I have a love-hate relationship with exercise, cardio in particular. I don’t enjoy it, but I don’t want to get fat or have to go on some godawful calorie restricted diet either – which is why I force myself to go through the torture as often as I can bear to.
But this negative mindset towards physical exercise took a brighter turn, when I was invited by Young Living to try out their Aromatherapy Yoga session.
I am a huge fan of essential oils and incorporate them into my daily life. I clean with them (tea tree and lavender), I diffuse them (peppermint, spearmint, sweet orange, lemongrass and other essential oil blends), I use them when I have a break out or a wound (tea tree) and I also use them to repel bugs and unwelcome insects like roaches and ants (lavender and peppermint work a treat) and to freshen my wardrobe and cupboards (lemon).
I also do enjoy yoga, especially the last part of every class where you get to lie down and have a bit of a nap (also known as the corpse pose) so accepting Young Living’s invite to join them for an afternoon of aromatherapy yoga was a no-brainer.
Young Living essential oils are probably one of the most trusted and reputed essential oil brands available. With the the market (both online and physical) saturated with a variety of brands offering their version of “pure essential oils” at varying price points, its often hard to know which brand you can trust.
When you consider the fact that it takes just 22-seconds for an essential oil to reach the brain, 2-minutes before it can be found in your blood stream and 20-minutes before it affects every cell in your body, you need to be mindful of what you are diffusing, applying and using.
Interestingly enough, what I did learn that afternoon at the Young Living yoga session was that diffusing the correct essential oils while working out, can really change the mood and level of energy and motivation that I felt.
Visiting their physical store was heaven for me. There were so many oils, so many combinations of oils, so many scents to sniff and so many products that incorporated essential oils in them that I almost passed out in excitement – not even shopping for shoes or a fancy handbag arouses such excitement in me as this did.
I even discovered an amazing deodorant stick that keeps my pits smelling absolutely divine, no matter how much I sweat – and a range of household cleaning products called Thieves, that smells lovely but is powerful enough to kill germs and keep you protected.
I now incorporate what I learned at the yoga session and inhale a drop of either Young Living’s Sacred Mountain or En-R-Gee and also diffuse the same oils in my home gym, and it has made a world of difference. While I still don’t enjoy exercising, I feel much more energised and motivated during the sessions and as an added bonus, the whole house smells amazing, like a spa!
More importantly though, because I trust the brand and its philosophy, I am comfortable to even apply it on my skin and diffuse it around my cats. For more information about Young Living, visit their retail store at 111 Somerset Road, #05-06/07. TripleOne Somerset, 238164.
THE LIFESTYLE COLLECTIVE 