Eucalyptus Essential Oil: The Miracle Elixir You Need In Your Life

In this episode of the Vetiver Vibes podcast, hosts Nikki Fraser and Rachael Dean, both Certified Clinical Aromatherapists, dive into the fascinating world of essential oils, focusing specifically on eucalyptus. We kick off the episode by discussing the various species of eucalyptus, including eucalyptus radiata, eucalyptus globulus, and eucalyptus dives, highlighting the importance of knowing the botanical names of essential oils for safe and effective use.

As we explore eucalyptus, we touch on its origins, primarily from Australia, and its extraction from the leaves and twigs of the plant. We delve into the chemical composition of eucalyptus, particularly its high content of 1.8 cineol, which is known for its therapeutic benefits, including its ability to open airways, reduce inflammation, and alleviate congestion—making it a popular choice during cold and flu season.

We also discuss the emotional and energetic aspects of eucalyptus, noting its potential to enhance concentration and support mental clarity. Eucalyptus is linked to the heart and crown chakras and is believed to help cleanse negative energy and emotional blocks, allowing for deeper breathing and new perspectives.

Safety is a crucial topic in our conversation, as we emphasize the need for caution when using eucalyptus, especially around children and individuals with asthma or epilepsy. We provide insights into the recommended usage guidelines and the importance of consulting reliable resources, such as the Essential Oil Safety Book by Tisserand and Young.

In addition to the educational content, we share some fun facts about eucalyptus, including its historical use during World War I to combat meningitis and influenza, and the significant amount of leaves required to produce essential oil.

Towards the end of the episode, we shift gears to discuss the essential oils we've been using in our own lives, with Rachael sharing her experience with citrus oils to combat winter blues, and Nikki discussing a blend she used to help alleviate her child's ear discomfort.

We conclude with an uplifting affirmation related to eucalyptus and a card pull from the Oracle of the Essence deck, revealing the sweet orange card, which encourages listeners to embrace opportunities and abundance in their lives.

Join us for this informative and engaging episode as we explore the many facets of eucalyptus and its role in aromatherapy, and don't forget to subscribe and leave a review to support our podcast!

Transcript

Rachael: Welcome to the Vetiver Vibes podcast, where your hosts, Nikki Fraser and Rachael Dean, Certified Clinical Aromatherapists. We are excited to have you here on today's episode, where you know that you'll get the best essential oil scoop.

Nikki: This episode is brought to you by Essentria a leading online school for aromatherapy. If you want to learn more about Ayurvedic Indian head massage, check out the courses at www.schoolofessentia.com. Welcome to this week's episode of Vetiver Vibes. Nikki Fraser here with Rachael Dean. And this week we are talking about Vetiver, one of my favourite essential oils. Actually, it is my top essential oil. And not one of my favourite essential oils. And it's funny because this week actually I was using quite a lot of rosemary oil to help me focus while I was doing some research into compiling all the information I wanted for our upcoming podcast of oil profiles and looking at some of our chemistry lessons that we're kind of tweaking and rerecording and things like that. So I've actually been using a lot of Rosemary, but vetiver is definitely near and dear to my heart as well. Have you used any, I guess, what is your top oil that you used this week, Rachael?

Rachael: This week, I had a bunch of shoulder pain and neck pain, and so I was using some of, it was a blend, I don't remember exactly what's in it, but I know there's black pepper, kabiba, frankincense, and I think something else, but I have it written down, but I don't remember specifically. It helps.

Nikki: And this is why we write down things also and label.

Rachael: Yes, it is labeled and it is written down, the percentages and the drops and all that kind of stuff. I just don't remember at the moment. Awesome.

Nikki: So yeah, this week, like I mentioned, we are diving into vetiver, which is where our podcast name comes from as well, which I absolutely love. The botanical name for vetiver is Vetiveria zizanoides. Again, don't mind the pronunciation. And it's often harvested from northern India.

Rachael: And then it comes from the roots, right?

Nikki: Yes. Looking at your picture, you've got a bit more of the roots versus mine.

Rachael: Yeah, so yeah, we do have pictures if you're watching on YouTube, you can see us if you're on the podcast, listening, then, you know, you can't, but it's just grass, vetiver vibes, vetiver, not vibes, vetiver is grass. But the actual essential oil comes from the roots underneath the ground. So yeah, it's, it's a very Like if you're smelling it, it does definitely smell like roots and dirt and that. And I don't mind the smell of it. I actually don't like, I know I always say I hate vetiver, but it's not that I hate vetiver. I actually like the scent of it and stuff. It is something that makes me just feel really woozy. Like it works so well. I think I'm sure I've said this before, but it works like so well for like calming that it just makes me like feel like I'm like out of it and loopy. I don't like that. I'm not a big drinker. I don't use other things to make myself feel different. So vetiver kind of makes me feel a little bit like that.

Nikki: No, see, for me, it's that grounding that I do love. It reminds me of childhood, of mulch, of rolling around in dirt, which I absolutely, absolutely adore and love. I do like that part of it, for sure, for sure.

Rachael: But yeah, there's other grounding ones I would I personally will go to, but vetiver, I do understand is a great oil for a lot of people.

Nikki: It's definitely that kind of in your face dirt smell where if you're not into it, that's when I typically will say like a cedar wood instead, but vetiver is like that. Bam, in your face, here's like someone just threw dirt at you. That's how I like to describe it.

Rachael: Yeah, for sure. And yeah, I love that. I love, you know, just sitting in the, I love sitting in grass, like, you know, in the summer, in the summer months when it's all warm. you know, having a picnic or just sun tanning or anything like that. I love just sitting and like feeling the grass and the ground underneath me. Yeah. So, yeah.

Nikki: Yeah. And the chemical aspects of vetiver, it's actually one of the most complex oils when you're looking at the chemical constituents. And I remember for clinical course, because we dive deep into the chemical constituents of every oil, like there, there's a lot of them. It took two pages. to do our chemical constituents and we have a wheel that breaks them all up also by colors and things like that. And it's actually two pages pretty much for this one, whereas all the other ones are like half a page type things. So it's definitely one of the most complex oils when it comes to the chemical constituents. And it's mostly high in sesquiterpenol alcohols. And so what this means is that it's calming, soothing, especially for the nervous system, endocrine system, and emotions. And then it can be antispasmodic. Very sedative, as we were hinting to earlier. That's what I was saying.

Rachael: Very sedative. I literally remember using it once, like one drop, and just like passing out, like falling asleep on the couch. And yeah. It can definitely work for a lot of people.

Nikki: Very, very sedative. Yeah. anti-inflammatory and anxiolytic activity is really high with it too which is again why like that rounding anxiolytic is really something to help with that with anxiety just like the name says so that part's really really nice yeah so it has some physical benefits of course so it can help with dry coughs sleep like we were talking about definitely helps with sleep hormone balancing and mature skin so mature skin

Rachael: How would you describe how that would be helping mature skin?

Nikki: Just helping with like small wrinkles, uh, you know, that, you know, as you think about getting older though. Yes, I know. As we get older, our skin, um, it just becomes drier. You start to see fine lines, things like that. So it's really just beneficial for mature skin in that retrospect. And emotionally, it can bring a lot of clarity. Again, that calming and tranquility, it's known for being in that calming aspect, just like it does for physical, emotional as well, bringing that equilibrium to our emotions, just helping us, right, that grounding, coming back to that balanced state is what's going to be really, really great, which is why it's used a lot also for I heard a lot of people and actually we've had guests on before talking about how they always add it to their blends because they're ADHD and things like that because it just brings them back into that balanced state emotionally too.

Rachael: Yeah, that makes sense. And there's, I know a couple of people who use it for ADHD for sure. And it's funny because there's one person I know that wears it as almost like their cologne. Um, and so like I'm around them a fair bit and every once in a while I'm just like, Oh, Oh, it's better. And sometimes I have to sit on the other side of the room from him, not because I like the scent of it, but I also, if it's me, I'm at work, I need to not be sleeping.

Nikki: So you need to stay awake and alert when you are working.

Rachael: I need to stay awake, whereas he's trying to become alert. So it's funny that way, too. It has different benefits for different people. So, spiritually, subtle aromatherapy. So, no shock, it supports the root because it's coming from the roots and you're grounding the sacral, the solar plexus, throat, and crown chakra. So, it really does help you, like, you know, from the bottoms to the top. Yeah, absolutely. Very grounding. If you need to be brought back down to earth, reconnect with the ground. Definitely, that's a good oil to grab.

Nikki: Looking at Ayurvedic perspective of it, it really helps balance the Kapha dosha. If Pitta or Veda are in excess, then it can help cool them down also, which is really, really nice. And then looking at traditional Chinese medicine, it's known to help cool excess heat with the fire element, and it helps balance the earth element. So those are always nice to have when we're looking at those elements, if something's out of balance, then Vedabra will be really great for that.

Rachael: The good thing is with vetiver is there's no known safety concerns. It is definitely known to be a very generally safe oil. Obviously, you still want to use it in a safe way for diluting and such, but it is generally, it doesn't have any big flags that you need to be aware of.

Nikki: which is nice. And then fun facts. And I mean, I know we kind of mentioned this earlier, but it's actually known as the oil of tranquility. Again, coming to that calmness, tranquil. So it's, there's a lot of different books. It's often mentioned of tranquility known as the oil of tranquility, which is just nice.

Rachael: Another fun fact, it takes approximately two and a half to three kilograms or five and a half to 6.6 pounds of dried vetiver root plant material to make 15 milliliters of essential oil. So, you know, it's a lot that still goes into that one little bottle.

Nikki: Absolutely. And we actually created an affirmation for this oil as well, which I'll share. So if this is an oil that you are drawn to as you inhale it, you can say the following affirmation. I am grounded, calm and balanced. I embrace clarity and tranquility as I find my center.

Rachael: I like that one. That's just a good affirmation just if you need to be grounded as well. I think I might write that one down.

Nikki: Yeah, just that. Take a deep breath. Inhale your vetiver. I am grounded, calm, and balanced. I embrace clarity and tranquility as I find my center.

Rachael: Yeah, I like that one a lot. So as we said before, we're going to do a card poll. So I have the Aromatherapy Insight cards today that Jennifer Jeffries created with Karen Osborne illustrating. So I'm just going to shuffle them a little bit. And then we are going to find a card that is going to be for us for today. So let's see. Getting out of our heads. Pine. So another ground in oil for today. So pine. Beautiful. Yes. There we go. So pine is for self-worth. It's time to stop rescuing others and rescue yourself. Be strong but flexible, managing the knocks in life, living your own life and letting others live their own journey. Protect your boundaries, be true to you, treating yourself with honor and respect. Let go of negative experiences and move forward to a place where you feel fantastic about yourself. Remember, you cannot rescue others, they need to do it for themselves. Allowing them to grow their way allows you to grow. Physical benefits, pine eases colds, flu, coughs, sinus congestion. It's also an analgesic. It's a top note. It helps you with your chakra third eye. And the color vibration is indigo. So once again, it's the pictures of a beautiful brunette woman kind of hugging herself in a pine bose at the bottom. So it's gorgeous. Yeah. It is. Nice.

Nikki: It's a great one.

Rachael: Mm-hmm.

Nikki: Now I'm curious if I can find vetiver.

Rachael: Yeah, right?

Nikki: I know, we should actually look to see what the cards. I know, I was like, hmm. Maybe some weeks we'll kind of just look at the card and share it.

Rachael: Oh, here, I did find it, so I'm going to show it. It's a woman who's asleep on the ground in the grass with a vetiver. You want me to read it? I don't know, should I read it? Oh, cool. Yeah, sure, why not?

Nikki: Why not? Always nice.

Rachael: Why not? Okay, this one is Centered. It's time for you to ground your spiritual energy into physical planes of existence. For the perfectionist, who is doing everything but doing nothing, a head full of ideas and not being grounded means you cannot manifest the changes you are looking for in your life. Vetiver recharges your emotional and physical energies and supports you through life. Vetiver is physically relaxing, reducing stress, and promoting grounding. It's a base note, chakra, your base, your roots. and color vibration is red.

Nikki: Nice.

Rachael: Awesome.

Nikki: Well, this is the information about Vetiver for today. Stay tuned for our next episode where we will dive into another oil profile. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Vetiver Vibes. Have a great day, everyone. Bye. Bye.

Rachael: Thank you for spending your time with us here at Vetiver Vibes. This episode was brought to you by Essentria a leading online aromatherapy school. Don't forget to check out some of our free resources at www.schoolofessentia.com.

Nikki: If you loved this episode or you got a lot of value out of it, please make sure you share it with someone in your community who you think would enjoy it too. If you haven't already subscribed or reviewed the show yet, you can go on over to your preferred streaming platform and hit subscribe, then leave a review. This is the best way to help support us and we appreciate it. Email us with a screenshot of your review and we will send you a free guided meditation as our way to say thank you.

Rachael: This podcast is for information purposes only. We are certified clinical aromatherapists and holistic health professionals. If you have a medication concern, please refer to your health team. Everyone's health is unique to themselves, so the topics and suggestions stated may or may not apply directly to you.