Angelman Today January / February edition 2014 | Page 28

Aromatherapy and Angels
By Shari Caspert Mom of 17 year old Matthew

Sleep and Stress Management: using Essential Oils for Angels, Teachers, Caretakers and “You”!
I was introduced to Young
Living Essential Oils three
years ago by another special
needs Mom, our son Matthew
was 14 at the time…
I really had no experience with
essential oils, or aromatherapy.
I always thought that we lived a
pretty healthy life style, ate
well, exercised & tried to get a
good nights sleep - tricky with
our Angelman Kids!
We are now a family that lives
on Stress Away, Deep Relief,
Lavender, Peace & Calming,
Frankincense, Lemon, Thieves,
Ningxia, Peppermint and more..
This is my everyday survival
kit!!!
I am sure that you are
wondering, How can this help
me?
A little cautious, I began our
journey... my first move was to
rid toxic chemicals out of
Matthews environment...No
more Purell, Antibacterial
soaps, toxic cleaning products,
shampoo or toothpaste. I had no
idea that these everyday items
were compromising Matthew’s
life, disrupting hormones and
causing inflammation in his
already busy body, gut and
brain.
What’s in your Environment?
I replaced everything in our
home with “Thieves” , a blend
of Clove, Cinnamon,
Eucalyptus, Rosemary &

Lemon oil. You can’t control every
environment our Angels are in but I
continued with Matthew’s school,
where he spends 6 hours a day.
There he works on Adult Daily
Living skills so I provide his own
special, non toxic ADL kit Thieves hand sanitizer, foaming
soap, toothpaste, Ningxia (an
antioxidant drink). No more
Triclosan, anti bacterial products,
boxed fruit juices and other
products loaded with harmful
chemicals.
My next step was to diffuse and
topically apply different oils.
(Therapeutic grade only. You must
be very careful where you get them
from). Not all essential oils actually
contain therapeutic and healing
properties. Many oils/lotions found
at general health food stores contain
additives or chemicals and may
contain plant lifeblood to some
degree, but they have not been
processed in a way to guarantee
therapeutic constituencies that can
heal. That’s why it is important to
know how the oil is processed and
what claims can be made for using
it.

I started with the basics,
Lavender. I started diffusing
Lavender in Matthew’s room
every night, an hour before he
went to bed, and he slept, so did
we! This has helped to reduce
stress for all of us. If you are
wondering, the fun cool air
diffuser with the light and steam
(see photo above) does not
remain unattended in his room!
Too much fun for sure! I also put
a few drops of Lavender in his
Epsom salt bath, and on his
pillow so it diffuses all night.
Lavender has helped us to
Relax, Stay Calm, Breathe and
Heal.
Our next oil was Peace and
Calming. The name alone
hooked me. This is a blend of
tangerine, orange, blue tansy,
pachouli & ylang ylang. The
sense of smell is a powerful one
and this helps with anxiety,
behavior and to take the edge off
us all. Much to our surprise this
started to help not only Matthew,
but his bus aides, personal aide
and our family.
I apply Thieves on his/our feet
everyday. For those of you into
reflexology there are incredible
benefits, a conversation for
another day...I like applying this
with a roller cap as I have to be
fast with him as he is always on
the move! I diffuse & spray
Thieves to kill any airborne mold
spores and germs. No one got
sick last year!!!