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Writer's pictureShawna Schenk

PEPPERMINT


“She is so hot, she’s cool.”

Peppermint is a plant that makes her presence known. You can’t ignore her. Her energy is strong: she is focused on bringing relief, coolness and healing and will deliver just that in a quick and potent way.

Many gardeners have strong opinions when growing peppermint. They will stick her in a container to keep her put. You see, peppermint will stretch her “arms” (leaves) out taking over wherever she is. If you plant even just one plant of her in the ground, your entire ground will be covered. Some call her aggressive and invasive. I call her a boss lady to be trusted. She is alive to give, to outreach to any and all without limitations. She opens herself up to the world and all who want her. She is here to teach you something without boundaries or borders, and she will go wherever she needs to to accomplish this. You will see this in your body when you use peppermint essential oil.

If you put a few drops of pure peppermint essential oil on your body, something interesting will happen. Because she is so strong, you can physically feel here more than other essential oils as she runs through your bloodstream. All essence go where the healing is needed but because she is so cold, you can feel her as she takes the journey.For example, I will put a few drops of peppermint on my hands and surely enough I will feel her in my mouth, under my arms, or on my neck (all areas in my personal body that ask for healing from time to time). Put a few drops of her somewhere on your body, and then note where she travels. She is wise and driven and will take her powers where they are needed.

Peppermint does many things, but I respect her greatly because she is a great teaching tool for essences: she shows you what all the essences do in a very tangible way. You feel the plant’s potency physically and immediately. All essences stay within the body for awhile as they bring their healing. If you put peppermint essence on, you can feel her for sometimes hours after you have placed her on your skin.

Feel her power and feel her subtleness in the same. If you put her on trust her to travel to where she needs to bring healing. Note where she goes and pay attention to this. Also, note how long she sticks around making her presence known to you. Are your shoulders still cool after 30 minutes of her being placed on them? What about two hours later? The longer she makes her presence known in your body, the more she is trying to get your attention: she is asking you to listen to her message.

All plants will speak differently to all people but peppermint is infamous for bringing the following healing messages as she does some of the following things:

“Nature’s Air Condition”

Peppermint essential oil is so hot that she feels actually ice-cold on the skin. She is literally so hot that she’s cool. Because of this “icy-hot component” she is amazing for cooling the body’s temperature. Use her as your body’s natural air condition. She will help you if you get sweaty easily, she is great for people who get night sweats (put a few drops on your feet before you go to bed to keep your body temperature cool), she is a helpful cooling agent for hot flashes/menopause, and if you are outside hiking or doing something where you are getting too hot or overheated, bring her with you. A few drops of her and she will bring cooling to your physical body very quickly because she is a body coolant.

Cooling your emotions:

Peppermint’s coolness also holds a deep energetic message. If she were a person, you’d definitely think she was one of the coolest friends you’d have. Think of someone who is really smooth...like a saxophone playing, Jazz hipster…if you know who “ChickyBaby” is from Pee-Wee’s PlayHouse, that is how I see Peppermint:

She keeps it real cool (I mean, only Peppermint could pull off a hat and hair style like that). She reminds you there is no drama in life showing you that we make the dramas for ourselves. She helps you see and understand there is nothing to stay mad at. She keeps real cool and reminds you to, too.

If you’re feeling worked up about something, angry, frustrated, full of road rage or annoyance, put a few drops of her on you and picture her looking at you in that little hat saying, “Hey, man. You got this. Process it and stay cool.”

How?

I believe peppermint holds the secret for what it means to be cool-tempered in your attitude. She is the color green and sprouts purple flowers. Her green vibration nurtures the heart and teaches us to live in love and be love, and that directly helps calm the brain and its rapid thinking that can take us to a heavy emotional place (the purple vibration of the flowers calm the crown/head). So, when you need someone to give you a talk to calm you down if you are feeling fiery emotions inside, come to Peppermint. She’s the plant medicine world’s “chill pill.”

Headaches

Speaking of the head…Peppermint is great for headaches. Rub a few drops of her on your temples (or wherever the headache is stemming from) and also place a few drops directly on your scalp. She will help rid the headache and has also been shown to address other issues that often accompany headaches like light sensitivity, nausea and dizziness.

Digestion

Science has shown Peppermint is very potent in helping heal digestion issues; this includes everything from bloating to an upset stomach to irritable bowel syndrome. Rub some on your belly and feel her work her magic.

Muscle Aches

I personally use Peppermint every day to help with my sore neck and shoulders. To me, she is the best massage money can buy! A few drops of her on any muscle area that is tight and she will go right to work. Immediately the area gets cold and tingly and you can feel the muscles start to relax and the tensions unwind. She takes the weight or heaviness that lives in our sore muscles and helps move it away so we can enjoy lightness.

Sinus/Breathing

Peppermint is repository medicine, she opens you up and she shows you how deeply you can really breath. Put a few drops on your hands and inhale her in and out. Massage a drop on your sinuses or if you are feeling brave, put a drop on a Q-tip and rub at the base of each nostril. Breathe in and out. She encourages you to take deep full breaths. When you are stuffy, have allergies, a cold or flu or just can’t physically or emotionally find your breathe, call on Peppermint and she will guide you back to it.

Truth Peppermint is one of the essential oils that I like to call a “truth serum.” She works with the throat chakra helping you step into authenticity, honesty and truth. She will potently help you remove the blockages of lies and stories we tell ourselves that cause dis-ease in the body. She helps us to realize who we are and helps us stand in to our genuine self. She is very much a harmonizer and haramoy starts when we live proudly in the truth of who and what we are. “I am that I am” is the chant she speaks and from this place she brings mental clarity. When you have a clear mind, anything is possible. Please note, Peppermint is not a gentle sister like Lavendin. She will show you, demanding your attention forcing you to listen.

Refreshing:

Honesty is refreshing as is Peppermint. I have heard many people say as soon as they put her on, “Wow, she is just so refreshing. This is one of Peppermint’s strengths: she brings a feeling of renewal and revitalization and one of cleanliness and purity.

Place a few drops of peppermint in a glass spray bottle with water and spray on your face or around your aura. You know that feeling you get when you splash cold water on your face? That is her in plant form. She invigorates and calms. She brings alertness and keenness.

Sacred Geometry

Look at the shape and balance of each peppermint leaf. Its shape is divine, completely balanced and it brings that message to any who use her. When you feel out of balance or in disharamony, simply look at her and feel the perfectness she is (and listen to the perfectness she teaches that lives within you!)

Peppermint is old medicine.

Peppermint has been honored for a long time. There are stories that she has been used to heal people that dates back to ancient Japanese and Chinese folk medicine. Peppermint as a healer is also mentioned in Greek mythology and the many peppermint oil uses have been documented back to 1,000 B.C. found in several Egyptian pyramids. Peppermint has stood the test of time, helping lifetimes of people and she is something to be trusted.

Special Note: Peppermint is no joke. She is potent. She will make grown men and women cry. Trust me, I have lived it myself and seen it in my students :)

She is to be used with respect and wisdom. If you have sensitive skin, try a “test patch” of her first: this means put a tiny amount of her on you before you start dumping drops of the bottle out on your skin and see how you react. She can burn the skin because of her extreme heat (that is experienced as cold). For most people she is the right kind of cold to release the tension and heat that is built up in the body, but do use her with care and wisdom. I once put too many drops of her on my neck and shoulders that she burnt me. The thing with this was instead of doing my regular neck stretches, I just keep putting the oil on my neck and shoulders all day and typing away at the computer. The plants, they won’t do the work for you, but they will make it easier for you. When she burnt me, I realized I burnt me: I was trying to take the easy way out and burning out myself neglecting my own self care and putting all of it in the hands of one essential oil bottle instead of honoring my body’s physical needs. Plants are teachers in that way!

Water amplifies essential oils making them stronger, so if you do have a reaction to the oil, water is the worst option as it will amplify the reaction. Instead use a pressed oil (coconut, grapeseed, olive, raspberry seed, etc.). These oils actually dilute the essential oil so put a bunch of it directly on where your skin is having a reaction and it will quickly stop it.

In the same, Peppermint has been known to make you cough, sneeze, cry...this is a throat chakra reaction. She is breaking down blockages (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and energetically) in the respiratory system, sinus area, lungs, mucus build up, etc. She is releasing the grief that lives in these areas. If you cough or sneeze or cry, it is ok. Let it out. She is showing you how to make room for ease and openness. She is opening you up to a refreshing life that is full of truth.

Copyright © Yoga With Shawna, 2018


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