Aromatherapy: The Power of Lavender

I have just read a wonderful article about the healing and mood enhancing powers of lavender in AARP magazine. The article reported the beneficial impact of holding and rubbing lavender flowers in your hands -

Iris Lee Underwood had long heard that lavender was powerful balm for an aching heart. But when she caressed the velvety lavender flower she was harvesting outside her home one sunny afternoon six years ago, she felt its legendary mood-boosting powers in a way she didn't expect.

Underwood's 25-year-old daughter, Becky, had died seven years before, and suddenly "the cloud of grief that had hung over me lifted," she recalls. "I had studied how the oil absorbs into your skin, in your bloodstream, goes to your brain, and says, "...it was really true: I felt this keen sense of well-being."

Iris created the Yule Love It Lavender Farm in Michigan and welcomes more than 2,000 visitors a year. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by and smell the lavender, drink some lavender tea or just hang out and enjoy the beautiful view. Or try to grow lavender in your own backyard: