I love Yoga! Seriously has been the best thing ever to help me calm my busy mind and find peace in the chaotic world as a mom to a very active toddler :) I also love my cork yoga mat and want to keep it clean and fresh without any hidden toxins in conventional cleaning products or synthetic fragrance. This DIY Yoga Mat Spray recipe is super simple and is small enough to take to the studio with you.
When we do yoga or other physical activities we sweat and it may drip on our yoga mats (or soak them :). Did you know that the B.O. stink is caused by as process of bacteria breaking down the sweat? Bacteria thrive in dark moist environments, like your armpits and groin. When you sweat, the bacteria breaks down certain proteins in the sweat into acids causing that BO smell. So get rid of the bacteria stop the stink :) This DIY spray uses essential oils that are from aromatic plants that historically have been used to keep the bacteria away.
Supplies:
2 oz. Glass spray bottle
Distilled water
5 drops Thieves Essential Oil
5 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil
Directions:
Add essential oils to glass bottle and fill with distilled water. Screw on spray top, shake and spray. Literally that is it!
You can take this spray on the go to clean your mat and if you are feeling a little stinky yourself a little spray under the pits too :) I like to clean my mat at home myself because I like to roll it out and make sure its dry before I roll it back up but you do not have too. (I ma just weird:)
Essential Oils
I love Tea Tree. This is seriously what I use for under arm deodorant. I added a roll-on top to my bottle and I just roll it on in the morning and its easy to take with me to refresh on a hot summer day. Tea Tree is very cleansing and purifying. Its great to dab on the occasional blemish and bug bite too. Helps maintain healthy-looking hair and scalp and maintains the appearance of healthy skin and nails when applied to feet and toenails.
Thieves is a blend of Clove, Lemon, Cinnamon Bark, Eucalyptus Radiata, and Rosemary essential oils. Thieves is very cleansing when applied topically and neutralizes and purifies the air from strong odors when diffused. It has a spicy scent that I am obsessed with. When taken Internally Thieves Vitality supports overall wellness and a healthy immune and digestive system.
To learn more ways to use essential oils in your yoga practice click here for my free digital guide.
I love a good eye pillow! I have been using them for years but my old one was looking pretty yucky and was not washable. So I decided to step up my DIY eye pillow game and make one that has a washable cover but has other amazing soothing elements to it like lavender essential oil and amethyst crystals. I love to use my eye pillow at night to block out the light and love using one when I meditate.
Supplies:
Piece of fabric 11" x 6.5", I used unbleached muslin (eye pillow)
Thread
Sewing Machine (but you could totally do this by hand too :)
Pieces of decorative fabric 7" x 26" (eye pillow cover)
Filling Supplies:
2 cups organic flax seeds
1 cup pink Himalayan Salt
1 cup dried lavender
1/4 cup small tumbled amethyst chips (I got mine on ebay)
5 drops Lavender essential oil
Eye Pillow Directions
- Cut muslin fabric 11" x 6". Pin and sew a 1/4" seam on 3 sides leaving one end open.
- Iron seams open.
- Turn right side out and sew flat. Turn ends in about a 1/4" and iron flat
- Using a funnel fill eye pillow about 1/2 way full. I used 2 cups of flax seeds, 1 cup pink Himalayan salt, 1 cup dried lavender, 1/4 cup amethyst chips and 5 drops of lavender essential oil. I added all the ingredients to a bowl and mix them well before adding to the eye pillow. Sew ends closed.
* You could totally stop here for a quick and easy project but if you would like to be able to wash the cover see steps below.
Eye Pillow Cover Directions
- Cut a piece of decorative fabric 26" x 7"
- Fold over each end twice about 1/4" each fold and iron. This will give you a nice finished seam.
- Stitch each end to secure.
- Fold wrong sides fabric over, overlapping ends. Should be 11" long once folded. Pin to secure. Sew both sides with a 1/2" seam.
5. Iron seams open
6. Turn right side out and iron flat.
7. Insert filled eye pillow into cover
8. Lay down and place eye pillow over eyes and relax :)
You may be wondering why I chose the filling ingredients for this specific eye pillow. So here is a little run down of the benefits.
Flax Seeds
Flax seeds give the eye pillow a nice weight. Having a weighted eye pillow can penetrate the vagus nerve which controls many critical body functions such as: mood, immune response, digestion and heart rate. The light pressure of the eye pillow on your eyelids ends messages to this nerve to calm and relax. Click here for more info about eye pillow benefits.
Pink Himalayan Salt
There are a million benefits to this amazing salt but why I chose it for the eye pillow is that historically salt has been used for protection, purification, cleansing and dispelling negativity. It is very grounding and can help center your energy as well.
Lavender
Both dried lavender and Lavender essential oil are used in the this recipe. Lavenders' aromatic influence is very calming and relaxing, promotes consciousness, love, peace and a general sense of well-being. Lavender has been used to promote rest and relaxation and also has a spiritual frequency which can help to open the third eye chakra.
Amethyst Crystals
Amethyst is a great stone for protection and can help with intuition and insight, connecting to your higher self, manifestation, reduce stress and anxiety. It is associated with the third eye and crown chakras. It resonates well with Lavender essential oils making them a perfect pair for this recipe.
All of these ingredients work well together to balance energy, calm and relax you and aid in your meditation practice.
Want to lean more about using Lavender and Amethyst together? Check out my recent blog post: Essential oils infused crystal terrariums.
New to Essential Oils?
Have you been wanting to learn a little more about essential oils?
Click here for access to my free digital guide Essential Oils 101.
Click here to learn about pairing oils and crystals together.
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Learn about some of the crystals and essential oils I use everyday to help keep my chakras balanced and keep fear and nervous tension at bay.
You know I love me some essential oils and I may be a little obsessed with crystals too :) This fun project combines two of my favorite things into a beautiful decorative piece to enjoy in any room of the house or even your desk in the office too :) Have little ones? Let them join in on the fun and create their very own.
The first step is to gather your supplies and go crystal shopping!!! Yay! This is by far the most fun part. Gathering little treasures to make into a work of art. Check out your local rock shop or metaphysical store, farmers markets (my daughter and I scored some nice polished stones and agates), ebay, or go through your collection and pick out pieces and put them on display.
Supplies
- Terrariums or decorative pots (Check you local craft store. I snagged mine at Michael's and Joann's)
- Crystals or course :)
- Sand, river rocks, or other small decorative pebbles (Check the craft store and even the $ store)
- Air plants and/succulents (I ordered my air plants on amazon and purchased some small succulents from Lowe's.)
- Other decorative things like moss, bark, figurines etc... the possibilities are endless!
- Your favorite essential oils
Directions
- First step is to clean your terrarium and you will need your Lemon essential oil for this. Mine had so many sticky price tags on them. Put a few drops of lemon oil on a cloth and wipe away that sticky gunk from the price tags. So easy!
- Chose your crystals. I chose to use Amethyst, Pyrite and Quartz for three of my arrangements.
- Next I simply added in some sand or pebbles to the bottom of the terrarium just to the underside to the opening.
- Next place your air plants and crystals. Have fun with it! Move things around and try different configurations.
You can also make some using little plants and succulents. For mine I chose this larger shallow glass bowl. I arranged the plants, filled it in with dirt then added river rocks and moss on top. Then found this awesome quartz cluster for the center piece and added a few quartz points and geodes in between the plants.
Perfect little project for you and the kids to do! My 4 year old daughter had so much fun playing around with adding things and moving them around and it was so fun to see her little creative mind at work!So you might be thinking where do the essential oils come in?
So now that you have your arrangements complete you can place a few drops of your favorite essential oil on the sand or pebbles (not the crystals) and they will smell amazing! You can even go as far as making little clay pieces or add pieces of wood or bark and add the essential oils to those as well. You can choose any oil that speaks to you but one of my favorite combinations is Lavender and Amethyst.
Lavender & Amethyst
These two are recommended together often because the highest resonance is between amethyst and Lavender. Amethyst is a great stone for protection and can help with intuition and insight, connecting to your higher self, manifestation, stress and anxiety. It is associated with the third eye and crown chakra. Similarly Lavender is also an amazing essential oil to relax and calm the mind and body and is associated with the third eye and crown chakra and its frequency may help with emotional and spiritual connection.
New to Essential Oils?
Have you been wanting to learn a little more about essential oils?
Click here for access to my free digital guide Essential Oils 101.
Want to learn more about using crystals and essential oils together?!Click here to learn about pairing oils and crystals together.
Looking for the perfect gift for Father's Day this year? I know what do you get the guy who has everything and let's face it they never really give you an idea of what to get them so ladies we are usually on our own to figure it out :)
Young Living has taken the guess work out and has an entire line of products just for men. From shaving cream to beard oil and body wash they have created natural plant based products that the guy in your life will love.
Infused with the Shutran blend of essential oils you man will smell amazing! To learn more about the Shutran products and to some fun DIY recipes just for him click the link below to get my free digital guide instantly :)
Want to wear a delicious scent without all of the harmful toxins in conventional perfumes? You can easily make your own DIY natural parfum using a few simple ingredients you already have and essential oils.
So what's wrong with Parfum?
Conventional parfumes are made using "fragrance". Companies do not have to label what ingredients are in their parfum because of the Trade Secrets Act. So we as the consumer have absolutely no idea what harmful toxins are in anything that is labeled with "fragrance" as an ingredient. Chemicals in fragrance are so toxic studies have shown that breathing them in as just as bad as breathing in second hand smoke.
How to get started?
I'm going to share one of my favorite recipes here for a natural DIY parfum but I need to give credit to Melissa Poepping and her book Essential Parfumerie. This girl has done all of the work for us ladies and come up with some seriously amazing recipes using essential oils. She even came out with a book with men's cologne recipes too!
Heart Opening Essential Oil & Crystal Parfum
16 drops Bergamot essential oil
13 drops Orange essential oil
4 drops Lavender essential oil
6 drops Rose essential oil
18 drops Cold pressed clear organic vanilla
80 Proof Vodka
Distilled water
Rose quartz tumbled chips *
You can make this into a parfum roll-on or a parfum spray.
Parfum Roll-on Directions
- Select a 10 ml glass roll-on bottle with a stainless steel roller fitment.
- Add a few rose quartz tumbled chips to the bottle.
- Add essential oils to bottle and fill with 80 proof vodka, being careful not to overfill.
- Add roll-on top and tighten with cap.
- Shake well before each use and roll-on
Parfum Spray Directions
- Select a 2 oz glass fine mist spray bottle.
- Add a few rose quartz tumbled chips to the bottle.
- Add essential oils to bottle and fill with 1 oz 80 proof vodka and 1 oz distilled water, being careful not to overfill.
- Add spray top.
- Shake well before each use and roll-on
I love to apply of spray this blend right over my heart to help open up the heart chakra and let love flow in and out.
What is the Heart Chakra?
Your heart chakra is located in the center of your chest and is the central energy center of your body with the three higher chakras located above it and the three lower chakras located below it. The heart chakra is your center of love, compassion, and spirituality. With in this chakra resides the energies of courage, forgiveness, peace, gratitude, and connectivity. Essential oils like Rose and Bergamot can help open the heart chakra and radiate love energy.
If you are new to the chakra system a book I love is Chakra Balance by April Pfender
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