Relieve Stress With Yoga, Essential Oils, & Candles

Once upon a time, in a far away land, a long long time ago, I used to do yoga. Like, three times a week. It was delightful and a terrific stress relief. Fast forward to now, I have more stress than ever and I don't have much room to do yoga at home, or time/money to do it not at home.

A few days ago, I cleared the biggest space I could on my living room floor, rolled out my mat, doused a few "candle holders" in oils, lit some palm candles and forced myself to do about fifteen minutes worth of asanas. It was absolutely exhilarating. I found such joy and peace in just relaxing. I can't wait to move into a bigger space so I can practice yoga more frequently. By the way, the menu screen from the movie Argo provided the musical experience for my yoga this time. I have also found this lovely musical track.

In the meantime, I want to share a trick I found the other day. If you have votive candles, do this for a great essential oils experience. Cut a toilet paper tube in half, or a paper towel tube in four, and stand them on plates, drip essential oils onto them (drench it really,) cut some slits in the top if your candle is bigger around on top like mine. Insert candle into tube, light, and breathe amazingness while they burn.

Note: In the photo, the candle that I had closer to a fan burned lower and faster so the oil spilled from the candle a bit - hence the need for a plate, or like I used, the lids from some food storage containers.

I'm not a certified aromatherapist, any effort made to explain use of essentials oils is based on my own experience and research. Please do your own research or consult an aromatherapist before using essentials oils to enhance your yoga experience.