There are so many tools to use to increase our life force, we often overlook the obvious. Our sense of smell is one of the strongest senses, it channels memories, ideas, and can set off a cascade of hormones to create a new experience. Listen in to this episode where guest Sumera Shamim shares her experience with essential oils and the many benefits.

Listen in to Sumera’s Episode

What are Essential Oils and the Benefits of Using Them

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Lane: Hi friend. Today’s episode is. Well, It’s an expert episode. I’m talking to Samira. And we get into speaking about essential oils and hormone balance. So I hope you enjoy this episode. I also want to make sure that you have signed up for the next calm, reset. The next circle that I have. You will love it. You can find out more information at recovering like a mother. Dot com forward slash reset all right let’s get into the episode

I am having a juicy conversation with Sumera Shamim of Oyle London, aroma therapy. I’m really looking forward to this conversation and we’re going to dig into not only her breakthrough. Moment, but we’re going to look at and uncover some aroma therapy. , I want to call it like maybe debunking, but we’re just going to, we’re going to dig into what she’s doing in the world and how she’s helping other women. So welcome to the show Sumera.

Sumera: Lane, thank you for that lovely introduction and yes, absolutely. I’m so looking forward to just talking a little bit more about essential oils and how they’ve definitely helped me and what things that I can put out there to your listeners and to the world.

You know, just to explore it a little bit more and put them on there as well. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I love aroma therapy. I, I just. Oh, I could just bathe in it all day long, all different types. Right. But before we get into it, I want you to just go back in your Rolodex of memories and think about this moment of breakthrough that kind of launched you out into doing the work that you do now.

Like what brought you to this place of being able to share a Roma therapy? Sure. So this is going back now. My eldest is nine. He will be 10 this year. So yeah, just going back almost a decade now. And given the brand is only been around just under two years. So I’ve been using centrals as long as that.

So the breakthrough for myself definitely was When I came to realize that these mommy moments that we have after the birth of our kids it doesn’t have to be normal. They can come across that like that. And you don’t sometimes know what tools to use or where to go. And it can be definitely hard.

And I think everyone deals with things very differently. So it could be whether, you know, During meditation or doing a certain form of exercise, anything could be a tool for you to, you know, feel better do better for yourself. And for me, I was. I had two C-sections. So I had two kids under the age of two at that time.

So very close pregnancies and I was exhausted. This was in addition to, although I knew my previous diagnosis of extreme anemia that I suffered with. I didn’t really sort of jump much into it. And I used to be called the sleeping beauty, our phone because that always every hour that I’d get I’d want to sleep because of the fatigue, but I didn’t really catch onto why it was happening.

And that accelerated, especially after the birth of the kids. And that’s when something changed hormonally where I have never suffered this before. Things like that skin I had false skin on my hands from washing. You know, the kids foods and doing diapers, things like that. And it got so bad. I didn’t really know why these things were happening.

In addition to being tired, I don’t try and do all the best, you know, among can do. And so that’s where I decided, right. I’m going to find out what’s going on. I’ve not suffered from some of these things before and apart from. We serve in the UK. You go to your general practitioner AGP and you know, you tell them, you know, this is horrible, where this is happening to me.

And they usually go take away this prescription or whatever and try it which I did and go away for a while and then come back. So what we’re doing with allopathic medicine is actually covering up the symptoms and not dealing with the cause. And that’s what I was doing. And then I got so frustrated that I then started looking into in a holistic way to actually get to the cause of this.

And that’s when I started. Reading as you do, whether it was I, I wouldn’t say Google was my main thing. It was more like community of other women you know, through friends, through parents of other kids done my childhoods in school with, and just kind of open conversation. What do you do when things kind of don’t work?

What your doctors give you. And I was then approached by. She’s obviously a friend now and she said, you know what, come over or talk about these. These are actually essential oil. What? Okay. You know, I’d have to go and talk about it. And, but the amazing part of it was, although when we say you’re breaking in through essential oils, it’s it wasn’t just that it was everything around it.

So they were talking about nutrition. They were talking about you know, how to utilize certain tools to help with the symptoms that we’re not going to either contradict or contraindicate or to not have any side effects if they were used accurately. And when she started talking about that and then offered me simple oils, just to go try out.

Which I did at home with very shaky hands thinking, I don’t know what to do with this. And, you know, I had all those unnerving money thoughts, but I tried it and then I tried it again and then I tried it again and I was like, wow. And it worked. And yeah, we’ll, we’ll definitely touch on this a bit later on about being apprehensive about using holistic therapies or complimentary therapies.

And then also the sometimes the kind of attention that you get, perhaps chose it in in a negative light. So for me, it was definitely that And once then I started looking into the cleaning products that we’re using at home, why my hands were being affected, the hormonal changes after birth and this with just using the oils, I guess, for little things like sniffles aches and pains because I was still kind of suffering or had really bad.

Nausea in early pregnancies with both. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Kate Middleton. Obviously people weren’t concerned because it, but yeah, I had the same. It’s so interesting, right? This, the journey that women moms, right? You have two C-sections your health starts to fail. Doctors are like, I don’t know what’s going on with like your, your labs are fine.

Meanwhile, you’re having skin issues. Your gut is probably like on fire. You’re probably not sleeping, you know? So you can’t get into that deep restorative. Sleep that we desperately need as women hormone fluctuations. Like there’s so many issues that happened to a woman’s body and two pregnancies. I’m just like, I only had one and that was like enough to put me like in the ground almost.

But what I, what I was just thinking about as you were sharing your beautiful story is that this is a familiar story. So many ladies have this and face this, and then finding the oil, right? Finding this essential oil to begin this recovery journey to re to start to repair your body. And. You know, in the States, there’s a lot of these essential oil companies, mostly companies.

Yeah. Yes. There’s a lot of them. And you know, that’s great because it’s people really get into them, but I am of the variety of finding oils, not pushing them on people letting people have their own organic. Since journey my sister-in-law you walk into her house and she has got the oils and the diffusers.

Lane: She rubbed them all over the boys. It’s really like, I love it. She’s never once pushed it on me, but there’s a sense of joy. You know, because I like, I walk into her house and I’m like, Oh yeah, this is nice. It’s really, really nice. And then I’ll ask her what oil she has brewing and she’ll name off like five different oils.

And I’m just like, okay, great. You know but I feel it, you know, that, that aroma, that what happens in my nose triggering the brain, triggering this wellbeing, that. It’s real. It’s it’s real. So what I want to hear from you, cause you’re kind of like an expert you’ve you went down that rabbit hole as so many mamas do like when we’re searching for answers, what has been your biggest aha on the oils?

Yeah. ,

Sumera: It’s like, you know, sometimes we think that okay, it’s just kind of a refinery stuff, you know, putting a candle on and maybe it’s abused or it’ll do something right. Or maybe it will just kind of just make you feel better. So it’s almost like a placebo effect. You can’t have those. Impacts on kids and pets for them to come back and go, Oh yeah, I love the smell.

You know, they’re not going to, they’re very honest. They’re very straightforward. And if they feel better, there’ll be up and running. And if they don’t, you will know that it’s very black and white with you know, when the kids are feeling up or down, we kind of come up through as adults, I guess. And that’s where I thought.

Okay. So we’ve tried this and it has really, really worked. So initially it was yes, using it in a diffuser or, you know, lightly applying it to pulse points. And then they would have there. So again, in the, you know, whether it’s in the UK or it’s just in the medical pool, they say the first two years of your child’s life, they’re probably going to have about.

10 fevers and 12 slews, basically every month we’ll have something going on and I just really fell to accept that, believe it, and think surely that, that just can’t be right. That with, you know, we just accept that we’re sick people. It shouldn’t be like that. But then I noticed a couple of allergies in the one.

And then I’ll compare notes to, you know, what I did first time or didn’t do right first time. And then, you know, the second side power, you kind of just let them meet the, I guess. And you know, there’ll be okay. But yeah, with the other one, I kind of noticed, you know, Harlem on was breastfed for what they’ve got.

Health’s like, it was just kind of changing. And then they both reacted differently to different types of oils. So we actually had a very terrible viral infection where all four of us in the house, we were sick, like sick, like anything. And we actually had to have outside help just to come help us kind of get food, water, and you know, just even look after the kids Because we kind of drop like dominoes effect to, so it was the boy he got quite sick first because I was still located in the K state.

So I used frankincense from him straight away because we don’t know what was going on. I thought maybe he’s just got a little bit fake fever and he’ll be okay, but it kind of just. It just shot up so high that, you know, what it was quite worried. So wait a minute. So you, you gave him frankincense and then the fever happened or you gave him frankincense.

Okay. I used it as, as I noticed that he had sort of a touch to touch fever. So we haven’t measured it at that point because I was at my mom’s house. So, you know, I need to. It’s not, I guess child-friendly as in has all the tools and bits and that I would have at home. So I thought, right, I need to get home just to, you know, check.

But at that time he was hot to touch and he was telling me that he’s not feeling great and that’s not him. He will be, you know, he’s one of those kids, you could hear him all the way. So yeah, I got the frankincense out straight away. I dilute it because there’s a certain dilution that you would use for kids under 10 years phage.

And so you can dilute it in a carrier or whether it’s her hobo or coconut is my main ones that are trying. So I’d applied it to the forehead NAPE of the neck and at the at the back. So between the shoulder blades, And obviously did all the other stuff that you would do, making sure that the fever wasn’t you know, passing those off emergency stage where we need to go to the ER and Walter getting him settled and sort of clothing off, et cetera.

So we tried that and after that, I got unwell, then husband con, my daughter got on. Well, and at that point, I think we all kind of threw out the thing that this is going to pass very easily, which it wasn’t we were actually quite sick for about just over two weeks whether this was, you know, a form of type of COVID because they were all cook-offs and everything going on and it was long-term.

He seemed to have pay the brunt much better because. What also happened was my daughter actually got into we had to take her to the ER because we realized that she wasn’t coping very well with a fever, but because I was so unwell, I didn’t really reach for anything at that time. I was just like, I need to lie down and close my eyes and all of this, you know, using the oils and using other remedies It was just like, just kind of thing.

Think about that. I can’t think right now, so we didn’t use them. So within a 48 hours, I could see that he my son had been much better with having used it with her not so much, our symptoms are slightly different. So I do accept that, you know every, every type of body deals with things differently, but I was quite sick in the back.

I think after we had recovered and everything, I was trying to understand why he was just slightly lethargic, but he didn’t have all the other symptoms that we were having because I opted to use the oil on him. And we diffused a little bit of lemon. And he kind of, he was just like, not well, but I’m chill where it is in 3d.

And phosphors like, you know, I don’t know what’s going to happen. So it was awful. But after that time at paths, I kind of thought back at, you know, what could I have done better? Or what could I have used? And I hadn’t realized that he had the best of what I could have given him. Just as he kind of touched with the fever coming on and the viral, whereas with ourselves, I didn’t get the opportunity.

And that’s where, and this wasn’t just like a one-off surprise. There were times when they have had the sniffles and colds and people’s again. And this is, I would not recommend it to anybody else. Just go out and do this. But we use Oregon, which is an essential oil, not the Oregon oil that you use in cooking.

So we need to you know, separate that this is only because I did later go on to study them and understand different types of oils and how to utilize them.

Are you just loving this frankincense oil oregano oil. These are essential oils that you can use in your life. With your family. Pretty cool. Right. I hope that you are enjoying this episode. This is just a little reminder to make sure that you pop into the next monthly calm, reset circle. Sign up now over@recoverlikeamother.com forward slash reset. Okay. Back to that.

Episode.

Sumera: Okay, so you just said something. So there is a profession, aroma therapy certification, like there’s a school there’s I I’ve looked into this.

It’s like, so you’re a trained, what is that called Roman therapist? I’m not a trained clinical or a therapist, different types. So I have studied it for, for my own personal use. So I’m certified in the use of essential oils in a business setting gives me, but I’m sure you’re aware of like a Macmillan cancer support in the UK are actually a cancer support network that help people in post care or within chemotherapy.

And they actually have a team of. Aroma therapist, occupational therapists, other complimentary therapies. They actually go into things like Reiki, et cetera. So everything that perhaps we on a, as a general public may not be aware of, but it’s, it seems very, very. Inaccessible when you are not in need of it, but unfortunately when you get to that stage, that’s when other therapies stop playing play.

Lane: Correct. Right. I know that they’re beautiful. Yeah, I know that there’s in the oncology, like in collegey, in the oncology units, in some of the hospitals, they’ll have aroma therapist trained certified clinical come in and do aroma therapy on, you know, cancer, cancer patients, cancer survivors because of this, the way that it hits the nose, the way that it works in into the brain and.

I, I find this fascinating because I just think about when I look at the recovery in, in the recovery room or in, you know, women who are recovering from postpartum women, recovering from depression, women recovering from abuse, right? The essential oils. I just can’t even explain it, but I do know, I just go back to my sister-in-law’s.

Like when I walk into her house, something happens in my brain and you just described it so beautifully with your son on just by putting some of that frankincense onto his little body and him having different healing journey compared to the rest of you. That. Like, why are, why are not we looking at this more?

Like, why are not people looking at essential oils as a true healing modality? It just I’m baffled by this. What do you think about that?

 I could, I could answer that because that’s not true entirety. There are actually, so if you go on into I have to kind of differentiate this because I understand you in the States and in the UK but if you go into the precision agriculture and all, there are actually studies done with the chemotherapy patients.

And although you will find that everything ends with it may help or if there is

Sumera: you know dates, et cetera. So you would, it will be worded like that. But if you actually look at the statistics and figures, If there is proof there’s definite proof and one doctor, which the name kind of the mind right now, but I’d love to quote him because he said, you know, the proof, as you say is in the pudding.

It’s when my patients come to me and they say to me, this, actually I can see that I can definitely see the change and the improvement. He said that is statistic and a proof enough because what we forget in the allopathic and the medical world is that sometimes we’re looking for those scientific answers through.

Numbers and figures, and we don’t go direct to the patients and ask them, how are they feeling? So that’s like, you know taking the balance between the placebo and the non placebo effect and then measuring it by how they reacted. And it’s been, it’s quite disputed because some of it can lead you down a rabbit hole on.

Modalities and where they have worked and where they haven’t. But some they’re very, very cautious. When it comes to this. So we understand that, but we cannot say there, there aren’t any studies there definitely is because I’ve seen myself. And the bit you touched about you know, our sense of smell and the olfactory system.

So all faction is our sense of smell that is linked to our limbic systems. So we have these nasal here that we actually have within our nose. They’re receptors. So they’re not just there because you need to, you know, just to help cleanse your nose, I guess that naturally happens, but they are actually receptors.

So when you take an inhalation of a certain smell or essentially is essential oils. And so that’s where the olfaction actually starts. So the receptors will send. Sent to your limbic system. Then that’s where the whole process begins. Right. And when we sent smell, be either find it pleasant or unpleasant, and then our body will tell our mind.

You need to either walk away or you need to walk that. Right. So I mean more, or get it away from me, think baby diapers, or you want to walk. Right, right. That’s exactly. And it’s, so that’s just a small part of it. And then how it’s linked to our memory. So, do you remember when you were young and walked home after school and moms made tea for you or, you know, a lovely dinner or on that Sunday roast or Primus baked to add, or a bunch of cookies.

When you walk into that environment, that is your emotions. Now having a huge impact on how you’re feeling, your mood, your response and actions, and generally your mood, how you’re going to react. So you could walk in with an awful, terrible, bad day that you’ve had, but you’ve just walked into an environment that just reminds you of something that is wholesome.

That is true to you. It just reminds you of someone that you love, that you care for and the safety of the environment that you’re in. And this is how powerful smell is. I just. This weekend, my son and I made cookies. Right. And the aroma of that, the chocolate, the vanilla, it just burst through. The house and we live in a three-story house and my husband was downstairs working and he came up and he was just like, Oh, Oh, right.

Like the mood changed immediately. It was really, it was really, it’s just so funny how powerful the old factory is. And. And just how you just laid it out, the different steps in how it, how it works. What are your, what are your, let’s say? What are your three top favorite essential oils? So anyone beginning essential oils are probably kind of separate them in that way.

So for beginners, I would say lavender. Peppermint lemon, or you alter the lavender with frankincense. If you’re not too keen on it a little bit more. Why that is frankincense is very particular it, and it can, it possibly just, it’s very grounding and it doesn’t actually repel you some sense can, and that is based on.

Previous trauma and emotion. So interesting. Take that into account as well. That’s a big one. I never really pick that up till much later world. How, when scent is associated to a memory that calls to upset you, you have to then got to take certain. Actions in order to try and deviate that memory away from that scent, especially if help you heal and is beneficial to you.

That makes sense. Do you have a morning routine where you use your essential oils? Yeah. Now I’m so crazy busy. I just think I need to remind myself to use them. Morning one is so these are, so what I decided to do initially, I probably, it was always, I love lemon is just so cleansing. So refreshing. You know, we use the awful synthetic versions that we get in our thinning products in soaps of the peppermint in the, I can’t actually taste I don’t like the taste of toothpaste anymore because they use and different organic powder now.

And but I do love lemon and I think it really just sets you up for the day as you get up. And I’m sure you remember, you know, you’d have on the retail shelves, like these shower gels bursting with lemon. Yeah. Great. It’s because they’re playing on your emotion and really, really, you know, at the end of the day, that’s what they want to do is get you.

Up and ready and, you know, bouncing on your toes. And that’s why it, it’s a great, great oil to use. First thing in the morning. And in all of this research that you’ve gone through, have you discovered a really rich book that you can share with our ladies? Yeah, I mean, there are a few of them but I would, the reason I, I’m only recommending this book is for the ease of use and easy is good.

Yeah. So one I’d recommend is from Robert Tisserand. I’m just trying to remember the title of the book because he has written loads and loads of them. Oops. Once I get that up for you, I’ll definitely like know, so the beginner’s guide to essential oils and it’s written by. Christina and this, so it’s fucking, it’s a new copy.

It just kind of I think it was in last year. I wouldn’t say I initially started off with the bonus because it was more of a community set up and, you know, you’d ask questions and you’d learn. But a bit later on just for referencing purposes, I’ve found this one quite helpful. Do you think that you’re going to write a book about essential oils?

I, I will. I will do probably one. Just from not sort of from a clinical or as a. You know, I’m not sort of registered, I’m a therapist as such, but just from what I’ve found, the benefits from essential oils. And I think sometimes people need to relate it to someone who’s like them who has interest and, you know, found some success.

And just, just to help them kind of understand that in both more of a later, and that, that was the part of why I set up the jewelry as well is because like you said, It’s not about pushing the product because you know, it’s worked well. You want to share it with the world or with your family, with your loved ones.

If you feel that they’re in pain and things are not helping them, of course, we want to put that forward. But yeah, th there’s that stigma of, you know, if you do. Seek out someone else say to you find my pack. And you want to kind of deviate from that. I had lots of opportunity or have had lots of people saying can you, if you didn’t do your own brand, you know, would love to pair ours with yours and could we sell it like that?

And I really wanted to stay away from that marketing level. Offering because it’s sad as is. It’s great. I think, you know, for some businesses it works for some individuals. But I luckily had the capacity, the understanding I was able to source them from right. Chase’s. And as a result of that, I thought, why not create that?

Something I do want to offer and not just something that’s a box down that box. I guess Instagram is sorry. There’s a lot of feedback. Oh no. Okay. Your Instagram is so beautiful and the jewelry that you are. Essentially sharing with women is incredible. Where, where can they go find you? Where do you want them to go?

So I of course have my own website. It is called oily london.com, Chis O Y L E and then london.com. So you can go on there. Every message that you send comes directly to me. So actually speaking directly to me, if you have any questions or, you know, you’re looking for recommendations. Unsure which item to pair with what I will always be there and respond to you and help you with that.

Also of course, you know, you can go on Instagram and have a look on Instagram or on Pinterest. We are Facebook. So I’ve come kind of covered as many socials as you can, but in clubhouse as well. So we do kind of have rooms that we. Yeah. And you know, we got to have a chat in there, so yeah, we are, it’s just all one word oily London.

And if you pop it into the lovely Google, I’m sure it will bring up lots of options for you uniform.

Lane: So it’s O Y L E london.com. I love this work that you’re doing and what you’re bringing to the ladies. I just want to say thank you for sharing your work and aroma therapy and helping women recover.

Right? You are definitely a part of this tribe. Recover like a mother. You are doing this beautiful work. I just want to thank you for being with us today.

Sumera: Thank you for having me. And, you know, I can speak about hormone therapy all day long and I’d love to, and I appreciate that. And if anyone listening can benefit and find their own journey through this, then absolutely.

You know, my work, I feel that’s where it’s done, because this is how I want to share it with the world. And that’s just my take on it.

Lane: So good to have you with us, Mira. Thank you for being on the show. Oh, that is another beautiful episode. May you find something bright, something light and something so juicy that fills you up to be the best mother you can be until next time.

Take good care

friend. Thank you so much for listening. Did you know that I have my own essential oil spray. It’s called San kalpa. I hope that you will check it out. And perhaps win a bottle, when you sign up for the next calm circle. I’ll see you there. Find out more details over at recover. Like a mother.com forward slash reset.

And maybe you’ll get a bottle.

Listen in to Sumera’s Episode

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