How to Incorporate Essential Oils into Your Yoga Classes

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Brandon

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Essential oils are powerful plant medicine. You can use them to help you physically (like relaxing tight muscles or a hurt belly) and energetically (like opening your heart or helping creative energy flow).

Essential oils have long been renowned for their ability to improve emotional and mental well-being. Used properly, they can be a beautiful compliment to a yoga practice and a powerful part of your yoga classes.

How to Incorporate Essential Oils into Your Yoga Classes

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How to incorporate essential oils into your yoga class

First of all, make sure you get consent. If you’re going around and using oils on students, make sure you tell them what you’re using (someone could be allergic) and give them the opportunity to opt out.

Second of all, make sure you dilute your oils properly if you’re using them on students’ skin. Learn more about diluting essential oils here. Remember: a little goes a long way!

Here are some ways to incorporate essential oils into your yoga class:

  • Pass oils around at the beginning of class and have students rub them on their feet, temples, or the backs of their necks
  • Spritz an essential oil blend throughout the space at the beginning and end of class
  • Diffuse oils in the space throughout class
  • Rub oils on students’ feet or temples during savasana
  • Create a purifying oil blend for students to spray on their mats after class

Use essential oils to support your class theme

There are endless essential oils to choose from. Now that you know how to use the oils in your classes, how do you choose which ones to actually use?

I love using essentials oils to energetically support the theme of the class. Below are some examples of class themes and oils that support those themes.

  1. Heart opening. Try geranium, rose, helichrysum, or jasmine essential oils. These oils are all associated with the heart chakra, helping you open up your center of giving and receiving unconditional love.
  2. Grounding. Use vetiver, cedarwood, black spruce, cypress, or any other tree oil you like. These earthy, tree-based oils help connect you to your roots in the earth, bring you out of your head and into your body.
  3. Connecting to the Universe. Opt for frankincense, lotus, palo santo, sandalwood, ginger, or basil oil. These oils open your crown chakra, your center of connection with your highest self and with the divine.
  4. Enhancing creativity. This is one of my favorite class themes and one of my favorite things to use essential oils for! My favorite oils for creativity are tangerine, wild orange, peppermint, and clary sage. These oils help open your sacral chakra, your center of creativity, emotion, and passion.
  5. Enhancing intuition. Experiment with benzoin, mastic, frankincense, rosemary, or sage for your third eye chakra. If you want to go deeper into this theme, check out this blog all about essential oils to increase psychic power.
  6. Cultivating gratitude. Try bergamot, grapefruit, clove, white fir, or wild orange oils for gratitude. Their scents help elevate your mood and open your heart.
  7. Surrendering. Opt for black spruce, Roman chamomile, or ylang ylang, all oils that help release control issues.
  8. Opening your throat chakra. Use lemongrass, neroli, jasmine, or eucalyptus (my favorite is eucalyptus!) to open your center of speaking your truth, being seen, setting boundaries, and expressing yourself.
  9. Promoting good sleep. My favorite oils for sleep are gentle, calming oils like lavender, vetiver, and neroli. Perfect for an evening yinyasa or yin class!

Click here to explore more yoga class themes to inspire your teaching.

These are just some suggestions for you, and the sky is really the limit!

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Create a purifying, cleansing spray

Try out this recipe to create a purifying, cleansing spray that students can use on their yoga mats after practice. You’ll need:

  • A spray bottle
  • Filtered water
  • 2 drops of tea tree or peppermint essential oil
  • 2 drops of lavender essential oil
  • A tablespoon or two of witch hazel

Mix them together, shake it up, and you’re ready to get cleaning!

Incorporating essential oils can help support the theme of your class and assist your students in going even deeper into their practice.

What essential oils do you like using in your yoga classes?

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How to Incorporate Essential Oils into Your Yoga Class

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About Brandon

Former corporate sales rep turned nomadic entrepreneurial yogi. Street food ninja, avid outdoorsman, craft beer geek, and live music junkie. Co-founder of The Yoga Nomads.

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