How to use Essential Oils in your yoga practice
When it comes to creating a yoga experience for my students, I usually start with a theme, then the poses and lastly the essential oils. But every now and again, the process gets flipped on its head and I draw inspiration from our gifts of the earth - doTERRA essential oils.
The inspiration for my classes this week came from The Yoga Collection, thanks to the amazing 25% off promo that doTERRA are running in November. This trio of essential oil blends are designed to enhance your yoga practice and include:
Anchor
The Steadying Blend
When the world feels uncertain and unpredictable, this blend will help you feel more steady and stable.
Warm, earthy, comforting, with a little spice.
Align
The Centering Blend
Brings you back into alignment and creates a sense of purpose
Fresh, herby and invigorating
Affirm
The Enlightening Blend (named Ascend in the US & UK).
One of my all-time favourite blends, it’s lifts us up and raises our vibration.
Higher notes of Citrus are balanced with Douglas Fir, Osmanthus and Melissa - the oil of light
Read on to explore 10 ways to use them and to discover yoga poses, affirmations and journaling prompts to match.
10 Ways to use The Yoga Oils:
These blends are all pre-diluted with fractionated coconut oil, so that you can easily apply them topically before or during your yoga practice. There are no hard rules, but common places to use them are: feet, chest, wrists, collarbones, temples. Avoid placing in the ears, mouth, nose.
Start by choosing one of the blends and placing it into the diffuser. Remember, they’re pre-diluted so use at least 6 drops.
Apply Anchor to the soles of your feet to feel more steady and grounded.
Apply Ascend to your inner forearms at the start of your vinyasa flow practice. As you warm up and you raise your arms up and down, you’ll inhale the encouraging aroma
Drop Affirm into your palms and inhale deeply before sun salutations, warrior poses and core work- or anytime you want to feel more centred.
Dab Ascend to your temples and third eye before savasana - I always get the most incredible insights and visualisations when I do this. Also incredible for goal setting or visionboarding.
Struggle to stay still in savasana? Does your mind hop around all over the place? Apply and inhale anchor.
Place a drop of oil onto your eye pillow before savasana or yoga nidra. Or, onto a tissue and then place the eye pillow over the top.
Use as a purefume anytime you want to feel steady, centred or enlightened.
Do you teach yoga? Try applying any of the oils to your ankles/feet so your students get a beautiful aromatic savasana as you moved around the class making adjustments, closing blinds, turning off lights etc The Asana (poses).
A yoga practice inspired by doTERRA’s Yoga Collection, a trio of three essential oil blends: Anchor, Affirm and Ascend.
Like the Yoga Collection, I’ve split this yoga practice into three parts: Anchor, Align and Ascend.
In our Anchor section, we work on finding our connection to ground to cultivate a feeling of steadiness, plus we bring focus to our breathe to create a steady inhale and exhale and like an anchor we use it to bring our mind back when it drifts off. The pace of our practice is steady throughout - do not rush, take your time moving from one pose to the next.
Align - like the blend, these poses brings you back to your centre so you feel in alignment with your true self and create a sense of purpose.
Ascend - if ‘enlightening’ feels like a big, overwhelming word, then simply see this part of the practice as as a way to raise your vibration and move forwards towards your goals.
Yin/Restore Sequence:
Anchor:
Reclining Butterfly Pose - picture the shape of an anchor. Now imagine your body making the shape of an anchor, keeping you steady. Feel parts of your body that are anchored down to the earth. Start to steady your nervous system with your breathe, deepening your inhale/exhale. Now anchor into the present moment. Come back to the breath if your mind drifts off.
Crosslegged - cross arms and fold forwards.
Wide legged forward fold
Malasana Squat
Align:
Cat / Cow
Thread Needle
Puppy Pose > Child’s Pose - “I am centred”
Affirm / Ascend
Supported Bridge
Legs up wall - “I am rising up”
Savasana
Flow Sequence:
Anchor:
Reclining Butterfly Pose - as per Yin sequence
Seated Twist + Forward Folds - walk to left/right
Stir the pot (in wide legged position)
Janu Sirasana + Flash Dance
Align:
Sun Salutation A with squats
Crescent Lunge / Open Twist / Bowling Ball / Warrior 2 / Reverse Warrior / Extended Side Angle with open arms (use core to hug into centre) / Side Plank x2
On third round add in 1/2 moon - keep arms extending / Triangle pose - float bottom hand, use core to float / After Side Plank add in Wild Thing
Tree pose
Boat pose with twists
1/2 pigeon - hug right knee to left hip
Bridge
Shoulder Stand/Headstand
Leg up wall
Happy Baby
Janu > Flash Dance
Savasana
Like the Yoga Collection, I’ve split this yoga practice into three parts: Anchor, Align and Ascend.
In our Anchor section, we work on finding our connection to ground to cultivate a feeling of steadiness, plus we bring focus to our breathe to create a steady inhale and exhale and like an anchor we use it to bring our mind back when it drifts off. The pace of our practice is steady throughout - do not rush, take your time moving from one pose to the next.
Align - like the blend, these poses brings you back to your centre so you feel in alignment with your true self and create a sense of purpose.
Ascend - if ‘enlightening’ feels like a big, overwhelming word, then simply see this part of the practice as as a way to raise your vibration and move forwards towards your goals.
Affirmations
These affirmations reflect the emotional properties of the yoga collection:
I am steady
I am anchored
I am centred
My actions are aligned and purposeful
I feel encouraged and uplifted
I am rising up and moving towards my goals
For inspiration on working with affirmations head on over to my ‘Easing back into Community"‘ blog.
Reflections or Journaling Prompts:
What is your anchor? What steadies you?
What/who brings you back into alignment? What centres you?
What/who uplifts and encourages you?
When we recognise the things and people in our life that anchor, align and ascend us; we can make a conscious effort to bring more of them info our life, more regularly.
If you’d like to enhance your yoga practice with essential oils (& get 25% off the Yoga Collection in November!) please either contact me or head on over to my essential oils page for instructions on how to get started.
Or you might like to practice the Yin Yoga class I taught for doTERRA Australia which incorporates various essential oils into it.
Namaste,
Lou x