Dear Readers,

If you’ve been reading my Aromatherapy for the Chakras series this far, thank you! If not, you can catch up here and here. You will notice this post takes on a different format. It’s intentional.

I’ve worked for approximately 7 years in the grocery industry, primarily in the health food market. I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside registered dieticians and certified nutritional therapists. I’ve worked with those who have a special interest and passion for alternative health modalities ranging from those like me who are certified or otherwise licensed to those who self-study. I’ve helped countless customers who have a genuine interest in doing all they can to support their overall wellness from the highly functional to the emotionally and spiritually bereft, while finding my own path to wholeness. Overall, I have enjoyed this work and all the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet. In this time, I’ve also observed and learned so much about food, nutrition, supplemental support, people, energy, and marketing.

One hears all kinds of things working in the health food industry because generally speaking, those who subscribe to a more organic or natural way of life like to make informed decisions about what they’re putting into and on their bodies. It’s been my experience, however, that it’s not just nutritional wellness literature they’re subscribing to, but a spectrum of thought, philosophy, and theories ranging on a spectrum from New Age to extreme and dangerous Conservatism (I fail to arrive at the accurate word to describe this recent surge of extremism) and a similar form of extremism masked as New Age. I’ve considered media and conversations dripping in otherworldly phenomenon and have literally received an invitation from a “concerned” and highly educated individual to join a conservative religious community far out in the country to escape the “evil and danger” of my “liberal” city. And by the way, could I organize our delivery trucks to transport people out of my city to their compound? Not even joking.

Beyond the past year-and-a-half, the energy of Fear as a mass market motivator has been ever present. We are familiar with its effect. Fear is loud in its medium whether it’s shouted through a megaphone to a mass crowd or whispered from individual to individual. Fear breeds suspicion. Suspicion breeds hate. Fear is a powerful marketing tactic! It knows no border and gets us to do all kinds of things without thinking and spreads across any individual who will invite it in.

Fear energetically starves us in one way or another. It builds various walls around what we are meant to digest and absorb, which would otherwise create nutritive support for ourselves, and motivates us to shut out and run away from thoughtful, respectful discourse and discernment because we are so sure we see things a certain way and thus, that is the truth. It polarizes us.

This is dysfunctional fear, fear that doesn’t actually have to do with biological safety (think fight or flight) and it lives in the energetic gut, the Solar Plexus. It keeps our thinking small, starved, and so we want more information, more data to prove our false justifications behind this fear, but it will always leave us hungry for more because it’s not actually feeding us. It’s feeding itself. It is a parasite.

I could share about the Solar Plexus Chakra, or energy center, as I’d prefer to call it, that lies above the pubic bone and under the base of the sternum. That houses all digestive organs and energetically governs their functions. That governs our sense of identity, will, how we take up space, and move about in our world. That influences our rational thinking and voice. That takes into consideration our environs, the cacophony of noise and information we receive daily, and helps us to sort though and absorb what we hear, see, and otherwise experience. That, tied to our physical gut, has been called our second brain and the ground floor of our intuition. I could share which essential oils are thought to help create balance in this energy center. But what am I adding to this already fat stack of info you can access for free literally everywhere online?

I’d rather strongly encourage you to put down your phone or laptop and take a walk in nature where you can hear your own voice. Spend time with the trees, literally sit with them, and consider their form, their scent, how long it took them to grow and what environmental moments they’ve survived and flourished in. Listen to the birds. Can you distinguish one call from the next? Smell the local flora. Notice the scent on the air of the season. This is your aromatherapy. This is aromatherapy for the solar plexus. This is work to help bring harmony to the solar plexus. Get nose to nose with the moss and other things that grow close to the ground. What does this inspire?

Be still, be quiet, and just notice without judgement. Do this often.

So often we focus on “grounding the root chakra” to feel balanced and secure in our world when actually, we just needed to find the anchor of our Self before Fear, and our relationship with it, blew us around.

On a recent walk in a wildlife and nature preserve, Goldenrod joyfully bobbed its gold-drenched head and reminded me to be myself. Many people see goldenrod and think “Allergies! Stay away!” Goldenrod is actually used in herbal medicine to address allergy complaints*. And yet, despite this misconception, it manages to thrive in abundance supporting a vital habitat for pollinators. When in doubt, take a lesson from Goldenrod: know thyself and remember the roots of joy that connect us. This is your true nature.

Kindly,

Erin

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To note: Goldenrod is a member of the Aster family. If you have allergies to members of the Aster family, it’s best to avoid goldenrod.

This information is not approved by the FDA, is only intended to inspire/educate, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, mitigate disease or substitute mental healthcare from licensed medical professionals. If you are experiencing chronic physical and mental health concerns, please see your physician or mental health practitioner.