Enhance Your Mind And Body With Essential Oils

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Oh, I’m excited to talk to you about all things regenerative, 

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

I’m so excited. So I wanted people to know a little bit more about who you are. You are a bestselling author, award winning journalist, functional practitioner and founder of vibrant blue oils, which has combined her training and nutritional therapy and aromatherapy to create unique proprietor blends or organic and wild crafted. So those are very important words essential oils. She has helped over 50,000 clients heal from brain related challenges including anxiety, insomnia and Autumn Unity. For the past 10 years, she has lectured at wellness Centers conferences and corporations on brain health, essential oils, stress and detoxification. She has been seen in the New York Times, Wellness mama, Elephant Journal and numerous pub applications website vibrant oils dot com is visited by over 300,000 natural health seekers every year and she has rapidly become a top resource for essential oils, education on the internet today. So this essential oil is such a powerful and cool tool to use and it’s so user friendly and it’s something that everyone, every home should have it to know about it.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Thank you for that. And for people that don’t really know what oils are, they’re really just the concentrated essences of plants, you know, and we know that plants are the foundation for most modern medicines and what’s great about oils that I think is unique is you know, most medicines we need to ingest. So if there’s any kind of digestive dysfunction that could impair our ability to assimilate the remedy? But you can smell oils, you can topically apply them and they get into the skin that way. So it’s just another kind of complementary way to get remedies into the system.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

And how, because I’ve seen some studies as to, you know, when you apply some essential oils on your feet, you know, how long has it taken before it shows up in the bloodstream? I mean does it take 

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Well, you know, it’s funny, like they have everyone like put peppermint on your feet and you can taste it in your mouth in a matter of seconds. And I’ve found there’s been a little bit of confusion around that because we think of like local, you know, we put something on our wrist, we know it helps our risk versus systemic and people assume that it needs to go through the skin into the bloodstream to the heart and then be pumped out to the body in order to have a systemic effect. And what I think is fascinating, especially with the feet points, whether all those reflex points is that you can use oils on reflex points and acupuncture points and then it kind of travels along a different meridians and has an instantaneous impact on the body basically helping to put you back in balance.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

And so are there who should use? I mean? And in my point of view, everyone should know about it and should use it. I mean are there certain kind of safety measures that a person should consider? And also are there different qualities of oils so that you know what’s the difference between good, bad and different just for people to understand, you know that they’re all not the same.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

I think you know it’s common sense, right? And I don’t advise Children under two using oils because their systems are so sensitive, you know, and if you think about it, it’s very hard to harm yourself from smelling something. So smelling is super safe topically applying as long as it’s not like crazy hot. You know, some of the oils like oregano clove time they can be hot, meaning that if you put it on your skin it turns red and might maybe feels warm to the touch. Should that happen? You’re not going to put water on it because water and oil don’t mix, you’re gonna take another oil, it could be anything in your kitchen and just dilute it a little bit so that it’s less red and intense. In terms of quality of oils, you know, organic is obviously better because it’s the concentrated essence. And if you’re concentrating pesticides, you’re just having you know more of a toxin cocktail. But beyond that, I think that there’s a lot of fear in the marketplace, this one’s better. That one is not good. 

You know anyone that’s ever had an herb garden. It’s pretty hard to kill like mint basil, you know, lavender, I don’t know that, I think those are so loaded with toxins because they grow pretty free range, so I don’t want to deter or scare anyone. But in terms of, you know, using oils, I wouldn’t advise as drinking oils. You know, there are certain oils that that do kill. Like we talked about oregano and there are certain protocols that if they’re working, for example with you or another experienced practitioner who knows what they’re doing? Absolutely, you know, but you don’t want to start killing things off, especially if your drainage pathways are congested because that could create more problems. So in terms of low hanging fruit safe ways to use oils, I say you can smell things, you can topically apply things. You know, there are a lot of ideas about how much you should. The things, one of the reasons that I created a company with pre made blends that are already diluted is to help take the uncertainty and the insecurity and overwhelm out of that, you can just take it from the model and put it on. 

But you know, I also really encourage people to kind of trial and air, you know, if you smell something and you love it usually what you crave is what you need, you crave hamburgers when you know, you’re having that time of the month or pregnant because you need the iron, you might crave choc when you need magnesium. If something smells good to you it’s likely that that is good for you if it doesn’t smell good to you that day. I’m not of the mindset of you know you need it when it smells repulsive. I say that maybe that’s not you know you don’t need it right then.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

So what are some of the actions that essential oils have? I mean how does it impact the body when we’re exposed to it?

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Yeah and different different oils. Different plants have different constituents, right? And everyone kind of talks about that how their antimicrobial and bacterial anti viral kind of great for viruses. I try to look at oils a little bit differently like my favorite combination actually is a blend of clove and lime clove is really high in this constituent regional which is amazing in so many ways for anti inflaming and just kind of I see it as returning the body to balance. Like I think one of the reasons that food is medicine and that we eat kind of a nutrient dense whole food diet is that when we eat plants, you know we break down plan the flavonoids implants, balance our ecosystem. Like I really think that nature is a balance and that humans are kind of bio familiar with plants and animals and when we you know are in nature grounding or eating you know plants that are found in nature, it just restores our body to balance and one more in balance. Then we can get rid of the things that we don’t need. We can assimilate the things that we do need and the body kind of returns to normal and starts to heal. 

So that’s really what I think oils are doing, you know to get more science and drill down. I do think that because you can topically apply them, they can be used you know to dilate vasculature so that more oxygen rich blood gets into the brain to kind of support lymphatic drainage so that the garbage is better able to leave the body. To just you know, I have that blend of clothing line that I use to actually gearshift you kind of out of stress. You know your nervous system has these two branches your designed to keep you alive. You know, autonomic nervous system controls all of your automatic functions. Your breathing, your heart rate when dangerous present if a line is chasing you or you turn on the news and see something that could be harmful to yourself or your family, you kind of shift into what’s known as the fight or flight sympathetic branch of the nervous system and resources are allocated towards survival. Your heart rate speeds up. You know, you kind of hyper focus on safety. Your respiration increases, your blood flow is routed to arms and legs so you can either flee or fight back and everything not critical to survival in that moment kind of gets down regulated. You know it doesn’t really matter if you can procreate, you know if you might die. 

Doesn’t really matter if you can digest your food if you can detoxify if you can you know have your immune function turned on so fight or flight really prioritizes immediate survival. And then ideally what happens kind of like in the wild. You know the lions chasing the gazelle, the gazelle escapes, they shake which is kind of how they gear shift out of fight or flight and into what’s known as the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system where they rest digest and turn all their healing capacity back online. And ideally humans are supposed to toggle. You know it’s not the stress is bad, it’s that it’s supposed to be short lived. In temporary. We have our stress response and then we recalibrate and we return to normal. Most of us don’t do that. Most of us stay stuck in what’s known as this sympathetic dominant state all the time. And sometimes it feels good. It’s like oh we’re adrenalized you know go go go and long term that catches up with you right? Because your body does need to assimilate its nutrients. It does need to eliminate waste. It does need to anti inflame and so what people don’t realize they think, you know they might go to you and you might say oh gosh you’re really high stress and they think well, you know, yeah, I could get a massage or go to yoga class but then I have to come home and do the laundry and pick up the kids and cook dinner and clean the house and do all these things that are stressful and it’s not like I can give up my life. And so how do I manage my stress within a stressful existence? 

And the key is your own physiology. It’s actually gear shifting out of fight or flight and into rest and digest and you do that through the longest nerve in your body, known as your vagus nerve. Cranial nerve number 10 starts at the base of the head splits is most accessible right here behind the ear lobe on the mastery of bone then winds through the throat, the heart, the lungs, every organ of digestion and detoxification and helping to stimulate that vagus nerve helps to stimulate calm, parasympathetic. So deep breathing is great, coffee enemas are great humming is great gagging yourself with a tongue depressor. There are all these ways you can do it and sadly most of you know our clients like they think, oh yeah, I’m gonna deep breathing, then they don’t, they just can’t and so that’s why I like oil. 

I have a stimulatory blend of clothing lime and just you know, flipping a bottle and putting it behind your ear that helps gear shift and for whatever reason people you know they can’t remember to box breathe but they can take an oil and put it on and then they say like oh gosh you know my whole digestive cascade turned on. Oh oh wow you know I feel better, I feel less anxious, I feel calmer. And so that’s really how I try to use oils is in a natural noninvasive way that works in tandem with how the body is working naturally that people will actually execute because you know you can have a whole graveyard of supplements in your house if you’re not take

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

And I love what you talked about also. I mean bringing back the body into homeostasis. I mean to me herbs and essential oils are in essence and concentrated herb in a way it’s just much much more potent so you need less of it but it’s like the vibration of it carries a frequency that helps the recalibrate our own system. You know we get all so tied up in the stressors were exposed to five G. M. EFS and you know toxins and all these things have a certain type of vibrations that pulls us away from that home. You stasis pulls us away from health and then bringing in essential oils. It’s like you have the memory of what should be kind of that memory vibration that we then supply the body with so that it can say I’m recalibrated now you know and and now this this is how I should be. So we kind of keep the body pushes the body back to that.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Yeah, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I mean as you know, you know, it’s not just physical, it’s not just mental, it’s not just emotional, spiritual, it’s all of them at once, right? And some remedies work solely on the physical level. The best remedies kind of hit you on all levels. And so some people, you know, they’ll use the parasympathetic oil and they’re like, I feel better and they don’t know why and they almost don’t need to know why all they need to do is do it so that their body starts to return to homeostasis. But I do a great oils work on a plethora of levels and it is very frequency based, but it also has kind of a physical effect and emotional effects. So yes, that’s totally true.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

And so with the vagus nerve. I mean here you’re talking about shifting the body into that rest and digest. You know? So you have you talked about the autonomic nervous system has a sympathetic, the parasympathetic, sympathetic is when we’re chased by the lion, you know, which, you know, we were used to be able to turn on and turn off. But you know, that was our survival mechanism. But nowadays we hear a car honk or you know, we have a kind of upsetting conversation with our boss or whatever it may be. So we’re thinking we’re translating that into acid. We’re being chased by lions. So it’s kind of like that we shift into that survival reptilian brain. And so to be able then to shift back have a tool to shift back into that regenerative aspect which is where the parasympathetic shines. You know where that is where we’re able to repair get rid of the toxins around the cells and our tissues are can become youthful you know so that is exactly what you’re talking about.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Yeah I mean Benjamin Buttoning basically regenerating is just returning to homeostasis and really detoxifying. Like it’s not just the news or the car honking it’s the M. S. In the air, it’s the endocrine disrupting toxins in our diet. It’s everything that throws us out of balance. And so it’s almost like we need bigger tools to help us return to balance.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

So one of the things obviously where a lot of the regenerative components you know take places while you’re sleeping. So you have them during the day to be able to kind of dial down that sympathetic stress and enhance more of the parasympathetic and you know using the climb the clothing the line. I think it’s climb if you do accommodation it

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Takes like two seconds it smells kind of good. So people are like you know it’s like having a cup of tea like they can manage that for whatever.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yeah if you just have it in your suitcase, in your pocket, in your purse. Yeah or you can have one at home and wanted to work, you know 

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

One in your car for traffic. 

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yeah exactly. Exactly. So sleep obviously it’s something that a lot of people are having a hard time with and it’s for that very reason it’s hard to kind of shift into that relaxation mode where the body can sink into a deep sleep. You know where they regenerate and also detoxify not only the body but that’s the only time the brain detoxify eyes. You know you have the lymphatic system. So sleep is key, key key. And I know essential oils can be fantastic during that time. So what are some of the tools to kind of help people that are are looking for solutions? And it’s really interesting.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

I love research. I got my start in the U. S. Senate working for Ted Kennedy on health and human resources. They taught me how to research. So everyone thinks of lavender as being sedative and great for sleep and it is, it is. But when you start looking at the research that’s fascinating is it’s not lavender and isolation, it’s lavender in combination with other oils because it kind of amplified the effectiveness. And so one of the best oils actually for sleep smells like dirty feet. It’s valerian root, a better version of that is spike nerd. But when you combine like spikenard and lavender all of a sudden you get this really calming, relaxing sense and that’s great, especially for Children or anyone who’s just kind of a little tense, it helps you calm down. But when you start looking at sleep there, there are different aspects going on right. Like if you’re having trouble falling asleep, that is typically the pineal gland, which is right inside your brain, releasing. 

The hormone melatonin, which you know, often conflicts with the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is there is danger around, you need to be on high alert. You cannot go to sleep if cortisol is too high, it makes it hard for the melatonin to release. Likewise, you know, if, if melatonin is too high, it’s supposed to kind of cycle, you know, you’re supposed to wake up in the morning and have energy of cortisol and then throughout the day it’s kind of supposed to meet you where you’re at so that you’re able to function and at night it’s supposed to decline. So we have a combination of oils that we have have found kind of helped to trigger the pineal gland to naturally release melatonin and you can put, it’s called circadian rhythm, Top of the head above the ears is actually a really great point, especially if you’re doing like a gobble cream as well that the skin is really thin and you know, the pineal gland is at eye level, I don’t tell people to put anything on their face before they go to bed because a lot of people are restless sleepers and I don’t want oil in the eye back of the head. 

So that’s a great system to kind of now naturally release melatonin. Melatonin supplement is great. Also, you know if you’re waking up different night waking can kind of signify different root causes, right? So if you’re waking up at one am and you’re wide away, that tends to be a blood sugar. Wake up so your blood sugar dips your adrenal glands, release energy. The energy is then in the system and needs to get out of the blood and into the cells to kind of help you rest fully go back to sleep. So anything you can do to support your pancreas is great, rose geranium is a fabulous, especially you know when people are having hot flashes, that one seems to be a great oil, you can put it over your pancreas left side of the body, kind of under the breast, you can just put it on a cotton ball and put it in your pillowcase and smell it throughout the night. If you’re waking up at three AM and maybe you’re slightly groggy, you’re going to the restroom, that tends to be liver gallbladder, Wake up. So anything you can do to support your liver and gallbladder. Castor oil pack binders before bed, there are certain oils that you can put on the liver and the gallbladder or smell if you wake up that will just help basically what we’re doing is we’re trying to help the body kind of return to balance and support its natural rhythms. 

So I do find oils are fabulous for helping with restful sleep and then when you’re rested the sleeping as you mentioned, the brain shrinks, the lymphatic system kicks in. You know, one of the things that you probably talk about is in order for the toxins to drain from the brain, they have to go down the neck and the neck is this huge bottleneck. It’s not a big space, it’s got a lot going on. There’s the structure there, the lymph, there’s the nervous system, circulatory system, muscles, you know fascia a lot can get congested. And our our friend and colleague Dr. Christine Schaffner did a lot of research on this and she was finding they’re actually taking sonogram pictures of the neck and finding that if the vagus nerve was inflamed, say for example, you know a lot of the toxins in the mouth during, along the trigeminal nerve and there’s a bit of an intersection between the trigeminal nerve and the vagus nerve where congestion can occur and toxins can sit and the vagus nerve can get inflamed and then that in flames, the limp. 

It’s a little bit like sitting in the middle row of an airplane between two linebackers, you know your arms aren’t going anywhere if everything in the neck is congested, the toxins can’t drain So before bed you can always kind of support the vagus nerve with oils and also help decongest any toxicity. And then just along the sides of the neck you can use a variety of, we have a limp formula. Castor oil works great frank. Can sense anything to kind of support lymph drainage so that when the brain shrinks and the toxins are mobilized, they actually leave the body instead of recirculating.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

So the vagus, I’m just kind of go through my mind a little bit but the vagus nerve to calm that down. Yet you have the lime and the clove for sleep. What you found to be very effective is the combination of lavender and spikenard and

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Relaxation. Actually lavender is an all of my sleep remedies. Lavender blends great with a lot of things. And some people are intolerant is the wrong word. Some people like lavender more than others. Some people think it’s not their cup of tea. But sometimes when it’s combined with other oils it feels different and performs different.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

And then for like we’re talking about that the drainage and becomes key so with that you know obviously we want to make sure that you know you have the yeah the vagus nerve again is and is not inflame. You also have the blood vessels in themselves. You know they tend to get clogged up and sometimes you can have pathogens along the blood vessels that then triggers inflammation. So then it would be good than to have things like anti inflammatory like the frankincense and but then also maybe then some kind of four different pathogens as well then do you think or you can do that?

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

I mean that’s an interesting question. I have not been playing with oils to kind and I think that for parasites and other challenges that I well I would refer people to you and then I would encourage them to maybe take supplements because I think supplements do a better job with that and you know you want to cycle it and it gets a little bit about my pay grade. Like what I really try to do with oils is make it not one size fits all, but pretty simple and and pretty hard to mess up, you know, and when you’re doing parasites, you also want to do binders, it just gets its refinement. But what I do find is that oil’s like black pepper, there’s a lot of research that it faso dilates. Peppermint, there’s a lot of things that you can use to just make movement or enhanced. So there’s less congestion. That’s what I think oils are great for is the kind of eliminate stagnation in the tissue.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

I love that. And so with that, I mean going into them, one part of aging also is that inflammation that kind of inflammatory controlling that inflammatory process. And obviously you know just addressing the vagus now, you address a lot of that already. But what are some things that people can use to be able to kind of take that a step further because you have these terms that are thrown around like inflammation, aging, you know aging because of inflammation. You have also what’s called immuno sinessence, you know where you have this immune systems is not active enough, you know to be able to get rid of these senescent cells. They have a sleeping immune system. So what are some tools that can be used to support those areas?

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

That’s a great question. So first getting back to the vagus nerve, what happens is the vagus nerve is what signals the anti-inflammatory neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. And so when you’re supporting the vagus nerve, you’re kind of going upstream and naturally releasing the anti inflammatory cascade in terms of oils, I mean like foods, ginger, ginger tea, what an amazing easy, low hanging fruit remedy. You know, there are a lot of anti-inflammatory foods that then convert to anti-inflammatory oils, like ginger’s amazing deals amazing frankincense is amazing. All of these things kind of calm inflammation at the root and then you can support the organs, the immune system right? Because a lot of time, what’s happening with inflammation is the immune system is responding and then triggering inflammation. And so because oils are such natural you know immune modulators antiviral antibacterial, there’s a popular blend some people call it thieves, we call it immune support, you know during the bubonic plague, this is you know the story that has become legend. 

Some of the thieves were stealing the gold teeth out of the dead people’s mounds and they never seem to catch it. And so when they were finally apprehended, they were given a plea bargain in exchange for telling people what they were doing to avoid getting sick. And it turned out it was those hot oils, you know the fun cinnamon, the oregano because there is something about spiking a fever and raising our core temperature, you know, saunas, all of these things that help support our immune system. So just taking a remedy of hot oils and putting them on your feet before bed and they seep into the immune system and just it’s a little bit like you know biking down the hill with the wind at your back, it just helps your system get into balance and work better. 

So you know there in many ways I personally like to support the vagus nerve. I have a remedy called anti inflammatory that I think putting on the bottom of the feet is very helpful. But then I also like to support you know the immune organs like the spleen you know is great for inflammation. So you can really kind of slice the pie however you want but you know and then obviously making sure that you’re eliminating inflammatory foods. You know it’s basically eat sleep move and you can combine and oils to support all of that, right? 

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yeah. Exactly. And you were talking a little bit about the applying it over different organs. You had apply this over the pancreas. So are there you know for for blood sugar regulation? I think you mentioned uranium. Are there different oils that are better for the different organs? You know to apply over the organs. So let’s say for instance, you know, somebody want to support their kidneys, are there certain oils that you comply with the kidney than pancreas and small intestines. Are there some oils that are a little specific like that for dealing with certain conditions?

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Were getting back to what you were saying before with kind of frequency and vibration right? There are certain frequencies. I think every organ system has its own frequency. And so the more you can pick plants that kind of harmonize that frequency. You know, the more aligned it is like different plants, you know have different purposes in nature, correct? Like certain plants like ginger or vetiver have very deep roots in the earth. So they’re very entrained in the earth frequency. So they’re very good for grounding and centering. You know, this is kind of what they’re finding with ADD Like it’s the vetiver and the cedar wood and the frankincense, all of these remedies that have deep roots when you apply them on you it helps you feel more grounded, more centered. You know if you’re A. D. D. And you’re like squirrel, you know tree and all of a sudden you’re centered, you’re able to focus you know certain of the citrus blends. 

You know it’s really the peel of the citrus that has the oils, those are very uplifting. They’re very small molecules so they get into the brain very quickly and they tend to kind of expand your mood and make you happier. You know the flower oils like rose jasmine Blue tansy, they tend to be great for heart, heart coherence, heart balance, heart opening. So yes, there are different oils that can be used in different organs and then there are also certain oils that that I basically call like all around players, you know like the kid on the sacra team that could be forward or could be goalie and he’s going to kill it at both. You know like frankincense is a good all around one. Lavender is a great one. Blue Tansy is actually one of my favorite and it’s very good for immune modulating but I feel like I don’t want to get too limiting. You know, for someone who’s listening to this and may not have ever played with oils. 

I would say go to your health food store and just smell one and pick one you like and just start there and it’s very hard to do it wrong, you know and if you want very specific, put this oil on this acupuncture point, you know I have a book essential oils to boost the brain and heal the body and I list all the oils that are great for different organs and give you very specific ways to do it or you you know you’re walking to buy my products and I show you step by stuff but I think the point I want people to take away is just you know you can obvious heal yourself with food and supplements that you ingest and if you’re working through something and digestion isn’t as great as you wish it was. You can smell things, you can topically apply things, there are lots of ways to get remedies into your system. 

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

And I love I mean just kind of going to the helpless door smelling things, you know, seeing what it is that you like. I mean it’s almost you know because the essential oil is like developing a relationship with somebody and you know so when you’re smelling and say ah this this person seems like a really cool person, I think I would like to get to know this person a little bit more so you’re developing that relationship and then you can go back and learn about that essential oil and really see why do I like this and how does this apply to me and and and you can make it really fun and and and it’s really kind of an exploratory learning journey and and it’s also a way to kind of expand and learn more about yourself.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Exactly, Exactly. And also that way, I mean how many of us like buy supplements that we forget to take or we never use or we buy something and it doesn’t like the way it smells or the texture or whatever it is. I just, I want people to kind of try before they buy so that they make sure they like it.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Just know that before you smell of valerian, it’s always gonna smell bad.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Yeah, that’s much better.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve had many patients that you know do valerian extract and I have to forewarn them that this is just nasty. So but 

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Honestly the most affordable, I just tell people to get orange, you know, we know that neuralian burger mont which are variations of orange or have powerful anti depressive you know, aspects. But orange, most people like it. Most kids like it. It’s great and then there you can kind of get even more advanced like there’s a whole branch of chiropractic called functional neurology where they’re trying to stimulate different hemispheres of the brain. So one of the things that they discovered is that if you’re feeling anxious or having a panic attack that tends to be your right prefrontal lobe that’s overactive and so just plugging your right nostril smelling something through the left nostril, the nasal passageways, go all the way up to the forehead that will stimulate the left frontal lobe, balance the two hemispheres and suddenly feel a lot less anxious, you know? So for where, you know, kids are in school, they’re getting worried about grades and tests or maybe sporting events. That’s just a great trick to try. You know, it doesn’t matter what oil it is, it’s whatever they like. 

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

And this is in your newest book, right? Yeah. 

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Yeah. Basically what I’m hoping to do is just empower people with more strategies to use, you know, oils that they already have in their house or you know, just just to try it because it’s an easy way in terms of regenerating the more you can kind of balance yourself, put yourself in homeostasis, allow you know the, make sure that the good things get in and The bad things leave the body. You’re kind of cleaning your slate and allowing yourself to heal and regenerate. 

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Because one of the things that I’ve learned and please correct me because you know, this is when I studied like back in the 90s, you know, in regards to aromatherapy is that you have the hair that is in the nose. I mean that’s actually like an extension of nerve endings that goes directly into the brain. So you have a direct access to the brain through the nose so you can, that’s why you can have such a quick impact with essential oils to change your thinking, change how you feel. And so is that correct?

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

That’s true. And there’s more to the story. What’s really interesting is that of the five senses, smell has the most direct access to the amygdala in the brain because smell keeps us alive, right? We smell food, we smell water, we smell predator odor. So all the other senses are kind of routed through Thelma’s first. So smell goes directly to the limbic system of the brain, you know.

Which is why we have these imprints of smell. You know, like for whatever reason Blackberries around me of my grandpa’s summer cabin. You know, we all have those memories and so we can use it to get into the system. The other thing that’s interesting that you probably know it’s really hard to get remedies into the brain because the blood brain barrier prevents everything but super small fat soluble molecules from getting through this is one reason essential fatty acids are considered brain food. It’s not that they’re so amazing is that they’re the right key that unlocks the door. Right? And so oils get through the nasal passageways, There’s a reason that cocaine is snorted through the nose or they use anesthesia through the nose. It’s all the form of access, it gets right in there. There more blood vessels in the nose and the, you know, membranes are thinner. So it’s just a really easy point of entry to get things into your system.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

So with that then I mean you’re talking about using oils. You know if you’re dealing with depression, dealing with anxiety, you know and you know like you’re talking about kind of activating. 

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Trauma, fear, overwhelmed paralysis, all of these things. Yeah, you can kind of it’s almost like recalibrating and resetting.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

So for depression for instance, I mean somebody is feeling like they have a hard time to be excited about life. I mean what are some of the tools you know that a person can use and and that you know and just smell on a daily basis.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Yeah. And depression, I mean obviously it’s like cancer. It’s multifaceted. There are many reasons that they could be feeling that. So please this is not medical advice, go talk to your therapist. But kind of stimulating the vagus nerve. Like there’s actually a pacemaker like device that has been surgically implanted in behind the ear lobe on the master bone, on the vagus nerve that’s stimulating, it has been proven by the FDA to alleviate depression. The FDA has approved vagus nerve stimulation devices for that. So stimulating your parasympathetic nervous system which helps you feel safe which helps you feel calm, which helps you feel less overwhelmed and depressed. The oils that people tend to like for depression rose. I like to put Rose over my heart. I actually love to do yoga that helps me whenever I feel sad. But if you put an oil over your heart and then you do yoga every time you do downward dog, you smell. It just kind of enhances the experience. All of the citrus oils are kind of known for being like uplifting and enhancing. So those are just a few to play with. But you know, again, I’m not a doctor, I don’t play doctor on tv. So you’re, you know, practitioner do not use this in lieu of other things that you might be taking this.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

This has become, it’s kind of like a supportive type of therapy. And yeah, so, and and like you mentioned, I mean, depression can be many different things that come from gut can be triggered brain inflammation, it can be toxic. Brain, it can be nutritional deficiencies. It can be just traumas, you know, that we’re holding on to that is impacting different areas and in regard to traumas. I know you talked about that a little bit. One of the things is that, you know, traumas can then be stored in different areas of the body. The tissue tends to kind of store the traumas, you know, liver, there’s certain types of traumas, their kidneys, certain types of traumas, they’re, you know, just like you mentioned, you know, depending on the vibe the organs have certain vibration and traumas have certain vibrations and then also then the essential oils like you mentioned have certain vibrations. So utilizing oils in relationship to where the trauma is stored can then be very beneficial.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Yeah. And we actually, it’s interesting because I just created a fascia blend to kind of go in hand with trauma, you know because I actually I love the fashionable and I’ve been using it over the back of the heart because as you unpack things, it’s fascinating. I always take binders whenever I have like an intense therapy session because you’re mobilizing the emotional toxins as well.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yeah and I’ve seen that frequently is that you have chemicals and heavy metals or pathogens tend to be a way for the body to to spare its own energy to hold on to that trauma. So it’s almost like that heavy metal is kind of holding the vibration of that trauma to make it easier for the body and not to spend as much energy. So that when you detoxify than the trauma, the emotion, you’re also done detox, defying that heavy metal of that chemical. So it’s really important then to you know like you mentioned to have the binders their on board so that when you mobilize all these when you do this work, you know that that gets out of the body instead of impacting you again and again, another part that I want to get into before we end this is the the endocrine system. I mean that that is we have the females, you know they go through, you know they have a hard time with their periods or they excessive bleeding women go through menopause and they have a tough time. They’re men, you know andropause. So there are a lot of different things that takes place and the hormonal system is such a key component, you know, for our well being and how we feel emotionally and for our regeneration. So how what are some of the tools, you know you mentioned germanium geranium can be really helpful. What, when should it be used and what other tools are available that people we have.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

I mean obviously the hypothalamus is kind of the CEO of the endocrine system, right? The hipaa salma signals the pituitary to signal the downstream organs like the thyroid and the adrenals. So we do have one that we put on the hypothalamus and that’s kind of a bit of a recalibration tool because as you know, especially, you know modern life, so many of us are kicking out cortisol all the time. So our adrenals are either over firing or they get so exhausted that we have what we call adrenal fatigue. I don’t know if that’s there are a lot of different theories on what’s really going on but the more you can kind of balance the hypothalamus and and I call it rebooting it to factory settings, you know this is where you can use tuning forks, all of these things that kind of match frequencies. So we have a blend called hypothalamus that you can put on in terms of like menstrual cycles, both you know, during puberty and and regular menopause and getting into perimenopause. 

I find that when you can kind of balance the adrenals and actually the liver and the gallbladder, there’s some great oils. Black common is great for the gallbladder. The more you can ensure that, you know, the recycled estrogen actually leaves your body as opposed to re-circulating, the more you can ensure that your hormone signals are kind of accurate and clean. So there are a number of ways to do it. But I don’t see it. I’m not one of those people who’s like, oh, clary sage is a magic bullet. I don’t think anything is a magic bullet in isolation. I think that you need to look at the whole system. I encourage people to work with a practitioner. I encourage people to get their own like dutch test hormone test. You know, one person could be really high in estrogen and progesterone. Another person could have something else going on. So I’m not a fan of like throwing noodles against the wall and guessing with your hormones. I really think you should test and then kind of go from there.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yeah. And the dutch test, like you mentioned is really good because now you’re looking at the metabolites you get, get a bigger better picture as to what’s going on.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Yeah. Yeah. And I encourage I mean I really do think that oils you know obviously if you’re just looking to have more energy and maybe sleep better and be less stressed you know you can certainly do it yourself. I’m happy to help you if you have a bigger issue like an autoimmune condition, chronic illness parasites work with a practitioner and have them help you use oils as an adjunctive therapy.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

And what is the quantity I mean are there certain I mean can you do to me essential oils?

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Yes. And actually that’s I really in my book essential is to boost the brain and heal the body. I kind of went through five steps because I find that if people aren’t sleeping, if we can help them sleep a lot of times the other symptoms fall by the wayside right? You know they’re not craving sugar because they have more energy, maybe they start to lose weight. So I really help them prioritize if sleep is your issue, let’s start with sleep and let’s clean that up for a while. Meaning like at least two weeks if stress is your issue with most people have stress is an issue let’s help you kind of balance your tone your vagus nerve and turn on parasympathetic if you start to do that and you feel worse here’s what’s likely happening when you’re stuck in fight or flight. Your body isn’t detoxifying. If you start to relax and get into parasympathetic all of a sudden the toxins are being mobilized. If your drainage system is congested. 

If you’re not having regular ballot movements, if there’s you know if your gallbladder is congested it can kind of recirculate and make you feel worse. So if you start healing and you feel worse we’re going to take a hard pause, we’re gonna open up your drainage pathways. You know before we yell fire in the crowded movie theater with the exit doors closed and we’re gonna help you drain. So I kind of walk people through like here’s where you start, here’s where you go next and you know a lot of people are like you know and and all you can be buffet there like I need everything and I’m like at this point in time you might think you need everything but let’s kind of pause and you know make sure that you’re draining, let’s make sure you’re sleeping, let’s make sure you’re not you know stressed and once you kind of start to address those things then people need less and less so you know so I guess I’m the antithesis of the people that want you to buy everything like no please don’t like let’s just start with the basics and kind of get you balanced and then we’ll reassess and see what you need.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yeah exactly. So with that I mean like you say, you know less less is more in some ways meaning that you don’t need it is more vibrational and it’s more kind of educational. So you don’t need to scream at the body in order to be able to have it start to move in the right direction. You know gentle push is usually planning and anything else that you feel is that’s important for people to know when they started this journey in regards to using essential oils and also you know, so that they feel comfortable.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

I think one of the things that makes me the most sad just in talking to people is kind of this sense of disempowered and the victim, you know like they feel like they don’t have control over the world or what’s going on around them. And one of the things that I’ve noticed is that when your body thinks it’s in danger right, it’s almost like your reptilian brain takes over and you can’t see possibilities the opposite of I don’t feel safe as I have choices. And so when you’re able to to activate your parasympathetic nervous system, be it through an essential oil that you put on your vagus nerve or breathing techniques or whatever you do all of a sudden you’re system calms down and you begin to kind of get your prefrontal cortex, your problem solving brain back online and you see possibility and I think when you start any healing journey the more you feel empowered and the more you feel like your choices, the easier it will go. So that’s all I just want to remind people.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

I love it. Well Jodi Cohen, I’m so grateful for all the information that you bring out of the world in regards to these these powerful tools that I feel everyone should should learn and then empower themselves because it from my point of view is that pharmaceuticals, I mean they are needed when they are really needed but let’s use safer and not as harmful tools prior to you know, and and being able to to learn about some of these essential oils and you don’t, it’s not a huge learning curve because you know, you can’t, like you mentioned, there’s some of them that are, they are kind of all over players, you know, they can hit in so many different directions. So just bringing those in dealing with the cold, dealing with the flu, you can’t sleep, you know, I’m not happy, anxiety, all these different things there, there’s so many things that you can try first in the gentle arena before you go after it with these harsh chemicals. So that’s what I love to empower people with these types of tools.

Jodi Sternoff Cohen

Thank you.