Yoga practitioners, specifically those practicing physical asana, tend to be interested in natural medicines, and in all the ways nature can offer healing to their bodies. Essential oils are truly potent natural therapeutic agents, and can support one's yoga practice in many ways. Here we'll look specifically at healing physical injuries; in future parts of this article we'll look at using essential oils for supporting various organ systems, and even oils to enhance meditation.
Whether one has just started a practice of yoga asana, or has been practicing for twenty years, injuries can occur. Of course, the longer one has been practicing, the less likely this injury will occur "on the mat". Either way, we'd really like to get back into the swing of our practice, and our lives, as quickly as possible. Essential oils actually have proven therapeutic effects (see, for example, pubmed.gov and search for "essential oil inflammation") for the healing of muscles, tendons and ligaments. Effective blends will combine inflammation reduction, pain relief, and regenerative actions all in one formula.
When healing physical injuries, be they chronic or acute, the process must begin with reducing inflammation. This allows the exchange of damaged material out, and healing nutrients in, to the injured area. Reducing inflammation also reduces the potential for further inflammation, as well as reducing pain. Proven anti-inflammatory agents are found in the oils of ginger, German "blue" chamomile, frankincense and plai -- a root oil from Thailand, similar to ginger. (Note that the "CO2 extract" oils are likely the more potent oils for this action, and are available from specialty online retailers).
To create a truly healing formula, the anti-inflammatory oils are blended with oils specifically to stimulate healing. The most effective of these is helichrysum, distilled from helichrysum italicum flowers grown in the Mediterranean region. Helichrysum is also highly anti-inflammatory and analgesic (in emergencies, it can be used "neat" at 100% strength to prevent bruising and such).
An effective blend for stimulating healing, and reducing inflammation and pain can be made following this recipe. This is for one ounce of total formula, and you can simply multiply up your numbers to make more. It is easiest to make your formula in a bottle of known size, like a one-ounce glass eye dropper tincture bottle. In this, add three to five milliliters of helichrysum, and one milliliter each of ginger and chamomile. You may also consider adding one milliliter of frankincense for additional anti-inflammatory, regenerative support. Then simply top your bottle off with any carrier oil and there you go! Simply massage-in a few times a day into the affected areas of your body.
If the cost of helichrysum is too exorbitant, the essential oil distilled from "plai" root (similar to ginger) is becoming more popular for healing, and has been the subject of research backing its use. Also, if you find you need further support for actual pain relief, the addition of sweet birch essential oil can help -- it's primary molecular component is methyl salicylate, which is liquid aspirin. You can make a very effective blend focusing on inflammation and pain reduction with this recipe -- for each one ounce of formula, use: three milliliters plai essential oil, three milliliters sweet birch, and one milliliter lavender, based in the carrier oil of your choice.
You may find that one of these formulas works better for you than the other; it's fun to experiment in this way. Creating your own blend tends to give you more insight into the medicine that essential oils really are, and will pique your interest to delve further into their healing potential. In the next parts of this article, we'll look at other ways essential oils can support the health of the yogi. These include immune system function, and both physical and energetic cleansing, and even more esoteric applications. So crack open your first bottle of oil and enjoy!
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