No Guts, No Glory: The Impact of Essential Oils on the Gut Microbiome The gut microbiome — everybody’s talking about it, everybody’s gulping down yogurt, everybody’s popping probiotics like their lives depend on it. And in a way… they do. Trillions of microorganisms make their homes in our bodies, and they basically run the place….
Essential Oil Allies: Sweet Basil
Sweet basil essential oil is obtained by distilling the flowering tops, namely leaves, of the tender annual plant known as Ocimum basilicum. The Ocimum genus is native to the tropics and sub-tropics of both “old” and “new” worlds, especially Africa (Arthur Tucker, 2000). There are at least 64 species accounted for—yet basils in general are…
Essential Oil Allies: Palmarosa
Palmarosa essential oil is obtained by distilling the fresh, wilted, flowering aerial parts of Cymbopogon martinii var. martinii (a.k.a. Cymbopogon martinii var. motia) where the essence is most abundant in its inflorescence. Native to the Indian sub-continent it is wild harvested in many parts of India or readily cultivated for its cash crop and…
Essential Oils For Acute Stress
Stress is a very general word to describe physical or emotional turmoil; there are several types of stress and various levels of intensity. Even if you have a balanced and happy life, chances are that acute stress can throw your emotions out of whack from time to time. Acute stress is different from chronic…
Essential Oil Allies: Sweet Marjoram
Sweet marjoram essential oil is distilled from the flowering tops of the graceful Origanum majorana; the essence is abundant in its leaves. It is commonly grown and distilled for its fresh and comforting essence in Egypt, France, and Germany. Classified in the Lamiaceae family, it is a hardy perennial sub-shrub in hot and dry…
Essential Oil Allies: Vetiver
Vetiver essential oil is distilled from the washed, dried and chopped roots, rhizomes and rootlets of the tropical grass that goes by the Latin moniker of Vetiveria zizanioides. Although it is native to India, the grass is mainly grown and distilled for its thick and complex essential oil in Java, Sri Lanka, the Reunion…