Essential oils are all the rage. Over the past 4 years, they’ve made their mark and become one of the hottest natural healing trends in the US...

...Although they’ve been used for health, emotions, skin care and even preservation since the ancient Egyptians, it wasn’t until the 1930s that “aromatherapy” became a word.

Essential oils are very powerful and effective. Many people think they need to use them in their concentrated state, or that stronger is better. As you read through this article, you will learn 3 key reasons why highly diluted essential oils tend to help the body more.

The body brings balance like a pendulum. When you go too far it swings strongly back in proportion. So it is kinder to use something subtle that doesn’t push the body too far the other way.

Using undiluted or concentrated essential oils

Using essential oils in their ‘neat’ state is a highly concentrated form. The body isn’t accustomed to this intense form of plants. Nature isn’t intense (other than natural disasters)...

...Nature in general is quiet, calm, soothing and gentle.

If a blend is too concentrated, it's going to challenge the body instead of gently assisting health and balance.

When you use an essential oil, even diluted but still in a strong perfume state, the body has to work harder than necessary. You can note this in how the brain turns off the aroma of an essential oil quite rapidly.

This is so the brain can continue to pick up other smells, such as the smell of smoke for safety. The brain needs to turn off intense aromas in order to be able to decipher other smells.

Therefore, using essential oils in neat, concentrated or strong blends on a regular basis can quietly increase stress for the body—the opposite of your goal...

...It’s similar to eating something too high in sugar or too spicy. The body has to dump water into your intestines to dilute the sugar or spices to a level it can handle.

How concentrated are essential oils?

Did you know that it takes about 22 pounds or 242,000 rose petals to make 1 teaspoon of rose essential oil?

That is a super high concentration. Yet, rose absolute essential oil doesn’t seem intense at all when you smell it directly from the bottle. Although our sense of smell may be sophisticated, it is not sophisticated enough to determine the potency of an aroma.

This is why diffusing, using a mist, mixed into an oil or other form is better for the body. You are better off using a milder blend more often than using a stronger blend. This way, the body gets to make continuous strides towards health and balance.

Stronger does not equal more effective

Think about medications. You don’t want to use the most powerful ones on a daily basis, because the body builds up resistance. If a baby aspirin will work, don’t take an 800mg Ibuprofen. 

This need for variety and use of less potent medications is why there are over 100 antibiotics in varying strengths and classifications on the market. You don’t want to use a powerful one for something small because when you need the strong one it likely won’t work.

This is also why medications, for all the essential benefits they can provide, tend to create side effects. Drugs are concentrations of specific chemicals and are designed to be powerful. In a health crisis, powerful can be essential, which is why we want to reserve the most concentrated and powerful for moments of crisis.

This need to increase strength to get the same results is true for salt, sugar, hot spices, caffeine, cigarettes, and alcohol.

And if your body gets accustomed to using neat essential oils, then it can begin to tune out the benefits. That’s why over time, you will find you are not getting the benefits that you once were.

Our bodies love diversity

In addition, mixing it up and changing things helps the body find balance. The body likes diversity. This is why you can often become bored with the same walk, the same song on repeat, or the same food every meal.

Have you ever tried to eat the exact same single food for 7 days, such as apples or carrots? Your palate becomes bored, and you can begin to feel like you are starving. This is the way the body forces you to mix things up and make sure it gets a variety of nutrients.

Think of nature and how much better you feel after a walk in a forest or garden. There are hundreds, even thousands of plants sending out healing aromas and energy from that forest that your body absorbs and uses to create balance.

And in 15 minutes walking in nature you already feel better. Science has shown that forest bathing can have a significant effect on your health and well being. This is an example of the power of dilutions and why the body responds best to subtle, very soft or ‘quiet’ remedies.

Because of the way the body responds to diversity, it’s important to approach healing with the concept of “changing it up.” Create blends that use 8-10 essential oils.

Take note that as your body heals one layer or area, you may no longer notice the impact from a remedy you were using. That’s because it’s likely time to change to another combination. Your body is ready to work on another layer using a different combination.

The healer part of your body speaks with a soft voice. It is the subtle energies that create the most potent impact. This is why homeopathy has been proven to be most impactful in the deepest parts of the body when using the smallest homeopathic dilutions.

If you want to hear your inner guidance or your inner healer, it is the quiet voice that you are listening for. That’s why it’s so hard to hear. That voice is the key to restoring or maintaining health and balance.

Natural doesn’t always mean safe or good

Just because something is natural, doesn’t mean that it’s good for you or that your body can handle a lot of it.

Poison ivy is natural, but causes terrible reactions for many people. Belladonna is considered one of most poisonous plants in the Eastern world, yet in tiny amounts, it’s used medically to assist the heart.

When it comes to the body restoring health and balance, powerful often is not what the body requires or even wants.

Light aromas mimic Mother Nature for healing

Why are light aromas better with essential oils? 

1) Soft and subtle aromas mimic nature, just as we spoke earlier about a walk in the forest. You might notice the background aroma of dirt, pine or cedar, but most of the aromas floating through the air you don’t even notice.

2) The more you dilute an essential oil, the less chance of an allergic reaction.

3) Soft and gentle can be more impactful because the body allows those forms of healing to penetrate deeper (this relates to quantum physics).

We respond better to kind and gentle

Think of it this way—most of us tend to respond better to kind and gentle. In life, we mirror the way our body prefers to be approached.

For instance, at the hospital, would you rather have a loud and rude nurse, or a kind and gentle one? Is it is easier to snuggle up to a boisterous child, or a relaxed one? Do you want someone to push their way into your home, or wait to be invited?

...These answers give you clues to how you respond best.

It’s simply our human nature. Quiet is easier to absorb than overwhelming. And because most of us are not accustomed to listening to our quiet inner healing voice, we don’t realize how often we overdo.

This is why all of our remedies at Kaliana are blended to mimic forest bathing and mother nature. Our blends are not intense. Instead, they are soft, kind and gentle - and very effective. Our remedies are designed to be repeated multiple times depending on the intensity of emotion you are experiencing.

For example, you may only need to mist yourself once for an uplift, but other times you may need to repeat the process 7 times in a 15 minute window if you’re experiencing an intense level of emotion.

Some days we all need more support than others. At Kaliana we make our blends with a holistic approach, so that you can customize the emotional support you need each day, or even every hour at times when life throws you an intense curveball. Repeat our remedies more often and observe the positive impacts.

Click below to take our quiz to find out Which Essential Oils Are Best for Your Emotions!