Ever since stress actually become a word defined in the dictionary, we’ve been seeing more and more of it everywhere we turn our heads. People are overwhelmed with the daily activities that society currently demands everyone to perform, so unwinding when there’s so much to think of almost seems impossible.

However, you might have heard about this “magic cure” for stress that comes in a tiny bottle, with some sort of powerful scent. That, my friend, is essential oil, and it has a few aces up its sleeve.

Can Aromatherapy Reduce Stress?

Long story short: yes. But you might want to hear the long version as well. It turns out that inhaling the scents provided by essential oils can increase your hormone production, with significant impact on your brain chemistry as well.

If touch and smell are combined, that’s when you truly get the best out of aromatherapy. You can choose to create blends for topical application, sprays and perfumes from mixtures of essential oils, and even use them in diffuser to prolong the background aroma for you to freely inhale.

That being said, let’s explore some of the most common (and a few uncommon) recipes for aromatherapy that can ease stress, anxiety, and promote a sense of calm and relaxation.

Decompression Diffuser Blend

When you’re ready to decompress at the end of a long day, or if you’re looking for new ways to calm nerves down on an all-too-short weekend, you can turn to this masculine-scented combination of essential oils that calms the nerves of those who need it the most.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 2 drops Frankincense
• 1 drop Pine
• 1 drop Cedarwood

Directions:

This recipe is about as straightforward as it can get: just grab your aromatherapy diffuser, add drops of these three oils as per the dosage instructions given, and allow yourself to inhale an amazing blend that’s known to calm the nerves and pave the way for relaxing quality time.

Insomnia-Related Stress Relief

Insomnia affects plenty of people in today’s modern and stressful society. There are many things that cause people to stay up at night: from financial difficulties to relationship problems. While there are solutions, such as over the counter sleep aids, that could provide a temporary solution, one can’t take melatonin supplements forever. And that’s where aromatherapy can step in and save the day.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 7 drops of Clary Sage
• 4 drops lemon oil
• 6 drops of lavender oil
• 1 fl. oz. (30ml) almond oil

Directions:

Wash your hands before beginning the process. With your right hand, pour each of the essential oils mentioned in the “ingredients” section, making sure you follow the proportions, to get the best out of your blend.

When all the ingredients are in the left palm of your hand, rub your hands together to mix all the oils. Inhale the aroma, taking a deep breath. Then, proceed to apply the mixture on your temples and the back of your neck, using slow, but firm movements as you do so.

For the maximum effect, keep your eyes closed and focus on calming your nerves. Think of something that you enjoy doing very much, to help unwind some of that tension that’s keeping you awake.

Stress-Relieving Blend

The benefits of essential oils have long been studied by researchers in many different contexts. Evidence suggests that certain types of oils are good at improving memory, helping people focus, but also alleviating stress and anxiety. With that in mind, how about trying one of the stress-relieving blends for a change? This stress relief essential oil blend is perfect!

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 7 tsp. of carrier oil (such as grape seed oil, avocado oil, or sweet almond oil)
• 3 drops of Lemongrass
• 4 drops of Lavender
• 4 drops of Mandarin
• 5 drops of Bergamot

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together the essential oils, and add the carrier oil at the end, to dilute the entire mixture. Then, using your clean bare hands, soak in the oil and gently rub in on your chest. Use large circular motions, rubbing until your skin absorbs the mixture. Remember to inhale deeply while doing so.

Bergamot & Geranium Massage Balm

Ready to take things up a notch and create a mixture that you can store and use whenever you feel like daily problems are bringing you down? The sweet citrus scent of Bergamot is great for uplifting spirits, while Geranium oil can treat anxiety and depression, calms down your nervous system, and encourages harmony and communication. This relaxing essential oil recipe is easy and works.

Essential Oils and Ingredients:

• 12 drops of Clary Sage
• 18 drops of Geranium
• 30 drops of Bergamot
• 85 ml of Apricot Kernel oil
• 15 gr of Cocoa Butter
• Clean container

Directions:

Turn on the stove on low heat, put a pan on top of the fire, and mix the cocoa butter with apricot kernel oil until you’ve created a homogenous blend. Remove the pan from the stove and leave the mixture to cool down.

Then add each of the other three essential oils, mixing everything as you go along. You can store the mixture in a container and save it for later use. Just make sure that the bottle or jar that you choose is clean, and that you don’t leave the mixture in direct sunlight.

Note that citrus essential oils (such as Bergamot) require avoiding sunlight or UV rays exposure. Also keep in mind that geranium and clary sage oils are to be avoided during pregnancy.

Soothing Blend

The following recipe relies heavily on the benefits of citrus essential oils. Aside from being a really great antiseptic, citrus essential oil induces a state of calm and relaxation, being a much better choice for unwinding compared to synthetic sedatives. Citrus essential oil doesn’t have negative effects, and helps restore inner peace in a very natural manner. This calming essential oil recipe is a great way to relax.

Essential Oils and Ingredients:

• 25 drops of lemon (can be replaced with grapefruit, lime, or orange essential oil)
• 10 drops of rosemary
• 10 drops of lavender
• Clean container

Directions:

There are three ways for you to enjoy the stress-relieving benefits of this mixture:

You can blend the oils together, and then use a diffuser to which you add about six drops of the mixture, and leave the machine to do the rest.

If you use an essential oil necklace, add about two or three drops of oil to it.

If you want to apply the mixture on your skin, you will have to add carrier oil (such as coconut). About one and a half spoons should do the trick.

You can always store the mixture in a clean bottle or, for those of you that want to apply on the skin, in a roll-on container.

“Just Be Happy” Diffuser Blend

Very suggestive name, isn’t it? Truth it, with the right mixture of essential oils, you can inspire your well-being through aromatherapy, by using a recipe such as the one below.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 2 drops of Frankincense
• 2 drops of Bergamot
• 2 drops of Orange

Directions:

The six drops of essential oils should go in your diffuser, diluted in about 100 or 200 ml of water (this depends on the capacity of your diffuser’s tank).

Stress-Away Oil Diffuser Blend

The combination below brings forth the benefits of four different essential oils that will soothe the mind and relax the body. Ylang-ylang smell is sweet and powerful, and is known for its antidepressant role, but also for helping people cope with chronic stress. It blends perfectly with marjoram oil, which promotes brain function, relieves headaches, but also acts as a natural sedative.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 4 drops of lavender
• 3 drops of clary sage
• 2 drops of ylang-ylang
• 1 drop of marjoram

Directions:

Simply add all the 10 drops of oil into your cool-air diffuser, and sit back and relax. Close your eyes and inhale deeply, allowing the mixture of scent to be absorbed by your cognitive system.

Subdued Diffuser Blend

It has long been believed that sacred mountain essential oil can promote a sense of power, but also of grounding and stabilizing the nervous system. By mixing it with geranium essential oil, you will end up with a uniform, yet highly beneficial diffuser blend.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 3 drops Sacred Mountain
• 1 drop Geranium

Directions:

Throw those essential oil drops into the diffuser, indulging yourself in the powerful floral scent of geranium. Think of a quiet place you’d like to be in, and witness how aromatherapy really tones down those levels of stress and anxiety.

Stress-Reducing Blend

One of the greatest advantages of turning to essential oils for reducing stress is the fact that you can use them every day, with no downsides. Regardless of the method of aromatherapy chosen, always avoid ingesting essential oils, but rather look for ways to inhale them or apply them on your skin.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 1 drop Frankincense
• 1 drop Lavender
• 1 drop Bergamot

Directions:

There are many different ways for you to use this apparently simple combination of three drops of essential oils. You can simply add each drop into your aromatherapy diffuser and let the device do its trick.

You can also apply the drop on key points on your body, such as the neck or bottom of the feet. You can create a spray mixture, for which you will need to combine water and the essential oils into a clean spray bottle. Feel free to rub the essential oils on the palm of your hands and inhale them.

Stress & Anxiety Inhaler

Another way to benefit from essentials oil when you’re away from home is to create your very own aromatherapy inhaler. Since you can’t take your diffuser with your wherever you go, and you’ll probably look very weird rubbing essential oils in the palms of your hands in the middle of the stress, consider the inhaler as the best “on the go” item to have to relieve stress.

Ingredients:

• Aromatherapy Inhaler
• Cotton Pad
• Tweezers
• 20 drops of Essential Oils (you can use combinations like Patchouli & Cedarwood; Vetiver & Roman Chamomile; Geranium & Sweet Marjoram & Patchouli & Sweet Orange, etc.)

Directions:

Use a clean bowl to mix together the different essential oils you’ll be using for this blend. But the cotton pad so that it can fit inside your inhaler tube.

Then soak the pad in the bowl with the essential oils blend, leaving there to absorb as much of it as possible.

By using a clean pair of tweezers, grab the cotton pad and stuff it inside the aromatherapy inhaling tube. Close the tube and you’re good to go.

Essential Oil Blends for Stress & Anxiety Relief

A mixture of lavender and ylang-ylang oil might be just what you need to calm down when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Studies have shown that ylang-ylang essential oil can lower blood pressure and the level of stress hormones inside the body. Lavender essential oil also helps, because it reduces work-related stress, as studies have found.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 5 drops Lavender
• 2 drops Roman Chamomile
• 4 drops Ylang-Ylang
• 1 oz. Carrier Oil

Directions:

This mix of essential oils can either be inhaled. You can mix the ingredients inside a small container. Whenever you feel the need to unwind, just open the bottle, hold it a few inches away, and breathe deeply, allowing your senses to be flooded with sweet scents.

Bye Bye Stress

Vetiver makes quite the versatile essential oil, so it’s no surprise that it also has major stress-relieving benefits. It is one of the more manly ingredients in the perfume industry, but in India and Sri Lanka, it is often referred to as the “oil of tranquility”.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 5 drops lavender
• 3 drops vetiver
• 2 drops ylang-ylang

Directions:

The recipe is very simple: just add these drops into your diffuser, together with the amount of water recommended by the manufacturer, and allow the fragrances to work their magic for about 15 to 60 minutes.

Relaxing Essential Oil Recipes

Balancing Blend

With studies to support the scientific claims that essential oils are actually good for relieving stress and anxiety, here is yet another mixture that will at least give you a fragrance to fall in love with, if not the full benefits of tuning down a long and stressful day.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 6 drops Ylang-Ylang
• 3 drops Orange
• 2 drops Bergamot
• 8 drops Patchouli
• 3 tablespoons carrier oil
• 3 drops Grapefruit

Directions:

Grab a clean recipient and mix all the essential oils together. Wash your hands, and then apply a little bit of oil on the tips of your fingers. Gently rub the tips on your neck.

Since it’s diluted with carrier oil, the mixture can be safely used on the skin. You might want to consider using an empty and clean roll-on container to deposit the mixtures, because it stands as a mess-free solution for future applications.

Full Body Massage

Massaging essential oil mixture on your body gives you skin the chance to absorb the nutrients, giving the largest organ on your body a chance to soak in the benefits provided by different plants and flowers. Not only is the fragrance itself relaxing, but a massage will always unwind tense muscles, doubling the relaxation that you can get from trying out this method of therapy.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 2 drops Basil
• 2 drops Bergamot
• 2 drops Geranium
• 8 drops Lavender
• 1 oz. Carrier Oil

Directions:

As another topical application, this blend of essential oil requires carrier oil to dilute it, so choose something like coconut oil. Mix all of the oils into a clean bowl, and massage your body thoroughly. If need be, you can ask someone to help you massage your back area, as this is harder to reach comfortably.

Relax & Unwind Diffuser Blend

This blend combines the sedative effects of lavender oil (which, by the way, is an excellent mosquito repellant as well) with the refreshing and uplifting properties of bergamot essential oil. The result is a mixture ready to be used in any aromatherapy diffused, bound to please the senses and make your mind drift away to a happy place.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 3 drops Lavender
• 3 drops Bergamot

Directions:

Just add these six drops into your diffuser, together with about 100 or 200 ml of water, turn the gadget on, and give yourself the much-needed pampering you deserve.

“I’m ready to relax” Oil Diffuser Recipe

Patchouli essential oil is in the big league: it can relieve depression, fight off colds, control one’s appetite, be used as an antibacterial agent, treat acne, but also ease stress and anxiety. Add it into a good combination of other essential oils, such as ylang-ylang, and you’ve got yourself a concoction that can relax your body and your brain cells.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 3 drops Patchouli
• 3 drops Ylang-Ylang

Directions:

Pour in the aforementioned quantity of the two essential oils into the water tank or special oil tray of your diffuser and let the relaxation begin.

De-stress & Relax

If floral scents are your thing, get ready for a very strong combination, where lavender meets the unmistakable fragrance of ylang-ylang. The entire blend is like a midnight stroll through a fully-bloomed garden, where aromas mix into the romantic night air. The citrus scent of bergamot was the missing piece in this equation, and when these three come together, you know you’re in for a (relaxed) treat.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 2 drops ylang-ylang
• 2 drops bergamot
• 2 drops lavender

Directions:

Add the drops in the water tank or the special tray of your aromatherapy diffuser and inhale the unique aroma of sweet and tingly essential oils.

Anti-Stress Relaxing Essential Oil Blend

During dreaded winter days, when all you want is to get home and crawl in your favorite PJs, stress levels can sometimes skyrocket (especially when the winter holidays are just around the corner). Thankfully, you can enjoy the scent and benefits of the wonderful rose essential oil, because it has a sweet calm scent that’s reminiscent of summer days.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 6 drops rose absolute
• 4 drops lavender
• 4 drops orange

Directions:

Add the recommended drops of each of the three essential oils into the diffusers tank. Keep in mind that rose essential oil has a very powerful fragrance, so the combination in the given quantities may be a little too much for small rooms.

To avoid an unpleasant situation, reduce the quantities if you’re using the diffuser in a small room.

Calming Essential Oils Recipes

“Take It Easy” Calming Diffuser Blend

In today’s fast-paced society, stress is quite a common phenomenon. Relieving yourself of stress is tough, and it often seems like you can’t do it unless you take some sedatives to put you to sleep. However, with a recipe like the following, you can finally put that old diffuser to good use, and indulge in an ancient tradition of healing with whatever nature has to offer.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 3 drops lavender
• 1 drop cedarwood
• 1 drop wild orange
• 1 drop ylang-ylang

Directions:

Add individual drops of these oils to your diffuser, or create a mixture and then mix it with the water inside the tank. Sit back, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and enjoy!

Calming Massage Oil

Here’s a new additional to the stress-relieving family. Neroli is a flower that has a very specific sweet and spicy smell, leading to the creation of an essential oil that can ease anxiety levels like no other. Petitgrain oil also joins the party, with its abilities to promote serenity and relaxation. Put these two together with some orange oil and you’ve got yourself a delightful trio of playful aromas.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 4 drops of Neroli
• 5 drops of Orange
• 6 drops of Petitgrain
• 15 ml carrier oil

Directions:

Create a mixture of the carrier oil of your choice with the 15 drops from the three essential oils mentioned above. Soak your hands into the mixture and firmly rub your shoulders and your back.

“Calming The Storm” Oil Diffuser Recipe

For a very long time, chamomile has been a plant of serenity and healing. Chamomile tea has been used for centuries is inducing calmness, often drunk when people needed to relax and fall asleep faster. That’s because chamomile isn’t just good for the digestive tract; it can also promote inner balance, reducing stress levels and improving the overall mood.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 4 drops Lavender
• 3 drops Chamomile

Directions:

With just seven drops of essential oils into the tank of your diffuser, you can create a concoction that doesn’t just smell heavenly, but penetrates your senses and your muscles up to a point where you feel like you have no choice but to relax.

Calming Blend Oil Diffuser Recipe

If we were to ignore all the benefits that essential oils bring to the table, we’d still be left with the pleasure of inhaling aphrodisiac fragrances. So, there’s really no disadvantage to integrating essential oils in your life.

Essential Oil Ingredients:

• 3 drops lavender
• 3 drops geranium
• 2 drops roman chamomile
• 2 drops clary sage
• 2 drops ylang-ylang

Directions:

If you want to take things up a notch, how about experimenting with a stronger scent? Create a mixture out of all these essential oils, and then add a few drops in your aromatherapy diffuser.

Conclusion

Are there any different essential oil blends that you have tried in the past and would absolutely recommend to someone who needs a healthy and affordable way to release some of that accumulated tension? Feel free to share, we’d love to hear about new fragrances and combinations!