Combining Healing Herbs & Oils for Respiratory Healing

There’s never been a more important time to learn how to safely and effectively combine herbs and essential oils to ease your respiratory issues.

Combining healing herbs and essential oils can help relieve difficulty breathing brought on by a stubborn cough, lingering congestion, chronic mucus, asthma, bronchitis, and much more.

Aromatherapy, with its well-documented and powerful antimicrobial effects, works directly on the respiratory system, while herbs reduce irritation in airways and possess antioxidative powers of their own.

You can use aromatherapy as a primary treatment, then supplement it with herbs, OR use herbs as the primary treatment and supplement them with essential oils.

Either way, this powerful combination brings enhanced synergistic effects and increased therapeutic benefits for treating and preventing many common respiratory conditions.

Today we’re sharing a practical guide for combining herbs and oils for respiratory relief. (Check out recipes below!)

Get ready to stock your home pharmacy or dive right in and start discovering which combinations might work best for you. First things first, though...

Must-Know Essential Oil Safety Tips

Do NOT:

• Use essential oils internally
• Apply directly to the skin — always dilute with a carrier oil
• Use citrus oils before exposure to UV light
• Use essential oils on infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly — or those with serious health problems

DO:

• Keep out of reach of children
• Avoid contact with eyes and mucous membranes
• Use only pure essential oils; avoid synthetic fragrances
• Avoid prolonged exposure without ventilation
• Store essential oils and carrier oils properly to avoid degradation and rancidity

Methods to Ease Your Respiratory Issues with Essential Oils

Safe and powerful methods for using essential oils for respiratory conditions include placing your essential oils...

In a diffuser. The aromatherapy experience is beneficial, not just for your respiratory issues, but also for general atmospheric purification, sinus health, and headaches.

In your bath. Put 5-10 drops mixed with sea salt directly in the bath.

You can also try mixing your favorite essential oils with 1/2 to 1 cup of milk, then pour it into the bath.

This method relieves respiratory discomfort, as well as skin problems, stress, and insomnia — plus circulatory, muscular, and menstrual issues.

On a soothing compress. Add 5-10 drops of oils to four ounces of hot water, soak a cloth in the mixture, then apply it to your chest.

You can also soak the cloth in hot water first, then add the oils to the cloth itself — either option provides a soothing, diluted dose of fragrance.

In a pot for a facial steam. Place 1-5 drops of your favorite oil in hot water in a pot, then cover your head with a towel and simply lean over to steam your face.

This method is excellent for easing respiratory issues, plus opening sinuses, treating colds and cases of flu, and providing headache relief — and it even provides a soothing facial skin treatment along the way!

Best Herbs for Respiratory Relief

It’s so simple, yet incredibly effective, to simply combine one of the above essential oil application methods with taking healing herbs orally at the same time — in a tea, capsule, or tincture.

Which healing herbs are helpful to combine with essential oils for respiratory issues — and how should you prepare them?

Common Aromatic Herbs & Spices

• Basils, including tulsi
• Chamomile
• Lavender
• Lemon Balm
• Marjoram
• Oregano
• Peppermint
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Savory
• Thyme

Traditional Spices

• Black pepper
• Cardamom
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Coriander
• Cumin
• Fennel
• Ginger
• Long pepper

Aromatic Herb Preparations for Respiratory Issues

For tea infusions of herbaceous aromatics (like leaves, flowers, and dry herbs), a typical recipe is one teaspoon of dry herb per cup of hot water, steeped for several minutes.

And did you know that larger amounts can be made in the same ratio in a French coffee press? It’s true!

For roots, barks, seeds, and forms other than aromatic leaves, recipes are typically less than infused leaves — 1/4 teaspoon per cup of water.

While herbs can also be taken as tinctures, either as single remedies or in combinations, each herb requires a specific dose, so research recipes carefully. Tinctures can also be added to infused teas.

You can steep fresh or dried plant material in the bath, in hot water for inhalations, or use them traditionally in a steam cabinet or sauna.

Recipes: Essential Oils & Healing Herbs for Respiratory Issues

If you’re ready to jump right in, here are some sample recipes that are truly effective. Give these a try, and experiment with your own...

Sample Recipes of Expectorant Herbs & Oils (These help loosen mucus so you can more easily cough it up).

• Tulsi/ginger tea, ½ - 1 cup 2 – 4 times each day. Combine with:
  • Steam inhalation with Silver Fir essential oil 1 – 2 times each day, or
  • Diffuse equal parts Rosemary and Eucalyptus essential oils
• Expectorant cough syrup with mullein and/or wild cherry bark, ½ - 1 teaspoon. Combine with:
  • Tulsi tea 2-4 times each day, or
  • Create a chest compress with Cedar and/or Juniper Berry Essential Oils

Sample Recipes of Mucolytic Herbs & Oils (These make mucus thinner and easier to cough up).

• Mucolytic cough syrup containing mullein, ½ - 1 teaspoon 2-4 times each day. Combine with:
  • Ginger, peppermint, tulsi teas, or
  • Rub chest with ½ and ½ Helichrysum essential oil and coconut or sesame oil, or
  • Diffuse equal parts tulsi and Rosemary essential oils

Sample Recipes of Decongestant Herbs & Oils (These relieve blocked nasal passages).

• Peppermint/elderflower tea, ½ - 1 cup, 2 – 4 times each day. Combine with:
  • Steam inhalation — equal parts Eucalyptus/Tea tree oils
  • Rosemary tea, ½ cup 2 – 4 times each day. Combine with:
  • Steam inhalation with equal parts Peppermint/Silver Fir oils