There are some great essential oils that encourage a calm state of mind, reduce stress and support sleep.

Here are a few ideas to help you relax with essential oils. We'll start with a few great carriers that can be very soothing all on their own:

• A massage oil with jojoba
• A cream for before sleep
• A bath salt with jojoba for before bed
• A linen spray for your pillow and sheets
• A diffuser blend for the bedroom

And now for the essential oils! Pick your favorite blend below and add it to one of the carriers above to create your own personal relaxation product.

Emotionally uplifting and relaxing blend: Orange and Ylang Ylang
Deep earth aromas: Vetiver and Patchouli
Floral heaven: Ylang Ylang, Palmarosa and Lavender
The herb garden: Marjoram and Lavender

How many drops? Try about 10 drops total of essential oil per 1 oz (30 ml) of carrier, or 5 drops in 2 oz (56 gm) of bath salts with 1 tbsp (15 ml) of castile soap. Create these blends using the drop-by-drop blending method. For example, if you choose to make a massage oil with the emotionally uplifting and relaxing blend, start by adding 1 drop of Orange and 1 drop of Ylang Ylang and mix them into the jojoba.

You may notice that the Ylang Ylang is much stronger than the Orange, and you can add 3 or 4 more drops of Orange before the Ylang Ylang starts to blend its aroma and the massage oil becomes more aromatically balanced. Your final blend may have 8 drops of Orange and 2 drops of Ylang Ylang.

If you make one of these blends, please share the results with us in the comments below this blog post. (If you're reading this in an email, you can click through to the Aromahead blog and add your comments there.)