Have you ever looked at the ingredients list on a store-bought chest rub? When you’re congested, bleary-eyed, and feeling like death warmed over, reading ingredients is not high on the priority list, but it’s also not comforting to find out that you just rubbed a semisolid soup of petroleum products onto your skin in order to give your respiratory passages some relief. The classic over-the-counter chest rubs are often less than 10% herbal ingredients, and approximately 90% petrolatum in the form of petroleum jelly, which is generally combined with turpentine. When petrolatum is not refined properly or entirely, as is sometimes the case in the U.S., it can be contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are known carcinogens particularly when used over a period of time. There are of course excellent petrolatum-free chest rubs on the market with all the herbal benefits and no carcinogenic ingredients. But why purchase something that you can easily make at home in 15 minutes and for less money?

Clean hands are the guardians of health. And while washing your hands with warm soapy water is always best, sometimes life doesn’t allow for that luxury. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where right after you touch something, you have this inexplainable urge to wash your hands? Sometimes you can just feel when something is icky. Having found myself with this reaction more in the past few months, it solidified my practice of carrying homemade hand sanitizer everywhere I go.

Sitting beside a fire is one of my favorite pastimes. The full sensory experience offers so many aspects of comfort: the sensation of being warm and cozy, the abstract performance of the flames dancing, the crackling sound of the wood changing form, the taste of herbal tea or a craft libation I’m likely sipping on, and of course the aroma! Each of these elements brings me closer to a place of peace and contentment.

2020 has been a year of rediscovery. As we have all been limiting trips to public places, many of us have found more interest in cooking and in creating DIY products to use around the home. It was fascinating to take a look at our top recipes of the year and reflect on just what our herbal community has found to be the most helpful in 2020. The silver lining to this year is that, although it has been difficult, we are more resilient than we were yesterday, and we will continue to learn and grow every day forward. We hope you enjoy this recipe roundup as living proof of our collective vision for a healthy and sustainable tomorrow. Cheers to a hopeful new year!

When life gets a bit madhouse, it can significantly impact our ability to process information efficiently. With so much “noise” all around us, it becomes hard to create a space where we can focus and nurture mental and emotional clarity. The folks who are home-schooling or working from home these days know this all too well! Many of us are turning to our favorite herbal allies as we negotiate these challenging days, and here at Mountain Rose Herbs, we’re seeing more questions from people who are exploring aromatherapy as part of the actions they are taking to create a calm in the storm. With that in mind, we put together this list of ten essential oils that have long-established reputations for supporting clarity and focus.

 Over the years, I’ve noticed that many natural fragrances don’t last quite as long as their chemical-laden counterparts. So, what is one to do when you don’t want to compromise a natural lifestyle to achieve an enjoyable, long-lasting fragrance? In my years-long journey of creating and testing homemade skincare and aromatherapy products, I’ve learned that not only are solid perfumes incredibly handy, but their texture also helps them stay on the skin longer.

Olfactory memories are powerful things. The other day I was at the feed store picking up cat food, and as I walked out, I caught a waft of chewing tobacco. Even before I could identify what I was smelling, my feet stopped walking and my Grandpa Albert—who is many years gone—popped into my head. There in my mind’s eye, he was in his overalls, with a plug of tobacco in his pocket, snuggling small-me in his lap, playing the penny counting game we used to play. This relationship between scent, emotion, and memory is hardwired in our brains—our olfactory bulb routes the smell information it receives to the limbic system, including the areas of our brain directly related to emotion and memory. This is why just a whiff of scent took me back decades and flooded me with the same warmth and comfort I experienced playing games with my beloved grandpa. These powerful connections are a fundamental factor in why aromatherapy can be supportive in managing mood and stress because what we smell literally impacts our brains… all of which brings me in a roundabout fashion to potpourri.

Candlelight is an element of winter holidays all over the world. Whether part of someone’s deeply held spiritual or cultural practices—as during Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Diwali—or representative of age-old Winter Solstice and Christmas traditions, candles are, for many of us, a fundamental part of our winter festivities… which means it’s a perfect time to make easy homemade scented candles in preparation for the celebrations, decorating, and gift giving.

Hydrosols are pure botanical extracts produced by distilling fresh leaves, fruits, flowers, and other plant material to create aromatic waters. Although they have similar properties to their essential oil counterparts, they are more delicately scented. These high-quality flower waters are loved for their ease of use and versatility in aromatherapy and body care formulations. Recently, we had the opportunity to speak with the husband-wife team who craft our certified organic hydrosols. During a brief lull in the harvest season, they graciously took a moment to tell us more about how they create these delightfully fragrant waters.

Stress impacts the human body and behavior in predictable ways. Chronic stress increases heart rate, elevates stress hormones, raises blood pressure, and causes a rash of affects that can include headaches, body pain, fatigue, nausea, sleep issues, emotional distress, etc., all of which, when left unchecked, contribute to serious health issues. We know that a healthy diet, plenty of exercise and rest, mindfulness, and relaxation are all key to long term stress-relief strategies. Together, they lower cortisol, increase endorphins, promote sleep, reduce negative effects of stress, and improve mood. The devil, of course, is in the details. Trying to carve out the time to exercise, cook a healthy meal, get more sleep, or do something we enjoy can be… well, stressful. Sometimes we just have time for something small and meaningful. And that, in a nutshell, is the beauty of incorporating essential oils into our lives; aromatherapy doesn’t require us to carve out extra time. Like firelight and relaxing music, these oils can gently boost contentment and relaxation while working quietly in the background of our days.

One of my favorite things about working with essential oils, besides their amazing properties, is blending them together. So, when it came time to craft our line of pure essential oil blends I was thrilled! Looking to the little bottles of oil filled with inspiration in my office, thinking about a Mountain Rose Herbs line of functional blends, I was able to focus not only on their aromas and how they work together, but also on their purpose. There are six inspirational blends in this line, each of which focuses on a specific need.