Essential Oils
Best Essential Oils for Creativity
May
The days when strength was the only thing needed for various jobs are long gone. In recent times, creativity is arguably the most important thing for success in most jobs. In essence, most jobs of the 21st century require the use of imagination or original ideas to create something.
Whether you are a writer, a musician, a painter, a chef, a blogger, and so on, you would need your creativity level to be at its peak, but this isn’t always possible – sometimes we hit that “creativity block”. In simpler terms, we might get to a point where you get stuck in the process of doing that which you are doing.
Imagine staring at a word for half an hour and not knowing what should come after it, or being stuck on a musical note for a long time. It can happen to the best of us – even machines get stuck sometimes.
When handling moments like this, a lot of people try different methods to get back in the groove. For some, it could be just a glass of wine that would do the trick; for some others, they just need to take a walk around the park; a few other people might opt for yoga or some other spiritual practices. Interestingly, quite a number of people regain their creativity by simply opening a bottle of essential oil.
What are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are compounds extracted from plants that are obtained through distillation - via steam and/or water - or mechanical methods, such as cold pressing. Basically, Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts that retain the natural smell and flavor, or "essence," of their source. It is imperative to know that the process of obtaining essential oils is very important. In other words, essential oils obtained through chemical processes are not original essential oils.
The benefits of essential oils are endless. They help relieve stress, anxiety, headaches, migraine, insomnia, and other health issues. Essential oils are also used in aromatherapy, as mosquito repellents, and for industrial cosmetics. What this article is concerned with is how essential oils are used in aromatherapy.
Essential oils are quite popular for their effectiveness in increasing an individual’s energy and improving mental clarity. With the combination of a maximum energy level and mental clarity, you have the perfect formula to help you feel inspired to be creative.
How Does Aromatherapy Work for Creativity?
Decades before now, aromatherapy has various purposes including relaxation, health, massage, focus, and creativity. Artists need to always be at the top of their creativity and they would gladly welcome anything that can help enhance concentration and creativity.
This is where essential oils come in handy. Essential oils have been found to elicit a range of emotional responses: they can be calming, relaxing, energizing, focusing, and uplifting, all of which can help enormously with the process of creativity. Often times, we tend to overlook our sense of smell as an essential tool for creativity.
Aroma can aid memory, arouse emotions, and activate your brain in various ways. The more you perceive a particular scent, the more you’ll connect it with a specific memory, and this can help create new habits and help you choose the right scents to create the artistic mood you need to get your work done.
As it should be, the human brain is pivotal when it comes to creativity, and essential oils affects our brains directly through methods such as inhalation and absorption.
Inhalation
When we inhale scents, they reach the olfactory bulb at the top of the nose, an extension of the portion of the brain called the limbic system. The limbic system is composed of parties that deal with emotions, memories and stimulation, and this is where essential oil molecules trigger emotional shift.
Absorption
Essential oils can also be absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin. As the oil circulates through the body’s bloodstream, it is delivered to the brain.
Best Essential Oils for Creativity
Everyone has different creative processes. There are hundreds of ways that people stimulate creativity, and they work effectively for them; however, it should be noted that what works for some, may not work for others. There are hundreds of essential oils that boost creativity, but here are some of the best to help you narrow down your search.
Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender essential oil is arguably one of the most impressive essential oils today because of its antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, antibacterial, and antiseptic properties. This can also be said of its lovely, pleasing floral scent.
Centuries before now, people have used this essential oil to create a calm, relaxing, and peaceful atmosphere. Lavender oil stimulates the brain in relation to expression of one’s self. It makes one feel calm, safe, and encourages honesty.
Another noteworthy feature of lavender essential oil is that it is safe enough to apply directly to the skin without the use of a carrier oil, and this enhances its convenience and ease of use.
Basically, it calms the insecurities that can surface when one is at the beginning a new project or exploring new ideas. When you get to that point where you don’t seem to know how to continue, all you need to do is put a few drops of lavender essential oil in your bath or diffuse the oil in the room you are working in, and allow nature’s essence do its work.
Jasmine Essential Oil
Derived from the jasmine flower, jasmine essential oil has been found out to be a natural remedy for improving mood, overcoming stress and balancing hormones.
In essence, jasmine essential oil has been used for centuries now to bring about joy, optimism, confidence, inspiration, and imagination, while also helping with mental clarity and focus.
In fact, a study published in the Journal of Health Research examined the effects of jasmine oil inhalation on the central nervous system and mood. The researchers observed that jasmine oil affected brain activity and mood states and the participants reported feeling more positive, energetic, and romantic.
Jasmine essential oil possesses properties that help increase heart rate, body temperature and brain activity – features which are needed for active learning and problem solving. Its floral, rich, heavy, sweet, warm and fruity aroma will provide you with that mental strength to get creative.
All you need to do is put a few drops of jasmine essential oil in your bath or diffuse the oil in the room you are working in, and get your creative groove back on.
Frankincense Essential Oil
The word frankincense comes from the term “franc encens,” which means quality incense in old French.
Frankincense essential oil is obtained from the dried and distilled resin of the Frankincense tree, and it is believed to contain properties that help reduce feelings of anxiety, stimulate the immune system, and diminish signs of aging, among other demonstrated activities.
Two of the most common benefits that people look to get from frankincense essential oil are its anti-anxiety and depression-reducing abilities.
In other words, frankincense essential oil helps bring about inner balance, soothing the feelings of overwhelm or stress and promoting a sense of calmness and contentment. It is its earthy, uplifting aroma that makes it perfect for grounding and spiritual connectedness, and these two are important when talking about creativity.
Put a few drops of frankincense essential oil in your bath or diffuse the oil in the room you are working in, and get the creative edge that you want.
Frankincense and Myrrh Essential Oil Combo
Frankincense and myrrh essential oils have several health benefits including: boosting immune system and relieving stress and anxiety.
Vivorific’s frankincense and myrrh essential oil combo is: 100% Pure and natural, free from fillers, additives and harmful chemicals, vegan and kosher certified and sealed with tamper evident closure and Euro style dropper cap.
Clary Sage Essential Oil
Clary sage is one of the most impressive essential oils, packed with anticonvulsive, antidepressant, antifungal, anti-infectious, antiseptic, antispasmodic, astringent and anti-inflammatory properties.
Clary sage serves as an antidepressant and as a natural remedy for anxiety – most times when we feel less creative and can’t continue with whatever we are working on, it is due to stress or anxiety. It also boosts confidence and mental strength, providing you with that euphoric feeling of joy and ease.
In fact, a 2017 study examined the effects of various sage plants, including clary sage, and found that sage plants might be associated with improved memory, greater alertness, and potential Alzheimer’s-fighting effects – also noting the anti-depressant and anti-stress effects of clary sage.
As an essential oil therefore, it can be effectively combined with other essential oils like Frankincense and Ylang Ylang, with the complex scent creating a relaxing environment to help ease that mental blockage, reduce anxiety, and provide inspiration.
Peppermint Essential Oil
Peppermint essential oil is extracted from the leaves of the peppermint plant and is used for a variety of different purposes, which include boosting energy, clearing the respiratory tract, stimulate circulation, alleviating feelings of nervous tension and stress, and soothing feelings of irritability.
Although it provides a familiar scent, peppermint essential oil offers much more than that aroma. When diffused, peppermint essential oil creates a stimulating, focused atmosphere for daily tasks, and provides you with a relaxing environment to help ease that mental blockage, reduce anxiety, and provide inspiration.
All you need to do is put a few drops of peppermint essential oil in your bath or diffuse the oil in the room you are working in, and get your creative groove back on.
Peppermint Essential Oil
Peppermint essential oil has several health benefits including: alleviating headaches and energizing the body.
Vivorific’s peppermint essential oil is: 100% Pure and natural, free from fillers, additives and harmful chemicals, vegan and kosher certified and sealed with tamper evident closure and Euro style dropper cap.
Patchouli Essential Oil
Belonging to a family of other well-known aromatic plants - including Lavender, Mint, and Sage – patchouli essential oil has a grounding, balancing, calming scent and provides numerous health benefits, making it one of the best essential oils for aromatherapy.
Although research on the aroma therapeutic use of patchouli essential oil is very limited, there is a bit of evidence that it provides feelings of relaxation and helps to ease stress or anxiety.
Quite impressively, Patchouli blends well with Sandalwood, Bergamot, Peppermint, Geranium, Lavender, Rose, and Clary Sage essential oils for diffusion, providing you with a combination that will ease that mental blockage, reduce anxiety, and provide inspiration.
Eucalyptus Essential Oil
Eucalyptus essential oil, derived from the leaf of a tall evergreen tree, offers many aromatic benefits. Its main chemical components are eucalyptol and alpha-terpineol, and this gives eucalyptus essential oil its soothing and cooling vapor.
The benefits of Eucalyptus can be easily obtained through inhaling and diffusing. When diffused, Eucalyptus Essential Oil relieves mental exhaustion, enhances spiritual practices. Studies have shown that the compounds of Eucalyptus essential oil can promote feelings of a clear mind and relaxation.
Diffusing eucalyptus oil can also help to purify the air. Aside from these eucalyptus essential oil has been found out to be a natural remedy for improving mood, overcoming stress and balancing hormones.
When you get to that point where you don’t seem to know how to continue, all you need to do is put a few drops of lavender essential oil in your bath or diffuse the oil in the room you are working in, and allow get the creativity, mental clarity, understanding, and enthusiasm that you need.
Rosemary Essential Oil
Rosemary essential oil is extracted from the rosemary evergreen shrub – with needle-like leaves and woody aroma. Various studies have shown that inhaling rosemary oil helps prevent the breakdown of acetylcholine, a brain chemical important for thinking, concentration and memory.
In other words, when rosemary essential oil is inhaled, the brain becomes open to new creative ideas. Similarly, inhaling rosemary oil may help reduce anxiety and stress. As the article pointed earlier on, stress is one of those factors that can block an individual’s creativity.
Basically, diffused rosemary Essential Oil can help reduce stress levels, encourage mental clarity, reduce fatigue, and support respiratory function, all of which are important to a person’s creativity.
All you need to do is spray your diffused rosemary essential oil into the air to enhance memory and concentration.
Ylang Ylang Essential Oil
Ylang ylang oil is made from the flowers of the herb Cananga odorata genuina. This essential oil has a sweet and romantic aroma that makes it perfect for aromatherapy. One small study found that ylang ylang reduced anxiety and boosted self-esteem when it was either applied to skin or inhaled. This essential oil’s impressive effect on mood has been highlighted in other studies.
One of the main components of ylang ylang essential oil is linalool, a compound found to possess stress-reducing properties; hence, ylang ylang essential oil would be a beneficial oil for soothing stress, anxiety, sadness, tension, and sleeplessness – as well as, easing that mental blockage and providing inspiration.
Geranium Essential Oil
Derived from the leaves of Pelargonium graveolens, a plant species native to South Africa, geranium essential oil is known to reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, sadness, fatigue, and tension, thereby enhancing the general sense of well-being and relaxation; as a result, is good for aromatherapy.
In addition, the fragrance of geranium essential oil is known to aid concentration, enhance cognitive function, and balance the emotions as well as the hormones, all of which are important to a person’s creativity.
This essential oil can be combined with other essential oils, such as Bergamot, Carrot Seed, Cedarwood, Citronella, Grapefruit, Jasmine, Lavandin, Lavender, Lemon, Lime, Neroli, Orange, and Rosemary, to create a complex scent for a relaxing environment that is both uplifting and relaxing.
Bergamot Essential Oil
Bergamot oil is extracted from the rinds of citrus fruit (Citrus bergamia) that grow on bergamot orange trees. For decades, it has been known for its balancing effect on the mind and body.
Studies have shown that bergamot essential oil helps to balance mood, ease stress, and promote feelings of relaxation. As a result of this essential oil’s uplifting and relaxing nature, it is good for building confidence, thereby making room for creativity.
By using essential oils that create a sense of positivity, relaxation and/or euphoria, you can create an atmosphere where your creativity can flourish. Try out different scents and choose ones that inspire you the most.
You can blend a few essential oils together to create an aroma that is the most pleasing and effective for you.
Recipes for Essential Oils for Creativity
Essential oils are safe when they are used as directed, but they are distilled to be powerful. So it is important to know the combinations of essential oils you are outing together as well as the quantity at which they can mix properly. Highlighted below are three essential oil blends that you could try out to boost your creativity.
Forgetive Blend
Truly Gifted Blend
Epiphany Blend
Are there any essential oils you feel should be on the best essential oils for creativity list? Share them in the comments below.
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