Whether you're a yoga teacher looking for ideas on how to implement essential oils into your yoga classes or simply looking for ways to spice up your home yoga practice, you're in the right place!
Essential oils are a beautiful offering to weave into any yoga class. During certain times you may find you want invigorating and uplifting essential oils and at other times you may want to use something gentle and grounding. Depending on your intention during each yoga class you may find that you use different essential oils during different times.
An essential oils is essentially the life blood or vitality of a plant that is extracted. Incredibly potent and healing, essential oils have been used for thousands of years for healing and spiritual purposes. Essential oils are often referenced in sacred texts like the Bible and at one point in history were considered more valuable than gold.
I'm honored to share with you 5 essential oil recommendations and when I would recommend using them in a yoga class!
1) Lavender
You cannot ever go wrong with lavender! In general this is the perfect oil to use at the end of your yoga class during the cool down and final resting pose but it's also excellent for restorative or yin yoga classes. Calming, rejuvenating and gentle, lavender is a great oil to implement any time you want you or your students to feel at ease, peaceful and safe.
2) Spruce
One of my personal favorites, Spruce is a great essential oil to offer during various times in yoga. Grounding, stabilizing and strengthening, spruce is a great essential oil to use during the beginning of class, during balance postures or towards the end of class. One option I like to offer with spruce is to ask students who want a drop of spruce to simply place one hand up. You can then drop one drop into their palm and encourage them to rub the oil into their feet, on their brows or at the heart.
3) Frankincense
One of the most sacred essential oils in the world, frankincense has many, many uses. Frankincense has been shown to help decalcify the pineal gland and encourage spirituality so it's no wonder why so many spiritual teachers and guides recommend using frankincense daily. With this essential oil, I'll generally pass around the bottle and tell students to take one drop and rub onto their third eye (the space between the eyebrows) if they'd like. This makes it an optional exercise and keeps the energy light about it. This is a great essential oil to work with towards the end of class or before doing breath work.
4) Grapefruit
This amazing smelling essential oil is uplifting, invigorating and inspiring so it's great for any active yoga class. This is a great essential oil to offer at the beginning of a class to encourage an uplifting mood and determination. This is a great essential oil to simply diffuse in your yoga class but you could also apply it to the bottoms of your students' feet.
5) Ylang Ylang
My go to for any heart centered class, ylang ylang is a beautiful floral scent that is quite gentle and uplifting. If you're guiding a class that focuses on heart openers or back bends, you will love weaving this essential oil into your class! This oil could be diffused or applied to the heart during poses like saddle pose, camel or wheel.
A note on application:
I generally will place a few drops of an essential oil on my forearm or wrist to allow the scent of the essential oil to be present while I offer hands on adjustments in yoga. I do not recommend dropping essential oils directly onto students without prior permission but even with permission some people are very sensitive to essential oils. I've found it just works better to put the oil on yourself and then offer your hands on adjustments. They will still receive excellent benefits from the scent.
Do you have any other go-to essential oils for yoga? Comment them below!
With gratitude,
GoddessCeremony.com