY (experience + emotion)

How to smell an essential oil

Always approach essential oils with the awareness that they are powerful. It is wise to begin by holding the bottle approximately 4 to 5 inches away from your nose and then move it upward toward your nose. Gently move it back and forth from the left nostril to the right or right to left. This way you receive the full spectrum of the aroma.

Products I made for this workshop

• 5 ml colorful roll-ons “Joie de vivre”, a synergy of essential oils such as Lemon (Citrus limon), Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis), Petitgrain (Citrus aurantium), Spearmint (Mentha spicata), Bergamot (Citrus bergamia), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia);

• 5 ml pink roll-ons “Breathe’, a synergy of Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), Bay leaf (Laurus nobilis), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus), Lemon (Citrus limon), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Spearmint (Mentha spicata).

• Salt inhalers for people who are dealing with Spring allergies. The synergy I used was Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), Frankincense (Boswellia carteri) and Niaouli (Melaleuca viridiflora). A personal inhaler is very helpful in either preventing or reducing allergies.

The free healing salve is made with herbal Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) oil infused in olive oil; coconut and avocado oils; Lavandin (Lavandula x intermedia) & Rosemary ct. cineole (Rosmarinus officinalis) essential oils.

Meditation helps us calm down

During my daily morning meditation, I say out loud these Reiki ideals:

Just for today...

I am free of pain

I am free of worry

I am free of anger

 I am kind to myself and others 

I work diligently

I invite you to put your hand on your heart and breathe with me.

You may silently say the following words with me:

May I be happy

May I be healthy

May I be safe

May I be kind to myself

These words are also very important to remember ourselves that we matter:

I am strong enough.

I am pretty enough.

I am kind enough.

I am smart enough.

I am good enough.

With Bobbi Misiti, we did this Loving Kindness Meditation or Metta meditation. I think it is important to not only send these messages to people we love, but also to the ones who are challenging us.

May I be filled with loving kindness

May I be well

May I be peaceful and at ease

May I be happy

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Breathing techniques

1.     Resonance breathing (5 counts inhale and 7 counts exhale)

When we sleep, we fall into a resonance breathing rate with our exhales slightly longer.

Resonance means when 2 or more things are in harmony, so in this case we are harmonizing our inhales, exhales, sympathetic nervous system, and parasympathetic nervous system.

2.     Nadi Shodhana or Alternate nostril breathing (5 counts inhale and 7 counts exhale)

This kind of breathing will help you balance the functions of your vagus nerve and entire nervous system allowing you to heal and rejuvenate yourself.

What is vagus nerve?

The Latin word vagus means “wanderer”, which describes how the vagus nerve extends to its branches throughout the body.

It is a major neural pathway between the mind and the body. It is the longest nerve in the body, stretching from the base of the skull to the base of the spine.

Our vagus nerve is the tool we have to tame the nervous system, reduce inflammation in the body, and reset ourselves to rest, digest, and rejuvenate.  Our vagus nerve is what gives us Calm.

The vagus nerve is key to shifting you from the “fight-or-flight” mode to the “rest-and-digest” mode so the body has some downtime and a chance to repair itself.

The right nostril energizes the front brain, and the left nostril calms down the back brain, the lower brain. It’s natural that during the day, one nostril is going to be dominant. A lot of people are not aware of this. I just learned about it recently with Bobby and her session “Minding the Mind”.

The mudra for Nadi Shodhana breathing exercises is called Vishnu Mudra — it makes the closing and opening of nostrils smooth and efficient. We start and end each round on the left nostril.

To learn more about it, please read the following article:

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3.     Bhramari Pranayama breathing or humming bee breath (5 counts inhale and 10 counts exhale)

The Bhramari is the female bee. Bees don’t fly on their wings; they fly on their vibrations.

This kind of breathing induces a meditative state, the vibrations of the sound soothe the mind and nervous system. We are adding a humming sound as we exhale.

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Sources:

Foundations in Aromatherapy with Jade Shutes

Aromatics and Mental Health with Jade Shutes

Integrated session "Minding the Mind"with Bobbi Misiti