by Dr. Josh Axe
Holy basil. In ancient India, tulsi, as it is also known, was considered a sacred plant and often called the elixir of life—and its essential oil has been used by Ayurvedic healers for years to help the body adapt (and not overreact) to stressful conditions. Indeed, holy basil works as an adaptogen and contains stress-fighting compounds, including ocimumosides A and B, that lower blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol.46 Diffuse a few drops into the air during times of stress. Another paper, published in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, explained that holy basil can counterbalance internal biological stress as well, by normalizing blood glucose, blood pressure, and lipid levels.47 Indeed, in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial in people with non-insulin-dependent diabetes, holy basil decreased fasting as well as post-meal blood sugar levels.48 Add 1 drop a day to a favorite recipe to reap the benefits. What’s more, holy basil seems to bolster the immune system in a way that may offer protection from cancer.49 Holy basil oil also contains eugenol, a potent antimicrobial, which is helpful for skin disorders—and it’s anti-inflammatory, so it can lighten and brighten your skin. Put 2 or 3 drops in 1 teaspoon of coconut oil and use it on your skin. Precautions: Dab a drop on your skin before using it topically, because it may cause a rash in some people. Don’t use it topically on children. People with clotting disorders should avoid it, because eugenol is an anticoagulant.
Clove. Clove has been used around the world for health purposes for more than 1,500 years, and we now know that it possesses an abundance of therapeutic properties thanks to its off-the-charts antioxidant score. It’s actually ranked number one among herbs and spices. Per gram, cloves contain more antioxidants than blueberries—which means they have the ability to slow aging by reversing the damage caused by free radicals. Like holy basil, clove oil contains eugenol. This antimicrobial compound is responsible for the oil’s strong fragrance and many of its medicinal qualities. Laboratory research shows it can suppress the infection potential of a common flu virus.50 If you’re exposed to someone with a cold or the flu, put a few drops in a diffuser and inhale the scent, or mix a few drops with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and rub it on your neck and chest. What’s more, clove oil can fight candida fungal infections as successfully as nystatin, a dangerous drug often prescribed for thrush (yeast infections in the mouth), according to a study in Oral Microbiology and Immunology.51 To use, add 1 or 2 drops of clove oil to a few tablespoons of olive oil and swish it around your mouth 30 seconds. (It will help get rid of cavity-causing bacteria, too—and might relieve tooth pain.) You can also mix 1 drop with ½ teaspoon of coconut oil and rub it on a toddler’s gums to relieve teething pain. (For children younger than age two, substitute peppermint oil for clove.) Precautions: Because it is an anticoagulant, don’t use clove oil if you’re taking blood thinners. It also may negatively interact with SSRIs, a commonly prescribed type of antidepressant; avoid it if you’re taking one. Don’t ingest clove oil.
Eucalyptus. Long a favorite in Australian Aboriginal folk medicine, eucalyptus oil is often used to relieve pain. It’s effective thanks to its extremely high content of eucalyptol, which we now know to be a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. A clinical trial published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that the scent of eucalyptus oil can reduce pain after knee replacement surgery—and reduce blood pressure, too.52 Diffuse a few drops to reap the benefits. Diffusing eucalyptus oil can also improve a variety of respiratory conditions, from asthma to the common cold, because it seems to open up the nasal passages, allowing air to flow more freely. Similarly, if you have a persistent cough, a substance in eucalyptus oil known as cineole (which has bronchodilating properties) can significantly decrease the frequency of coughing fits, according to a study published in the journal Cough.53 Apply 2 or 3 drops to your chest and back of neck to relieve a cough. For a sore throat, apply several drops to your throat and chest. Here are two other pain-relieving uses: To get rid of headaches, rub 2 or 3 drops into your temples and the back of your neck. To relieve muscle pain, add 2 or 3 drops to 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and massage into your muscles. Precautions: Don’t take eucalyptus oil orally. If applying it to children’s skin, always dilute it with a carrier, like coconut oil.
Cedarwood. This tree oil has been used medicinally since ancient times. The Bible mentions cedar trees as a source of protection, wisdom, and abundance—and cedarwood oil does indeed have a surprising range of properties, from anti-inflammatory to antiseptic to sedative. Cedarwood oil is great for disinfecting wounds, thanks to its antiseptic activity. Just blend a few drops into 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and apply the mixture to cuts and scrapes to prevent infections. It also has calming effects, according to research published in Planta Medica,54 and can relieve stress and tension. It may even promote sleep. Simply take a few sniffs of the bottle or diffuse a few drops. What’s more, applying cedarwood oil in combination with the essential oils of thyme, rosemary, and lavender can improve hair growth.55 Add 3 or 4 drops of cedarwood oil, along with 1 drop of thyme, rosemary, and lavender oil, to your shampoo, or mix the same amounts of essential oils with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and massage it into your scalp. Let sit for 30 minutes, then shampoo. Precautions: Cedarwood oil shouldn’t be taken orally. Don’t use it if you’re pregnant, and use sparingly on children.
11 other essential oils to treat common issues
While the oils described above are the ones I recommend the most highly, a number of others possess healing properties that I’d like you to know about. Here are eleven more ancient oils, along with their most important benefits.
Helichrysum. It’s great for skin and can treat everything from hives to acne. Combine a few drops with a carrier oil and rub it onto the affected area. It’s safe to ingest a drop or two.
Sandalwood. This is a go-to oil for enhancing mental clarity, mood, and calm. Just add 3 drops to a diffuser or rub 3 drops onto your ankles and wrists.
Grapefruit. Trying to lose weight? Grapefruit oil boosts metabolism, reduces appetite, and encourages your body to burn fat. Inhale the scent directly from the bottle. It’s safe to ingest a drop or two.
Turmeric. The oil of this root has cancer-fighting properties and supports nerve regeneration in neurological diseases, like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Add 1 drop to a glass of water.
Roman chamomile. This calming oil eases anxiety and depression and improves sleep. Diffuse 5 drops or inhale the scent directly from the bottle.
Ginger. Ginger oil contains higher levels of the active ingredient gingerol than the edible root, which makes it even more effective for treating nausea, menstrual disorders, and digestion. Diffuse 2 or 3 drops or rub 1 or 2 drops into your abdomen. It’s safe to ingest a drop or two.
Myrrh. This ancient Biblical oil can help fight bacteria and fungal infections of the skin. Add 3 drops to 1 teaspoon of jojoba oil to treat staph or athlete’s foot.
Ylang-ylang. Use this as a natural energizer and mood stabilizer. Diffuse 3 drops or massage it into your temples.
Bergamot. Known to build confidence and enhance mood, bergamot is one of the best essential oils for depression. Diffuse 5 drops or rub 2 or 3 drops onto your stomach, feet, and the back of your neck.
Lemongrass. It’s great for relieving muscle aches and cramps (add 3 drops to 1 teaspoon of coconut oil and rub it on the sore spots). It can also repel mosquitos—and fleas on pets. Add 5 drops to water and spray it on yourself or your pet. It’s safe to ingest a drop or two.
Vetiver. Thanks to its relaxing and calming properties, it’s been shown to be helpful for kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Diffuse 3 to 5 drops. It’s safe to ingest a drop or two.
Consider this chapter your introduction to essential oils. Later in the book, I’ll explain other important ways to use these potent medicines, and I’ll go over some other oils that can be beneficial for your health. By understanding the basics of how and why these ancient therapeutic oils work, you can begin to experiment at home
—and find the remedies that work best for you.
CHAPTER 9
Emotional and Spiritual Secrets for Breakthrough Healing
Ancient Ways to Align Mind, Body, and Spirit
Sixty to 80 percent of all doctor visits involve an illness or issue that can be traced at least partly to stress, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.1 That statistic is not surprising. Stress is ubiquitous in modern life, and it can take a toll on every system in the body, from the cardiovascular, where it raises blood pressure and puts undue stress on your heart, to the gastrointestinal, where it weakens your gut wall, allowing toxins and food particles to enter the bloodstream.
Study after study has revealed the toxic nature of stress. And yet doctors rarely ask patients about it. The JAMA study found that just 3 percent of 33,045 office visits with primary care physicians included stress management counseling. Only the patients who were suffering from depression received counseling, leading the researchers to conclude that physicians may not recognize the role stress plays in other types of health conditions.
But in the ancient world, health practitioners knew that all emotional and physical issues have emotional and physical causes. In fact, the idea that the health of the mind is important to the health of the body is as old as medicine itself. It was a cornerstone of Hippocrates’ philosophy, as well as TCM and Ayurvedic medicine. And that idea colors the approach of doctors who work in these traditions in dramatic ways. For instance, whereas a conventional modern doctor sees depression as a lack of serotonin in the brain (and treats it with a serotonin-boosting antidepressant), a TCM practitioner sees that the root cause of depression stems from unresolved emotional issues like hurt, guilt, shame, low self-worth, no sense of purpose, or few true friends—and would identify and treat those factors, with everything from herbs and diet to behavioral and lifestyle changes, to restore a patient to full health.
In ancient medicine, addressing the emotional causes of disease is the first priority, whereas in Western medicine it’s the last—and signs of this lapse are everywhere. We’re in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, with two in five people in the United States reporting that they sometimes or always feel lonely or socially isolated; Western doctors don’t address this issue, even though loneliness can be as damaging to health as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.2 Likewise, the so-called deaths of despair—mortality from suicide, drugs, and alcohol—have recently surpassed anything seen in the United States since the dawn of the twentieth century, when alcohol-related deaths were high.3 But Western medicine is ill-equipped to cope with the problem. And nearly three in five adults say they could use more emotional support than they received in the past year, according to the American Psychological Association’s Stress in America 2019 survey—the highest proportion of adults who indicated that since the survey first asked the question in 2014. Why don’t they receive it? Because Western medicine is so focused on using pharmaceuticals to treat physical and emotional symptoms that they ignore the simple truth that sometimes people just need emotional connection.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. As you know by now, ancient medicine was designed to take the whole human being into account—body, mind, and spirit. As a result, early physicians created a variety of approaches to help patients cope with stress, bolster their spirits, and keep their bodies and minds in wholesome balance. By utilizing these approaches, you can do the same—and avoid the dangerous medicines modern doctors dole out as well.
A glimpse of the ancient approach in action
Not long ago, I consulted with a family friend, Julia, who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Understandably, she was frightened and worried, and she wanted to do everything she could to fight the disease. So I gave her a laundry list of dietary changes I wanted her to try—including loading up on green juices, green foods, and herbal teas. I explained to her that from the ancient Chinese perspective, the root cause of cancer is blood and qi stagnation. When blood, nutrients, and energy are sluggish, your body doesn’t clear toxins or neutralize abnormal cells as efficiently. The green foods and herbs I recommended can strengthen and mobilize qi.
But there’s something else for qi (and cancer) that’s equally important, something that Western oncologists almost never take into account: your emotions and sense of spirituality. Your body reacts to toxic thoughts and emotional trauma by churning out the stress hormone cortisol—and the result is the same as if you ate a diet of junk food: You develop chronic inflammation. Childhood trauma can be particularly damaging. The CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences Study found that emotional abuse, chronic neglect, and exposure to violence can lead to long-term changes in inflammation, immunity, and brain structure, putting children at risk for emotional problems as well as a host of chronic health conditions, including cancer, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.4
But while long-term negative emotions contribute to stagnation and inflammation, uplifting feelings and the sense that you’re connected to something larger than yourself can be the secret antidote that protects you from chronic health problems; helps you cope with sadness, anger, and stress; and gives you the resilience to handle life’s inevitable challenges. Regardless of what you’re dealing with, infusing your life with more positivity and healthy emotion is powerful medicine. In a study of more than seventy thousand women and fourteen hundred men, Harvard researchers found that over the course of ten years (for women) and twenty years (for men), those who scored highest on a standard test of optimism were the least likely to die.5 And here’s the best part: While emotions may seem like waves of feeling that are beyond your control, there are actually a number of simple strategies that can help you create healthy emotions and, as importantly, help you process and cope with negative emotions.
As I explained to Julia, lack of hope—understandably common in cancer patients—is a key cause of stagnation. When you hear the word cancer, it’s natural to become fearful about your future. And the medical community often feeds this emotion by sharing worst-case survival statistics. As I chatted with Julia, I discovered that according to the five elements theory of Chinese medicine, her dominant element is wood, so she is prone to frustration and anger, both of which can contribute to stagnation. Those feelings were flaring up after her diagnosis because, like many people with cancer, Julia felt like all the hard work she’d done in trying to achieve her life goals was being thwarted by something that was outside her control.
To counteract the stagnating effect of these emotions, I had several phone calls with Julia, and we worked on shifting her focus from fear and frustration to her hopes and dreams for the future. In addition, I asked her to start each day with positive affirmations: “I am strong and resilient and my body is getting healthier every day,” for instance, or “I am filled with love, joy, and gratitude for my family, my friends, and my future.” I also asked her to spend time reading the Bible or a favorite book about spiritual growth. Finally, I suggested she start a meditation practice focused on patience and gratitude, spend time with uplifting people, pray for healing, and try, as best she can, to accept that while she can’t control everything in life, she can have faith that she’s done everything she can and that her fate is in God’s hands. The goal: to help her feel more joy, hopefulness, gratitude, and love—even during her difficult ordeal—because those emotions can reignite the qi and serve as a potent catalyst for healing.
Nine months after her diagnosis, I reached out to Julia to see how she was faring. She had opted to get a mastectomy, she told me, but had declined chemo. She said that thanks to her healthy diet, she had lost twenty pounds, had energy to spare, and was feeling better than she had in years. What’s more, she said, all the emotional strategies she’d added to her daily life had helped her turn her attitude around. She was feeling optimistic and excited about her future. And, while she continued to get regular checkups to ensure that her health was stable and the cancer hadn’t re
appeared, she said she could actually feel her body healing.
By supporting the best of Western medicine—cutting-edge surgery—with powerful ancient remedies, Julia was able to restore not only her health but also her faith in her body’s ability to heal.
The risks of toxic emotions—and the ones that are the most likely to affect you
Julia’s experience wouldn’t have been surprising to ancient physicians. Early TCM practitioners believed that fear causes disease in your reproductive organs, anger allows toxicity to build up in your liver, depression weakens your immune system, worry destroys your digestive health, and anxiety harms your heart and brain. The goal in TCM is to live calmly, between emotional extremes.