Know Your Blends

Essential oil blends are a combination of two or more essential oils.

They are usually combined to create a unique aromatic “symphony” (or beautiful scent) but blends are also created to amplify a specific therapeutic effect by allowing the chemical constituents from several oils to mingle and play off each other.  In the end, blending essential oils is part art and part science; and I am so grateful that doTERRA has done the work for me and have created several essential oil blends.

doTERRA has over 30 unique essential oil blends that are each designed to support a specific body system (like the digestive or respiratory system) or to support our mind and mood.  Essential oils can be used to increase or decrease a specific mood state, relieve stress, aid sleep, boost immunity, soothe skin irritations, reduce wrinkles, ease pain and discomfort, and so much more.

Each blend contains from 3 to 10 different essential oils.  What I love about using doTERRA brand essential oils is that the name of each blend usually tells me exactly what it’s going to do for me!    For example, Balance (Grounding) blend is meant to help balance moods, Past Tense (Tension) blend is meant to relieve neck and head pain, DigestZen (Digestive) blend is to support anything tummy related, and Breathe (Respiratory) blend is for the lungs and airways. So easy, right?!!!

In this post, I’m going to share with you why you need to know what each component does and this will allow you more flexibility in how you use doTERRA’s special blends!

I’ll also share a few of the unusual ways that I’ve used several of the blends.

 

 

First off, safety!

1. You must be aware of the individual ingredients in each blend so that if you have a known sensitivity or other reason to avoid a specific oil you can. For example, some oils are not recommended during pregnancy or while taking specific medications like blood thinners.
2. Not all oils are meant for ingestion, so you must always read your labels so that you don’t accidentally use an oil blend the wrong way.
3. Some oils used in blends, even though in small amounts, can be irritating to very old, very young, or very sensitive skin. I find adding 1 to 10 drops of a carrier oil (like coconut, almond, or jojoba oils) with 1 to 2 drops of an essential oil can really minimize this risk for most people.

Now, let’s say you are traveling in Hawaii and decided to go out on a snorkeling trip, which is basically 4 hours on a sailboat on a very sunny day. You start to feel a bit sea-sick so you reach into your backpack and the bottle of oil you have is Breathe but you thought you had grabbed DigestZen…

Oh no!!! Well don’t despair, let’s use what we have and improvise. 🙂

Let’s compare DigestZen and Breathe...

 

 

DigestZen is designed to help with a variety of digestive issues like nausea, diarrhea, gas, bloating, and occasional indigestion, and it’s filled with oils that are all beneficial to the digestive system.

Breathe is designed to help with a variety of respiratory issues, and it’s filled with oils that when applied topically or diffused aromatically can ease breathing and calm occasional seasonal allergies. What I hope you notice right away is that both of these oil blends include peppermint… and since peppermint is a powerful oil for supporting digestive upset it is definitely one that might be able to help us out on the boat.

Essential oils are diverse, complex molecules! Many support more than just one body system and serve more than just one function. Click To Tweet

There are so many essential oils to choose from, but if you understand the general uses on the individual oils, then you can substitute in a pinch! This really helps when you travel and you don’t have all your oils with you.

This is where knowing the individual oils in each blend can SAVE you… just like they have saved me in the past!

 

 

When traveling, I always carry Breathe throat lozenges to moisten my throat on long plane rides…  but the ingredients are: peppermint, lemon, melaleuca, melissa — so if I had an upset stomach the peppermint can serve dual roles and also offer soothing and calming relief to my digestive system as well.

 

I had a mosquito bite and didn’t have a bottle of Lavender, but I did have a bottle of Serenity (Calming Blend) so I substituted that blend (which contains lavender and chamomile) and it worked great! The other night I thought I was grabbing my Lavender Touch to apply to my bite, but accidentally grabbed Clary Calm (Monthly Women’s Blend)… not a big deal… since Clary Calm also contains lavender. 😉

 

 

I got stung by a bee while traveling and wished I had Purify (Detox Blend) with me to reduce the toxins and swelling from the sting, but I substituted Past Tense (Tension Blend), which not only had several oils that helped with the pain and also had basil in it which helps calm allergic reactions – win-win!

 

I hope you found this blog interesting! I’m also curious to know if you’ve ever found yourself having to substitute essential oils. Let me know about your experience in the comment section! If you aren’t using essential oils yet, arrange a FREE call with me and I will give you a personal consultation: GET STARTED!

 

If you’d like to do some further reading about the art and science of oil blending, see the links below.

References & Further Reading:

https://www.aromaweb.com/articles/aromaticblending.asp

https://www.aromaweb.com/articles/therapeuticblending.asp

https://www.aromaweb.com/articles/substituting.asp

http://info.achs.edu/blog/blending-101-the-art-of-pairing-essential-oils-drop-by-drop