2) Use essential oils in stress relieving activities.
Start using those essential oils you find most pleasant with stress relieving activities such as a bath, during yoga, meditation, in massage or in a diffuser when unwinding after a long day. Due to the anatomy of the olfactory system and its direct connection with the limbic system, your brain will begin to form memory scent associations of those essential oils and relaxation. This is also known as odor conditioning.
Studies have found that odors can transform emotions through association and then act as proxies for emotions, influencing how we feel later on. (7)
-Dr. Rachel Herz, a well-known Cognitive Neuroscientist.
3) Practice Deep Breathing
During periods of stress and other negative emotions, take a moment and reach for those essential oils you gravitate towards and have previously formed memory scent associations with. Open the bottle and smell it. Breathe slowly and deeply, inhaling those amazing aromas through your nose, exhaling through your mouth and releasing any tension held within the body. Multiple studies have shown essential oils can induce a relaxation response due to their complex chemical constituents. Pay attention to how your mind and body respond shortly after.
4) Focus on the stress itself and not just the symptom.
Due to the mind body connection, we tend to physically store and hold stress in various ways within our body. For example: headaches, neck and shoulder tension, back pain, sleep disturbances, skin flareups, mental fatigue, and changes in bowels. When struggling with a physical manifestation of stress, it is not only helpful to support that physical manifestation but also the stress itself. For example, rolling on peppermint to soothe head tension, but also applying or inhaling lavender or another calming, stress reducing essential oil during periods of stress.
5) Be consistent
Begin forming a healthy coping strategy using essential oils even when not currently stressed. Instead of only reaching for essential oils as a reaction to stress, begin to use them proactively before you encounter your stressors. When we use aromatherapy consistently, we begin to feel more comfortable being calm and grounded and thus we are less likely to become triggered when a stressor occurs.