Calming Lotion Bars + A Plant Therapy Giveaway!

I’m slightly dramatic which makes stressful instances a bit more, well, stressful. And I’m pretty sure if you asked my husband about my dramatic personality, he’d say I’m more than just slightly.

I can’t help it.

Sometimes I get into a mode where I feel like I’m on a movie scene and I need to make things a million times worse then what they are. It’s rather interesting when I catch myself in one of my dramatic episodes and realize I have to take it down a few notches and breathe.

Breathe, Loriel. Think calming thoughts.

I often find myself trying to keep calming thoughts in my mind. Between my highly spirited three year old, blog work and making sure the house is not a complete disaster and my family is fed, I tend to get stressed out a little more than I need to. It’s the nature of the beast, right?

That is why I always try to be mindful of how I’m feeling but more importantly, how I’m reacting. I’m sure I’m not the only one… or at least I hope I’m not! Life can throw some pretty crazy days, weeks and years at you and it can be hard to stop and just breathe. Stress is a serious ailment and I personally think it can have more of a negative impact then all the other diseases floating around right now.

Less stress, more breathing.

More breathing means a more calming state of mind.

What if I said you could take “calming” wherever you go? Sure, you can mentally take it with you but let’s face it, trying to stay mentally calm out of sheer will is hard. Impossible? Nah, but definitely hard. So when I say you can take “calming” with you, I meant physically. Like, in a lotion bar.

Seriously — no joke.

These lotion bars are made with calming and centering essential oils like lavender, frankincense and clary sage. Below are a few characteristics of the oils I chose and why:

• Frankincense induces a feeling of mental peace, relaxation, satisfaction, spirituality and has said to have a centering effect on emotions
• Lavender balances energy which helps rejuvenate and inspire a tired person but will also soothe and slow down someone who is stressed or tense
• Clary sage has been used for anxiety and depression by helping work through feelings of intolerance to others and life situations

As you can see, these three oils are the perfect combination to concoct a calming lotion bar. What I really love is it not only nourishes your mind and soul, it nourishes your skin with sweet almond oil and shea butter.

See, when I said you could take calming with you, I really wasn’t joking.

Since lotion bars are small and cute, it makes them extremely portable. You can keep a little jar or metal tin in your purse, backpack or whatever you use to carry things around to always have “calming” with you. Not only does the lotion bar smell calming but it can also be a reminder to think calming thoughts. Whenever you’re stressing because your toddler just had his/her 23498745 tantrum of the day, the house looks like a tornado came through and turned everything up and it’s only 9 in the morning, well, you can escape to your bathroom, pull out a lotion bar and while you’re rubbing it on your skin, it can be a great physical reminder to just breathe.

Don’t forget to share the love and hand them out to other people in your life who may need a bit more calming essence in their lives.

In order for me to personally share the love of a calm peace of mind, my friends at Plant Therapy have agreed to give away the essential oils and sweet almond oil used to make this recipe to one of my lucky readers! Exciting, right?

Plant Therapy has become my very favorite essential oil company because of their quality, their affordability but most importantly, their commitment to safety. They employ two certified herbalists for the company to give solid guidance without compromising safety. I feel essential oils have become the craze of 2014 and while they are very healing, I feel many have not considered that there still are safety precautions when using essential oils. The very notion that they have certified herbalists on their team, tells me upfront that they care about safety and not just their bottom line.

Calming Lotion Bars

 

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Ingredients

Necessary Equipment

• Silicone Molds like this or this

Ingredients

• 2 oz filtered beeswax pastilles (where to buy)
• 2 oz virgin coconut oil (where to buy)
• 1 oz shea butter (where to buy)
• 1 oz Plant Therapy sweet almond oil (where to buy)
• 10 drops Plant Therapy lavender essential oil (where to buy)
• 5 drops Plant Therapy frankincense essential oil (where to buy)
• 5 drops Plant Therapy clary sage essential oil (where to buy)

Instructions

1. In a double boiler (you can make that at home by placing a glass heat-proof bowl on top of a pot with boiling water) melt beeswax
2. Add the coconut oil, shea butter and almond oil to beeswax and melt down to liquid
3. Once melted, remove from heat (careful, the bowl is hot!) and add essential oils; mixing with a spoon a few times
4. Pour into desired molds and place in the refrigerator for a quicker set
5. Hand out to all your friends that need more calming in their lives and keep a few in your purse for those times that you need to remember to breathe

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