Episode 53: Aromatic Dressing

doTERRA: Did you know that studies have found that 60% of adults say they feel ashamed of the way they look? Our bodies are a gift, and sometimes when we see them in a reflection or in a picture we can have a rush of feelings that aren't always positive. It can be hard to recognize our body for the gift that it is. So today, we're going to be exploring a way that you can spend some time honoring your body each morning. 

Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA, the podcast where you'll hear exciting, useful, and simple everyday uses for essential oils from experts in the field. If you like what you hear today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. We always appreciate hearing from you.

Today, we're excited to sit down with Paige Sorenson as she talks to us about the process and benefits of aromatic dressing.

Paige, thank you so much for coming in and talking with us today. We are so, so happy to have you.

Paige Sorenson: So happy to be here.

doTERRA: So this is a topic that I think a lot of people maybe a little more unfamiliar with. So how would you describe aromatic dressing?

Paige: Oh I'm so excited to share. It's super fun. Aromatic dressing, well I have to say, I didn't come up with this. I didn't design it. I learned it from a woman named Vanessa Evans. She's actually top leader in doTERRA in Australia, and I saw her speaking one day on stage, and I just got chills all over my body because I knew what she was saying just lined up perfectly with me and my message and my life and my career. And so really, just overall, aromatic dressing is a quick practice that you would do in the morning, or in the evening whenever you jump out of the shower, and I think it's bigger than the oils and the actions, however, the oils are so important in this. And then you just take it, like, one body part at a time, and I always start from—

So OK. Let me back up. So you're going to make a small mixture. So, when you jump out, I usually do fractionated coconut oil and I do some oils some of my favorite oils and just a couple drops here and there. So you've got this fun little mixture to rub all over your body, and I usually start with my legs, and I move my way upward, but the secret about it is you're saying positive affirmations to yourself, out loud.

doTERRA:  Okay.

Paige: And so I feel like aromatic dressing is super powerful. It has a lot of ways to involve healing in your life and acceptance, radical acceptance, and infusing love and goodness and all of that is just wrapped up with awesome oils. And so I just love it. I've been doing it for a while, and I teach it all the time, and I think it has some power. So, did that even answer your question that you asked me? What was the question?

doTERRA: How would you describe aromatic dressing? 

Paige: Yeah, yeah, so it's very—the funny thing is when I teach people, when I teach a crowd, sometimes I can just see body language. It's awkward; it's uncomfortable. You know a lot of times people need to hear that they—are they allowed to even talk nice to themselves?

doTERRA: Right

Paige: Like, that’s kind of a new concept for people. I know within the doTERRA culture, everyone's a little bit more progressive in that area. We're very, you know, into self-care and self-love, but overall, it's really fun to watch people experience it, and then move int, like, a comfort level where they're like, “Oh my gosh, this can really help me.” And so that's fun to watch the transformation with people, so.

doTERRA: Well, I love that, and I love the fact that you brought up that some people are very uncomfortable with saying nice things to their body, and this aromatic dressing —making that space for people to give a little bit of love and honor to their body—is such a beautiful thing.

Paige: Yeah absolutely. 

doTERRA: So how long have you been teaching and practicing aromatic dressing?

Paige: So I think I learned about five years ago, maybe four—I'm so bad with numbers, but I'm going to go with five—and implemented it immediately. And once I did it, after a while, I just knew—it was just oozing from me—I needed to share it with everyone around me. And so, like I said before, I've taught a lot of people to do it. Probably a lot of women respond to it really well because they forget, like they—I just feel like a lot of women get stuck in the rut of taking care of everyone around them. They forget to take care of themselves. And so I feel like this is such a really good daily practice that takes less than two minutes and has a positive effect on the rest of your day.

doTERRA: And that is great, and it's so quick and so easy. Another aspect where you have used this aromatic dressing is in your work as a fashion stylist. And now, the fashion world definitely has a bad reputation for, you know, low body image and difficulty with positive body image. So how has aromatic dressing and how have essential oils helped you promote that positive body image in this, kind of, toxic environment.

Paige: Great question. Love it. Yeah, I get a lot of questions like, “Fashion styling and oils? I don't really understand how they crossover.” That's kind of the beauty of doTERRA in general. I feel like doTERRA can, and essential oils in general, can just work their way into so many interesting avenues in life. And so, when oils and fashion crossed over for me, it was just—it was magic. It was magic for my life. 

So my basic fashion philosophy, or my foundation, is identifying who you are on the inside and then expressing it on the outside. Okay? So, just a quick background on me, when I was little, I knew I had talent in fashion, and I just—I knew, like, I think it was at age nine—I knew I had something where I could express myself through clothing. And it worked really well, and I started to rely on that probably just as much as verbal expression. 

doTERRA: Wow.

Paige: So I've always really relied on my clothing and sharing who I am and showing up and making connections, based on what I'm wearing. So whenever I enter a room, I always think to myself, “What can I say?” or “How can I influence this room, before I open my mouth?” 

Okay so, that's kind of—my foundation, is if you can identify who you are, then you have an easier time expressing who you are on the outside. So with that, add in oils and mental health and really being preventative with—you know—putting bad things into your body, or trying to just have a healthy lifestyle overall, oils play into this in so many areas.

Using Essential Oils in the Fashion World

I mean, I've done things where I do a lot of really fun campaigns on social media, but fun things, like right now, I'm wearing a bright yellow shirt. So I would post my outfit and be like, “What oil would you pair with this? What oil matches this? What oil do you connect with if you look at my outfit?” Or you know, just somehow connect that together. And then, with my profession, I dress a lot of public speakers, and right now I'm actually dressing a lot of authors. So people who are using their words and putting it down on paper and having an influence and effect on, you know, their fan base or who they're speaking to.

And so lots of times before we go out on stage—so I'll dress and style them for their event. And I always take into consideration “Who are they? What's their identity? What's their message? How can I align the clothing to elevate their influence.” And so with that, I utilize oils as well. So before any of my clients go out on stage, I'll be like, “Do we need to get some Balance on you?” or “Let's get some Peppermint or PastTense on you.” I always recommend PastTense and Balance together if you are public speaking. It just does this like beautiful thing. 

Using Essential Oils in Everyday Life

So I infuse oils in every angle of my life. I use them daily. I share them daily. And I love allowing people around me to experience them, even if it's their first time. Like most people I'm—I always offer Lemon: “Do you have this in your water? You know, because it's like so wonderful to drink. I'm addicted.” So, I try, and I mean I'm not trying very hard, it just naturally comes to my life. Where do oils fit in? How can I elevate this human and help them express who they are? 

doTERRA: And what a powerful idea. You mentioned the yellow top, pairing it with an oil that is bright and sunny, and you have that constant reminder of both of those throughout the day. Every time you catch your reflection and every time you smell the oil, it gives you that ability to continue on with—throughout the day. 

Paige: Yeah I think that's great, thanks. 

doTERRA: What are some of the other benefits that you have seen people gain from utilizing aromatic dressing?

Paige: So this was actually really surprising. I get messages from people all the time: “Okay, I did it!” I, you know, it's like I'm their accountability partner. They need to just like report to someone. “I tried aromatically dressing, and this is what it did for me.” And one of my favorites was actually my best friend who was hesitant at first. And she messaged me a couple weeks later, and she said, “You have no idea how this has affected me. It's affected my confidence; it's affected my belief in me; it's affected things that I don't even think I can articulate.”

So just the power of intentionally putting a good product on your body, and then intentionally linking in with your inner self, and like, matching up everything you are, and then creating positive pathways for good, awesome things about yourself, first thing in the morning, I just think it's got such a powerful—just such a powerful thing to it. I love it. I love seeing it. But that was probably my favorite one. She said, “I don't think I can articulate what this has done for me. It's been amazing. It's been life changing.” 

doTERRA: And that is amazing that such a simple thing, just doing that little thing every morning, could have such life-changing effects, and I think that's incredible.

Paige, my final question for you is what are your personal favorite oils to use doing aromatic dressing?

Paige: Okay, so I obviously cycle through oils, because we all do. But I would say I'm always grabbing Grapefruit, Grapefruit is one of my all-time favorites, and Wild Orange. So I would take a citrus, so Wild Orange or Grapefruit, and I pair it with Frankincense. And that's usually my daily concoction for aromatically dressing and taking care of myself. I have worked in Balance. And, right now, I would say my family's favorite is Adaptiv^®. We love adaptive so much, so.

doTERRA: And my final, final question, I lied, what are some of your favorite affirmations to pair with those oils while you're dressing? 

Paige: Oh good. I love that. Okay, so—like I said—I usually start with my legs. And so, it's really simple, you're just going to do big motions rubbing very quickly over your legs. It's nothing you have to like focus on too long. My favorite ones for my legs are—so I'll do legs and abdomen because those are my favorite to focus on, especially for women. These can be very hard for them. So “I'm grateful for my strong legs and the adventures that they take me on.”

So something just as simple as that, where it's like, “Oh my gosh, my legs do take me everywhere I need to go, and they support me.” Just starting with something that simple can be really life changing. And then abdomen—and I focus on abdomen specifically when I speak because I feel like this is a target area where negative—and the world can really affect just the middle section. 

doTERRA: Absolutely. 

Paige: And so, I love starting with this: “I am grateful for my creative core.” So reminding yourself that there's this core within you, deeper than what we're seeing. And then, my all-time favorite is “I love and appreciate my scars. They prove sacrifice and endurance.” And just reminding yourself that you've been through stuff, your body's been through stuff. And there was a purpose for probably all of it, and that you're worthy of loving who you are and accepting who you are.

doTERRA: Paige, thank you so much for sharing all of this. I truly find it to be such a beautiful and empowering practice, and I hope that everyone listening can go out and they can try and give a little bit of love to their body and use the aromatic dressing to really honor the parts of their body that do so much for them that I think we forget about all the time. So thank you so much.

Paige: Thank you for having me. It's been fun.

doTERRA: Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you liked what you heard today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. Also, if you want to try any of the products you learned about, go to doterra.com or find a wellness advocate near you to place an order today.