Aromatherapy - Using your stove to scent your home

Cookpot

The sense of smell can be a strong trigger for the emotions. A good scent through a home can bring about feelings of comfort, love and relaxation. Using an oil burner is excellent for giving the home a lovely smell but your stove can be another.


Aromatherapy oils

Picture it... You have company on the way, you go to light your oil burner with your favourite scent only to discover you have no more candles and no time to rush to the store for more. Never fear! Use your stove as an alternative. Put a little water in a pot with a couple of drops of your favourite oils and let it heat up until it is steaming or on a soft boil. When it is ready, walk about the home, helping to distribute the scent by leaving it sit for a few minutes on a heat resistant pad, or by blowing or fanning the scent through the room. This can distribute more of the scent quickly.

Alternatively you can leave the pot on the stove to simmer gently, checking it now and then to ensure it does not simmer dry.

Food

Most people love to walk into a home and smell fresh baked goods. It lends a feeling of comfort and love. Sometimes I bake cookies, a cake or something else that smells delicious. Guests just love it. They are delighted with the smell when they enter plus they have a little touch of excitement at the prospect of the goodies they will eat. Bread is also very good for this.


Cinnamon


Cinnamon

Pot Pourri

In the same way as you can use aromatherapy oils in a pot, so too can you create a nice little pot pourri using other items from around the home. Simply add some of the items to some water, heat it up and leave it to sit. Some people choose to keep it topped up and let it simmer all day. This is wonderful if you have leftover bits and pieces from cooking and gardening.

Try any combination of the following:

  • Chopped apple
  • Minced ginger
  • Orange, lemon, grapefruit or lime slices or zest
  • Cranberries
  • Cinnamon
  • Cloves
  • Nutmeg
  • Sage leaves
  • Mint leaves
  • Thyme
  • Eucalyptus leaves
  • Basil
  • Bay leaves
  • Lavender flowers
  • Vanilla
  • All spice

For Health

When my children are sick and congested in the chest or sinuses, I will do a stove top vaporizer using oils such as:

Tea tree, bergamot, lemon, lavender and pine are good for neutralizing airborne bacteria.

Eucalyptus, juniper and bergamot for clearing the air in a sick room.

I will then sit the pot in a corner of the room and leave it until it cools. Of course some of these can be used in a vaporizer, but this is a good alternative if you are caught without one handy.