When I was 25, I spent 3 years living in Java (Indonesia) with my first husband. That was the most amazing adventure on so many levels. One of the highlights was the extraordinary expats I met, from all around the world.

This is where my introduction to essential oils took place. In my connections with expats, I met a woman whose dream was to craft her own essential oils, and I was invited to visit her farm.

Little did I know that this was a seed being planted in my heart, that would blossom into the most magnificent tree.

After returning to Australia, I began purchasing essential oils from well-known brands, and ended up with a decent sized collection. I had some aromatherapy books, and used my oils for all and sundry uses. And they seemed to work. At least they smelt nice.

But one day in September 1998, Young Living crossed my path. I loved that I could buy their oils at wholesale prices. I loved the message of their founder, D. Gary Young. But I had absolutely no idea what an incredible journey I was about to embark on.

The results I had when I used these oils were so quick and so noticeable, it was unlike any other brand I’d used before – even the practitioner-only brands. It was my quest to understand more about this brand and WHY their essential oils work so differently to other brands. This has led me on the journey that I’m still on today, more than a quarter of a century later. 

Recently I was looking for some information for a new oiler, and I realised that I have never written an overview of why essential oils work – something that a new or even seasoned oiler would love to read. That’s the message in our post. Enjoy!

The Magic of Nature

When you taste that wonderful flavour that is coriander (aka cilantro), or you add fresh grated ginger into your smoothie, or when you add orange rind into your cake, the flavour comes from the plant’s essential oil.

Essential oils come from plants – they are nature’s wisdom in a bottle. 

Their magic lies in their complex chemistry, which has evolved over eons to be the ultimate protection for the plant. Each essential oil contains hundreds of natural plant compounds, which work synergistically to keep the plant healthy. We call this the essential oil’s “fingerprint”.

Some of these compounds are naturally antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal, so they protect the plant from invasion and disease. Other compounds have a strong and noxious flavour, so they deter insects and other animals from eating the leaves of the plant. And still other compounds smell so enticing that they draw pollinating insects like moths to a flame.

Wherever the plant most needs that protection or that attraction is where the essential oil is found.

So plants that utilise insects for pollination will typically have their essential oil located in their flowers (think Rose, Jasmine, Lavender and Ylang Ylang). 

Those who want to deter insects from eating their leaves or their fruit will have their essential oil in these areas (think Eucalyptus, Tea Tree and Orange). Other plants have their essential oil in their roots (like Ginger and Vetiver), or in their bark (like Cinnamon Bark) or in their sap (like Frankincense).

They work on plants, but what about people and animals?

Essential oils are comprised of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen – the exact same building blocks as our own body.

They are also incredibly small molecules, so when we put them on our human (or animal) body, they can so easily penetrate our skin and membranes and end up in our blood stream, where they are transported around our body. They can even cross the blood brain barrier, which very few substances are small enough to do.

Gary Young (the founder of Young Living) used to teach us that when you put an essential oil on your skin, it’s in every cell of your body within 20 minutes, and fully broken down within 45 minutes. Wow!

It’s no wonder that when you put a drop or two of Peppermint oil under each foot, you can often taste it in your mouth within 30 seconds.

And because essential oils are so complex, all of their many compounds are in perfect balance and perfect synergy. Man can’t duplicate an essential oil. They can try, but their attempts always mean that they are taking just some of the compounds (the more active or aromatic ones).

Because they are taking these compounds out of context, they are no longer balanced by other compounds. It’s this inherent imbalance that makes these synthetic or “fragrance” oils so toxic to the body.

I often liken it to pharmaceuticals, because they follow a similar methodology. Pharmaceuticals are isolated synthetic (man-made) compounds, which are delivered to the body in precise quantities to achieve a particular effect. But because they are in isolation, they have side effects.

Those active compounds are not counterbalanced by other compounds, so we have to be especially careful of how

much we take, and sometimes one pharmaceutical will cause a cascade of effects in our body that we then need to take other pharmaceuticals to counterbalance. It can be a slippery slope.

When you’re using an essential oil that has been produced in a way that preserves its entire fingerprint, the active “stronger” compounds are beautifully tempered by all the other compounds, so the essential oil works, but in a way that’s harmonious for the body. 

The Frequency of Essential Oils

Each of the compounds that makes up an essential oil has its own frequency, as well as its own physical action. So when we put that essential oil on our body, we’re experiencing both an energetic uplift as well as a physical impact.

Just as we do with food, our body takes the precise compounds it needs from the essential oil, and the rest get excreted. So we can give the same essential oil to two different people, and they can have different impacts according to what each person needs.

In his book Natural Home Health Care using Essential oils, Dr. Daniel Penoel (a French medical doctor) describes essential oils as having a “God-like intelligence” that allows them to work on our body in the way it most needs it.

Gary Young once stated that essential oils are “the closest thing to God that exists on our Planet”.

Both of these men are referring to the complexity and power of the essential oil’s fingerprint, which allows it to gift us with exactly what we need.

We put one or more drops of that essential oil on our body, and our body receives those natural compounds and they work their magic.

Yet even though essential oils can produce different impacts for different people depending on which of the compounds we most need, we can also generalise. Each essential oil will have a “typical” impact, based on its particular cluster of plant molecules (its fingerprint).

So most of the time when we use Lavender oil it will calm us, Peppermint oil will invigorate us, Orange oil will make us feel happy, and Frankincense oil will connect us to ourself and others.

The overall frequency of an essential oil will also dictate where it works best in the body. So Wintergreen oil has a frequency of 52 MHz, the same frequency as our bones. So Wintergreen and our bones love each other!

Similarly, Marjoram oil has the same frequency as smooth muscle tissue, Basil oil has the same frequency as skeletal muscle tissue, Lemongrass has the same frequency as ligaments, Palo Santo has the same frequency as joints, Peppermint has the same frequency as nerves, and so on.

The Power of Aroma

The other thing I love about essential oils is that they don’t just work physically, mentally and with frequency. They also impact us emotionally and spiritually through their aroma.

Did you know that our sense of smell is the only one of our 5 senses that directly impacts the limbic region of our brain (our subconscious), where we store our memories and associated emotions?

Because of their aroma, essential oils are able to stimulate this region of our brain, helping to unlock memories and transform our emotional state.

Remember that essential oils act intelligently. This isn’t so much a consciousness in the oil itself (or maybe it is???). It’s also because our body knows what it needs to be in balance. So our body reaches for the specific compounds in that

essential oil that will help it, and it uses those compounds to rebalance itself.

But our limbic brain is not only the site of our emotions. It’s also the site of our spiritual connection. So when we use essential oils, their aroma stimulates this region of our brain. It’s not at all surprising that so many people notice a heightening of their natural intuition and their inner guidance when they use Young Living’s therapeutic-grade essential oils.

When we are using essential oils, we feel more “in harmony” with ourself, with others and with the Universal Consciousness we call God/Spirit. 

Now here’s the catch, which I’ll talk about in our post. 

Oils ain’t oils, and quality does matter. When I started using Young Living’s essential oils, I saw results that soared so far above anything I’d ever seen with other (top quality) brands, that I might as well have entered another Universe.

That’s because other essential oil

companies typically work to perfume industry standards. This produces beautiful smelling essential oils, in a cost-effective way.

But Young Living is different. Young Living is all about capturing the entire fingerprint of the essential oil, and not just the pretty smelling parts. This is because they want a truly “therapeutic-grade” essential oil. Other companies use that term, but no other company I’ve ever come across does what Young Living does. And that’s the magic within the Young Living oils. 

Dr. Wayne Dyer was a guest speaker at Young Living’s 2013 Grand Convention. I happened to be sitting in the audience, taking copious notes. He said to us, “Young Living is a company founded on miracles, teaching the world that there’s a better way, through God’s bottles of essential oils.” I couldn’t agree more!  

How to order….

If you already have your own wholesale account with Young Living, you can order now through the shopping cart on your virtual office, or via phone or live chat with your local Young Living office.

If it’s been more than 12 months since you’ve ordered, or if you’ve never set up an account, please reach out to the person who introduced you to Young Living.

You will need their member number when you place your first order.

If you have lost touch with them, or need any other assistance, we are here to help. Simply click the button below and we’ll be in touch to assist you and help answer your questions.