Table Of ContentRecipes for Natural Living
Essen t i a l
O i l s
H A N D B O O K
AMY LEIGH MERCREE
Foreword by STACY ROMILLAH, Certifed Aromatherapist
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CONTENTS
Foreword by Stacy Romillah
Chapter 1 Historical Use of Essential Oils
Chapter 2 Benefits of Essential Oils
Chapter 3 How to Use Essential Oils
Chapter 4 The Most Popular Essential Oils
Chapter 5 Essential Oils for Weight Loss and Detoxification
Chapter 6 Essential Oils for Skin, Hair, and Perfume
Chapter 7 Essential Oils for the Home
Chapter 8 Immune Health and Allergy Treatment with Essential Oils
Chapter 9 Neurological and Emotional Health and Essential Oils
Chapter 10 Digestive and Endocrine System Healing with Essential Oils
Chapter 11 Delicious Essential Oil Food and Beverage Recipes
Chapter 12 Rejuvenating At-Home Spa Recipes with Essential Oils
Frequently Asked Questions
Epilogue
Glossary
Metric Conversion Chart
Resources
Acknowledgments
Picture Credits
Bibliography
About the Author
FOREWORD
Modern aromatherapy, the “medicine of the future,” draws its wisdom from
experiences that are rooted deep in antiquity. Since the times of ancient Egypt,
across the continents and millennia to the foundations of Chinese medicine,
essential oils have held a central place in health, culture, and beauty.
Myrrh was once valued even more than gold. Mary Magdalene anointed the
feet of Jesus with Spikenard oil, a gift of kings. Frankincense was mixed with
charcoal to make classic black eyeliner for Egyptians of old. Now, for the first
time in world history, we have easy access to the oils once reserved only for
royalty, or at least the very wealthy.
Essential oils are a potent distillation of the non–water-soluble essence of
plants. They are so concentrated that it takes over 130 pounds of rose petals to
make a single ounce of Rose oil. One drop of Peppermint essential oil is
equivalent to drinking 30 cups of strong peppermint tea. If you want to boost
your physical, emotional, or spiritual well-being quickly, and in a big way,
aromatherapy is your new best friend.
We are living at a time when, more than ever, we need the knowledge and
skills to take care of ourselves. We are exposed to levels of chemicals, stress,
and pollution that strain our immune systems and speed aging. Since we are
living longer, we need new tools to help us experience a high quality of life,
vitality, and youthfulness into our later decades. This is easy to do if we start
early and incorporate the gifts of the emerging science of wellness, of which
aromatherapy is central.
Essential oils are a superpower from the plant world. They enhance your well-
being, don’t require a prescription, are easily accessible, and can support every
aspect of your health and beauty.
The first time I heard about essential oils, I was on a commercial fishing boat
in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, reading a massage magazine.
An article about essential oils captured my bioscience-obsessed mind and
spurred me to order every oil from the ad I saw on the next page. Next, I ordered
every book I could find that was written in English. The year was 1989.
Fast-forward nearly 30 years and you have hundreds of essential oil
companies to order from, heaps of scientific evidence to substantiate the efficacy
of the oils at your fingertips, and millions of Google search results.
Since 1989, I’ve used essential oils to support hundreds of patients in my
medical practice, flavor my meals, bless ceremonies, anoint my body with
heavenly fragrance, clean my kitchen and bathroom, replace chemical-laden
body care products, fill my home with mood-lifting scents, and treat every health
challenge my family has faced.
Aromatherapy is also a key aspect of my meditation practice and the guided
Aromatherapy is also a key aspect of my meditation practice and the guided
inner journeys I lead people on. They can help one feel centered and grounded,
balanced, and calm. There are reasons that spiritual practitioners the world over
incorporate incense in their work. Essential oils help us release our monkey-
mind focus on the mundane and open us to experiences of a divine nature.
Essential oils have been used in Asian medicine for thousands of years, but
because of locally limited growing climates, processing abilities, and trade
routes, essential oils were largely unavailable or unaffordable to the general
population. If the vast majority of Asians had access to oils the way we now do,
Asian medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, and herbalism around the world would be
focused on essential oils. It just wasn’t possible before now!
As an acupuncturist, I use essential oils to create herbal formulas that support
my clients’ well-being. Oftentimes, I find essential oils more effective than the
herbal tea or pill formulas of Asian medicine.
They are always part of my cancer-prevention regimen. They provide
detoxification support, help people overcome digestive challenges, balance
hormones, alleviate the symptoms of menopause, increase brain functioning,
decrease inflammation and pain from injury and disease, relieve tension, and
clear headaches. The list goes on and on. I use them with nearly every client.
Personally, I always have essential oils with me. I feel more confident to be
able to address anything that comes my way when I have the power of an
extensive herbal apothecary contained in a small bag of oils that fits in my purse.
I have this confidence because I use high-quality medicinal oils. When it
comes to aromatherapy, quality matters. Just as you would not take any white
pill and hope it would work like a prescription, you cannot use any scented oil
and hope it will support your health. Nothing Amy shares with you in this book
will matter if you aren’t using pure oils.
I recommend doing your due diligence and choosing a company that publishes
the chemical analyses of its products. All companies will say their oils are pure
and natural, but it’s up to you to research each company and find the highest-
quality oils you can. (Hint: Ordering directly from individual companies online
is your best bet!)
With Amy’s experienced guidance, a world of empowered wellness is about
to open up to you! I hope it blesses your life, as it does mine.
STACY ROMILLAH is an internationallly certifed
Aromatherapist and has a Master’s of Acupuncture.
