Ep. 21 - Essential Oils for Menopause: What Really Works with a Leading Aromatherapy Expert

Can essential oils really help during menopause—or is it all hype?

In this episode of Tea With Sophie, Sophie sits down with renowned aromatherapy expert Hope Gillerman to explore what the science actually says about essential oils and how they may support women through midlife.

Together they discuss:

• menopause symptoms including stress, anxiety and hot flashes
• improving sleep naturally
• how scent communicates with the brain and nervous system
• choosing high-quality essential oils
• safe and effective ways to use aromatherapy
• creating simple daily rituals for greater calm and resilience

Whether you're curious about essential oils for the first time or you've used them for years, this conversation offers practical guidance rooted in both experience and emerging science.

If you enjoy Tea With Sophie, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend who could benefit from it.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Hope has generously offered the Tea With Sophie community 15% off her products with the code SOPHIE60.

When you purchase two remedies, you'll also receive:

• Free shipping
• A complimentary Jaw Clenching Remedy Deluxe Travel Set

https://hgillermanorganics.com/

Hope's Menopause Favorites

Morning

• Stress Remedy (includes clary sage to support hormonal shifts)

Evening

• Sleep Remedy (with sandalwood and clary sage)

For moments of stress or overwhelm

• Jaw Clenching Remedy
• True Relaxation Diffuser Oil

Essential Oils Hope Recommends for Menopause

The flower oils Hope recommends most often for women experiencing menopause include:

• Geranium
• Lavender
• Jasmine
• Ylang Ylang
• Rose
• Vitex (often called the "menopause oil")

Additional supportive oils include:

• Vetiver
• Chamomile
• Patchouli
• Palmarosa

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi everybody, and welcome back to this episode of Team with Sophie. Now, if you are navigating menopause and you've ever wondered whether essential oils can genuinely help you with stress, anxiety, brain fog, hot flashes, lack of sleep, or whether it's all just clever marketing, then this episode is for you. I'm super excited to introduce my guest for today, Hope Gilliman. Now, Hope is one of the most respected voices in the world of aromatherapy. She has spent decades studying how scent influences our brain, our nervous system, and our emotional well-being. She's the author of a wonderful book on aromatherapy, the creator of beautifully formulated therapeutic blends, and somebody who's helped thousands of people use essential oils in ways that are safe, uh practical, and evidence-informed. Hope is a posture and movement specialist. She's a certified Alexander technique teacher, and she has been seeing private clients for pain and movement issues using the Alexander technique and her essential oil remedies for over four decades. So, today we are going to separate fact from fiction. We're going to talk about what essential oils can realistically help you with during menopause, which ones are worth having in your home, how to use them safely, and the simple daily rituals that can make a real difference. I absolutely love essential oils. I've personally been using them for close to 40 years. I'm super excited. So hope. I would love to jump straight in to the question I think every woman listening is wondering. If a woman in menopause came to you feeling exhausted, anxious, overwhelmed, unable to sleep well, what is the very first essential oil or blend that you would recommend she start with and why?

SPEAKER_02 2:08

First, Sophie, I just want to say hello. And it's so great being here. So when you say blend, what you're talking about is a combining of essential oils that have been diluted in something like jojoba oil and then loaded into something that will deliver that completed formulation in a way that makes it accessible for how you want to use it. So when I was receiving my most important training with Jeffrey L. Hune, I was going through menopause and it was the summer and it was really hot. So he shared a formula with us, which I've adopted. And basically, what it involves is jasmine, yelangulang, geranium, lavender, and an oil called Vitex, which is not very commonly used. It's in the kind of chamomile functionality, but it's especially used for women during menopause. And geranium is an oil that's especially used for older women during hormonal fluxes. It's almost to the point where I didn't even like geranium until I was a certain age. It was so like not appropriate for my age until I got older. These are oils that are part of a bigger picture of oils that are going to be useful for you. And I'm going to be helping you to figure out how to make your own blend, or maybe to go looking for it online because now you know the ingredients.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Beautiful. Thank you so much for that. You know, when you were mentioning some of those particular oils, because I think sometimes, and why I'm so happy to have you here, Hope, knowing your work as I do, is that it can be very reductionistic. And people can go, just use some lavender or throw some, you know, the sort of typical oils. So just to hear you, A, go straight into well, it is going to be a blend. And some of the oils that you mentioned are just I uh geranium, jasmine, alang a lang. Oh, those oils are so, so beautiful. So we will get into that. But what I want I'd love you to, you know, you're new to all my listeners and viewers. So what I would love to start off with is a little bit of very briefly background of how did you first discover aromatherapy?

SPEAKER_02 4:28

I love this story because it's so old. I'm talking 1977, and there were no essential oils. There was no aromatherapy in the States. The birth of it was France, modern aromatherapy. So it was in France and England and Germany, maybe Switzerland, I don't know. But the point is, it hadn't migrated over to the States. Nobody had heard of it. Basically, essential oils were only used for cleaning products and Coca-Cola and peppermints and stuff like that. So it was an industrial product. So what happened to me was I came to New York City straight out of college as a dancer and a choreographer, and I was in the middle of starting my career when I injured my back, and that blew up into chronic pain, which is kind of a physical and emotional problem because they both feed into each other. You know, you the pain causes depression, depression causes pain. So it was terrible. And I wasn't able to dance and I wasn't able to work. And finally, in the dance community, a friend told me very fortuitously about a massage therapist that I should go see. So I went to her apartment, and the strongest memory I have of this whole experience was stepping out of the elevator and just being hit. I think it was actually geranium, Sophie, that she was so into at the time because she was probably going through menopause. And I got hit with this really strong, sweet, beautiful smell. And I just thought, is this what I'm about to experience? Is this what I'm here for? It just came over me. And I was a real lover of perfume and I and I did a lot of research on it. And I'd go to go to France to go buy French perfume. So when I walked into her apartment, that smell came over me. And then she did a full-body treatment. And I thought at the time that she was just treating me with scent. She was like feeding me something that would put me in a good mood. But then she clarified for me that the massage was actually part of the treatment, using the soils in the massage, because she was massaging them into my body and that they had treatment effects. She was giving me a treatment with essential oils because they were going into my body, not just a smell. That was really a revelation to me. But I kept going. I wanted to keep going on my own. And so she supplied me with some bath oils, which I would use religiously. And I got completely enveloped in hydrotherapy and aromatherapy. And this was the beginning of me learning about self-care. And as a dancer, that is the most important thing. And for all of us, it's the most important thing. The bedrock of our health.

unknown 7:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

How beautiful. What a great story. I relate so deeply to this. And thank you for saying that it is the bedrock of our health, is this self-care. And I'm so fascinated that it's the limbic system, isn't it? That when you walked in, it hit you in a sort of deeply emotional way. You know, I had a very similar experience, hope, in England, because I think in England, coming over from France, there was a little bit of aroma, can't remember her name, but there was quite a famous aromatherapist. But I remember when I was in my early 20s, I was suffering from all sorts of things, including IBS, which is obviously very connected to emotional issues. And I remember I had a similar experience. I was I was given this massage, and it was unbelievable. It almost I can remember it like it was yesterday. And the way that you described it, the scents were just enveloping me. And I'm sure there was geranium in there and all these different blends. But a very similar experience to you after that massage, and I think it's what really got me very interested, not learning in the way that you have, but just interested in aromatherapy, was that I really understood from that massage that it was deeply therapeutic. And the blends that they were putting together were therapeutic on a way that I couldn't even understand. I want to ask you, Hope, was there a turning point? Because you were a dancer, you were doing something different. What was the turning point that you realized that this would become your life work?

SPEAKER_02 8:40

That's interesting because at first I was thinking about that question, and I think, well, of course, it was when I got my body back and I started dancing. And I continued with my exploration of essential oils. But the fact of the matter is, I couldn't convey the benefits to other people. And I was teaching Alexander Technique in an office with some acupuncturists, and one of them said, you know, you need to go check out Jeffrey L. Yoon. He is this world-renowned traditional Chinese medicine doctor, but he's also 88th in lineage as a Taoist priest. So he very much integrates the spiritual part of treating illness as well. And he taught a course to acupuncturists who had long since given up using aromatherapy or essential oils in their acupuncture treatments. And he was kind of setting up these courses because he wanted to say, look, there's this whole other part of this tradition that you're leaving out. Let me bring you in to this ancient knowledge base so you can draw upon it and use it in your practice. He said it's especially helpful for children and for elder people. So I went to his course. I didn't know anything about Chinese medicine, and I wasn't going to get the training in Chinese medicine, but I just sat there and listened to this oracle, and everything that he said was like, yes, that's the truth. I just knew it in my bones because of my holistic work with the Alexander technique. And they they just went like this in my mind. That was the beginning for me. I was like, I have to do something about this. And I ran out and I bought organic essential oils because they had just come on the market. And I started reworking all my formulas. And as soon as they were good enough, I decided I have to share these with other people. So that was the inspiration.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Wow, that's that's incredible. What an amazing experience. And I just love hearing how these experiences can change the trajectory of your life and led you to this life of going into the sort of healing in a very different way. Very, very briefly, Hope, can you explain to our audience what the Alexander technique is? Because some people may not know. So can you just because you've mentioned it a couple of times, what is the Alexander technique?

SPEAKER_02 10:54

The Alexander technique is a fairly unique method. So try not to think of this as being like something else. What we're doing with the Alexander technique is it's an embodied mindfulness technique. With meditation, for example, you may not be thinking about your body. You may be just following your train of thought, but this is where you're really connecting to your body, which is involving your proprioception and your kinesthesia, if you if you know what those are. That's how we manage all of the movements that we do. So it's an embodied mindfulness method that we utilize to change our habitual patterns of movement and our misuse patterns of the way we use our body and the our posture, especially posture. And that's how we start out. We start out with no erect, we're not erect at all, we're just lying around kind of wiggling, right? So the first thing that happens is we've got to get the head lifted. That's the Alexander technique. If you want to change your body, you have to start with the head. And if you want to learn the Alexander technique, you're going to be using it in your daily life. You might be going to the gym and doing all these wonderful things and learning about sports, but it's not going to carry over as in as potent a way as into your daily life as it is if you actually learn the Alexander technique. And for that reason, we can deal with pain and injuries and gait and balance and all the different issues that I deal with.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Wow, that's that's incredible. I I know that um hope, I think I briefly mentioned to you before this interview that I had studied a little bit of Alexander technique when I was at drama school and I was studying classical theater. For some reason, they used that, or a lot of teachers did as part of our classical training to I think to cinematically feel what was going on in our bodies and to have this um posture from which you could build as you were building your character. I'm gonna put you a little bit on the spot here, Hope. Could you take us through how to sit, basically? Because I would imagine that as somebody is sitting, either they're sitting listening to this or watching this, they're sitting in a chair or sitting in their car, putting you on the spot a bit, can you tell us how to sit? Is that part of the Alexander technique?

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Of course it is. Um, you know, sitting, I wish we could do away with it all together. Honestly, that's my that's my true belief. I think moving and standing and walking is great. And I think lying down is really good. So, first of all, if you are tired, lie down. Don't go into a chair. If you have to work, if you have to be erect, if you're eating, what you're gonna do is you've got to, it's fairly technical to get started with this. You have to find the bones on the bottom of your pelvis. The pelvis has um two, it's like two ears stuck together, and the earlobe is like the bottom of the pelvis. And at the bottom of your earlobe, there's a little uh kind of rocking shape, like a curved shape that you can rock back and forth on. So why don't you wiggle around in your chair until you feel those two bones that you're actually sitting on, sort of grinding into the chair? Or if your chair is really mushy, you might have to put your hands underneath your butt and feel those bones with your butt. It's not on the top of the pelvis near the waist, it's at the very, very bottom. So if you slump, go ahead and slump, you're gonna be sitting on the back of those bones. If you try to sit up too erect, you're gonna stick your chest out and the bones are gonna lift up off the chair.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

I can feel that.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Yeah. You want them right there, underneath your ears.

unknown 14:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

That feels good.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Yeah, and that gives you a base of support. Okay, so that's how to position your body. That's not all of the Alexander technique, because I said we do have to deal with the head. But let's just use that for starters. You're sitting on your sit bones. If you are tired from sitting that way, um, by all means, put as much support as you can, either scoot your hips all the way back into a into a back support or put some pillows behind your back. I actually use a meditation pillow. So the great thing about meditation pillows is that it's a much more supportive cushion.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Wow. Well, thank you for that little little introduction. There's so much more, and I think we're gonna have to have hope back for a whole Alexander technique episode of Tea with Sophie. But for now, let's get back into our essential oils. But thank you so much. I actually feel better just even reminding myself of that posture sitting sitting here, hope. So let's get back to essential oils. So the first thing I want to ask you is you told us about your initial experiences with essential oils and learning. So now 2026, you've been in this space and in this business for so many years. What has evolved? What has changed? A ton.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

First of all, that's the most important thing to know that that it's just like any other of the medical professions that you have to keep up with it now because there's so much research coming out, there's so much science. And also, we're not trained in reading the research the way doctors are. So we have to take refresher courses and all the stuff all the time to keep being exposed. Okay, here's the study, but that doesn't really make sense because those people didn't do it long enough or something like that. So we need interpreters. But the fact of the matter is, those interpreters are doing their very best to get the aromatherapy community caught up with the science. And the chemists are getting involved and the physiologists and the aromatherapists. And so we're learning about how essential oils get into your body, where do they go? How does that work? What do they do when they're in there? How do they accomplish what we feel that they're doing? What is the actual science behind that? And especially how are they interacting with the brain, going through the blood-brain barrier? How are they interacting with the skin, going through the dermis, all the way down into the blood vessels? How do they react when they go into the lungs? Because they're going into the air sacs and again going into the bloodstream. So we now know that they're circulating through the whole body, and we've even been able to locate essential oils in the placenta of a pregnant woman. Not very much, just a little trace, but that's how deeply they penetrate into your body.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Fascinating. Just it just occurred to me, you and I have gone straight into talking about aromatherapy. But for the listener who doesn't really know, I'm just assuming everybody knows what aromatherapy is and aromatherapy oils actually are. Will you lay it out as if I'm a fifth grader? What actually is an essential oil, a true essential oil? Because this then gets into there's a lot of things that are marketed as essential oils that aren't. Could you just speak briefly to that?

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Yes. Okay, plants have scent molecules in them. Some of them are very strong, some of them not so strong. So the question is what is an essential oil? An essential oil is when those scent molecules are extracted from the plant through distillation or hydrodistillation. Hydro distillations are sort of boiled, and then steam distillation would be through a stove. That's what an essential oil is. What they're not is they're not perfume oils, they're not something called absolutes. There is something that we call an essential oil, but it's a different method, which is using CO2, but somehow it made it under the wire and we still call it an essential oil. But that's basically what they are. So, for example, when you squeeze a lemon, you're gonna get essential oil of the lemon on your skin, because the essential oil is in the skin of the lemon, not in the fruit of the lemon. That oil is to be turned into an essential oil. They're gonna squeeze it and then they're gonna distill the juice that comes out of the skin so that only the essential oil remains.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Okay. So that's just so important for everybody listening and watching, because over the years and all the different places that I've purchased essential oils, you have to be really, really careful that you are getting a pure essential oil and not a synthetic version of perfume. Because as far as I understand it, and and correct me if I'm wrong here, hope, the synthetic version of the oil might smell nice, but it has absolutely no therapeutic qualities. Am I correct in saying that?

SPEAKER_02 19:35

No, sorry. Oh, and I'll tell you why. I've had these discussions with perfumers. So remember, I said I first thought essential oils were just smell, and then I said, but science has shown us that they're interacting with us physiologically and in our brains and cognitively and psychologically and emotionally, right? It's going into the body. Perfume is just the smell. Smell is therapeutic. We experience that all the time. We smell something, it doesn't have to be an essential oil, and it puts us in a good mood. That's not the same as essential oils because they're also interacting with your brain chemistry. So it's similar, it's not the same.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Ah, thank you for clarifying that. And I've never thought about that because there are certain perfumes that I really love, and they do. They evoke memories and they make you feel good and everything, but a different thing. Beautiful. Thank you for that distinction. So what do you wish every woman understood before buying her first essential oil?

SPEAKER_02 20:35

I think the first most important thing that I want you to know if you're going to buy your first essential oil is buy organic. What's the point of buying organic vegetables and staying away from plastic and staying away from chemicals in our home if we're letting them come into our bodies, as we now know, quite profoundly, through essential oils. Also, part of the reason why we're choosing organic products is because that's how it makes agriculture more sustainable, which is at this point in time very important. But the real reason why I choose organic essential oils is because they're just better. They have a stronger potency, and I cannot stand the smell of essential oils that aren't organic. That's how evolved my sense of smell has become from having to make those distinctions my whole life. I know right away, I don't have to even look at the label. So I've just made a big push for that. I hope you were convinced. I'm gonna tell you where to get your essential oils right now so you don't have to worry about that. There's a company in California called Eden Botanicals, and I really like them because not all of their oils are organic, but they have plenty of organics to choose from. They work with perfumers and aromatherapists, and they have a great sampling program. And this is the second thing. The best way to choose an essential oil is to smell it. If you like it, it's gonna be better for you. If you don't like it, there's no point in punishing yourself by using it. And people used to say, oh, well, if you don't like an essential oil, that's because you really need it. And I'm like, no. That's like saying, oh, well, if I get a rash from an essential oil, that's just my body detoxing. No, these are not truths. We have long since left those myths behind. So I want you to try to find a place where you can smell essential oils. Maybe it's in a health food store or something like that. And bear in mind that sometimes when you go to these stores, that the tester might be kind of old and not smell so good. Then just go to the counter and say, we need a new tester. You know, this doesn't smell right to me. Because there's also many options for you in terms of which oils to use. And I'm even going to give you a bunch today. That's going to really help you make your decision about which one you want. And it's instantaneous. It's like, ah, yes, I like it. It should feel like that. The third thing I want everybody to know is that you're going to have to dilute them. And so some oils are going to come diluted, like some of the flower oils I'm going to be talking about, but most of them are going to come in little bottles undiluted, and you're going to have to dilute them yourself. I'm going to tell you how to do that. But another solution is you can buy products that are made with the oils, like let's say you know you love orange and you know you love lavender and you know you love vanilla. So you can start putting that into the AI or whatever you're going to do to search and look for products that are made with those oils. And that will save you having to figure it out yourself and making sure that you're diluting it properly. But if you're going to be making your own blends or using oils one at a time, you're going to know how to dilute it.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

That actually really helps. There's so much in that hope that was very useful for me. I never ever thought about that. When you go to the health food stores, there are all those testers. And I never ever thought that, yeah, of course, they've been opened and opened and opened and probably got old and undiluted. And the other piece that I found very useful that you just mentioned is go towards an oil that makes your heart sing. It's those scents like geranium for me and a lang-alang, which are floral, beautiful scents. For me, they just immediately feel uplifting. I'm like, oh, and then there are certain oils, and you'll get into this because I want to get into menopausal symptoms now, which I know a lot of women are really struggling with. And for you to maybe perhaps tell women what they can what specific oils to look for. But then living here in California, a lot of the oils like eucalyptus and those sort of earthy scents. I love mint and eucalyptus. And also, I don't know, Hope, if there are different times in our lives or even different periods during the day, like ones that you feel uh more lend themselves to the morning and then for calming in the evening. They're very instinctive, aren't they? Essential oils, once you really get into learning to trust your senses of what you need and want. Would you say that that would be a good way to go as well? Is just as women, use our instincts of what really moves us and shifts us emotionally as we're smelling these oils. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

But I think what we're really talking about is listening. Listening to your senses, listening. What does it feel like when you when you smell it? What is your reaction to it? What does it smell like? These kinds of associations, oftentimes when I try the oils out on different people, it could have to do with the the season, not just the time of day. They may come to me and say, Oh, I really want chest remedy right now. And I said, I know, because it's the fall and the beginning of viruses, they're they've arrived and now, and you know, it's we're dealing with all this cold weather, suddenly coming in and our lungs are freaking out. So that's why you have to trust your instinct because it brings in awareness of how it's affecting you on the time of day, the season, and even how your health is.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

I love what you said was so powerful that you said, how do you feel? When you inhale that in, how do you feel? Is just beautiful. So, hope, just moving on specifically to menopause. So most of the women that that I speak to, as you know, are women who are over 50. Some are going through menopause right now. They're in their first sort of year of that perimenopause or transitioning that that difficult time with all the different symptoms. And many of the women that I work with, like myself, are post-menopause. So we've sort of gone through the worst of it. But as we know, post-menopausal symptoms can go on for at least a decade. So one of the things that I speak so much about in coaching is about nervous system regulation. And I think a lot of women are really focused on that now and really understanding that particularly this is our window of time that we become more and more aware of this dysregulation. So, what do we need to be reaching for? Which oils do we need to be using? Help us out here.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

First of all, I want to put your mind at ease because the oils that are good for this time in your life are the most beautiful oils. They're the flower oils. You are going to look into flower oils. So, with that, we have yield, geranium, lavender, clary, sage, chamomile, jasmine, flowers are the best thing. Most of them are cooling oils. So you didn't realize oils have temperature. And so because of the fact that we're dealing with this heat rising to the surface of our body, we need to be constantly ingesting things. We're ingesting through our skin and our lungs and our brain, right? Ingesting things that are cooling the inside of the body because it just calms everything down. And I used essential oils to get through menopause almost, it was just that and and acupuncture. Nothing else worked for me. So I used that formula that I mentioned at the very beginning. And by the way, if you go to my Instagram, there's little videos that were made by Allison Oliver about each of the flower oils. And it tells little stories about them and kind of sets your mood for what that oil is about. And she's a beautiful illustrator. Rose, I didn't say rose, my goodness, I can't leave that out. And then we have some other oils that are also very good, but those are the oils that are going to be regulating your nervous system, calming you down. And also, I want you to think about hormonal oils. So that would be geranium and clary sage. So during a period of time where our hormones are going, woo-woo woo-woo, you know, we want hormonally synced oils. We want oils for sleep. And look no further than lavender, really. Honestly, it's not that complicated. Anybody can, anybody can buy some good lavender and use it to fall asleep. They use it in hospitals all the time. There are plenty of oils that are good for sleep, and you can always go to your sleep oils. Also, citrus oils that have an orange-like scent are good for sleep. And there's other oils that are kind of a little bit more difficult. So I'm going to keep you away from oils that are difficult to use. Then you've got brain fog and focus and mental. So that's where your peppermint and your eucalyptus, also grow, grapefruit is really good, and rosemary. So those are affecting your cognition and helping you to stimulate the brain. Peppermint is very special because it does everything. It stimulates, but then it relaxes. It cools and then it'll warm you. If you're in the middle of winter, it can warm you. It relaxes the muscles, it relieves pain, it's great for nausea, it's great for headaches, or even preventing migraines if you put it in the right place. And so that's going to be one of my top oils that you're going to buy. I've already mentioned too, which is lavender and peppermint. And then all you've got to do is choose your third oil, which is going to be your favorite flower. And you've got your three basic oils that you can do everything with those oils during menopause.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

So just to recap for all the viewers and listeners, the basic oil that you can do anything with your trio. And by the way, Hope has her own oil blends, which we're going to be talking about shortly. Which, if you don't want to do the heavy lifting and you don't want to do your own blending, then Hope has the most incredible blends. And again, I'm going to be talking about those in a moment. And if you're watching on YouTube, I'll show you some of them. But for those of you who are going out and buying, the three ones you want are lavender, organic, peppermint, organic. And then you would take you, bring your third oil, the one that you really love. Um, it could be the flower oil, one of the beautiful flower essences, geranium, etc. Just I was just thinking, there are two conditions that I wonder what oils that you would recommend or what blends, because this often comes up a lot in coaching women, as I do. One is uh food cravings. I have a I have a thought on what that might be. Um, but I'd like I'm curious if somebody is going through riding the wave of a food craving or food noise, what would you recommend?

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Bitter orange is used and has been studied for dealing with addiction. Um so what it does is it deals with the anxiety because that's really what's happening. When you have a craving, it's like, do I, don't I, do I, don't I? It's it's a horrible place to be, and it can go on for a long time. And so if the craving is because your body needs it, it's not going to create that anxiety. You're just gonna go, oh, I need a yogurt, you know, or something like that. So um I would definitely recommend bitter bitter orange. Um you can you'll find it, I think, at Eden Botanicals. Um, and um, I I would guess that peppermint would be the other thing that I would suggest.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

I was actually going to say, I was like, oh, peppermint. And so if somebody was to get um some organic bitter orange, essential oil andor peppermint, if somebody is in the midst of a craving, because very often I find underneath the craving is something else going on emotionally. There's a feeling that you don't want to feel, and so staying in that um, it's very often just being able to calm down enough to be able to reach the deeper feeling that's underneath the unpleasant feeling. So if we're using to calm us down, would you recommend just putting a few drops in a tissue and then just cupping that over your nostrils and breathing it in? How practically somebody's in the midst of a craving? They go get it from their drawer, they pull it out of their purse. How are they actually going to use the peppermint or the bitter orange to calm them down in the midst of a craving?

SPEAKER_02 33:05

Okay. So, first of all, the bitter orange and the peppermint, those are gonna have to be diluted either by buying a diluted blend or by diluting yourself. Now, I was gonna suggest the flower oils again, because if you know that you have a problem and there's one oil that deals with all the different aspects of the problem, that's gonna be better for you. Okay, so that's why I keep mentioning the flower oils, is that they're really like the center of how you're gonna be dealing with all your hormonal chips in your menopause pre-post-during menopause. So then I would say get one of the flower oils that's already diluted. Like rose is always diluted, jasmine is always diluted. So look for other ones that are diluted, but those are the most common ones. I think Ya Lang Lang, they dilute that also. And the other thing I was going to suggest for calming is an oil that I there's really two oils. One is for fear, which is vetiver, and the other one, I think, more for like sort of a deep soulful relaxation because it relaxes the diaphragm. And that's sandalwood, which is the bedrock of Ayurvedic healing medicine. That you can buy diluted as well. Basically, if it's a really expensive oil, they're going to dilute it so that you get enough of it to utilize. And you know, if it's in a tiny little bottle, you'll probably waste it as soon as you open it up. So I would recommend heart and lung. Heart and lung are the best places because really to get over into the parasympathetic response, the breathing has to slow down. It has to be relaxed. The breathing has to relax, and you're not going to relax your breathing by trying to breathe in. You're going to relax your breathing by exhaling. So it will be like this. That's an exhale.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

I'm anxious. Then I just get more anxious. But if I I soften, I soften a little bit. So the oil can really help you with that. And then you can put it here, you can put it on your temples, you can put it on your third eye, you could put it on the sides of your nostrils. This is an acupoint. You can put it behind your ears, you can put it along along the collarbone. Basically, you can turn yourself into your own diffuser. Right? The oils are going to be evaporating around you, so you create the environment that you need so desperately. And I learned about this in New York City because you have to have a bubble in order to walk around the streets because there's so many people and so much energy. You have to have kind of this imaginary protective bubble. And I used essential oils for that.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

You know, I use essential oils for as a protective bubble a lot, but very much so on an airplane as well, as sort of germs aside. It's just because I used to have an enormous fear of flying and all of that, it just could creates this beautiful. I use your oils, actually, hope. I just couldn't fly without them. I'm just now remembering that as I went through this transition of being unafraid and being fine with flying, a huge, huge part of that was your blends, which again, we're going to be getting to in just a moment. Stay with us, ladies, because we I really don't want you to miss when I'm going to be talking about Hope's actual blends. I'm just imagining also the one other thing I was going to ask you is a lot of women that I work with go through grief and are either going through a lot of grief or obviously at this time of our lives go through a lot of grief. Would you say it's the same, similar blends in just reaching to for something that is very, very soothing and uplifting for you? Those geranium, the jasmine, the sandalwood, those sort of oils would be what you would indicate for for grief.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

Yes. Well, there's really two ways you can look at that. First is the comfort, the comfort that you need. And yes, definitely you're going to know which oils are giving you comfort and hold those close, right? But also in Chinese medicine, there they also identify different stages of grief, and that the the biggest problem is if you get stuck and you don't fulfill the process, and then it kind of stays with you and gets in the way of life. And so let that letting go. Um, they use uh needle oils, pine, spruce, fir.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

So interesting. It's just absolutely fascinates me how powerful these oils are. Now, safety. Biggest mistakes the people make and who should use extra caution because these oils are powerful, aren't they? Safety comes into this. So could you just speak a little bit before we all go out to the store and buy our oils and start blending them and whatnot? Can you just talk a little bit about safety, caution, and how we can identify what we need to use these oils safely?

SPEAKER_02 38:06

Yeah, definitely. This is a big topic because there's a lot of things we need to know, but it's also been very intimidating for people. So some people are like, well, I just don't have anything to do with central oils. And other people are like, well, I can just use it. It's not going to affect me. And so both of those are wrong. There's definite things that we know about safety. And first and foremost, if you are putting a citrus oil on your skin, you cannot go out in the sun, in the direct sunlight. And the worst would be if you put bergamot on your body. Now, of course, diluted is still better than 100%. But I did have a story of a client of mine who went to the chiropractor and said, I've got this terrible rash on my face. And they said, put bergamot all over your face, undiluted. She had a third-degree burn. It took her six months to get over. So you don't want to do that. Um, if you're making pina coladas on the beach, I mean, you might get a like a mustache from the sunburn that you're going to get where the oils have gotten onto your lips. So please be careful with your citrus oils. And um, the other thing is obviously we talked about diluting, that if you're not diluting your oils, you could be setting yourself up for uh dermatitis or worse, um, an allergy response. The problem with allergies, if you develop an allergy to an essential oil, which could actually come from overuse, um, once you have that response, you're never going to be able to use that oil again. The allergy is there. So it's just better to be careful and not push the limits of things. Overdosing is definitely something you want to be careful of. We know these are powerful. Then I think I already mentioned it, but when you put a drop of essential oil in a glass of water, people used to do this all the time and the peppermint and lemon and all these things. Oh, I need lemon in the morning. I'll put a drop of linen in my glass of water. And then that little drop, because oil and water don't mix. So essential oils are lipid-based. They don't mix with water. So they're not going to dissolve, they're not going to turn into little spread themselves out through the whole glass. That drop is going to go right down your esophagus and stick onto the lining of your esophagus, most likely, before it even gets down to your stomach. So over time, that is gonna that at the very least can cause um reflux, acid reflux, you know, heartburn, fit things like that. You just this is a delicate, important part of the body. We don't want to harm it. You don't want to put them in your eyes or too near the eyes, you don't want to put them in your ears.

unknown 40:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

And people love to put things in their ears.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

Do I take it then that you do not recommend ingesting? Because here's the thing, Hope, there are some of these um multi-level marketing companies, and that they will remain nameless for the moment. I'm not going to call them out by name, but I'm sure you're very, very aware of the there's a couple of really big ones, and they do, you know, the parties, you know, where they tell people all about the essential oils and whatnot. But I have heard people saying, oh, that they tell you to put a few drops in of this one and a few drops in of that one and to drink it. So, not a good idea. Is that something you recommend against?

SPEAKER_02 41:16

I don't recommend it. Um, for your IBS, um, peppermint is extremely helpful if you ingest it. So there are preparations. There, it's called an enterically coated pill. That means that it will not dissolve until it gets into your intestines. Um, I don't know the brand names right now because I I just didn't research that this morning, but you can take peppermint internally if it's an enterically coated pill. And it's on the market, and it is good for IBS. Um, the other thing to keep in mind is that your age has a lot to do with how you utilize essential oils. I'd say one to three months, just don't even bring them over to the baby. The amount that would be safe to use is is less than a drop. So you you it's to dilute it would be quite a challenge to get it to be in a safe zone for your baby. Um, and we do know that there's some issues about possible issues about breast milk being inhibited with by essential oil um usage. We don't know that for sure, but for now, that's that's how we're we're looking at it. Um so as the child grows, then they can start their exposure to essential oils bit by bit by bit, and they can have stronger and stronger formulas until by the time they're teens, then they're essentially just like the rest of us. We all can absorb the same amount until and later in life. Now, if you have a chronic illness or cancer or something that's really depleting you, especially if it's related to the lungs, you don't want to add essential oils into it because the liver does have to process it, the lungs have to process it. So you want to, it's called VOCs. Um, so you want to be, you know, back off from essential oils at that point. And with, you know, people in nursing homes, they need essential oils, they just need them diluted the way a child needs them diluted.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Okay, that's so useful. Um, we're going a little bit longer because this is, I think this is just such incredible information that and a lot of a lot that I absolutely didn't know. Um, hope I just want to recap. So be very careful. Do not in put essential oils in glasses of water and drink them. Um, there are some oils like peppermint, but they need to be enterically coated. And you need to if you're treating something like IBS, so you want to be very, very careful. Um, infants, babies, extremely careful, up to three months, um, no essential oils, elderly, very diluted. Um one other question I have about this is if somebody is going through treatment, hope, um chemotherapy, um, for instance, and they're spending a lot of time in the hospital, or they're actually going through Through uh chemo, that to me would seem a time like you would want these sort of uplifting oils, but is it safe? How do we how does somebody, if somebody is sick in hospital going through treatment? I know this is a lot that I'm throwing in here, but anything that you would say to that?

SPEAKER_02 44:18

Well, first of all, if they're getting essential oils in the hospital, that answers your question. I don't know if you know about lipstick angels, but they go in and do services while people are in the infusion room and they actually supply an inhalation like a cotton ball with some tension remedy on it, which is has some peppermint in it. And the the patients really like it a lot, but it's just like a drop on a on a cotton ball, and it's it can be in there for like a month that they have it. So again, it's very, very diluted, and so that's safe. That's safe for them to do. But when you start experimenting on your own, you can get caught in the quagmire.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

Yeah. Okay. So with caution and understanding as well. And I think once we get on to talking about some of your blends, that could could also be helpful for everybody. Let's go to some rituals, let's go to some everyday rituals that listeners and viewers can do. Would you tell us a five-minute morning ritual that everybody can do? I mean, I teach my clients to do little morning rituals with some meditation and some breathing, but I'm curious if there's something that they can do to add essential oils to enhance that morning routine or ritual.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Well, I think the first thing is do you take the shower in the morning or do you take the shower at night? That would be so can you answer me that first?

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Oh, uh, I think most people will take the shower in the morning.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

Okay. So you can buy Dr. Bronner's Castile soap, which has very good quality essential oils in it, and uh you can wash your body with that. Please, when you buy the peppermint, do not get it anywhere near your crotch or your armpit sensitive parts of your body. Okay. Um, but that's the that could be the beginning of your essential oil experience. You're not absorbing very much of it, but you're definitely getting the it's helping you with your breathing and with your state of mind because you're washing it off right away, right? So, but it's still helping as you inhale it. And especially if you feel like you're coming down with something, you know, you feel congestion, that starting with some essential oils in the shower, you can put some peppermint or pine eucalyptus, you put them on your chest and you can stand under the shower and you'll get this kind of steam-laced with essential oils. And as you breathe it in, it's gonna make you cough. And when you cough, you're gonna get the stuff out. Okay, so that's important. You never want to dry out a cough and have that stuck in there because that's when the infection starts. Then you've got something therapeutic happening in the bath or in the shower. If you're taking a bath instead of a shower, make sure you don't put undiluted oils into your bathtub. They have to be diluted or mixed with an emulsifier, which is again a little bit complicated. Then you're going to choose something for your underarms because we've got lymph nodes there. And we know that we sweat, we get nervous, we we bacteria can grow there. So most essential oils are antibacterial. So, whatever oil you want to use, you're going to put that onto your armpits.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 47:21

And I like to use the peppermint uh lavender mix because I know I have clients coming to me and I have to have something that I know everybody likes, you know, and everybody likes a little breath of fresh air that with the peppermint. Um, but I also use lemony lemony blends and I use drop clenching remedy, which maybe was what you were using on the plane, and or lavender, tangerine. Any well, stay away from citrus oils. They're gonna they might irritate the skin because the when you sweat, the pores are gonna open. And then anoint yourself. So this is the most important thing. You could do this while you seal the sink doing your makeup, or you could do this when you're about to start meditating, but do it before the hustle and bustle of the day. You're gonna pick the blend or the the diluted oil that you want to color your day. So you're already setting an intention right there. What do you want your day to feel like? Or how do you feel already, and how do you want to modulate that? So you pick the product, that's where it's helpful to have more than one product. So you pick the product and you put it, I mentioned before, on the temples, on the third eye, behind the ear, and definitely along the collarbone. These are lung points. It's very important to use those in the summer when the air quality is bad. And you can put it all the way down your sternum and you can put it on your wrists, and you've you're setting up your bubble. Oh, I love that hope.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

This is gonna be my new thing. I love the way that you use the word anoint. It it just feels so this really feels like self-care and it's intention, it's setting up this beautiful feeling that you you you want to um you want to expand into throughout the day. This is I'm excited now. I'm going to add this to my morning ritual. I can't I because I do a ritual and I most of my clients do a ritual, but what a lovely idea to have as part of that this anointing. One, this is actually a really good time, I think, for us. Let's start talking about your blends now. Because if somebody just wants to pick one of these blends, I want to show you. This is one of the blends that Hope has, and it is my favorite one. And you can tell us what's in this one. It's the stress remedy, right? So there's a stress remedy, there's also the jaw clenching remedy. But I just want to show you, I want to show uh if you're watching on YouTube, if you are listening, I'm opening this little roller ball. And if you can see on YouTube, that's what it looks like right there. And would this be something, would this be a good blend for the anointing morning ritual? Hope fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

That would be fantastic. And also because it's in that nice little travel bottle, you know, because the tap's tight enough that it closes it off. You can put that in your purse and you refresh your intention. You can refresh your points throughout the day.

SPEAKER_00 50:23

Oh my goodness. So what tell us what is so there you go. It says little rollerball. It's safe because it's already diluted, because you don't have to worry about is it diluted enough or or whatever else it might be. Again, this is called the stress remedy. I I almost think there's nobody that wouldn't love this. And this would be the great for the anointing because you're going to do all those little points that that um that hope went over, the temples between the eyes. I love, never heard of doing the clavicles, the collarbones. Um, so all the way down into that beautiful heart center. And as you said, Hope, you can pop because there's a larger size, a larger bottle that you can have. But this is wonderful because never thought of that. As you want to remind yourself of your intention, as you're reminding yourself of some of these practices that I teach clients to come back to throughout the day, which is you know, the exhaling, the coming back to center, how beautiful that you can market with reanointing yourself, reminding yourself of your intention. What are the oils that are in this blend? Well, do you have any guessing? Do you have any guesses? Okay, well, hang on. I really do not know what's in it, so I'm gonna try and guess. Well, definitely, definitely lavender. Yes. Oh, oh, is that any maybe some mint, some eucalyptus, maybe, maybe? Oh, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. You're gonna have to tell us, but I know there's obviously there's lavender in there.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

Yes. So this is a lava, a very strong lavender-based blend. And I get people telling me all the time, oh, I don't I don't like lavender. I can't take any lavender. And I always query, you know, is that lavender essential oil or is that lavender scent? So sometimes I encourage people to try this blend again and they go, and children love this blend because of lavender. So there's a lot of lavender, but the most important oil in there, besides the lavender, well, there too, I think, is vetiver. Vetiver is an interesting oil. It's very thick and viscous, and it takes days before it's actually fully evaporated off of your skin, which means it holds the scent. It's in perfumery, it's called a fixative, and usually those are very strong chemicals that they put into perfume to make sure that it's still there at the end of the day. Vetiver is going to be there then the next day, and um, and it also works really beautifully with your own scent. So this blend, for some reason, it changes on whoever's wearing it. And sometimes I'm like, I put it on myself, I forget, and I go, what's that wonderful smell? I made it, I'm wearing it. So it changes, and but vetiver is a very grounding oil, it's very good at relaxing muscles, but most of all, it's the oil for fear. Anxiety is sort of a mishy, moshy, vague thing. Fear is very clear, and so it's really good to have something that addresses fear. And I I was very fearful during menopause. It was almost like every time I had a hot flash, I would get very scared, like, well, nothing's gone wrong. I'm just sweating, you know. But something got triggered. So it was very useful for me there. And um, and then the other oil that's for us menopause ladies, post-menopause ladies as well, is the clarisage, which is another hormonal oil. It's also sometimes referred to as the euphoric oil. It is just an oil that gets your mood, it's a mood shifter. It's a very like Yelang Lang, but not anywhere near as strong.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:10

Do you know that's why I love this so much? Now you've actually shown me these oils because the Vetifa I find so grounding as well. I didn't realize that it's a fixative. And I love the fact I've just anointed myself with it now. And um, and and I love the fact that it just stays, but it makes so much sense because Clary Sage was uh an oil that I used so much when I was going into menopause, um, because it just I was just so attracted to that oil. And I think now you're you're saying it, it was because of the, as you said, anxiety, their umbrella term, but it was feeling very, very untethered and unstable and going through all of those emotions. So for all of you watching and listening, I would honestly say if there is um a blend that you would start with, and if you're interested, and I'll put some details in the description and on the podcast page because um COPE is giving my community, you, uh, some very um lovely exclusive offers with a lovely coupon code. So all of that will be in the description or on the podcast page if you're listening, as well as where to find Hope, her books, her website, but but most importantly, where you can actually pick up these beautiful blends. Because after listening to you, Hope, I'm like, okay, we can we can get into the science of blending our own. But honestly, if we can get a blend that is organic, the real deal, that is beautifully scientifically blended by you, diluted in exactly the way that it needs to be. It's like, why wouldn't you? So that is the stress remedy. Now, one that I'm interested in is another one that I have in my hand here, which is the jaw clean, and we've got a couple of five minutes left, um, hope here, before we we're gonna let everybody go and land the plane, as it were. So, this jaw clenching remedy, will you talk to us about that? Okay, so if you look in there, um what I'll go back to me. So here we go. So, in here, and it comes, all of the blends come with a this beautiful little sheet, by the way, with botanical drawings and the details of of the of the remedies. But right here in this little pouch here, I have two remedies. One is the jaw cleansing remedy, and the other is the true relaxation diffuser oil. So, can you speak to us about this little deluxe package?

SPEAKER_02 56:51

Okay, so um normally those are sold the jaw clenching remedy is in a bigger size, but I wanted to be able to give it away to anybody who buys um two the two the two other products. Um, so the jaw clenching remedy is an oil that you can, it's of all the oils, it's the one that's most suitable for the face. It's good, it's good face oils and it helps relax the tension in the jaw. It's also the most grounding of all the blends. It is really going to slow you down. It's got the vetiver in there, but it also has German camera, which is the anti-inflammatory and another really heavy base note. Um, and it has Pomerosa, which is a beautiful kind of watery scent to it, and the lavender, and it's just a um, and it has a little bit of patchouli, which I warn you not to buy patchouli on its own. It will be way too strong. You won't be able to work with it. But I've got it nicely tucked away in that blend, and patchouli has all kinds of wonderful benefits for um hormonal stuff and menopause. And you just roll it onto your face. And the diffuser oil is um something that you can use during the day or in your workplace, um, or you could use it before you go to sleep and prep your bedroom with it. It's mostly bergamot, it's got it's got some of the ingredients in the stress remedy, but it's mostly bergamot. Bergamot is the number one citrus oil for depression.

SPEAKER_00 58:18

Oh, now that's really interesting. So bergamot, the number one for depression. So if somebody is feeling a little depressed, a little down, you would you recommend that they actually use a diffuser and use the the this true relaxation oil? Yes, I would imagine. Yes. And um, Hope, do you recommend um a what what kind very quickly, because we have such little time left, but do which what kind of diffuser do you recommend? With water?

SPEAKER_02 58:52

It's definitely the ones that where you put in the water, you put the water in there and sonic um vibration that diffuses it into tiny, tiny little particles that then get diffused into a room like a humidifier. It's the safest, easiest way to use essential oils.

SPEAKER_00 59:10

Okay. Oh, that's so good to know. I'm I'm I'm on the right track. Um, I have exactly that one, and I actually want to have one in every room. I actually have it in my kitchen, but now I've got this, these beautiful oils. I'm gonna move it to my bedroom. All right, so then we have the you also we have the sleep remedy. What is different about the sleep remedy?

SPEAKER_02 59:33

Well, I decided that it was time for me to update the sleep remedy. And because so many people have sleep problems, I was like, I think I need to put something in there that's even more powerful. So I put in the sandalwood, which I already explained to you, is that plumbing and getting to the breath. And I'm telling you, I'm in love with it, and I I'm just so excited about it, and I want everybody to have it because the most important thing during menopause is get that sleep. I mean, I need to get up tonight and yeah, all right, ladies.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:07

Did you hear that? I I can't the I mean, I just I've already put some oil on, so I don't want to apply this to my skin, but yeah, but it is absolutely uh my whole body when I inhaled that hope just went so sleep remedy. Now, everybody might be thinking, do I get jaw clenching? Do I start with the sleep? Do I start with the stress relief? Where do we start? If somebody was going to grab one blend right now to to to try a Hope Gilliman blend, what would they start with?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:47

Well, if you have sleep problems, you should start with sleep remedy.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:51

Absolutely. That is because without sleep, you don't have the energy to heal from anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:55

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Beautiful. All right. Now, a couple of last questions. So just to let you remind you, everybody who's watching, everybody who's listening, Hope has some beautiful special offers for you with her oils. A special coupon code, um, free shipping. I'm not going to go over the details now because it's just simpler if you just read it. So, all of the details that Hope has so kindly offered to this community. Go ahead. You can read that, as I said, in the description of the YouTube video, or it'll be on the podcast page if you're listening to the podcast. Hope, to finish up, what is your favorite oil right now? Your lang, you're lang. Okay. Wellness habit that you never skip.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:45

Walking with Alexander Technique and My Dog. A book that changed your life. The Use of the Self by F. M. Alexander, the founder of the method. Fascinating story.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:59

Advice to your younger self.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:04

Life is short. Don't worry about aging. Smell the roses.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:11

And finally, what does aging mean to you?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:16

Aging means just letting myself go through the the arc of life and see it as a gift.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:31

How beautiful. Thank you, Hope Gilliman. You are a gift to the world. Your work is a gift to the world. As you know, what I will finish up by telling you is that I did a retreat a while ago, and we um had some of these beautiful oils to give to the ladies on the retreat, and they were just absolutely blown away. You are such a treat and a gift because in a world where there is so much misinformation and so much um an artificial, as we know, artificial everything, but artificial oils, artificial perfumes, and information that just is not correct. Um, to have you um bringing the the your life's work, your expertise that you have spent years passionately putting into the book. You all want to get Hope's book as well. We'll put details of that. Um, what a gift you are to everybody, Hope. And I will say that I, as you know, I I love essential oils, I love using them. But I, after this interview, I have a renewed passion, inspiration, joy. I feel so good after just, I haven't fully anointed myself, but I plan to with the with my beautiful um stress remedy. Um, and I'm excited to use the sleep remedy tonight. But thank you for what you do. Thank you for the hours that you've put in. I always say, hope, you know, the the the people, the experts um that I'm interested in talking to are those who have put in their 10,000 hours. Because there's a lot of people who just come and they do a weekend course in whatever it might be, coaching or nutrition or aromatherapy. But you are somebody who has put in her 10,000 hours. And for that, I am so grateful. And for you coming and sharing your incredible passion for what you do with us. Is there anything that we didn't say that you didn't say that you would like to leave listeners and viewers with?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:36

Um, I just wanted to say, Sophie, thank you so much. I've really enjoyed our conversation. You just um the way that you kind of reflect back to the speakers. So it's just really lovely. And I I feel really great that I I got to spend the uh the hour with you. And um and I also just want to let people know every time I ship something out, I write a little note. And um, it's really just an invitation, you know, people can they can send me a question.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:06

You're entitled. There you go. So you can reach out to Hope, you can have a look at her oils, you can read her book. There's lots for you to be getting on with, but make this part of your life. As as Hope said at the very top of this interview, you know, so this is self-care, and self-care underpins absolutely everything. And at an age when many of us actually abandon that self-care because we've got so much going on and so many things to take care of, it is non-negotiable. It is absolutely non-negotiable. And if the one thing that you start with is maybe a morning ritual, using the oils in the way that Hope outlined, that would be a really good starting place. Thank you for everybody for attending and listening to and watching this episode of Tea with Sophie. And um, and again, all the information you need is in the description box below or on the podcast page. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Hope. And I will see you all on the next episode. Bye bye, Hope. Bye bye, bye.