Have you ever noticed that whenever we think of emotions, of love, hate, kindness, betrayal, compassion, empathy we tend to associate it with the heart area. And interestingly enough that is the same area where Heart Chakra is located.
When you think about love what scent do you recall in your memory or associate it with? Usually it’s rose or chamomile. Can be something else, but these two are the ones popping up in my head the first. And these are flowers.
Flowers represent a new growth, they are the ones to attract flies and bees for pollination, later they would produce seeds. They are gentle and colorful. Essential oils that come from flowers are often used for emotional support. They support love, friendship, forgiveness, empathy, intentions, they help soothing the heart and mind, they bring positive energy, help us to evoke the unexpressed thoughts and feelings and promote creativity.
Try smelling a flower or essential oil that comes from the flower. What kind of thought or emotions does it trigger in you? For me it’s always a positive energy, sweetness and gentleness, love in all its expressions. They are like communicators between our imagination and foundation.
I love flowers. Well, who doesn’t? I remember when I was a little kid and was visiting my grandma in a village, she always used to have a garden of tulips and little tea roses. Since then I always associate tulips with home, summer, love, kindness, care.
Each time I smell chamomile I feel like a warm blanket is covering me, giving me support, care and comfort, and I remember my childhood when each summer I would go to the field and collect chamomile flowers, then dry it under the sun and use in a tea each time I get sick or have trouble sleeping. Also my mom use to rinse my hair with chamomile infused water to keep my hair light and soft.
But if to smell ylang ylang or jasmine I feel more of a passion, other type of love. These scents I would wear as a perfume, they remind me of a love story.
We all may have very different associations with different scents. Some may bring old memories, good and bad, and that’s something that will either make us love it or hate it. If you dislike some oil, ask yourself why? What kind of emotions it associate with? Maybe that is something you need to work on.
In any way, flowers can hold a lot of emotions. Or to say better, can create a lot of emotions in us each time we smell their aromas. That is the reason why they are so often used for emotional support. They can relax us, calm down, gently replace negative emotions with the feeling of love to others, to the world around us, to ourselves. They are helpful in releasing these negative feelings we may have from some buried emotions which we never had a chance or desire to express.
For their such great emotional support they are also often used to balance Heart Chakra (you can find a lot of the flowers included in a list, and basically all flowers can be used for Anahata Chakra). Heart chakra is a bridge between lower more physical chakras and upper more abstract chakras. That is the place which connects our body with our mind, and our thoughts, ideas, with relationship to the world, feelings and expressions to help bringing these ideas to life.
Essential oils that come from flowers, petals and buds are ylang ylang, chamomile, jasmine, clove, helichrysum, neroli, rose, clary sage, lavender, lavandin, marjoram, goldenrod, sage, yarrow, blue tansy.
I encourage you to experiment with them, diffuse them, smell them, use topically in massage blends or in a roll-on. See what kind of support it can bring to you, what kind of feeling does it awaken in you. There is no right or wrong essential oil, only the way you perceive it.
xo,
Anna