Jane has been a Clinical Aromatherapist for over 25 years and a teacher for over 17 years. She studied under Irene Latter, Principal of the then Scottish School of Aromatherapy who had been taught by two of Marguerite Maury’s former students. In addition to other therapies, she studied Reflexology and Polarity therapy with Douglas Bell at his Scottish School of Reflexology.
Anxiety attacks and three ‘First Aid’ essential oils
As we go into the winter season, anxiety and stress levels can rise, compromising immune systems, our Aromatherapy SME, Jane Lawson, outlines a blend for aromatherapists to give to clients that is safe.
All the oils I am about to mention are perfectly safe and don’t have any contraindications to medications or underlying health issues.
#1 Vetiver is the #1 oil for panic attacks that often accompany anxiety. I’ve nicknamed it the Valium of Essential Oils. It is a bit of a Marmite smell, in that you love it or hate it. Personally, it is one of my top 10 favourites for over 30 years. You just need to smell the oil and within a minute you will feel a difference.
I used it on a survivor of the Grenfell Tower who had been sent to my ‘MASH’ camp of therapists as he was about to go over the edge and most likely sectioned. He arrived shaking uncontrollably and as though he had Tourette’s. He was loud and quite sweary, so I had to take him to one side. I told him to carry on talking and I just held the opened bottle close to him. It does have a pervading smell. He didn’t like it at all, but kept on talking. Literally in less than five minutes, I was keeping my eye out for the signs, the volume of his speech started decreasing and the swearing stopped, but the main sign was, he let out a ginormous sigh. That was when I knew he had had enough of that one, he’d got his Valium ‘shot’.
This is an extreme example and we are also dealing with extreme trauma.
What I would like you to understand is, that the oil takes you from where you are to diametrically opposite in equal measure and calmly brings you back to your centre. So, to some people it really can be like a shot of Valium.
Vetiver roots
The essential oil is steam distilled from the roots of Vetiveria zizinioides (or Chromogen zizinioides), a tall grass native to India, but now commercially grown in Indonesia, Haiti and China as well as Japan. This is one incredibly useful and generous plant, used since antiquity in India whose strong vertical roots do not just produce the smoky calming oil, but can also be used to stabilise riverbanks.
I then swapped Vetiver for essential oil #2 – Fragonia
Fragonia is totally the opposite to Vetiver’s earthy smell, it has a delicate floral note. (The client much preferred this one). It helps you find your inner mental strength and resilience by bringing your mind into balance and harmony with itself. The uniqueness of Fragonia is that it works on a very deep level to release emotional blockages, trauma, shock, pain and scars. An astounding oil to help you when there are emotional transitions, especially emotionally unbearable ones.
Research is also showing how effective it is on long standing emotional issues as well as acute. It lifts grief and brings a peace and tranquillity that you can feel deep inside you. Fragonia stands alone in that it adjusts our natural circadian rhythms and cycles. This oil works in perfect harmony with the Vetiver.
Fragonia, Agonis Fragrans, essential oil comes from Australia and is distilled from the fresh, leafy twigs of a small shrubby tree also known as Coarse Tea Tree which can grow up to 2.5m. With fragrant white foliage, the plant is part of the Myrtaceae family. It was introduced into aromatherapy in 2006. Antimicrobial and anti viral, like Tea Tree, gentle on the skin.
#3 anti-anxiety oil Frankincense.
This oil is calming, soothing and has a direct effect on opening up our lungs and thus slowing our breathing down. It’s an oil I have used on its own when somebody suddenly has a panic attack and there’s no brown paper bag available for the hyperventilation. This works an absolute treat.
Frankincense
A beautiful and widely loved resin tapped from wounds made in trees and traded for over 5000 years and used in ritual settings worldwide, it is native to the Near East and Horn of Africa. Various species are harvested in Oman, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, India, all coming under the genus Boswellia, part of the Burseraceae family. Species typically steam distilled from their hand gathered francinsense resin are Boswellia Carterii (synonyms: Boswellia Sacra and Boswellia bhaw-dajiana), Boswellia frereana, Boswellia serrata (Boswellia thurifera, Indian frankincense), and Boswellia papyrifera. Use sparingly, the plant is considered to be being over exploited.)
Using all three together for anti-anxiety blends. All three combined together work almost symbiotically.
Just be careful with the amount of drops you use as the Vetiver is very strong and will mask the other two. I would suggest, as an example, three drops Fragonia, two drops Frankincense and just one drop of the Vetiver.
It’s a perfect amount to add to a sniffy stick and carrying it around as your emergency ‘inhaler’ when an anxiety attack comes on.
There are obviously many other essential oils that help with anxiety. However this requires individual consultations by a qualified aromatherapist.
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