Grief, Emotions, and Essential Oils, Part Two

This week on the Allender Center Podcast, Dr. Dan Allender continues his conversation about essential oils with his long-time friend Jeanette White, Program Director at The Allender Center. Jeanette shares more about the science of how aromas impact our body’s systems, and she shares how essential oils can be a powerful asset both for the many stressors of daily life and for the deep impact of traumatic experiences and the emotional patterns they create.

Dan: “Just as creation is meant to capture us and create a sense of goodness, why would we not think that plant-based gifts would really have a significant impact on our hearts and lives?”

Jeanette: “When you come across particular smells, an emotional response is instant, before the thinking side of your brain can even recognize what’s going on.”

Jeanette and Dan reflect on how traumatic memories are often stuck in the non-conscious, non-verbal regions of the brain, where they cannot be processed like other memories and integrated into a healthy mental framework. Those stuck memories are impacted by smell far more than through our other senses.

Jeanette: “Those patterns become our inner voice, telling us that we need to just kind of batten down the hatches and retreat from things like intimacy and joy and becoming who God created us to be.”

Dan: “Essential oils allow you to go back through the arena that was harmed to begin to restore something of goodness and beauty.”

Whether discrete, day-to-day stress or persistent issues related to trauma and loss, Jeanette shares how essential oils can be a powerful way to boost the bodily systems and processes that are designed for optimal health. She and Dan are also careful to point out that essential oils are one of many tools that can help on the journey to restoration; they are not a magic cure-all that is meant to replace therapy and the other ways we care for ourselves.

Dan: “What we’re doing is inviting you to a process of care—tender, kind care of your body, including your mind.”

For more of Jeanette’s story, you can listen to our podcast series on “The Grief of Miscarriage.” And if you would like to learn more about how essential oils might fit into your own life, Jeanette will be offering a free online class about oils and emotions launching July 10. You can find out more through the Facebook group Oil Powered Emotions, or you can email Jeanette at oilpoweredemotions@gmail.com.