Bergamot- FEBRUARY

“January was a tough year but I made it.”

The grumblings of this sentiment have been going around a lot lately. How did January feel to you- more like a year than a month? The evolutionary burn, the sheer intensity and speed of the energies at this time have us all heaving up and down.

When everything around us feels chaotic, swimming with emotion and heaviness, we are asked to slow, to reassess, maybe even close our eyes for a while. While in the dark we can proceed using all of our senses, better perceiving through our hearts and intuition.

The dark, the confusing, the overwhelming asks us to continually access where we stand. Are we moving forward aligned with what feels authentic in our guts, or are we persuaded by ego, by what feels more shiny, more flashy, more accepted, easier somehow?

As usual, plant medicine wants to be of service to us. Like a golden beam of light through irritable, grey clouds, Bergamot is truly uplifting when we have had a loss of insight. This essential oil is a unique blend of fresh citrus, sweet fruit, and earthy peel, making us feel instantly awash in light, refreshed and renewed. It sagely holds the paradox of being both relaxing and stimulating.

Because of the nature of our olfactory system, you may have a variety of associations with this oil that has been so highly prized by the tea and perfumery industries. Yes, Bergamot is the special fragrance that makes earl grey tea smell that way, having gathered all of the sun-soaked energies of Southern Italy.

But on a mental-emotional-spiritual level, Bergamot is the perfect oil for us now. It is one of the few autonomic nervous system regulators, calming our sudden swings. It is the energy of sun inspired breezes, moving stuckness within the energy channels of the body.

Its highest purpose as medicine is to aid us in letting go of our ego-driven, preconceived notions.

It puts a gentle finger on the mouth of our inner ruminator, hushing its endless chatter.

It washes us clean to the potential for all possibilities, versus staying rutted into narrow-minded preoccupations.

Its loving hands lift us out of the abyss, out of the habits that are no longer of service to us.

It wants to remind us of light as we rest in the later phases of the winter. Hope burns still.

Best of all, Bergamot asks us to linger in a trust of our present experience. It wants us to stay in curiosity and wonder, to fall into the arms of our ever unfolding lives. It tells us to live in this moment, and this moment, and this one too, without attachments and expectations already fogging our view. There is an equanimity that prevails in its healing, setting the stage for true emotional transformation.

As with all essential oils, use only the highest quality, therapeutic grade products. If you are wanting to use essential oils for true healing, they must still contain the condensed life force of the plant. Yes, it really matters.

Use a few drops of Bergamot in a diffuser when you are starting your day, preferably in the bathroom (you will inhale more in a confined space) but anywhere that you are going to get a dose of the oil for a good hour or so. Enjoy!