The staff at Hanna’s Herb Shop has been spending time getting a greater understanding of how essential oils can benefit our health, not just through aromatherapy but also through topical application or when ingested. Essential oils are nature’s living energy and the natural, aromatic liquids of shrubs, trees, roots, bushes, seeds, and flowers can address a variety of ailments. After spending some time researching Young Living’s therapeutic grade essential oils we’ve compiled a list of staff favorites and want to share them with you! Keep in mind this is only a sampling of the over 300 essential oil Young Living carries.

What makes Young Living so special?

Think of your home garden and how tedious the task of pulling weeds by hand can be. While you get the benefit of knowing there are no herbicides or pesticides on your plants, it’s a big job! Now consider that on a larger scale, say thousands of acres. It’s that sort of care that sets Young Living apart from other companies. From planting to cultivating, through harvest and distilling, each batch of oils has been treated with care based on the Four Ps.

• Plants: An oil’s potency can be affected not only by selecting the proper plant to cultivate but also by the quality of soil, where the seed is planted, and the time of day it is harvested. Young Living chooses only seeds that will produce the most active and widest array of therapeutic compounds and plants them under optimal conditions with ideal soil and natural methods to encourage growth.
• Preparation: Young Living uses a gentle, proprietary technique for steam-extracting the most potent essential oils and remains unmatched throughout the essential oil industry. Proper temperature, pressure, length of time, equipment standards, and batch size are strictly monitored to ensure that each distillation is successful.
• Purity: The standards under which “therapeutic grade” oils are made at Young Living prohibit the acceptance of any diluted, cut, or adulterated oils with each batch undergoing a Gas Chromatograph and Mass Spectrometer test, as well as a heavy metals analysis. Oils that exhibit even the slightest hint of possible adulteration or tampering are rejected.
• Potency: The naturally occurring compounds contained in each essential oil product from Young Living are of the highest and most consistent bioactive levels. Without strict adherence to the Plant, Preparation, and Purity phases of the 4 Ps, the final product would not have the necessary potency to create the desired effect.

Staff favorites from Young Living

While I regularly use Peppermint to ease headaches or Frankincense to ease aches, my favorite Young Living product is Sleep Essence. With Lavender, Vetiver, Mandarin, and Valerian essential oils I need only take one capsule about an hour before going to bed to ensure I’ll get a restful night’s sleep. Sleep Essence is non-habit forming and combines pure oils with melatonin for an aid that is safe and effective.

Caitlin is almost as excited about the story behind Thieves as the product. Clove, Lemon, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, and Rosemary oils are blended together to make this amazing antimicrobial that’s useful for your home and body. Add drops of Thieves to a spray bottle of water and spritz your home when someone is sick, rub the oil directly onto the bottoms of your feet when you’re ill, or add drops of the oil to juice or water to fight infection and sickness from the inside.

Thieves is surely at the top of the staff favorite list. Aside from Caitlin, Lindsey is also a fan of the oil but in the form of the Dentarome Toothpaste. Baking soda, Thieves, Peppermint, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, Lemon, and Wintergreen essential oils are blended into this natural toothpaste that Lindsey swears by: “It leaves my teeth feeling as clean as if I’ve just been to the dentist but without the fluoride!”

Joe prefers Lemon oil for its refreshing properties to the sinuses and for its numerous uses in household cleaning and for the body. Lemon can be used to fight anxiety, constipation, depression, common colds, fever, gout, hangovers, heartburn, kidney stones, lack of concentration, mumps, stress, and varicose veins! Why wouldn’t you keep a bottle around?

Because Kim is such a fan of Young Living, she couldn’t choose only one oil as a favorite. As someone who deals with fibromyalgia, Kim relies on Panaway (a blend of Wintergreen, Clove, Helichrysum, and Peppermint) for immediate relief from muscle pain and stiffness and Copaiba for long-term relief. Her third favorite is Valor (a blend of Spruce, Rosewood, Blue Tansy, and Frankincense in a base of almond oil) which she uses to balance and center herself.

Lavender is one of the most popular essential oils from Young Living and is Jenn’s favorite, especially in the hand and body lotion (discontinued). Wolfberry seed and jojoba oils fortify the skin and the pleasant aroma of Lavender make this rich lotion a staple in Jenn’s beauty regimen.

Chris is a fan of Cloves for its antiseptic properties and for how useful it is when applied topically during a toothache. Cloves oil is a main ingredient in Thieves and the high concentration of eugenol in clove oil boosts and regulates the body’s natural response to stress.

For Tom, the healing and restorative properties of Helichrysum for burns, acne, and other skin conditions is nothing short of remarkable. After badly burning his finger and applying Helichrysum to the area, the pain of the burn immediately left him and his finger healed within a couple of days with no marking. Aside from this oil, Tom enjoys diffusing oils throughout his house like Lavender in his bedroom and Sandalwood in the kitchen.

Star is a big fan of Young Living and had this to say about her top picks: My favorite Young Living products are Deep Relief, the Raindrop Technique Kit and Wintergreen.  Deep Relief is my absolute favorite Young Living oil!  It’s what I go for if I have muscle pain or stiffness from exercise or injury and it’s amazing how quickly it helps.  I especially like to put it on at night to help my body heal and restore while I sleep and find that I feel considerably better in the morning. The Raindrop Technique is an investment, but an amazing kit (discontinued) if you suffer from pain.  I have seen it give relief for people with chronic, long-term pain and it’s amazingly soothing to the whole body.  It comes with an instructional DVD and if you have another favorite oil that’s not included in the kit, that can be added into the protocol as well.  I think Wintergreen is one of the best things you can use if you’ve injured bone.  I had a hairline fracture in my foot a couple years ago and the Wintergreen helped ease the discomfort and speed the healing.

This is only a sample of staff favorites from the hundreds of products Young Living carries. While we do not stock each product on our shelves, we’re happy to make a special order for you should there be a product you’re interested in trying. We’re proud to have Young Living products in our shop and believe in their healing properties and the company’s unwavering commitment to purity. See all the Young Living products we carry.

Want to learn more about how essential oils can benefit your home and body? Take a look at these posts:

• Spring Cleaning, Naturally
• Sleep Better with Essential Oils
• DIY Essential Oil Uses
• DIY Essential Oil Fragrances for Home and Office
• Increase Energy Levels Naturally with Herbs and Oils