A graceful, exotic name from the Fillipines. A sensual, sweet and earthy fragrance. Ylang ylang embodies the energy of the Sacral chakra, associated with pleasure, love, passion and sexuality. Svadisthana is another name for the Chakra - the dwelling place of the Self - where the spark of our creativity is first lit.Relaxing and uplifting, ylang ylang connects and balances heart to mind. In TCM, it cools the anxiety which can flare along the Heart Meridian, calms Heart-Fire which can be seen as a red tip to the tongue and tonifies the Heart-Yin. Soothing restlessness and insomnia, it regulates the heartbeat. Heart meridian is of the Fire element. It runs from the inside of the wrist to the armpit. Putting a 6 drops of ylang ylang in 10ml oil is very calming stroked along this pathway. Halve the dosage for children, they like it when restless and it helps them to sleep.
I use ylang ylang to remember joy. It was one of the first two oils I ever bought - the other one was Bergamot. In my practice, I save using ylang ylang for someone so overwhelmed by their mind they have forgotten their body, which is their vehicle in this world and needs to be looked after. Or I use it simply for someone who needs some more joy in their life. Ylang ylang is also good for the stressed out student, for both those reasons! Use it with moderation because the heady scent can quickly become headache-y if used too often. It blends well with the citrus oils - grapefruit, sweet orange, bergamot, lemongrass. It also goes well with the earthy oils - sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, spikenard. It is kind, cooling and soothing to the skin, good for complexions which get red or flush easily.
When using essential oils, it is good to take a break from them. Even I try to have a day off - or a weekend off , if I am using them consistently. If I am using them for treatment and I have a dose 3 x a day - I usually do weekdays and break on the weekends before resuming the dose. If I need to continue the treatment, I would mix a totally different blend for the next phase. If you have them for the occasional bath, this is not the case. We are surrounded by scent everywhere we go - much of it synthetic and chemical, a good bit of it pollution. Our noses and systems become very overloaded, and this sensitises us and makes us allergic to many things. Using too much of anything can make us sensitive to it - so to prevent myself from ever becoming sensitised to essential oils - I use them carefully and with respect, when I need them. I enjoy them fully and follow the adage, "Less is more."
15 comments:
Thanks for writing about one of my favourite scents! :)
And this: "I use ylang ylang to remember joy."
Now I know why I'm always happy when I use it. Strange, isn't it, how something as subtle as scents can alter our moods so much yet so imperceptibly?
I haven't seen the film PERFUME yet, though I've read the novel a couple of times --- have you heard of it? Sounds like something right up your alley. :)
Kenny,you're right! Perfume is right up my street - I've read the novel a few times too and I always enjoy it so enormously. So dark and so obsessive, and the description of scent is so difficult! The film came and I missed it, so I am waiting for it to come out on DVD. Hard to get babysitting :) When you like a novel so much, slightly nervous about seeing it on film.
Scents are very influential to our moods and our memory - essential oils are a veritable cornucopia of mind/mood altering substances! Legal too! Aha - you must know there are many pros to being an aromatherapist. :)
msiagirl,
I'm so glad you like the novel too. I had a hard time getting to the emotional core of it the first time round since Grenouille was so devoid of feeling for anything than his obssessive pursuit of the perfect perfume, but the second time I read it, I learned to love in addition to simply admiring it. Quite a feat of imagination! :)
I guess we'll both catch the film on DVD. I'm rarely disappointed because I always try to differentiate between the original source and an adaptation. For example, I'm a big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and so is a Milanese friend of mine, but he absolutely refuses to watch Peter Jackson's films as he's convinced they are diluted versions of the books.
Which is a pity, since the films are great. Maybe if he could just see them as different animals...
P.S. Yes, they are legal, aren't they! ;)
msiagirl, anything for my bad back?
and aiyah, kak teh so faraway, if not can offer babysitting service.
Kak Teh, I feel the same - so far away or I belanja you massage for your back. Thank you for thinking of babysitting! I left a comment on what to rub on it on your blog, but you can also chop some ginger and rosemary and leave it in sunflower oil one day in the sun. If you can get essential oils - spike lavender, lavender, helichrysum - if it feels hot and swollen and red. Juniper, ginger, black pepper and rosemary if it feels cold and is better with a hot water bottle. You can get essential oils online free delivery from Materia Aromatica or from Neal's Yard in Covent Garden, London. You could also get a bottle of arnica oil to put the e.o's into. Maybe you have already seen an osteopath, I am a therapist at Neal's Yard here - so check out the one's at the flagship store to see if they can be helpful. Get better soon!
Kenny, It's just a little frisson before I get into the film, and you're right, looking at adaptation and book as two different beasts is the way. How I feel about Tolkien too, I do like the films - I use to re-read Lord of the Rings every year from when I was 15 till uni, I was still doing it! Yeah I am a SFF geek - I've sat on Scotty's lap from Star Trek at a Sci-Fi Convention which is why Galaxyquest really makes me laugh so much! Blogs are so confessional...
Yes, blogs are that, aren't they? But confessions can be healing and relieving sometimes too. I believe it all boils down to the context and the perspective in which we take it all in.
Some days I pass by people with the unhappiest, grumpiest look on their face and I wonder what went wrong with their day. Then I pass some reflective surface -- a glass wall, a mirror, a car's windscreen -- and realise that same look is on my face as well.
We have to remember to smile, to take things in as positively as we can. So, B did a bad translation of A's book into film. Aiya, we'll survive lah... ;)
You know they say your life is in your face by the time you are 40! Even if smiling gives you laugh wrinkles they are still nice wrinkles. I also look around and wonder at how their lives are in people's faces as I pass them by. :)
I used to be so afraid of getting older. Even when I was a teenager! I was so weird...
But now, I'm actually looking forward to getting older, growing up a little more each year, all the experiences and wonderful people I'll meet. This will happen and this is true.
I simply can't wait! :D
P.S. I'd be so cool at 40, I tell you... For one thing, won't have to worry about my looks or hair anymore --- all gone by then! Hahaha...
No you won't - you'll look just the same, just deeper! :)
Msiagirl,
Si beh and jin chia means the same but often expressed by different ppls from diff errr hokkien kampung i guess?
Jin Chia sounds more proper.
Thanks sulee, I grew up with Penang hokkien that's why. My best friend from school in malaysia spoke southern hokkien, so sometimes we ???? speak englishlah :)
Haha... love your last email to me. Yes, I did go to bed. Work is such a nuisance to me enjoying Life sometimes, haha...
Are you sure I'd be deeper or just have deeper wrinkles? :D
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