Bay Laurel essential oil is found in the following Kaliana Formulas: Health. Click Here to learn why using blends are more effective than using individual essential oils.

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Do you ever struggle with fear and pain, especially around a health issue or illness? Then consider bay laurel essential oil to help change the way you feel emotionally, physically, and mentally, especially when part of a complex blend.

Historical Use of Bay Laurel

Your first encounter with bay laurel, botanically known as Laurus nobilis, might be through soups, stews, and Italian food. You may have also seen it on the heads of popular poets and philosophers of the Middle Ages...

...But apart from being a food flavoring and a symbol of prestige, bay laurel offers so much more. The herb, which is renowned for its intoxicating fragrance, provides amazing therapeutic benefits. 

Bay laurel leaves can be a healthy addition to your kitchen in all types of stews and seafood recipes to encourage greater health for yourself and family. Today, modern science is starting to support the traditional uses of bay laurel in its essential oil form.

Using bay essential oil gives you a simple, effective way to glean greater benefits. It empowers you to target clear mind function, better gut instincts, body health and breathing, and a positive emotional state with less fear and anxiety.

To create this hearty essential oil, the leaves and branchlets of the bay laurel tree go through steam distillation to extract a more potent version of the plant. The resulting oil is a pale-yellow to olive-green liquid with a strong but sweet, camphoraceous fragrance.

5 Emotional Benefits of Bay Laurel Essential Oil

Kaliana’s Emotional Read on Bay Laurel:

The bay laurel tree is an evergreen shrub originally native to the Mediterranean region. It has been around for centuries and was considered to be highly sacred by the Greeks because of its medicinal properties. 

Upon inspection, you’ll notice its broad leaves and bushy nature, with both large and toothpick size branches on both the inner portion of the plant and its exterior. This plant architecture reflects bay laurel’s deep, yet broad reaching ability when it comes to addressing mind, body and spirit.

Ancient priests and priestesses were known to burn the leaves of bay laurel to enhance their mind and intuitive abilities. Bay laurel enhances our ability to connect to our higher selves and sense of inner strength, something soul-centered individuals seek and desire at their core. 

This connection is especially important when it comes to personal healing. We may be faced with an illness and unsure what path to follow or which modality of healing is best for us as an individual. Bay laurel essential oil helps us connect to our inner healer and gain the courage to follow to our instincts. 

Bay laurel helps unlock inner wisdom and natural healing in the body. This beautiful plant helps remind us to forgive ourselves and others. 

Remember that our soul is greater than our humanness. The soul constantly strives to give and receive more love. Love is how the soul can best heal the body - versus fear and negative emotions which create imbalances in the body.

To give and receive more love requires us to release judgements, bitterness, and grudges, while increasing forgiveness, tolerance, and acceptance. The wisdom of this holy plant assists this process and through that transformation can trigger deep, almost miraculous, healing within the cells. 

As a note, bay laurel essential oil is an incredible healer, and it works best as a team with other essential oils. We are all more effective when we combine talents as a team than working in isolation.

1) For Deep, Painful Emotions

Evidence is steadily mounting about the direct link between emotions and pain.

Sometimes emotions can be deep and immobilizing. Over time, those same emotions cause a lock-down and can develop into health concerns that restrict movement such as:

• chronic fatigue
• joint stiffness
• headaches
• carpal tunnel
• arthritis
• gout
• fibromyalgia
• cystic fibrosis
• rheumatism

Bay laurel reaches deep within the body and offers an opportunity to begin reversing that process.  According to studies, bay laurel essential oil provides an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect that is comparable to morphine and piroxicam. 

Bay essential oil can alleviate emotional and physical pain associated with muscular and joint problems due to gout, arthritis, or rheumatism. And can also be used for headaches, migraines, or aching muscles after an intense workout. 

2) Increase Mindfulness and Focus

It has been shown that mindfulness impacts our ability to heal. Take time for inner reflection to discover where you are holding grudges or resentments. Then seek to shift your heart and mindset to forgive. 

Mindfulness and emotional expression have been found to help reduce pain in illnesses such as fibromyalgia. In addition, prayer, meditation, and affirmations tend to be highly beneficial.

Linalool and cineol, active components of bay laurel essential oil are shown to increase mindfulness and focus. This may explain why many cultures burn bay leaves during sacred rituals and meditation to inhale the smoke. Perhaps a safer alternative is using a mild facial mist to diffuse the essential oils around your face, head and body. 

Another highly effective method is applying directly underneath the nose and inhaling to help balance the limbic part of the brain as well as stimulate point GV26 (the medical acupressure point to stimulate healing and repair). Only use blends created specifically for direct skin use underneath the nose.

3) Fear, Apprehension and Respiratory Relief

The emotions of fear and nervousness get trapped in the lung tissue. When we feel afraid, our breathing naturally becomes shallow. And when we watch something scary or hear bad news, we often gasp and hold our breath in apprehension...

...Therefore, to release these damaging emotions from the body, we need extra support for the lungs and immune system.

In aromatherapy, bay laurel essential oil is used frequently as an inhalant for the respiratory system. It is highly recommended to those suffering from cough, colds and flu. It is an effective mucolytic and expectorant that helps clear excess phlegm along breathing tracts—relieving nasal congestion and promoting unobstructed breathing. 

Bay laurel’s antibacterial properties can kill pathogens that may cause further harm to the respiratory system. This means it may even prevent the onset of respiratory illnesses. Combined with its anti-spasmodic qualities, bay laurel essential oil also works to help stop painful coughing spells.

Note that pathogens, spasms, phlegm and coughing are often related to feelings of resentment. Look for where you are holding onto difficult encounters from your past. For your health’s sake, find ways to forgive and let go. The past is over and done. It cannot be rewritten, it can only be released.

4) Fight Stress, Anxiety and Resentment

Bay laurel is an age-old remedy for anxiety. Even in the ancient times, adding leaves to dishes was believed to be effective in calming the mind. 

This has remained true for bay laurel essential oil. Chemical compounds present in the oil, such as linalool and cineol, have been found to reduce anxiety and lower the levels of stress hormones. 

In addition, Bay Laurel essential oil’s clearing of lungs and respiratory system can increase oxygen getting into the blood and therefore to the brain. This increase has been shown to reduce fear and anxiety. 

5) Empower Femininity & Regulate Menstruation

Based on traditional beliefs, bay laurel is a natural cure to amenorrhea or the absence of menstruation and irregular periods. In the past, the leaves were seeped into hot water and served as tea. 

Emotions related to shutting down femininity or issues from abuse can be connected to difficult periods or irregular menstrual flow. Some scientific theories suggest that bay laurel contains emmenagogue properties, which means it can stimulate menstruation and regulate the flow. 

What’s more, given its antispasmodic nature, it can also help ease those painful menstrual cramps and relieve associated symptoms like nausea. Consider massaging the diluted bay laurel oil onto your abdominal area.

4 Medicinal Benefits of Bay Laurel Essential Oil

1) Assist Wound Healing

Studies have shown that bay laurel’s antimicrobial activities work against different types of bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

This makes it a great addition to your first aid kit. It can be useful for cleaning wounds, cuts, or healing bruises, in that it helps prevent infection and speed up the healing process. 

2) Support Digestion

Traditionally, bay laurel has been used to support the gastrointestinal system. It may be related to its ability to promote urination, which helps release toxins from the body.

It contains enzymes that soothe an upset stomach, reduce bloating, and eliminate gas. Overall, bay laurel can enhance digestion and improve nutrient absorption. 

3) Promote Hair Growth

Bay laurel oil is an effective hair tonic. Being a spicy oil, it can improve blood circulation on the scalp and stimulate hair growth.

On the other hand, its potent anti-fungal properties help combat dandruff, which is known to lead to hair shedding. Given its antiseptic nature, bay laurel can get rid of microbes that disrupt the healthy pH balance of the scalp.  

Because bay laurel oil is also an astringent, it can tighten the grip of hair follicles and roots, preventing further hair loss. For beautiful hair, dilute bay laurel oil and apply onto the scalp and hair, rinsing it off after a few minutes. 

4) Potent Insect Repellent

Bay laurel contains chemical compounds myrcene and eugenol that have the ability to repel nuisance insects like ants, wasps, flies, fleas, and cockroaches.

Compared to commercial insecticide, it’s safer for use in homes with children and pets. Simply add a few drops of oil to your diffuser or include it in a mist to spray onto surfaces and cracks.

9 Healing Essential Oils to Blend with Bay Laurel

Realize whether you are talking about the body or emotions, consistency of use over time is essential. The same way that forgiveness can take months, so can the process of deep healing. 

The body tends to work in a 3-4 hour cycles, which is why most people get hungry every 3-4 hours. Use a healing essential oil blend multiple times throughout each day to mimic these cycles and best assist the body.

To increase the body’s ability to restore balance, here's a beneficial combination of essential oils to help go after the complexity of imbalances and dis-ease:

1. Cajeput for immune and boundary protection from negativity, people & germs*
2. Bay Laurel for pain & inflammation, fear, gut instincts, congestion, lung & breathing support*
3. Myrtle for easing anxiety and tension, protection, respiratory support, immune & insomnia*
4. Pine needle for clarity of decisions, strength, muscular aches, & clearing congestion*
5. Rosemary for brighter moods, easing fatigue, & enhanced mental clarity*
6. Eucalyptus for congestion, headaches, strong lungs, & overall malaise*
7. Cypress for staying strong, fighting infections, easing pain/anxiety, & removing toxins*
8. Jasmine absolute for improving sleep, lowering anxiety, cheering moods, & uplifting fatigue*
9. Clove Bud for getting to the core, soothing aches, reducing nausea, fighting invaders
10.  Juniper berry for aches, fatigue, insomnia, digestion, throat and protecting the mind

You can find these 10 essential oils in Kaliana Health Formula.