Episode 207: Your Best Calming Environment and a Look Inside Tamer

doTERRA: Creating a calming environment, whether at home, work, or school, can make all of the difference in your day. And today we'll talk about some ways to create your perfect calming environment.

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. This episode is brought to you by the Lifelong Vitality Pack. Made up of the xEO Mega, Microplex VMz, and Alpha CRS+ supplements, they have the metabolic factors and essential nutrients your body needs. Let the Lifelong Vitality Pack help you build a foundation for health. Right now, as a podcast exclusive if you buy the Lifelong Vitality Pack and enter the promo code PODCAST at checkout, we’ll send you an exclusive audiobook, Essential Oils for Beginners. Check out the link in our episode description or visit doterra.com/podcastoffer to learn more. Open to US orders only. Today we're excited to talk to Samantha Lewis, a member of the doTERRA Product Marketing Team, about how you can use essential oils to create a calming environment. Plus, we'll take a look at the incredible essential oils inside our Tamer blend.

Samantha, thank you for sitting down with us today.

Samantha Lewis: Thanks so much for having me.

doTERRA: Now, this is a topic that I am very excited to talk about because I feel like it is one that I need in my life right now. So, to start with, I want to ask you. With summer ending, you know, kids going back to school, life can start feeling a little bit hectic. How can essential oils help me create a calming environment for my whole family?

Creating a Calming Environment

Samantha Lewis: I'm totally with you. I feel like this is such a necessity that a lot of us need right now with back-to-school season and life is kind of getting a little bit back to normal, which is great but can be a little bit wild. So, I'm with you there, but helping wind the house down with essential oils is probably one of my favorite ways to use our products from creating a cool, calm, collected environment conducive to dinner and study time or quieting the whole house down in preparation for bedtime. There are so many phenomenal oils we can use from aromatic, topical, and even internal use.

We can change up the environment in whatever way is needed. One fun way to involve the whole family in this process is creating blends that help kind of encourage the target environment and are completely custom to each person's needs and preferences. So, bring everyone together. Gather the essential oils like Lavender, Cedarwood, Petitgrain, Tulsi, Rosemary or even Wild Orange, and create some DIY blends unique to each person with a goal of creating a calming environment.

I think this is such a fun activity. It gets the kids involved. You have an opportunity to teach them about essential oils and how they can really benefit you in so many different ways. So, creating this kind of like fun family time where they get to DIY something, get a little messy and get to make something unique to them that they can use every single day, I think would be such a fun and exciting way to create that calming environment they are looking for.

doTERRA: I love that idea and like you said, everyone gets to pick what works for them because that's the beauty of essential oils. Not everything affects everyone in the exact same way. We want to make sure we pick what resonates with us. And so, I think that it is a great family activity.

Samantha Lewis: Exactly. And I hope that it goes over well for those that do it. It's one thing that I love to do, I mean, don't have any children at home right now, but I love to do with my siblings. We get together and we you know, it's a cooperative. You teach them about oils and have them learn facts that they've never even known before.

Samantha’s Favorite Combinations

doTERRA: Yes. Now, you said you've done this a few times before. What are some of your favorite essential oil combinations to create that calming environment for your home?

Samantha Lewis: Well, I personally love combining herbs and citrus together when I'm looking to create a calm environment at the end of the day. There are a few oils I'll use to wind down for bed, but when trying to bring that overall, you know, just as you're winding down for the day, right? I love to combine Peppermint, Tangerine, Tulsi, Copaiba, and then add just a drop of Vanilla. Because, let's be honest, Vanilla makes everything feel more cozy.

So, I'll take all of that, combine it in my Dawn diffuser to really fill the whole house with a refreshing, kind of homey smell that my husband and I really enjoy after a hectic day.

doTERRA: That combination sounds incredible. That is definitely one I have to try.

Samantha Lewis: Ten out of ten recommend.

doTERRA: Now, what about outside the home? Because unfortunately, we can't just stay in our safe space at home all the time. How can we help members of our family create that calming environment on-the-go wherever they might be?

Samantha Lewis: Yeah. So, I think one of the ways you can do this is start with that DIY custom blend we talked about earlier. Maybe you have one that use this when you're winding down, coming home, or winding down for bed, but also use this when you need that little extra. When you're outside of the house, things are a little bit wild, a little bit loud, crazy, whatever it might be.

A rolling version topped off with fractured coconut oil of this blend would make the perfect on-the-go solution for that. We also have some great pre-made roll on options from our Steady blend to Peace Touch.

I feel like those are really underestimated blends that you might just be looking for during those more hectic times outside of the house.

doTERRA: Absolutely. And one of my favorite things about those roller bottles is they are small, they're easy to use. They're not messy. You can just roll them on, throw them in a backpack, keep them wherever and use them whenever you feel the need.

Samantha Lewis: I totally agree. And what I love about the touch products, too, is that, you know that they're going to be safe for the more, you know, your kiddos sensitive skin, which is really great. So, they can really feel empowered to take their own health and to take their own environment into their hands, if that makes sense. And, you know, I just I think it's very empowering for kids.

doTERRA: Absolutely. Now, before we end today, you've mentioned a couple different times, you might have something to wind down after work or after school, but something different is needed at times to wind down at night. So, what are your favorite oils to use when creating that really calming, peaceful environment at night?

Creating a Bedtime Environment

Samantha Lewis: Well, if I'm looking to create an environment conducive to sleep, I honestly don't stray too far from Serenity. It’s a tried and true—it’s a good one. And often I'll boost it with some additional Lavender or Tulsi, or even ground it more with Sandalwood or Vetiver, just depending on my needs. While calming down the whole house for bed will often switch over to Balance or Anchor diffused. I feel like these blends provide that sense of grounding you're looking for when putting the whole entire house to bed, just getting ready, winding down.

Dinner's done, cleaned up, you know, let's. Let's put the house to bed almost.

doTERRA: Hmm. I think that is a great idea. And I think you make such a good point in using the blends that are already there and then amplifying them and enhancing them with whatever you need a little bit more of, because those blends are incredible. They have been researched and formulated by scientists to make sure they give the most benefit. So why not use them? Why not make sure that you're incorporating them and then adding on top what you need most that day?

Samantha Lewis: I totally agree. I think that's a great way to make a really custom experience. And sometimes, like especially with Serenity, just because I use it so often, I can go almost nose blind to it. So that's why I love to add a few different things here and there to change it up. And I know that I'm adding benefits. It's only going to be more positive for me.

doTERRA: Mm hmm. Yes, I love that. Samantha, thank you so much for sitting down with us today, teaching us a little bit more about bringing that calm environment into our home and bringing it with us wherever we need.

Samantha Lewis: Yeah. Happy to help. I'm all for a more calm world. You know, let's just, let's all chill out a little bit every once in a while.

The Tamer Blend

The Tamer Touch Digestive Blend was created for kids of all ages. A soothing combination of Spearmint, Japanese Peppermint, Ginger, Black Pepper, and Parsley seed Tamer is definitely an oil you always want to have on hand.

Today we’re going to talk about some internal historical uses for some of these plants, but we want to remind you that not all of these oils and blends are for internal use and should only be used aromatically or topically.

Any internal benefits discussed for the individual oils in the blend are not applicable to aromatic or topical use. Also, various plant parts, such as the leaves, bark, flower, stem, fruit, peel, bud, resin, etc., were often used for many different practices and benefits throughout history. These historical uses are mentioned here to offer insight as we explore the history of oils and plants.

As such, these ancient uses are solely for informational purposes, and are not being advocated or recommended by doTERRA. Proceed at your own risk with such uses.

Spearmint

First, we have spearmint. Spearmint goes by multiple other names including lamb’s mint and our lady’s mint.

Mention of spearmint dates back to at least the 1st century AD, with references from naturalist Pliny as well as mentions in the Bible.

One thing that has continually drawn people to Spearmint is the smell. When grown in damp soil, the fragrance intensifies, and many farmhouses grew a clump beneath the outdoor water spigot for the fresh scent. The leaves smell of lemon and mint and there is advice to “…hang bunches of spearmint from open doors or archways…mint tied to screen doors send cool odors throughout the house.”

John Gerard an English botanist mentioned spearmint in his 1597 book Herbal where he says that "the smell rejoice the heart of man", for which cause they used to strew it in chambers and places of recreation, pleasure and repose, where feasts and banquets are made."

And spearmint is definitely an incredible addition to the Tamer blend.

Japanese Peppermint

Next, we have another mint, Japanese Peppermint. Peppermint has probably been one of the most popular plants throughout history.

The name peppermint actually comes from Greek mythology and as in all Greek mythologies, there are many versions of the story. However, the most popular one says that Hades seduced the nymph, Minthe, and his wife, Persephone, became enraged with jealousy and turned Minthe into a plant that people would constantly walk on.

Outraged by his wife's interference, Hades imbued the plant with peppermint, so whenever the plant was crushed underneath footfalls, it would release a wonderful aroma. Hades hoped that by doing this, people would remember Minthe and recall how beautiful and full of life she had been.

Since antiquity peppermint has been cultivated in Japan for traditional wellness purposes and was known as Hakuka. It was used as a domestic remedy and was extremely popular.

The gorgeous blue and green leaves and light violet flowers inspire people across Japan to grow this plant at home in planters and fields and the Japanese once carried dried and pulverized leaves in small silver boxes hanging from their girdles.

Now, the main difference between Japanese peppermint and its variants across the world is the amount of menthol naturally occurring in the plant. Japanese peppermint oil has a very high percentage of menthol in its structure, allowing a few leaves to go a very long way.

In manufacturing, Japanese mint is used in everything from toothpaste and mouthwash, to creams, lotions, and perfumes. And commercially it is used as a source of menthol.

Ginger

There are over 1,000 species of ginger plants that exist in the world today, but did you know that ginger is a cultigen? A cultigen is a plant species or variety known only in cultivation, especially one with no known wild ancestor. We know that ginger originated from Island Southeast Asia and that it does not exist in its wild state. And while it is most often called ginger “root” it is fact not a root at all, it’s a rhizome which is an underground stem.

The Austronesian peoples, or more accurately Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of various peoples in Taiwan, Island Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar, that speak the Austronesian languages. Ginger was carried with them in their voyages as canoe plants during the Austronesian expansion, starting from around 5,000 BC.

They introduced it to the Pacific Islands in prehistory, long before any contact with other civilizations. The rhizomes and the leaves were used to flavor food or eaten directly. The leaves were also used to weave mats. Aside from these uses, ginger had religious significance among Austronesians, being used in traditional medicine and for asking protection from spirits. It was also used in the blessing of Austronesian ships.

In Indian cuisine, ginger is a key ingredient, and has a role in traditional Ayurvedic medicine. Which is one of the world's oldest traditional wellness systems and remains one of India's traditional health practices to this day. Ginger is used in many forms, for example, raw, crushed, or powdered, in the culinary practices of cultures around the world. From Korea, to France, to the Philippines, people around the world have fallen in love with the scent, taste, and benefits of ginger.

Black Pepper

Black pepper is a plant native to South Asia and Southeast Asia whose history goes back thousands of years. There are records that it’s been used in Indian cooking since at least 2000 BCE.

The lost ancient port city of Muziris in Kerala was famous for exporting black pepper and is mentioned in many classical historical sources for its trade with Roman Empire, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Levant, and Yemen. Peppercorns were a much-prized trade good, often referred to as "black gold" and were even used as a form of payment. The legacy of this trade remains in some Western legal systems that recognize the term "peppercorn rent" as a token payment.

In Egypt black peppercorns were found stuffed in the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there as part of the mummification rituals shortly after his death.

Black Pepper was known in Greece at least as early as the fourth century BCE, though it was probably an uncommon and expensive item that only the very rich could afford.

Pepper was so valuable that it was often used as collateral or even currency. The taste for pepper, or at least the appreciation of its monetary value, was passed on to those who would see Rome fall. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, included 3,000 pounds of pepper as part of the ransom he demanded from Rome when he besieged the city in the fifth century.

In the Middle Ages, pepper was an item exclusively for the rich, but as trade routes started to expand and it became more and more available it started to become more of an everyday seasoning among even those of average means. And today, pepper accounts for 20% of the spice trade around the world.

Like many eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and part of traditional wellness practices. Pepper appears in the Buddhist practices as one of the few wellness items a monk is allowed to carry. Black pepper was believed to be useful in all sorts of situations and multiples sources from the fifth century onward recommended pepper as a natural wellness product.

Parsley Seed

Parsley has been cultivated for more than 2,000 years. Both the leaves and the seeds were used in traditional wellness practices long before they ever started being consumed as food and since ancient times, parsley has been sought after for use in all sorts of situations.

Parsley is native to the Mediterranean region of southern Europe and western Asia and its name comes from Greek word petrose, meaning rock, which originates from its habit of growing on rocky hillsides in Greece.

According to ancient Greek legend, parsley sprang from the blood shed by the fallen hero Archemorus when he was eaten by serpents.

The ancient Greeks held the plant sacred, and parsley was never placed on their tables. However, the Greeks did use parsley to decorate tombs and they made parsley wreaths to bestow on the winners at the Isthmian Games, in the same manner as bay wreaths honored the Olympians.

All of these powerful oils come together to create the Tamer blend which is great for the whole family

Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you want to try any of the products you learned about, click on the link in the episode description or find a wellness advocate near you to place an order today. And remember, if you liked what you heard today, rate review and subscribe wherever you listen.