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pleasure to another level. Welcome

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to everyday wellness podcast. I'm your

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host nurse practitioner, Cynthia Thurlow. This

1:01

podcast is designed to educate, empower

1:03

and inspire you to achieve your health

1:05

and wellness goals. My goal

1:07

and intent is to provide you with

1:10

the best content and conversations from leaders

1:12

in the health and wellness industry each

1:14

week and impact over a million lives.

1:22

Today I had the honor of connecting

1:25

with Jodi Cohen. She

1:27

is a bestselling author, award

1:29

winning journalist, functional practitioner and founder

1:31

of Vibrant Blue Oils, where she's

1:33

combined her training in nutritional

1:35

therapy and aromatherapy to create

1:38

unique proprietary blends of organic and

1:40

wild crafted essential oils. Today

1:42

we spoke at length about what are

1:45

essential oils, how did they work, the

1:47

role of the blood-brain barrier, the

1:50

impact of the autonomic nervous system,

1:52

specifically the parasympathetic nervous system and

1:54

vagus nerve, the importance of vagal

1:57

tone, the impact of vagal nerve

2:00

dysfunction and toxicities, the

2:02

lymphatic system, fascia and its

2:04

role in memories and trauma,

2:07

the impact of essential oils on sleep, weight

2:09

loss and more. I know you will

2:11

enjoy this conversation as much as I

2:13

did recording it. Welcome

2:19

Jodi, I've been so looking

2:21

forward to this conversation and

2:23

really diving into all the

2:25

pertinent information surrounding essential oils

2:27

and clinical applications and knowing

2:29

that most of my community is

2:32

dealing with chronic and acute stress and

2:34

how beneficial these can be. I totally

2:36

agree, I'm so excited. Yeah, so let's

2:38

talk a little

2:40

bit about what exactly are essential

2:42

oils and how do they work

2:44

clinically. Yeah, essential oils are the

2:47

concentrated essences of plants. So think of

2:49

a field of lavender. They go and

2:51

they pick the lavender, they put it

2:53

immediately in the distiller which is basically

2:55

a vat of boiling water. The water

2:57

boils and the

2:59

steam rises and then it separates. So

3:01

the oils, oils don't mix, oil is

3:03

heavier than water. It goes down one

3:05

side and then the water, the hydrophil

3:08

goes down the other. And so we

3:10

all know that food is medicine, plants

3:12

are medicine. You know, we ingest plants,

3:14

we ingest the animals that graze

3:16

on plants and most of our

3:19

pharmaceutical drugs are actually based on

3:21

plants. People don't remember that like

3:23

Valium comes from Valerian roots

3:25

that Aspirin is by Willowbark. You

3:27

know, we can't patent anything that's

3:30

found in nature so they modify

3:32

it slightly. So we've been

3:34

using plants as medicine for years

3:36

and this is just a very

3:38

concentrated form that actually has easier

3:40

channels to get into your body

3:42

than some of the other remedies that

3:45

we ingest. Yeah, I think it's so

3:47

important. You know, for me with my

3:49

cardiology, ER medicine background, there was a

3:51

drug called Digoxin which is used for

3:53

people with heart arrhythmias, people on heart

3:55

failure and that comes from a plant

3:58

called Digitalis and the irony is... it's

4:00

an old drug but the irony is

4:03

it would probably never pass FDA inspection

4:05

now as opposed to 70-80 years

4:08

ago and so to me understanding

4:10

that at the root of most

4:12

pharmaceutical agents are plants in

4:14

nature which I think is really

4:16

exciting and so when we talk about

4:18

how these essential oils work mechanistically in

4:21

the body, let's use some examples and

4:23

you mentioned lavender which is incredibly calming

4:25

and when my kids were little they

4:27

loved what if I would rub it

4:29

on their feet at night and put

4:31

socks on and that was like part

4:34

of this ritualistic experience that they had

4:36

prior to bedtime but in some instances

4:38

when we talk about applying these to

4:40

the body through the skin inhaling them

4:42

etc. what have you found to be the most

4:44

efficacious way to utilize

4:47

most of these products because I know

4:49

it can be some people ingest them

4:51

some people diffuse them what do you think is

4:53

the most efficacious way to use

4:55

them? Honestly the most efficacious way

4:57

to use them is just to smell,

4:59

to inhale. Most people don't realize what

5:02

a superpower your sense of smell is

5:04

you know it actually smell equals survival

5:06

you have to smell food you have

5:08

to smell water you have to smell

5:10

predator odor when people age and they

5:12

lose their sense of smell they sometimes

5:14

eat spoiled food and they die. Smell

5:16

is critical to survival and your body

5:19

actually recognizes this of your five senses

5:21

your sense of smell is the only

5:23

one that has direct access to the

5:25

limbic system of the brain the

5:28

amygdala you know both functionally and

5:30

non-automically you know when you smell

5:32

it goes into the nasal passageway

5:35

and then the blood brain barrier is thinner

5:37

there so it can go directly up to

5:39

the olfactory bulb which is right near the

5:41

amygdala. So this is a reason you smell

5:44

has such a powerful effect on memories correlated

5:46

with the hippocampus which is part of the

5:48

limbic system and that's a protective measure right

5:50

if your village burned down because of a

5:52

fire and you smell fire you know that's

5:54

danger right if your mom used to bake

5:57

blackberry pie in the summer and you came

5:59

home and you smell blackberries, all of a

6:01

sudden that feels

6:05

like safety. So it's really just correlated

6:08

to survival which is one of the things that

6:10

I think is so amazing with

6:12

oils. The other thing that's really interesting as you know as

6:14

a nurse practitioner, it's really hard

6:16

to get remedies into the

6:18

brain. Like you can't do chemotherapy

6:20

on the brain because the molecules are tubing. Only

6:23

super small fat soluble molecules can get through. So

6:25

in a weird way, oils are kind of the

6:27

perfect thing. And we

6:29

can use them in so many powerful ways

6:31

to help regulate the nervous system, to

6:33

help tell the body that it's safe

6:36

so that it's actually able to detoxify

6:38

or digest, absorb, and assimilate

6:40

nutrients. Oh, it's so important. And

6:42

for me, smell is such a powerful memory

6:45

stimulant. I always think when I smell fresh

6:47

carrots, like carrots that are in a garden

6:49

with the smell of dirt, I think of

6:51

my grandparents garden when I was a child

6:53

and I have so many amazing memories. And

6:56

so I was saying to my kids, there

6:58

will probably be things that will be equally

7:00

powerful for you from your childhood that we

7:02

don't even understand fully like how powerful, you

7:04

know, your description of this interrelationship

7:07

between crossing the blood-brain barrier

7:10

but also how important memories are in terms

7:12

of the hippocampus and reaching that, you know,

7:14

the process of smelling them. Do you think

7:17

that there are misconceptions or

7:19

bad advice surrounding essential oils? I

7:23

know this may sound controversial, but I

7:25

think that maybe 10 years ago, it seemed like

7:27

every mom that I knew in my neighborhood

7:29

was using essential oils and everyone was very

7:31

excited about this because we diffuse it, we

7:33

could apply it to our skin, some people

7:35

were ingesting it. Do you have opinions on

7:37

it? And I'm sure that you probably do

7:39

or causes of concern if people are going overboard.

7:41

Obviously, I would say they

7:43

can be very, a small amount can be very useful.

7:46

You don't necessarily have to be using

7:48

an enormous amount and I know in preparation for

7:50

this, I think that there's a lot of amount

7:53

and I know in preparation for our

7:55

discussion you were talking about diffusing essential

7:57

oils that, you know, that can be

7:59

wonderful. but there are other ways to

8:01

actually get the benefits without using quite as

8:03

much essential oil. Yeah, I think, I mean,

8:06

first of all, for everyone that's using them, if you

8:08

are doing something that you love, keep doing it. Like,

8:10

you know, when people work for me, I never take

8:12

away coffee if they need it. But I do think

8:14

a couple of things. I don't think it's a magic

8:17

bullet for everything. I think that essential oils are

8:19

an amazing adjunct to

8:21

diet, lifestyle, supplements in

8:23

very specific ways. And that's what we've

8:25

seen in clinical practice over the last

8:28

12 years. You know, it's great for

8:30

regulating the nervous system and helping your

8:32

body know that it's safe so it

8:35

can heal. It's great for kind of

8:37

modulating your immune system and kind of

8:39

calming mast cell activation. It's great for

8:42

detoxification and like helping to physically, topically

8:44

apply, you know, over the lymphatic system. It's great

8:46

for calming the limbic system. But you know, beyond

8:48

that, there are certain things, like I get questions

8:50

all the time, you know, will this help with

8:53

the UTI? And I'm like, don't apply this to

8:55

your genitals, you know, people didn't help with this.

8:57

And I'm like, it's a little bit like, you

8:59

know, you also have to make lifestyle changes. Like

9:01

if you're celiac and you're going to keep eating

9:03

pizza, it doesn't really matter what oils you're using.

9:06

So I think it can be

9:08

incredibly powerful. I don't think it's

9:10

the only thing. I think that some

9:12

methods are more efficacious than others. I

9:14

think inhalation is fabulous. I think it's

9:16

very hard to hurt yourself smelling oils.

9:18

I think topical application is really powerful.

9:20

I think there are certain reflex points

9:22

that make it even more powerful. And

9:24

again, as you were saying, some oils,

9:27

you know, very concentrated, some

9:29

are considered hot. Oregano, cinnamon,

9:31

thyme, and what that would mean is if

9:33

you were to put a very small drop and always

9:35

test on your skin, it might

9:37

turn red. It might feel warm. And that just

9:39

means that it's not, it's too concentrated and you

9:42

need to dilute it. And what that means is

9:44

you don't put water on it because remember, oil

9:46

and water don't mix. You would take another oil.

9:48

It could be the coconut oil or the olive

9:50

oil in your kitchen and just

9:52

mix that in and so it dilutes it down. And

9:55

that makes so much sense and I can tell

9:57

you that probably 15 years ago, maybe not, maybe

9:59

20 years ago. years ago. I had

10:01

peppermint oil and my kids loved the way

10:03

it smelled and obviously we

10:05

weren't applying it to our skin but my

10:07

youngest son at that time took a little

10:09

bit out and put it on his skin

10:11

and it is a hot oil and so

10:14

we learned very quickly that those carrier oils

10:16

especially with the hot essential oils are definitely

10:18

things that you want to consider and keeping

10:20

it easy like you don't have to buy

10:22

a special carrier oil it could be incorporating

10:24

something you already have in your pantry which

10:26

I love knowing about that. Let's talk a

10:29

little bit about the autonomic nervous system. I

10:31

think that this is very important. Four

10:33

years ago our lives all changed drastically with

10:36

the start of the pandemic and there were

10:38

certainly I would say if you weren't experiencing

10:41

more stress immediately at the start

10:43

of the pandemic as time went

10:45

on you definitely were dealing with

10:47

things we've never lived through certainly

10:50

in our lifetime but helping listeners

10:52

understand the role of the autonomic

10:54

nervous system how we have two

10:56

branches the sympathetic the parasympathetic and

10:58

why so many of us are

11:00

stuck in this chronic stress response

11:02

you know we call it sympathetic dominance but

11:05

how that impacts our health. Yeah I mean

11:07

the key thing is your autonomic nervous system

11:09

controls all of your automatic functions all of

11:11

the things that you do involuntarily without putting

11:13

any thought into it. You don't need to

11:15

think about breathing you don't need to think

11:18

about digesting your food or detoxifying your toxins

11:20

in your waste you don't need to think

11:22

about turning on your immune system you don't

11:24

need to think about reproducing and it's also

11:26

designed to keep us alive which

11:28

means that it allocates resources towards survival

11:30

so if there is any kind of

11:33

physical danger you know I don't see many

11:35

tigers chasing people down the street but there are

11:37

times when a car is changing lanes and they

11:39

don't see you you know all of your resources

11:41

are allocated towards survival so your eyes narrow

11:43

you kind of have that tunnel vision so

11:46

you can really focus and survive your

11:48

respiration changes so that you

11:50

have more oxygen to either Flee,

11:52

run away, or fight back. So it

11:55

activates what's called your sympathetic branch of

11:57

your autonomic nervous system, which is your

11:59

fighter. Resource and a means that

12:01

all the blood flow is routed away

12:03

from your for. Soda Just send a

12:05

text book a sense towards your arms and

12:08

your legs. And ideally what happens is

12:10

the danger arises. You either run from

12:12

it for you, fight back, you survive.

12:14

You know, any or one of us

12:16

have dogs. What are they do? They

12:18

bark at another dog and they say

12:20

when they're shaking their basically recalibrating and

12:22

li setting they're nervous. System There's a great

12:24

free book called Zebras don't Get Ulcers. And

12:26

it talks about this how animals in nature

12:29

are constantly able to read, celebrate and center,

12:31

turn on the ceiling parasympathetic states and as

12:33

soon as a danger and they are we

12:36

sat. Unfortunately it's not just physical danger that

12:38

can trigger on nom as nervous as sent

12:40

his any kind of emotional or mental danger

12:42

like he mentioned, you turn on the news

12:45

is in use. the oh my goodness so

12:47

many people are getting sick. Am I going

12:49

to get six? My kids can get sick

12:51

it's is gonna hurt my parents. What can

12:54

I do? You are so afraid for years.

12:56

Survival. Based on kind of thought driven

12:58

emotional triggers that you get into

13:00

that sympathetic dangerous states and you kind

13:03

of get. success is also true of

13:05

trauma. You know you've survived a car

13:07

accident or an assault or whatever it

13:10

is and if you don't process

13:12

it that's kind of running in the

13:14

background and so you're always on high

13:16

alert. And what this means is. That

13:19

your resources are constantly allocated

13:21

towards survival and not allocated

13:23

towards restoration repair. You're not

13:25

actually digesting answering this. I'm letting

13:27

your nutrients in out, your cells

13:29

aren't letting dell of the garbage

13:31

said they can leave. Your immune

13:34

system is really kind of turned

13:36

off so that all of these

13:38

pathogens content of run while and

13:40

and be opportunistic without any interference.

13:42

Your inflammation concert to increase because

13:44

it's the parasympathetic nervous system that

13:46

releases base neurotransmitter acetylcholine. That and

13:48

signs land so it's really a

13:50

it's not talked about but it's

13:53

almost like if you're trying. To. ride

13:55

your bike yell and around here and you're trying to

13:57

go up a hill and you and says yes very

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14:28

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14:30

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14:32

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14:35

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14:37

including magnesium which is involved

14:39

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14:41

body's main calming neurotransmitter. We

14:44

also know that we need potassium

14:46

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14:49

a hormone that is a master

14:51

antioxidant but is also utilized to

14:53

help induce sleep. We also think

14:55

about things like zinc which can

14:58

balance excitatory neurotransmitters like glutamate and

15:00

if it's overactive, meaning if your

15:02

glutamate levels are too high, it

15:05

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15:07

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15:09

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17:15

one that I think any woman in

17:17

middle age and perimenopause and menopause with

17:19

the hormonal changes that are occurring we

17:22

become less stress resilient and I see

17:24

a lot of very successful women, women

17:26

who have very demanding jobs whether it's

17:28

at home or in the boardroom or

17:30

occupationally that start to slip and slide

17:33

a bit in middle age because their

17:35

body becomes a little less stress resilient

17:37

and they still want to do the

17:39

5 30 a.m. crossfit. They don't want

17:41

to get into bed early enough. They're eating like

17:44

they were 20 which no longer

17:46

serves us in many instances and I

17:48

say this without judgment people are eating

17:50

like 20 and 25 year olds and

17:53

we have to eat differently and I

17:55

would probably say more nutrient dense less

17:57

inflammatory foods and understanding this complex in

18:00

into a relationship when we're talking about

18:02

the parasympathetic and the sympathetic. And I

18:04

do find that most women are struggling

18:06

with being chronically overwhelmed. They may not

18:08

even know. I always use the analogy.

18:10

If you look at a duck swimming

18:13

across the lake, it looks very calm

18:15

from the surface, but underneath it's paddling

18:17

furiously. And so I start to think

18:19

about a lot of these women, they

18:21

look on the exterior like they have

18:23

everything together, but inside they're struggling, trying

18:26

to keep up all their appearances. So

18:28

one thing that I think really plays

18:30

into the autonomic nervous system is

18:32

talking about this very special nerve.

18:34

It's a cranial nerve, the vagus

18:36

nerve. They call it the wanderer. It is

18:38

the longest nerve in the body. It

18:41

helps connect the gut and the brain.

18:43

Let's talk about its purpose and why

18:45

it's so important to have good

18:47

vagal tone. That term may not

18:50

be familiar to everyone that's listening,

18:52

but we're gonna explain why it's such an

18:54

important area of the body to focus in

18:56

on. Yeah, the vagus nerve, cranial nerve number

18:59

10, is literally the

19:01

gear shift between sympathetic,

19:03

fight or flight, I'm in danger,

19:05

and all recesses are allocated towards

19:07

survival, and parasympathetic, rest and digest,

19:09

I can heal. It's correlated with

19:11

blood sugar, right, and cortisol. It

19:13

keeps those stress hormones on high

19:16

alert, and you can't lose weight

19:18

if you're constantly flooding your system

19:20

with blood sugar and cortisol. So

19:22

what's interesting is kind of a

19:24

quick anatomy lesson of where the

19:26

vagus nerve starts. It connects, it's

19:28

the gut-brain axis. It connects the

19:30

brain to the body. So it sets

19:32

the very base of the skull. It

19:35

splits and winds around both sides. If

19:37

you feel with me behind your ears,

19:39

you're gonna feel a bone, that is

19:41

your mastoid bone. So that is where

19:43

your vagus nerve is literally the most

19:46

accessible to the surface and the thickest.

19:48

From there, it winds through the throat,

19:50

the heart, the lungs, every organ of

19:52

digestion and detoxification. Often, if any kind

19:54

of ailment you're experiencing, it's often correlated

19:57

to the vagus nerve and to the

19:59

vagus nerve. being in the wrong

20:01

gear, right? If you're experiment,

20:03

here's something you're like, oh, maybe the volume is too low.

20:05

So you turn up the volume. If there's

20:08

something going on in your body and

20:10

your vagus nerve isn't really carrying that

20:12

message from the brain to

20:14

the body, the way to turn up

20:16

the volume, which is called vagal tone,

20:18

which is basically adding to your resilience,

20:21

adding to your capacity for stress,

20:24

is to stimulate it. There's a ton

20:26

of research. There was actually a New

20:29

York neuroscientist named Ken and Tracy who

20:31

started playing with a surgically implanted vagus

20:33

nerve device. It's two operations, one behind

20:36

the earlobe and then one lower down

20:38

with the battery and the battery has

20:40

to be changed occasionally. But basically, it's

20:43

stimulating the vagus nerve at this point

20:45

to strengthen it a little bit like

20:47

a weight lifting routine. And the FDA

20:50

has actually improved this device for epilepsy,

20:52

migraines, and depression. There are also a

20:54

number of natural ways to stimulate your

20:56

vagus nerve. You know, laughing stimulates

20:58

your vagus nerve. Deep breathing, box

21:01

breathing stimulates your vagus nerve. Taking

21:03

a tendipresse during gagging yourself, that

21:05

stimulates the vagus nerve. Cold tenders. There are

21:07

a million ways you can do it. But

21:09

what I noticed in clinical practice, especially, you

21:11

know, I'm very anxious for people like me

21:14

who are anxious. When you're having a panic

21:16

attack, even though you know deep breathing is

21:18

a great choice, somehow that's hard. You know,

21:20

we all have the supplement graveyard. All of

21:23

the supplements in our pantry that probably would

21:25

help us if we actually ingested them. But

21:27

for whatever reason, it's too hard to remember

21:29

to do it. So what I love about

21:31

oils is it's easy. You know, we

21:34

have a roller bottle. We call it

21:36

parasympathetic. You basically just apply a teeny

21:38

bit behind each earlobe. It's interesting. You

21:40

can do it on one side or

21:42

both. One of the ways to tell,

21:44

you want to strengthen the weak side.

21:46

So you can do it actually by

21:48

just looking in the mirror, opening your

21:50

mouth, your uvula, the little thing at the

21:53

back of your mouth. If you go, ah, ah,

21:55

ah, it should go up kind of in a

21:57

straight line. If it goes to one side more

21:59

than the other. that means that that

22:01

side is stronger that

22:17

we talked about memory so you can topically

22:19

apply it or very quickly you start to

22:22

smell it and it's almost like it sends

22:24

that signal oh yeah relax you know

22:26

come down and be safe. It's such

22:28

an important reminder and I love that

22:30

you refer to the supplement graveyard. I

22:33

think everyone listening myself included it's like

22:35

I regularly have to purge things because

22:37

on who knows for any number of

22:39

reasons I'm like oh that seems like a good idea and

22:41

then I start it and I'm like okay I'm not getting

22:44

any effect then it gets added to

22:46

the supplement graveyard and I like you I like

22:48

to simplify things so

22:50

if it has multiple purposes it's easy to

22:52

apply I don't have to swallow it even

22:55

better and certainly you know if

22:57

it's easily accessible like keeping these

22:59

things easily accessible oh yeah I've

23:01

went in my car I've wanted my purse

23:03

like I never leave home without it and

23:05

it's fabulous because similar to your duck and

23:08

elage I use the analogy of a traffic

23:10

incident you know like you're driving and someone

23:12

cuts you off and sometimes you're like whatever

23:14

maybe they're in a hurry you don't care

23:16

the sun is shining there's a song on

23:18

the radio you're not in a rush you're

23:20

all good the next day the exact same

23:22

thing happens and four-letter words are falling out

23:24

of your mouth and the only difference is

23:26

you in that moment and your capacity for

23:28

resilience and what I found is

23:30

that you know the more you can strengthen

23:33

your vagal tone you know apply essential oil

23:35

do deep breathing whatever you know you like

23:37

to do that the more resilient you get

23:39

it's like going to a workout the first

23:42

you know pilates class you can't believe can

23:44

we sit down and then a weekend you're

23:46

like oh I feel better you know it's

23:48

not that it got easier it's that you

23:50

got stronger yeah and that's

23:53

an important point that resiliency piece and

23:55

so what are some of the things

23:57

that can contribute to vagal

24:00

nerve dysfunction. So I think this is

24:02

important. And again, a byproduct of our

24:04

modern day lifestyles for sure. Yeah,

24:08

and that, it's really interesting. It can

24:10

be a combination of both physical and

24:12

emotional toxins. So on a physical level,

24:14

if you think about where the vagus

24:16

nerve is, like kind of right behind

24:18

the earlobe on that mastoid bone, what

24:20

intersects with that nerve? Your trigeminal nerve.

24:22

Anything draining from your mouth. So your mouth

24:24

is kind of the entry point to toxicants

24:26

in the world. It can also be

24:28

home to toxicants. You can have cavitations

24:31

that are causing some kind of pathogenic

24:33

response. You can have mental amalgams that

24:35

are kind of creating waste. All of

24:37

these things need to drain down along

24:39

the jawline, intersect with the vagus nerve,

24:41

and then kind of leave the body

24:44

by way of the neck. The neck

24:46

is the big bottleneck, right? Because it

24:48

can get really congested. So let's just

24:50

say we have technic, we're all hunched

24:52

over our device or whatever, so our

24:54

fascia's kind of constricting. And then our

24:57

lymph is really congested and bumping

25:00

into people. Think of, if

25:02

you've ever been in the middle seat in

25:04

the airplane maybe between two linebackers, like I have had

25:06

times I couldn't even read a book. Like I'm in

25:08

those things to cut each other in pages. If

25:11

your lymph is congested that way, your poor

25:13

vagus nerve gets kind of squashed. There's this

25:16

researcher, Marco Ruggiero, who basically took

25:18

sonograms of the neck, pictures of

25:20

the neck, and he saw exactly

25:22

that. He saw the lymph being

25:24

so kind of congested that it's

25:26

basically squishing the vagus nerve. So now

25:28

the vagus nerve isn't able to signal. That's

25:30

called vagus nerve toxicity. And if the toxins

25:33

are just sitting there and not really draining,

25:35

they get absorbed by the nerve. They can

25:37

be carried into the brain. It's

25:39

this condition, there's actually a tough neuroscientist

25:42

called Michael VanEckler, who called it vagus

25:44

nerve infection hypothesis. A lot of the

25:46

practitioners who work with chronically ill patients

25:48

call it some kind of vagus nerve

25:51

toxicity. But basically what it is is

25:53

there's some toxin, be it like a

25:55

virus or a metal or something, that

25:57

is congesting the nerve and impaling the nerve.

26:00

carrying the signaling. So now all

26:02

of those messages from the brain aren't getting

26:04

sent to the body. The body is never

26:06

realizing, oh, it's safe. Oh, you know, in

26:09

response to what I'm eating,

26:11

I should secrete this enzyme. You know,

26:13

what people don't realize is digestion is

26:15

actually stimulated by the vagus nerve. The

26:17

vagus nerve tells the mouth to release

26:19

saliva when you're safe, when it's safe

26:21

to digest your food, your stomach to

26:23

release hydrochloric acid, your pancreas to release

26:25

all the enzymes to break down your

26:27

food, your gallbladder to release bile, your

26:30

motility with the small intestine, you know,

26:32

that moving walkway that sometimes stops

26:34

moving when you have like SIBO

26:36

or other issues, and then constipation,

26:38

actually elimination. If you are thinking

26:40

about stress, if you're worrying about

26:42

something, if you're watching the news

26:44

and getting concerned about something that's

26:46

happening in our country or another

26:48

part of the world, you're turning

26:50

off your digestion, you're turning off

26:52

your ability to assimilate the raw

26:54

materials, the nutrients that you need

26:56

to heal. Such an important

26:58

point. And it's interesting years ago when

27:00

my kids were in elementary school, I

27:02

would do presentations talking about different things.

27:05

And I would always ask the kids,

27:07

where does digestion start? And they always

27:09

had great answers. You know, it starts

27:11

in your mouth, it starts in your

27:13

esophagus, it starts in your stomach, and

27:16

I'm like, it actually starts in your

27:18

brain. So understanding that, you know, it's

27:20

not just the digestion piece, but you

27:22

know, priming your body to accept food.

27:24

But for the same reason why chronically

27:26

stressed people oftentimes deal with constipation, I

27:29

jokingly talk about a family member who

27:31

remain nameless, that anytime they leave the

27:33

house, if they go on vacation, they can't go to

27:36

the bathroom, they can't defecate, because I always say they're

27:38

the non public poopers, but they struggle

27:40

with feeling safe or feeling like

27:42

they can fully relax, sadly, even

27:45

if they're on vacation. And so

27:47

helping everyone understand that if our body

27:49

doesn't perceive that it's safe, it's not

27:51

going to function optimally. Now you've

27:54

talked a little bit, you've touched on the

27:56

lymphatic system. And again, not something we have

27:58

solely focused on. in the podcast, but I

28:00

think it's so important. I think people rarely

28:03

think about the lymphatic system. They don't

28:05

understand what it does, what the role

28:07

is in the body. It's so important.

28:09

Let's talk a little bit about lymphatics

28:11

and then we'll touch on fascia because

28:13

again, another topic really important and I

28:15

was telling you before we started recording

28:17

that I've had a

28:19

couple abdominal surgeries between C-sections and

28:22

appendectomy, etc. And I'm

28:24

actually having fascia work done on those

28:26

scars and we'll talk about why that's

28:28

so important. The best way I can describe

28:30

the lymph system, it's kind of a septic system of

28:33

the body, but if anyone has ever seen a fish

28:35

tank or had a fish tank, it

28:37

can get really murky unless you cream

28:39

the filters. The filters are your lymph.

28:41

It basically does two things. It kind

28:44

of helps remove, it carries the toxins

28:46

from the cells into the bloodstream where

28:48

it's then carried to the liver, the

28:50

gallbladder, the gut and ideally the toilet

28:52

to leave the body, but it's step

28:55

one. Just like a

28:57

fish tank, if that water is getting murky,

28:59

the fish are kind of covered in

29:01

it. If the garbage isn't leaving our

29:03

cells, our extracellular matrix and like fluid

29:05

around the cells, that's getting,

29:07

it's not healthy, it's not clean

29:10

and it's kind of causing internal

29:12

damage. Most people

29:14

don't realize, we know our heart

29:16

is obviously correlated with our circulation.

29:19

Our lymph is correlated with our circulatory system

29:21

and the circulatory system has a pump, the

29:23

heart. The lymph does not. The pump is

29:25

you moving, you know, you raising your arms

29:27

above your head, you walking, you rebounding.

29:30

All of these things, you basically need

29:32

to move in order for

29:34

your lymph to move and there are

29:36

certain kind of bottlenecks or congestion. Anyone

29:38

that thrives, like I live in Seattle, if

29:40

you're going to go to Portland, there's always

29:42

congestion in Tacoma, there's always congestion in Olympia.

29:45

The big congestion point in the body is

29:47

kind of the clavicles and the neck and

29:49

that's because all of the lymph flows here

29:51

to carry it into the heart where it

29:53

can then leave the body. So if you

29:55

just feel with me, kind of gently on

29:57

your clavicles, just your rub touch if that

29:59

feels tender, you know, if you

30:01

like me sometimes in yoga you're lying on

30:03

your stomach and your breasts are tender or

30:05

under your arms are tender, that just

30:08

means that it's a little bit of a

30:10

congested area and the easiest way to move

30:12

that is like gentle touch or essential oils.

30:14

This is what's so nice is oils, I

30:17

like blends, I mean I think individual oils

30:19

are amazing but you know just like a

30:21

recipe right? You know you don't you might

30:23

just have olive oil on your salad, you

30:26

know that's totally fine and sometimes delicious but

30:28

if you add in a little salt and

30:30

a little bit more seasonings like the combination

30:32

of the nutrients is really what makes it

30:35

robust and like with lymph oil you know

30:37

lymph massages are amazing, there's so many

30:40

at-home devices that you can use that

30:42

when you combine it with oil it

30:45

just makes it last a little longer.

30:47

There is a gentleman named Perry Nickerson,

30:49

Stop Chasing Pain that has a protocol

30:51

that I really think is brilliant, it's

30:53

called the Big Six. He tells you

30:55

what order to do everything is and

30:57

so the six points, the first one

30:59

is the clavicle and it can be

31:01

just gently brushing you know ten times

31:03

to the side, it can be doing

31:05

circles, it can be like tapping, you

31:07

know you pick the flavor that works the

31:10

best for you. The second point is really

31:12

that mastoid point, you know there are some

31:14

lymph nodes there just opening that up and

31:16

like helping to move things down the neck,

31:18

helping you're kind of opening the exit doors

31:21

and now you're helping the drainage down the

31:23

neck. So one is clavicle, two is neck,

31:26

three is the underarm area you know

31:28

and just making sure that this you can

31:30

squeeze it if it's tender you gently move

31:32

it. The fourth is the gut and just

31:35

kind of moving your hands up and down

31:37

to get some movement there. The fifth is

31:39

the inguinal area, the bikini line, just kind

31:42

of gently pressing and then the last one

31:44

surprised me it's behind the knees. So these

31:46

are all points where you can be a

31:48

little puffy, a little congested, that

31:51

just means that you know the lymph is a

31:53

little stagnant maybe as opposed to being you know

31:55

like water it's more like jelly. So you're

31:57

just opening those watershed points to make

31:59

sure. that things can move and oils

32:01

just help. It's kind of like leaving

32:04

the acupuncture needle in a little bit

32:06

longer, just stimulates even when you're onto

32:08

your next activity. No, and I love

32:10

that these are things people can do

32:12

from the safety of their own home,

32:14

you know, once they're empowered about their

32:16

bodies. And one area that I think

32:18

is important to kind of address because

32:20

we talk about detoxification, we talk about

32:23

brain health, obviously sleep is a topic

32:25

we discuss often on the podcast, there's

32:27

a special lymphatic system, the glymphatic

32:30

system in the brain that operates

32:32

during deep sleep. And we know

32:34

as we get older, it's common

32:36

for people to have less high

32:38

quality deep sleep, which impacts their ability

32:40

to utilize the glymphatic system. Let's talk

32:43

a little bit about this because it's

32:45

very special and unique. Yeah, so

32:47

the glymphatic system is basically car washing

32:49

the brain. And when you're awake, and you

32:51

know, you need your brain to be

32:53

at high capacity when you're sleeping, the brain

32:56

actually shrinks. So that

32:58

the fluid can kind of wash it out,

33:00

it helps wash out toxins, it helps wash

33:03

out amyloid proteins and other things that can

33:05

lead to brain degeneration. And

33:08

so it's really cleaning the brain. And then where

33:10

does it go? Where does it carry the fluid

33:12

down the neck? So what happens, you've got kind

33:14

of all this waste that needs to leave. And

33:16

if there is congestion in the neck, then

33:18

it's the bottleneck, just like traffic, you know,

33:20

there's congestion in Tacoma. So your cars are

33:22

backed up like 20 miles out. So what's

33:25

really important that I think one of the

33:27

biggest obstacles to healing that I don't hear

33:29

people talking about is making sure that that

33:31

neck is open. And this is where I

33:33

think those central oils are an amazing adjunct.

33:36

You know, you can use the parasympathetic

33:38

to stimulate the vagus nerve. You

33:40

can use the lymph oil to

33:42

kind of open the bottleneck points,

33:44

the clavicles and the neck and

33:46

just ensure, you know, that everything

33:48

flows down. And then fascia

33:50

is the one thing that you kind of alluded to.

33:53

You know, we think of fascia as the connective

33:55

tissue and we kind of almost dismiss it, but

33:57

you know, it's a little bit like a throwaway

33:59

organ. you know, like, oh, you don't really need your gallbladder,

34:01

or oh, you don't really need your appendix, that's a

34:03

fascia, you know, it's just the connective tissue. It's so

34:06

much more than that. It communicates, it's

34:08

really intertwined with the lymph and

34:10

the vagus nerve. It's kind of your whole

34:12

regulatory system. And what happens is we brace

34:15

for impact, right? You know, I remember when

34:17

my son was two and we'd go on

34:19

the vacation by the pool, I was like

34:21

waddling, you know, don't drown, don't die, you

34:23

know, you're constantly on guard, like, oh, you

34:25

know, that might fall, this is going on.

34:27

And you never kind of relax and recover.

34:30

So, you know, for anyone that kind of

34:32

cheats in yoga, like they do heart opening,

34:34

but they don't really do heart opening, or

34:36

they do the decision that they kind of don't really

34:38

do it, it's because the fascia's really tight. And

34:41

so this is actually the reason I

34:43

created the roller ball, because I realized

34:45

I needed to put the fascia behind

34:47

my heart, which is a whole other

34:49

interesting story for women who are pleasers,

34:51

who overgive, who can't receive, open,

34:53

the back of the heart is where you receive. So

34:55

opening the back of the heart, it allows you to

34:58

actually open in heart opening. You know, the hips are

35:00

also where we carry a lot of our emotions, you

35:02

know, when you're ready to unpack

35:04

anger, stern at the hips. But just

35:06

applying fascia, and what you're talking about

35:08

with your scar release, that's really going

35:11

to, it's almost like it traps, you

35:13

know, the issues are in the tissues,

35:15

the whole beaker, the ankle, the body keeps score.

35:18

All of these things are the fascia, and

35:20

the memory, and the things that we're carrying

35:22

with us. You know, if we think about

35:24

carrying a backpack, and putting everything that we

35:26

don't want to process in our backpack as

35:28

we get through life, yeah, by the time

35:30

you hit your 40s or your 50s, there's

35:33

a lot there. You're carrying a lot of

35:35

extra weight, that if you can just start

35:37

processing and releasing, life gets a lot easier.

35:40

Yeah, I think it's such an important point, and this

35:42

is certainly, you know, one area

35:44

that I'm personally working on, because I

35:46

had multiple unplanned surgeries. I have

35:48

two very healthy children, so let me be

35:50

clear. I had two breech kids, and that

35:53

was the only way that they were gonna

35:55

come out, because there was no turning them.

35:57

And then I had this urgent appendectomy. And

36:00

it's only now occurred to me, even

36:02

though I'm a healthcare professional,

36:05

that our tissues are, we

36:08

can actually hold memories and trauma

36:10

in these tissues, especially because I've

36:12

had multiple abdominal surgeries. And it's

36:14

interesting when I was doing reading

36:16

in preparation for this, that a

36:19

scar can lead to an adhesion

36:21

of sympathetic nervous system fibers. So

36:23

remember at the very beginning of

36:25

our conversation, we were talking about

36:27

being sympathetic dominant, this fight or

36:29

flight, and the scar can then

36:31

represent this tangling of not

36:33

just feelings, but energetically can actually

36:35

represent quite a bit more than

36:38

that. Have you found for your

36:40

clients and people that you're working

36:42

with that the utilization of not

36:44

just the essential oils, but working on the

36:47

fascia can be very therapeutic, not just physically,

36:49

but also emotionally? 100%, I mean, it's funny,

36:51

like when I started 12 years ago, I

36:54

was screaming Vegas nerve into the wind and no one

36:56

had heard of it. I've been screaming fascia for about

36:58

four years now and people are finally starting to catch

37:00

up. I think the fascia is everything.

37:03

I think emotional detox is everything, especially

37:05

as women, we're taught to

37:07

be good girls, to be nice, to be polite.

37:09

What that basically means is if we ever feel

37:11

sad, like what's the line from

37:13

else that conceal, don't feel, like just put a

37:15

smile on, just go out. If we're angry, we're

37:18

not allowed to feel it. So what do we

37:20

do? We stop all these feelings and then we

37:22

don't even know how to unpack them because

37:24

they're so unpleasant. We don't wanna feel our

37:26

grief. We don't wanna feel our anger. And

37:29

this is where I think oils are kind of magical, looping

37:31

back to the beginning of our conversation where

37:33

we were talking about the limbic system,

37:35

the emotional brain and how do you

37:37

release things? I think you can use

37:40

oils in a very small, if you

37:42

think about opening a soda bottle, you

37:45

don't want it to explode, so you kind

37:47

of gently let out the gas, let out

37:49

the steam so that it's manageable. I think

37:51

there's a way to unpack emotions in the

37:53

same way. We have a liver support blend

37:55

that I actually call the PMS blend. You

37:57

know, like for anyone who has an anti-leggings,

38:00

Who's gonna like how do I get to like

38:02

let out this hostility today? Am I gonna go

38:04

on a long run or is someone gonna cut

38:06

me off in traffic and I'm just gonna like

38:08

let it all rip You know, there's a nicer

38:10

way to do it Like you can inhale and

38:13

actually use the exhale to kind of gently

38:15

breathe out the emotion So that it's not

38:17

as intense. It's almost like an emotional car

38:19

wash You get to kind of release it

38:21

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found the CGM I've used your Nutrasense

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not have known that plantains

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this information It's also been

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hugely helpful for tailoring to workouts

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sleep quality. And so for me, even

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love that these are things that

42:33

people can access from home that

42:35

they're relatively easy and straightforward. A

42:37

couple questions came in. I think

42:39

talking about sleep because most if

42:41

not all perimenopausal menopausal women to

42:43

some degree either problems staying asleep

42:45

or falling asleep. Talking about the

42:47

role of not just

42:50

melatonin and other hormones but how

42:52

we can support our penile gland,

42:54

the circadian rhythm of the body

42:56

with essential oils in a way

42:58

that's again very supportive. You use the

43:00

term adjunctive and I think that's a really

43:03

great way to say this in addition to

43:05

other things you're doing can be very beneficial.

43:07

No I completely agree. So with sleep it's

43:09

so fascinating because there are different sleep

43:11

problems right? Like being unable to

43:13

fall asleep is different than night

43:16

waking at 1 a.m. is different

43:18

than night waking at 3 a.m.

43:20

with maybe a hot flash. So I

43:22

think if you actually want to solve

43:25

the problem you have to understand what's

43:27

going on for each specific problem. So

43:29

people who struggle to fall asleep you

43:31

know they're exhausted but their mind is

43:33

racing they're worried about their day tomorrow

43:35

maybe they're worried about a relationship or

43:37

what's going on in the world. You

43:39

know that is melatonin is your sleep

43:41

hormone and it works in tandem with

43:44

cortisol your stress hormone because if the

43:46

lion's chasing you you probably don't want

43:48

to fall asleep. So think of it

43:50

as like a cheater totter. If cortisol

43:52

is high that forces melatonin low. If

43:55

you can kind of increase melatonin or

43:57

calm cortisol that puts it into balance.

44:00

Melatonin is released by the pineal gland in response

44:02

to darkness. It's right in the middle of the

44:04

brain, behind the eyes, light kind of helps to

44:06

regulate it. So in

44:08

addition to, I know you have great tools

44:10

for nighttime protocols, but what we've been recommending

44:13

is this oil kind of helps to trigger

44:15

the pineal gland to naturally release melatonin. So

44:17

you want to put it kind of right

44:19

around the middle of the brain, so the

44:22

very top of the head, not on the

44:24

ears, but on the skin above the ears.

44:26

That's a really good access point for the

44:29

pineal gland. Back of the head, I

44:31

don't tell people to put oil on their face

44:33

before they sleep because if they're kind of a tossy-truvy

44:35

sleeper, I don't want it to get in their eyes.

44:38

But that's a great one to help kind

44:40

of enhance more melatonin, which is also really

44:42

good for detoxifying the brain and calm

44:44

the cortisol. Now, if you're waking

44:46

up at 1 a.m. and you're still awake,

44:49

you could clean the kitchen. That's a blood

44:51

sugar wake-up, not uncommon in perimenopause and menopause.

44:53

And that, obviously, you can eat something fatty

44:55

before you go to bed to regulate your

44:57

blood sugar. But what happens when your blood

44:59

sugar gets released? It's kind of in

45:02

your blood, you're adrenalized, you're awake. So

45:04

how do you get the blood sugar

45:06

out of your blood? Your pancreas releases

45:08

insulin, which carries it into your cells.

45:11

So anything you can do to support your pancreas, we

45:13

have a pancreas blend that has rose geranium

45:15

that's also kind of great for hormonal things.

45:17

It really helps with hot flashes, just smelling

45:20

it. So you can just, I used to keep

45:22

it on my nightstand table and just put it over my

45:24

pancreas when I'd wake up, and it kind of helped

45:26

me fall back asleep more naturally. If you're

45:28

waking up around 3 a.m. and

45:30

maybe you have to use the bathroom, that

45:32

tends to be, you know, in Chinese medicine,

45:34

every organ has a time. 3

45:37

a.m. is like liver tone, and that's usually

45:39

either toxic overload or as we get older,

45:41

you know, the hormones go out of balance,

45:44

so we might have estrogen dominance and too

45:46

many hormones. So the liver has some extra

45:48

work and just needs to work a little

45:50

harder. So before bed, I would put on

45:53

our liver blend. Sometimes the

45:55

gallbladder blend, because they work in tandem. Sometimes

45:57

I'd couple them with castor oil. woke

46:00

up I would just kind of smell the late

46:19

sixties and she said I haven't had a good night of sleep in

46:21

15 years and she has a

46:23

slew of challenges related to

46:25

the poor sleep. She's got metabolic

46:27

syndrome, she's got insulin resistance, she

46:30

could not be smarter, more lovely

46:32

and it's interesting how in many

46:34

instances we accept our

46:37

circumstances instead of advocating for ourselves. You

46:39

were talking about that you know I'm

46:41

a reformed people pleaser, I'm sure you

46:43

are as well. It really can

46:45

be challenging to have to think about

46:48

how to navigate the second stage of

46:50

our lives and really speaking up for

46:52

ourselves and identifying like one night of

46:54

poor sleep a week is probably not

46:57

a big deal but if it's every

46:59

night sequentially and we're just dealing with daylight

47:01

savings and I mean nearly everyone on social media

47:03

is talking about how their sleep has gone south

47:05

and like it'll calm down it

47:07

will calm down but maybe utilizing

47:10

some of these recommendations. Another hot

47:12

topic is weight loss. Weight loss

47:14

resistance huge issue for my community

47:16

as well. Is there any research

47:18

on the utilization of essential oils

47:20

to help support our bodies when

47:22

we're weight loss resistant? I know

47:24

this is kind of unpacking it's

47:26

not just one reason but is

47:29

there research to suggest that essential

47:31

oils have a role in supporting our

47:33

bodies with this? Yes and it

47:35

wasn't really targeted to the menopausal population.

47:38

So there is a lot of research

47:40

you know that like peppermint helps with

47:42

satiety and we have a blood sugar

47:44

balanced blend that you can kind of put

47:46

on the inside of your cheek that helps

47:49

with cravings but we both know it's bigger

47:51

than that right? It's really about the hormones.

47:53

It's really about the cortisol and the

47:55

insulin and the blood sugar hormones. So

47:57

we do have a blood sugar support

47:59

kit. which is adrenal, pancreas, and liver. But

48:02

I agree with you. We need to make different food choices.

48:04

We need to change kind of our exercise

48:07

routine. This is where it's not one

48:09

magic bullet. It's not like, oh, you're gonna smell

48:11

grapefruit and all of a sudden, you know, it's

48:13

like a Zembec. No, it's a little bit more

48:15

complicated. Yeah, and it's interesting because I think

48:17

that on a lot of levels, like as

48:19

an example, I have a free group on

48:21

Facebook, which hopefully most of the listeners are

48:24

part of. It's called AirMitten Fat Sting Lifestyle

48:26

Backslash My Name. And the question that comes

48:28

up often is, I've

48:30

done these two things, I haven't lost

48:32

weight. What does that mean? And unfortunately,

48:34

what I say to everyone is the

48:36

term multi-factorial. There's probably multiple reasons why

48:38

your weight loss resistant. There's probably multiple

48:40

reasons why your sleep has gone south.

48:43

And so it's like peeling an onion, you know, one

48:45

layer at a time, figuring out what's the next

48:47

thing I can do to support my health.

48:49

I think it's certainly good advice. And for

48:51

anyone that's listening that's frustrated, understanding that you

48:53

may have to try three or four more

48:55

things. And I do find that we start

48:57

with food because once we can get your

49:00

blood sugar regulated, once we can get you

49:02

satiated, more often than not, that in and

49:04

of itself helps tremendously. And I think for

49:06

a lot of people that helps with the

49:08

sleep, that helps with, you know, getting the

49:10

scale to budge a bit and you get

49:12

those small wins and then women are like,

49:14

okay, I'm committed to figuring this out.

49:16

Lastly, lots of questions about what are

49:18

some of the oils that can be

49:20

stimulating? Like if I'm feeling tired, again,

49:22

it's a couple days into daylight savings,

49:25

I think most people are feeling like

49:27

not 100% energetically, but if

49:29

we're looking for things that are going to

49:31

turn our brain on, make us more alert,

49:33

make us feel like we have a little

49:35

bit more energy, what would be your recommendations?

49:37

I really delve into the research on that. There's

49:40

great research on that. Rosemary and peppermint are the

49:42

ones that people really like. We have a focus

49:44

blend that I sometimes put on my temples or

49:46

I'm a morning person, I get up at like

49:48

six and I swear to God by 10 at

49:50

night, I'm exhausted. And when my majors were still

49:52

living with me, it felt like

49:54

I was always night driving. So I also have

49:56

a circulation blend that I just love to smell.

49:58

It's got black and white. pepper which is

50:01

very vasodilating so it might

51:04

be something that we're doing that we

51:06

think is being fairly benign or innocuous

51:08

that could be contributing and you know

51:11

you mentioned dealing with stress not getting

51:13

enough sleep. I think for so many

51:15

of us we just don't acknowledge or

51:17

realize that chronic stress really can erode

51:19

our health and non-beneficial ways. Well

51:22

I've so enjoyed this conversation I would love

51:24

for you to share with listeners how

51:26

they can connect with you on social media learn

51:28

more about your book and your work

51:30

and obtain your essential oils. Yeah

51:33

you can head over to

51:35

vibrantblueoils.com and use the coupon

51:37

code welcome10 for $10 off

51:40

anything. The book is essential oils

51:42

to boost the brain and heal the body

51:44

and it's available where all books are sold

51:47

and then on social media it's just vibrantblueoils

51:49

on Instagram, Facebook, I don't really do Twitter.

51:51

Twitter is an interesting place. I tell people

51:53

all the time you have to have a

51:56

pretty thick skin because people can be things

51:58

move quickly and people can be snarky

52:00

just like they can everywhere else in social

52:02

media but even more so there. Thank you

52:04

again my friend. Thank you. If

52:08

you love this podcast episode, please leave

52:10

a rating and review. Subscribe and tell

52:12

a friend.