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When I was first introduced to essential oils in 2004, I just graduated from massage therapy school. My colleagues-- massage therapists and energy healers, were incorporating essential oils to support their clients during sessions. I was in awe to learn of the therapeutic matrix and healing properties contained in these tiny milliliter size bottles.  I held reverence for how these distilled plant botanicals can help create state changes and moods in the mind, body, and spirit. As an essential oil virgin, I began with the essential oil of lavender. Lavender or   Lavandula angustifolia, its binomial name, is in layman's term deemed as the "swiss army knife of essential oils". It is known to contain antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiviral, antispasmodic properties. This...

Palo Santo or otherwise known by its scientific binomial name as Bursera graveolens (important to note here and will be explained later), has been popping up everywhere-- yoga studios, spas, spiritual centers, even Whole Foods sells it now. It has become the modern day nag champa, an Indian incense that was widely popular, at least 20 years back. Back then, it was lit at the altar in virtually every yoga studio in NYC. Now Palo Santo seems to be taking its place.  So why is it so popular and considered as a modern day staple by so many holistically and spiritually oriented enterprises? Well I cannot speak with any certainty to the hundreds of businesses and their reason for use,...