I am writing this post at a time when I do not normally write. The evening. I usually reserve my blogging for early morning. My son sleeps late, so it gives me uninterrupted quiet time. Today is special. I injured myself this morning doing Mat work. I did something to my neck. It hasn’t gotten any better all day. I am afraid I actually did something bad to it. We will see how I am feeling tomorrow. I can barely move. Picking up Jack is tough. Today, at the store, it took me THREE tries to pick him up to put him in his car seat. I physically couldn’t move my arms and body to do it. That is very foreign to me. I have been trying to take it as easy as possible. That is tough to do with a 2 year old, but luckily I have a great kid who likes to cuddle.
I recently mentioned in another post that I have started to get into aromatherapy. Going along with this, I have gotten into making my own products with essential oils. I have made several beauty products. Today I scrambled to look up some sort of muscle relief. Aura Cacia is my favorite brand. Luckily Whole Foods carries their products. Also, luckily, they have a few different muscle rub recipes to choose from. I started with this one. Soothing Muscle Rub. I am happy I did.
Here is the rub recipe. They note it can be used in steam rooms and saunas as well, without the almond oil.
30 drops juniper berry essential oil
30 drops peppermint essential oil
10 drops lemon essential oil
To make a penetrating massage oil for overworked muscles, dilute 12 drops of this concentrated blend in 3 ounces of vegetable oil (such as sweet almond).
I had all but the pine oil essential oil and the sweet almond oil. Luckily, Whole Foods had both and the Aura Cacia brand! I was over the moon that they carry it. Our Whole Foods just opened two weeks ago and I had yet to get to their personal care aisle except for probiotics. They also have a fantastic selection of probiotics!
It doesn’t take away my pain entirely. I think I did too much damage for it to cure it instantly, but it does provide some relief. I have been applying it as needed. Some of the tension goes away and a little bit of the pain does too. I have been able to load and unload the dishwasher. Change poopy diapers. Prepare some dinner. I had leftovers and the boys had a frozen Whole Foods pizza, but still, I had to get it all together at the same time, cooked, etc. No easy feat when you are walking around like Frankenstein, as my husband lovingly pointed out.
I am devastated that I am injured. You see, my husband finally agreed to purchasing a Balanced Body Combo Chair! It shipped yesterday. It should be arriving soon. I am itching to practice on it. Looks like I may just be training my husband on it initially! I hope not. Maybe I can do some things by the time it arrives. I am basically hoping that I just strained a muscle and didn’t herniate a disc. I guess we will see how I feel over the next few days and if there is no improvement I will be heading to the Dr.
Nicole M. VandeBoom 
Sounds like a trip to your local chiropractor is in order. My neck gets like that frequently, stress can bring it on or too much time on the telephone! A trip to the chiro and I’m good as new in 24 hours. I wrote a post with the same title this week, unfortunately my “ouch” can’t be fixed by a chiropractor and required stitches! Yuck!
Thank you. What a great idea. I don’t know why that didn’t pop in my head. I have never been to one. I haven’t needed to. But I did look some up in my area and I found one I would like to try and see today. I will be calling at 12 when they open. I hope your injury wasn’t too bad. And that you’re ok!
Good luck!
[…] AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS! My best has written a bit about her use of essential oils and I’ve always gone down the whole foods isle at Whole Foods and browsed all of the little […]