A simple technique for relaxation, combining a soothing aroma with meditation
I’m super excited to share with you this simple technique for relaxation, which blends the soothing aroma of an essential oil blend with a brief guided meditation. I’d like to introduce you to my partner, Dr. Ken Pfeiffer —
Hi there, I am Dr. Ken Pfeiffer, a psychologist. If you suffer from stress or anxiety, or any associated health problems such as headaches, backaches, insomnia, or digestive problems, I have a simple meditation technique that uses the soothing aroma of a natural essential oil that can help you.
1) Essential Oils: The sense of smell is intimately connected with the emotional part of your brain. Smells have the ability to create emotions, or to recall emotions associated with the smells. For example, the ingredients and soothing aroma of the “Stress Away” essential oil blend are naturally calming. And the more the smell of this oil is associated with actually being calm and relaxed, the more effective the smell is in eliciting calm.
2) Meditation: Meditation is a great way to reduce stress and to relax. There are many forms of meditation, and you can choose whatever technique works well for you. Simple forms such as focusing on the breath or counting the breath work well. I will give you a demonstration of a guided meditation that relies on letting go of body tension, and imagining cooling the head and warming the extremities that I have found very effective. This specific technique counters the “fight or flight” reaction, or the “defensive reflex” that is the opposite of relaxation and calm.
3) Combining Essential Oils with Meditation in “classical conditioning”: When events are paired together over time, the occurrence of one event can elicit the other. For example, suppose you usually come home after work, pour your favorite beverage, turn on the TV, and watch your favorite show and relax. Repeatedly pairing the beverage and TV with relaxation causes the beverage and TV to be a cue for relaxation, and can actually cause you to relax in the future.
So what we will do is to pair the unique smell of a relaxing essential oil with the relaxation of meditation to enhance the relaxing effect. The oil will become a cue for relaxation and can be used in the future to help de-stress. It is important that the smell of the oil is unique, and at first you only smell it when you are already relaxed from meditation. Then in the future you can use it to de-stress when needed.
Practice once a day, and soon you will have a special “relaxation” stone you can use to de-stress anytime you need. Read more about Dr. Ken Pfeiffer’s research on using the power of the mind to eliminate pain regardless of the cause at his website, painrelievers.