+ Q: What are essential oils?

A: Have you ever peeled an orange and smelled that insanely fresh, intoxicating aroma that bursts from its skin? If so, you’ve experienced essential oils.

Essential oils are the natural aromatic compounds found in plants (extracted from flowers, roots, bark, stems, resins, leaves, peels, and seeds). They’re tiny organic molecules that are dedicated to keeping the plant healthy, helping it heal from infection and physical injury, warding off predators, and attracting pollinators for reproductive purposes.

Basically, they’re the superheroes of the plant world.

They’re 50-70 times more powerful than dried herbs, to boot (i.e. 1 drop of peppermint essential oil = 28 cups of peppermint tea).

And they’ve been used by humans for their medicinal and therapeutic benefits for centuries (because, homeostasis).

+ Q: Why are they effective?

A: On average, each essential oil is made up of around 100 chemical compounds - and since different chemical compounds have different therapeutic benefits - they’re super versatile. They’re like those people who have highly-technical science brains AND also really know how to work the room at a party (ugh, how are they good at everything?!).

If you’re looking for a true form of holistic healthcare - look no further. With just one drop, these babies are able to influence the mind, body, and spirit in pretty miraculous ways. Both humans and plants are part of nature, so once essential oils enter our body they’re in a familiar environment and can get to work on our behalf right down at the cellular level (which means they can help us address health concerns at their root cause).

+ Q: How do I select them?

A: Most people don’t realize it, but knowing how to select a brand of oils to work with is the most important piece of the puzzle because approximately 80% of all essential oils on the market are adulterated. Being an educated consumer is crucial to ensure your personal safety - which is easy to do if you know what to look for, so don’t stress.

The key factors to focus on when selecting essential oils are purity, potency, and sourcing methods. A high-quality, trustworthy brand of essential oils will offer full transparency to consumers around all of these things on their website:

• Purity: You want to make sure there’s no funny business going on in your bottle of oil. That means absolutely no adulterations, fillers, pesticides, herbicides, or other contaminants. We’re focused on eliminating toxins from your body and environment – not adding more! Ensuring the oils you’re using are put through rigorous third-party testing to verify that they’re pure therapeutic grade is absolutely essential (pardon the pun), and the brand you choose to use should offer access to the tests that show you, the consumer, exactly what’s in the bottle of oil you’re holding.

• Potency: In order for an essential oil to be as powerful and effective as possible, each plant has to be grown in its indigenous region, in an optimal climate, and be harvested at its peak of potency. Lavender grown in Bulgaria (where it’s native) will have very different chemistry than Lavender grown in the US. The Lavender from Bulgaria will have far superior and versatile therapeutic properties because it was grown in the environmental conditions where it best thrives.

• Sourcing Method: Focusing on the welfare of the farmers and artisans who are providing the raw materials for essential oil production is also super important. These people live all over the globe, many of the in developing countries, and the brand of essential oils that I personally use (dōTERRA) puts them first – creating infrastructure for their communities, and providing a reliable, fair wage so they can continue to do the work they love while harvesting the most pure, potent plants possible. You also want to ensure that your oils are grown sustainably to ensure there’s no unnecessary harm being done to the environment. We’re here to love on mama nature, not hurt her.

At the end of the day, you need to be choosy with everything you’re putting into your body (you only get one) – and unfortunately, the bottles of essential oils lining the shelves of your local health food store don’t live up to these high standards of quality.

+ Q: How can I use them?

A: There are three ways of using pure therapeutic grade essential oils (and, remember - quality is the most important thing for your personal safety):

• Aromatically - Essential oils, when diffused, can be very stimulating, while others can be calming and soothing. Diffusing essential oils can also cleanse and purify the air.

• Topically - Essential oils are easily absorbed by the skin and many can be safely applied topically when used in conjunction with a carrier oil.

• Internally - Certain essential oils have a rich culinary history and can be used as dietary supplements supporting a variety of healthy conditions. Note: the vast majority of essential oil brands are not safe for internal use, but dōTERRA is.

+ Q: Why is the brand you choose important?

A: The brand you're using should share their purity standards and testing practices openly (rigorous third-party testing of every batch is KEY) so you can rest assured that you're not unintentionally adding toxins to your life. dōTERRA has uncompromising purity and potency standards and runs far more tests than any other brand (54 tests on every batch) between third-party labs and their in-house scientific team, which they then share online for anyone to access. This is extra-important because, as I mentioned before, 80% of essential oils on the market are adulterated (even many of the big-name brands you see all over social media), and they purposely make it very tricky for us to be educated consumers.

+ Q: Which brand do you recommend?

A: I almost-exclusively source my oils from dōTERRA for a whole pile of reasons, but the top three are:

• They have the most tested, most trusted oils in the world (consumer safety and oil efficacy, for the win).

• They’re redefining healthcare as we know it and leading the charge in developing and expanding the science around how essential oils are used in both medical and at-home settings.

• Integrity and heart are the backbone of their business.

Aside from superior essential oil quality - impact is THE thing that compels me to be brand-loyal to dōTERRA.

Every single time I make a purchase from them for products to support my own health and happiness, I know that my money is getting circulated around the globe to benefit the health and happiness of communities that need support, and also to helping to revolutionize (very broken) healthcare systems.

Impact is quite literally baked into the company's DNA via their mission, their Co-Impact Sourcing model, their non-profit, the Healing Hands Foundation, and their new Prime Meridian Health Clinics.Their biz practices speak directly to my soul. Let me explain...

• Co-Impact Sourcing: dōTERRA has an incredibly intricate model called Co-Impact Sourcing that sources 130 oils from over 45 different countries (over half of which are developing nations). Instead of buying plots of land all over the world, they invest in long-term partnerships with the people and communities - helping them continue on as proprietors of their own land, empowering them with fair conditions and pay for their work (even paying them higher rates in lower-yield seasons), and further uplifting their communities with their non-profit, the Healing Hands Foundation. When deciding on a place to source an oil, dōTERRA looks for two big things: 1. Where does this plant best thrive (so the customer can reap the max benefits of the oils)?, and 2. Where can they have the greatest positive impact on growers and distillers (so they can bring hope and opportunities to those who could most benefit from it)?

• Healing Hands Foundation: In partnership with their non-profit, dōTERRA prioritizes projects that are thoughtful, impactful, and sustainable - with major focuses on: microcredit lending, human trafficking prevention/rescue/aftercare efforts, feminine hygiene education, disaster relief, and all sorts of different community projects that they partner with Wellness Advocates (like me) on. They partner with beautiful non-profits like Mentors International, Days for Girls, Operation Underground Railroad, Rapha House, and 3Strands Global to increase their reach and impact even more.

• Prime Meridian Health Clinics: They decided that they didn't want to just stop at providing world-class essential oils and products - they’ve now begun disrupting the entire healthcare industry (in the best way possible) with Prime Meridian Health Clinics (PMHC). PMHC is an integrative medicine group committed to providing a patient-centric healthcare experience by delivering increased affordability, transparency, satisfaction and health outcomes for both the patient and physician through a subscription-based model. This model is designed to be a revolution in worldwide healthcare, and the clinics have already started popping up around the United States.

I also source select oils in my personal collection from Monara Essential Oils as I trust their heart and integrity, and they offer some beautiful oils that dōTERRA doesn't have in their current selection.