May Your Days Be Merry and Less Hectic
In order to help you have a calmer and brighter holiday, I am creating a series of articles that provides you with tools, tips, and resources for a less stressful season. These posts will provide information on how to soothe the brain and body during these times of extra obligations, financial stain, and social gatherings.
In the first article and accompanying video, I covered the following topics:
- How the holidays bring about more stress than usual for the majority of Americans.
- The role of the brain as the central hub for processing, perceiving, and modulating the body’s stress response (aka the neurobiology of stress).
- How chronic stress, whether perceived or real, creates a biochemical reaction that impacts the whole body. This can lead to many negative, seemingly disconnected systems.
- The concept of neuroplasticity and how it create adaptative or detrimental habits to stressors. These can become “hardwired” into the brain and make changing difficult.
- The importance of placing relationships as a priority over healthism and how rigid fitness and dietary regimes nurse addictive behaviors leading to isolation, social biases, and rejection.
- How essential oils can support our brains, physical health, and assist us from getting stuck in maladaptive patterns. This is a result of the influence of smell on the brain and how essential oils modulate mood and our biochemistry.
In my latest article, I review the science and various properties of essential oils that make them the perfect holistic modality to create ease and relief from the seasonal spastic demands. One aspect I highlight is how they address spiritual health and how this is linked to wellness. Next, I begin to review one of the most sacred and powerful essential oils, frankincense. Click here to read it now.
