Whether you work from home, work outside of the home, or you stay at home with the kids… one thing we all have in common: STRESS. Thankfully there are several ways you can use to reduce stress naturally.
Stress can be a total career killer… and mood killer…
We all have those moments… feeling pulled in every direction, usually all at once.
For me, it’s working from home while managing household needs, a toddler, two giant dogs who think they are toddlers, a thriving business, and enduring our 7th month of pregnancy while my husband has simultaneously endured 7 months of deployment. I’m definitely feeling as though this is not among the most graceful moments of my life!
While we LOVE our wellness coaching and helping others and continuing my coaching has been my biggest lifesaver, I’ve admittedly needed to take a step back and be more diligent about practicing what I teach more often. Because… hello burnout!
Yesterday actually I found myself contemplating locking myself in my closet to cry, feeling entirely overwhelmed, mostly because our two dogs (a Newfoundland and Rottweiler) decided to take a break from the heat outside to rampage around what was a freshly cleaned house, scattering my toddler’s toys and play mat squares everywhere. All while my toddler took it personally that his toys were no longer where they belonged.
Often, just opening that case, and catching a breath of all the oils in it together is a soothing experience, but this time I was on the hunt for something specific. While I chose to go with a DIY blend this time (bergamot, frankincense, and lavender), I did want to share with you a few ideas on using essential oils to help you mellow out your stress levels.
Some stress can be good, leading you to more productivity… but there is a point where that shifts and stress becomes prohibitive. Thankfully, having a pleasant aroma surrounding you does help to mellow out your stress levels to more manageable levels, if not dissolve them to allow you to relax.
Essential Oils to Reduce Stress Naturally
Thankfully our bodies were built with a simple hack available to help us calm down. Your sense of smell. Its amazing how just a smell can impact your brain emotionally. You’re all fired up one moment… a few sniffs and that just melts into the past. While oils can’t “fix” what is sparking you to be stressed, they definitely can help you manage how you respond to stress, physically and emotionally.
** PLEASE NOTE ** Don’t be fooled by clever marketing. Not all essential oils are created equally. Don’t miss my complete guide on how to find quality pure essential oils to ensure you’re not wasting your money on brands that legally conduct misleading, unethical, and deceitful marketing practices.
The best oils to use for mellowing your stress are frankincense, lavender, cedarwood, and citrus oils.
Lavender essential oil is one of the best go-to essential oils for anything stress. It is in just about all stress-busting oil blends and DIY oil blend recipes. With its floral, uplifting, relaxing aroma, lavender does wonders for helping you unwind and clear your mind.
My favorte use is adding a couple drops each of orange or tangerine and lavender in the diffuser.
Bergamot essential oil has a tart yet sweet and uplifting yet relaxing aroma that, like all the citrus oils, has some incredible properties that help you chill out.
DIY Essential Oil Blends To Reduce Stress Naturally
Peace and Calm DIY Essential Oil Blend: 2 drops each of bergamot, lavender, and frankincense in the diffuser to help boost a positive, relaxing mood.
Reducing Stress Essential Oil Blend: 2 drops each tangerine, black spruce, and lavender essential oils
Calm Your Mind DIY Essential Oil Blend: 2 drops clary sage, 2 drops lemon, and 1 drop lavender essential oil
Reduce Stress Naturally, Faster with Essential Oil Blends You Don’t Have To DIY
Because being busy typically equates to not having much DIY time and when you’re stressed, the last thing you want to think about is scrambling for a DIY, there are a few spectacular pre made blends specifically crafted to help reduce your stress and unwind.
Calming Essential Oil Blend is fantastic for unwinding and de-stressing. Just a few sniffs and you’ll feel that stress start to mellow as you slip into a more peaceful mood. Its a blend of tangerine, orange, slang slang, patchouli, and blue tansy that works wonders at calming your nerves. The best use for Calming is in the diffuser, or diluted and applied to the back of your neck, on your back, in your belly button, or worn as a perfume/cologne.
Sweet Oasis Essential Oil Blend is one of my number one go to essential oil blends for melting away stress.
Just imagine for a moment the last time you were so stressed out that you nearly started shaking (or maybe you were shaking)… your vision blurs… you start to feel yourself losing control… and then you open this bottle and take a sniff. Almost instantly you start feeling that stress overload fade… and all the sudden you’re feeling back in control and ready to take on the challenge. THAT is what this oil does for us… every time.
I personally think it smells like a margarita, without the alcohol… helping you to embrace that 5’O Clock Somewhere mindset.
I love how the vanilla-lime aroma of the Sweet Oasis blend melts away that stress tension, allowing you to clear your mind and keep pushing forward.
Tranquility essential oil blend is a blend of Orange, Tangerine, Patchouli, Lime, Blue Tansy, Ylang Ylang, Lavender, and Citronella essential oils that helps calm you down, chill you out, and help you relax.
All you need to do is dilute it with a carrier oil and apply it on the back of your neck, your temples, and your wrists as needed.
A carrier oil can be any cold-pressed, seed-based oil (ideally organic and unrefined). This includes most cooking oil, like coconut oil, avocado oil, and olive oils. Personally, we LOVE using fractionated coconut oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, and grapeseed oil. This is the best way to dilute your essential oils for topical use.

Meditative Prayer to Reduce Stress Naturally
While we are talking about overcoming overwhelm, I thought I’d bring up meditation…
I do not advocate typical means of meditation promoted all over the internet and in self-care programs because it leaves you open too much to influences you really don’t want in your life. As someone who holds dearly onto a Christian world-view, I feel meditation is best when based around prayer and contemplating scripture.
First and foremost… find a quiet place.
I know for most parents and also professionals in fast-paced work environments, this can be difficult. However you choose to find your quiet place, find it!
An undisrupted bubble bath… a moment by the lake or ocean watching the waves… In your bedroom on freshly cleaned sheets… taking a walk down a trail by yourself… really anywhere you can just stop and be.
Find a quiet space to decompress. You don’t need to go full “Ohmmmmm” yoga mode. In fact, as a Christian, I highly recommend against yoga. All you really need is to decompress, unwind, and allow your mind to mellow out. This can be accomplished through journaling, prayer, walking through nature, getting creative, or doing an art project. Changing things up by diffusing a few drops of frankincense essential oil is fantastic for deepening your focus with prayer and calming efforts too.
Take a verse of scripture (highly recommend one that helps with finding direction and clarity), and use it to focus on what it means to you in this current life season.
Help Your Body Reduce Stress Naturally Through Supporting The Gut-Brain Axis
Your intestines have a lot more to do with mental wellness and handling stress than you may realize, especially if you’re like me and didn’t receive that updated info in science class.
The microflora in your gut has a lot to do with your mental wellness through your gut-brain axis. When your gut flora is balanced more towards candidah and parasite activity, your mental health feels more jumbled, stressed, moody, and overwhelmed. When you have a healthy microflora balance, you experience more mental clarity, creative thinking, natural energy, positive moods, and have an easier time with handling stress, among other physical benefits.
There are many ways to support your gut-brain axis through gut-health. You can make some organic juices, eat a more Paleo inspired diet, take a quadbiotic specifically geared towards optimizing the gut-brain axis, or take a quality set of probiotics.
Reducing Stress Helps Increase Creative Thinking
Here’s the thing. Our lives are much like a jar of water and sand. Everyday, throughout the day, that jar ends up shaken up… that water inside looks muddy, making seeing through the water an impossible task.
If we take even 5 minutes for some peace… that water settles. The sand settles to the bottom, and you can see through the jar.
After all that sand settles… all sorts of creative ideas can come flooding to you. You now have clarity and the ability to think creatively that doesn’t just come while we’re in the shower or at 2am with no where to write down ideas.
This type of clarity helps to boost your efficiency, creativity, and ability to handle life’s chaos that allows you to move forward without feeling stuck in your life.
Looking for more info about adopting a healthier lifestyle? Check out our online courses or my home business opportunity centered around maximizing your physical and mental health.

Nicole is a military-trained research analyst, homeschooling mom, healthy lifestyle coach, flexible business consultant, and writer for MotherhoodTruth.com and GracefullyAbundant.com. After living through and overcoming a season of homelessness and chronic health, Nicole developed a passion for helping others develop healthier habits using functional nutrition, herbalism, and renewing faith.