How Scent, Safety & Decluttering Actually Reset Your Nervous System with Jodi Cohen|Heather Aardema

You are in this season of decluttering and let's go there. What are you decluttering? Why are you decluttering? Why is this important to you right now?

You know what I've noticed? And it actually started with the oils and with the body that when, okay, so when there's congestion, there's no space for new things, right? It's almost like being a hoarder. Like you can't even walk through the house because there's no space. And so I've been really releasing the fascia, opening the lymph, allowing all the fluid to move. And I almost talk about it like, you know, Your body's mostly water. So we're an aquarium, right? What happens when the water in the aquarium gets dirty? The fish get sick. When the water in your body is like stagnant, you know, like a puddle or, you know, a little lake, it just gets really gross. And so you really want to make sure that everything's moving and flowing and that gives it more space and clutter in your house. It's so interesting because there's like physical, mental, and emotional clutter, right? There's the actual stuff. And then there's kind of the energy that's attached to it. So you see that pile. And it just, it almost like keeps you stuck. It's like, God, I'm never going to get to it. It's too overwhelming. And so you just do not, you know, you get frazzled and you shut down and you never make progress. So I finally, it's interesting. My sewer backed up and so my basement flooded. And so I had to take everything in the basement kind of out to get it repaired. And some of it, I just stuck outside in this kind of covered area, you know, like bookcases that were kind of ruined and just like, you know, a dumping ground for garbage and I don't know why, but it like stayed there. And finally I had this idea. I went to some event and someone had like this little Got Junk card and it wasn't very much money. And I'm like, I'm going to just hire the Got Junk people to come and clean everything out. And I'm like, everything must go, you know, like it's all gone. And then I hired someone to like whitewash, you know, spray wash the area. And I'm like, oh my, it makes me so happy. It's so clean. And now I'm like, gosh, I wonder what I can do here. Cause now I've got space.

You have possibility. Exactly. So I want to go even deeper. You said it makes me so happy. Like, how does that feel inside?

Oh, it feels— yeah, it's exactly— it's possibility. Because, you know, it's even like I cleaned out all my closets too, because even things that I wear, you know, like I exercise every morning. So all the like bras and stuff there, I have my favorites and there are ones that I don't know, maybe I wore like 5 years ago that aren't my favorite anymore. And I'm like, why do I have this taking up space? It just makes it harder to think find the things I actually want. So I just kind of went through and purged. It looks like I have a lot less stuff, you know, and I, I didn't totally throw it out. I have it like stored somewhere, you know, in the attic where if I really need it, I can find it. At some point I'll actually give it away. Even so, my kids' baby stuff, you know, their stuffed animals from when they're little, I had all of them in the attic and I was like, this is absolutely ridiculous. Like even, you know, they're not going to play with these again. Like, I'm just going to donate it to a preschool where kids would actually enjoy it.

I love that idea. Donating to a preschool. That's wonderful. You know, we say, oh, it's so ridiculous. It's so ridiculous. And so sometimes for some people that can be mind clutter because they'll say, it's so ridiculous that I did this. And they're judging themselves and then it will feel heavy. I didn't hear judgment really. I didn't hear you judging yourself. But some people will create mind clutter about the physical clutter and then not do anything because it just feel so bad. It's so human. We'll keep these things, right? We keep them. They provide some kind of, you know, they help complete a story that we want to say, or they represent some kind of safety. And so, but look at you, you're like, you know what, these things, like, it's, that's not that season of life for you anymore, right? Just the—

And you know what's really interesting? I've been doing yoga for a long time. And I remember the first time I inverted, I went up in a handstand and I kind of surprised myself. You know, they guide you and I'm like, I guess I'm just going to try this. And suddenly I'm like vertical. And I'm like, oh wow. And I remember getting down and being like, oh my God, I wonder what else I could do? You know, 'cause it just opens that door for possibility. And that's how I feel with like all the clutter that's gone. I'm like, oh my God, I have so much more space in my life. Like now I can bring in new things that kind of meet me where I'm at now. You know, and I feel that way about the body too. When you, it's funny, I used to have hip pain. I used to have knee pain, like seriously, you know, I hike with my daughter and I could keep up with her going up and then going down. I, I was like an old woman. I'd go so slow because I was worried about the knees and like, literally she would just be like, I'm bringing a book. I'll meet you at the bottom. Now I can keep up going down.

I love that visual. I love that visual. And I love the doors that are opening for you and you are opening those doors too though, right? You are creating that space. So would you even go as far to say that decluttering has felt fun? For you?

Well, yes, it's a little bit, it is, you know, it's kind of like getting on the roller coaster, right? Like you're like, oh my God. Like, you know, it's, it's a little, it's unknown. Right. And anything that's unknown feels, um, makes you feel vulnerable. So yeah, I've been really surprised. And it is interesting because when the, when the Got Junk people, I, um, I threw in a lot of, I was just like, oh, I'm done with this. And there's only one thing there. There was one painting that I was like, ah, this can go. Then now I'm like, maybe I should have kept that. But of everything, like only one thing. That's pretty good.

That's really— yeah.

Yeah.

Well, so often we're so afraid that we're going to regret getting rid of something, we get rid of nothing. And I love that you're saying like there's only one thing that maybe you could have kept it, but actually, is your life incomplete because you do not have that painting?

No. And it was truly something that was a little bit nostalgic. No, no. I will be fine.

I love it. I love it. And you're so believable too, 'cause sometimes people are like, are you sure I won't regret? Are you sure? And so you just, the way you just gave us a look and smile, you're like, I will be fine.

Like that's— You know, it's interesting. Like we can talk, I lost a child in a car accident. It was 7 and a half years ago. And it took me a minute to kind of go through his stuff and the way one of his friend's moms was, is like a, she does kind of what you do. But anyway, she came over and like helped me go through this stuff and I was really paralyzed. And she's like, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna create 3 piles, right? One pile is this goes now. One pile is this stays forever. And one pile is I'm not deciding yet. This is my limbo pile. And that kind of made it easier because I didn't need to decide in that moment. Yeah. I'm going back through the limbo pile and I'm like, a lot of it, you know, really can go. And I was telling you before we started filming, we turned during COVID we turned my son's room into the Peloton room. Cause you know how like the Peloton needs its own room. And I never, I'm much more of an outdoor exercise person, but my daughter used it, but now she's about to graduate college. So I'm like, hmm, maybe I turn, you know, the Peloton room or my son's room into my podcast room. So it's, it's just this idea that, you know, as you, as you grow and evolve, your space can grow and evolve with you.

And those choices that you make get to honor, get to honor your son if you want to think that, right?

Like you get to love it being a part, like he, he would have loved YouTube. He was making videos early.

Yeah. Yeah. And so I just, wow. I love the idea of turning, turning the room into your, your studio.

Yeah.

That's really special, Jodi.

You know, it changes the energy too, because I think right after You know, it's, it's, I've heard this a lot from people who've lost someone, you know, like their husband died 20 years ago and his clothes are still in the closet, you know, or a loved one dies and it becomes almost like a living memorial. Like they don't touch anything. And I, you know, in fairness, I did that for about 6 months and then I was, you know, we changed it to the Peloton room and now I'm like, let's just make it like a functional living space.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, one thing my grandma did when my grandpa died, and this is way before me, I never met him. He died really early because of some poisoning on the farm that they had actually. I know, right? So it's, uh, anyway, when he died, she went and looked at his clothes and she chose her favorite sweater of his and kept that sweater and then told my mom and my mom's siblings, anytime I want to feel like I'm getting a hug from your dad, I put that sweater on. And so it's just, you know, if everything is special, nothing is special. And so for her, you know, she would just go put that sweater on and all the kids knew, you know what, this is, this is where mom's at right now. And I just thought that was really, just really intentional of my grandma to do at that time. And then the clothes were donated and, and then all used and had second lives and and help people that were going without. And so it's, um, it's, you know, there are a lot of different things to do or a lot of different ways to declutter and a lot of different ways to go about it, especially when we are experiencing grief. And so I just really thank you so much for sharing a little bit of your story right there too, Jodi.

Oh no, of course. You know, and also just if anyone's listening that's experiencing grief, it's, um, it's a process. It's an unraveling. And if you're not there today, that's totally okay. You know, trust me, it took me a while to get there.

Yeah. I thank you for saying that. You know, clutter is neutral. Stuff is neutral. And there are a lot of people out there with a lot of thoughts on how you should grieve or how soon you should get rid of things. And, and that's all they really are. They're just thoughts and opinions. And each one of us is unique. And, and so we get to travel our own path. Some people, right, depending on their design, they get the yes, no, yes, no, and they can get rid of things quickly. Other people, want some time to kind of process. And sometimes they'll say, oh my gosh, I've stopped decluttering. I'm stuck. And actually they haven't, they're not stuck. They're just in the middle of that processing. Nothing has gone wrong. And once they get their answers, yes, this is the right time now, then they keep moving forward.

And so it's, yeah, I did something. I don't really understand it, but I call it like decanting, you know, like you decant the wine and you let it kind of sit. I had a lot of Max's stuff in the attic. And so I just moved it into kind of the main area. He loved tigers. He had some like kind of life-sized tiger stuffed animals that I just kind of put out. And my dogs at first thought a predator was in the house, but I, but even like moving that energy, you know, like kind of changing where it lived, you know, and vacuuming up where it took space. It's, it's really interesting. Like it, it really does physical things. I, I think have kind of energy attached to them. I'll never forget. Um, you know, we moved, my, my husband and I moved here from New York and we brought like our little New York couch that we used to entertain on. And then we had the babies and that's where I breastfed the babies. And then the babies, you know, like ate on the cat, there were blueberry stains. It just, it was time to like leave and found this sweet family that really wanted it, you know, and They came and picked it up. We gave it away for free. And I remember like that couch that, that had been part of our lives, like being so sad when that couch left. Like it was this really, it was almost like this period of time. It represented something to me, you know, and to see it go was interesting. And then, you know, the energy changed and I got a more appropriate couch for, you know, the stage they were at, but it's just, it is interesting. So I feel like I did that and even Sometimes I, um, I used to rearrange my room constantly as a kid, which is such a weird OCD thing, but I feel like I'm doing that now with stuff, you know, like I take like these vases, I like try it there and I'm like, maybe not, you know, your whole bedroom setup.

Yes. So do you want to know what's happening? This is new information to me, but I find it fascinating. So when we rearrange things and then we, we know once the rearranging is done, we're like, Yeah, that feels better. What it is, is our nervous system telling us, okay, you're now safe, or you're safer than how it felt before. So, Jodi, I'm the same. When I was a kid, I was always rearranging my parents' living room. They'd come home, open up the door and go, oh, Heather's been at it again. It drove my dad crazy. And as, as you know, a middle-aged adult, we just made some changes in my home. I have a small house and we moved, we made some changes. Well, my husband and our two boys made some changes and I walked in and my nervous system immediately said, no, I can't do this. No, it wasn't me being, you know, hard to live with or anything like that. It was just, I knew my body didn't feel safe and all I needed to do, because they made some big changes, but all I needed to do, I moved one big plant away from a window.. And then I could see out. And for me, that's my nervous system. That's my design. I then felt safe. I said, ah, I can breathe. It feels so much better. And so it's, it's interesting, right? But I, I believe that's why we're doing it. And we make those changes until we say subconsciously, okay, now, now it feels good. Now it feels good.

Yeah. No, I like even where I sit, you know, if you're at dinner with people, like I like to sit kind of looking out, you know, maybe that's a safety thing too. Yeah.

I see that actually, Jodi. So we might have, so I've been having fun getting into human design and my, my husband basically is called a cave. He wants, you know, to block any light coming in from the windows. And a lot of people are caves. They want to create a really safe feeling inside the house. You know, don't let the outside.

No, I like as much sunlight as possible. I like really big windows and I don't actually have curtains because I like to see as much sun as I possibly can.

I have a feeling that we would be very compatible living together because, because so what you— so I am a valley, meaning that I want to see out. I want to see far distances. I feel better, I feel safer. And I always sit with my back to the wall so I can look out.

Well, you know, it's interesting. I had a friend help me. I was cleaning out the pantry and she was stacking all these things like up top. And I'm like, no, I'm like, I like space up top. So we moved the appliances to like the next level down.

It's fun. It's, this stuff is really fun, right? You know, so, all right. All right. I'm, let's pivot. I mean, I could talk with you, you know, for 5 hours continuously, cause it's just so fun. And I love talking clutter with you, physical, mental, emotional clutter. I want to pivot to clutter in the essential, essential oil industry. What, like, is there clutter in that industry? I believe there is personally, but I'd like to know what you think of that.

I don't, I mean, I wouldn't call, I would call it confusion and I would call it like, it's funny. I started my company. Um, you know, I was, I was a nutritionist and I was helping clients and I started using oils because, uh, it was really hard to get my son to eat vegetables, but I recognized that I could get kind of the the healing components of plants into his system by applying oils on the bottom of his feet. So that's how I started playing with it. And then I went through my own stress response and was trying to stimulate my vagus nerve. And one day I was like, huh, I know that oils can be stimulatory because when I put them on the bottom of his feet, sometimes it gets red and feels hot. I wonder if I could use a stimulatory oil to stimulate my vagus nerve. So that's how I started making up our, uh, parasympathetic blend, which is clove and lime. Clove is stimulatory. Lime has small molecules. When you topically apply it to the point where the vagus nerve is the most accessible right there, it stimulates your vagus nerve and calms your nervous system. And I had such success that I just started making my own blends. And when I, you know, got to the point where people are like, you should put this out. And I'm like, oh, someone must be doing it. I went in, I researched what other companies were doing. And that's when I realized they made it seem really complicated. And like you needed a degree to do it. And so I think that there's, I think that for anyone listening, just know, like, you're, you're good enough as you are. Like, you can totally do this. It's not that hard, but what we decided to do, because we had some awareness of what areas are hard to reach, you know, in the physiology, like most people, you know, if you need magnesium, you can supplement with magnesium, you know, but moving your lymph, calming your nervous system, kind of unraveling the fascia, like all the things that keep you stuck. Keep you stuck in fight or flight, keep your, you know, you stuck in kind of the inability to move things out and detox. In fact, I just made a new blend and I'm calling it Unstuck. It's been really helping me. I know, I know. It's been really interesting. I'm putting it on my throat because one of the things that stuck for me is my ability to kind of voice my needs and stand up for myself and really be discerning about like, huh, they want me to do that. And is that, is that what I want for me too?

Hmm.

You know?

Yes. You're one of the most creative people I know. Well, here I want to, I want, I'm curious about what you would have to say or how you would respond to what I want to say. So when I talk about clutter in the industry, what I've been told by others, not you, is that you could, you know, go to the grocery store and buy some essential oil and maybe it's not, you're not buying what you think you're buying. Like maybe you think you're buying lavender, but actually they're putting maybe something called, I think, lavandin in there. Which, yeah.

And I can tell, like sometimes I'll be at events and, uh, you know, they call it oil and I smell it and I'm like, this doesn't seem real to me. And I, here's the truth. I don't love to lead with fear-based marketing because I don't want to scare anyone. And so what I want to say is a lot of people do it right. And you don't really need to be that afraid. And there are certain things like, you know, for anyone that's tried to ever grow like peppermint or basil, you know, it's hard to kill. So it's not necessarily like they're spraying it with tons of pesticides, but when you can go organic, especially on like the citrus ones and let your nose be the guide. Most of us, someone said like, oh, I've heard that if it smells terrible, you need it. And I'm like, that makes no sense. Like if someone cooked something for you and it smelled like it was, you know, not tasty, you would never eat it. Like trust your nose.

Oh, that's a great point. Trust that you're, you're allowed to trust your intuition. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. And I, side note, I do tell my kids, I don't make all the meals here, not even close to it, but I do give them, I say, you know, like some of the things I make are really yummy and some of the things I've made have not been yummy. And I always say, you can trust yourself. If you don't like it, you don't need to eat it. And same for me, because I was raised, you never complain, right? Right. It's a kind of a clutter in a sense like that. You can't speak your truth. Truth, can't speak your truth, and that creates mind clutter. So anyway, I think that's kind of a sidebar, but that was fun, fun to go down there. How does scent help us regulate the nervous system? We were talking about, you know, rearranging and the nervous system. How does scent help us regulate?

You know, it's really interesting. Most people don't realize that of the 5 senses, your sense of smell is the most powerful and the most underutilized. Smell is what keeps us alive. Like your nervous system is designed to keep you alive, to keep you safe. Right? So you smell food, you smell water, you smell predator odor, you smell fire. You know, people, it's funny if they had a bad experience, like I'm older than you, but when I was in college, a lot of men wore Drakkar. It was this cologne that didn't smell great. But if someone had like a bad experience with a frat boy that wore Drakkar, the next time they smelled Drakkar, they would feel like maybe I'm not safe. You know, and it's that interesting warning sign. So smell and smell is deeply encoded with the limbic system. So what the limbic system is, it's kind of the filing cabinet in your brain and it helps you perceive danger. It kind of logs in familiarity, right? So this is why you smell raspberries and suddenly it's like you're 7 years old at your friend's cabin up in the woods, you know, where you smell fresh cut grass and you're like, oh, I'm on the soccer field, you know, or something that smells like grandma's cooking. And it just, it takes you back in time. What's really happening is that your brain has kind of cataloged that memory as familiar and safe. And so when you smell something like that, you feel that familiar safe feeling and you can tap into it yourself. You can train your brain to feel familiar and safe. So you could be, you know, there's a lot of travel difficulties. Like imagine you're stuck in a cold place and there is a storm and maybe your flight gets canceled or maybe that you actually get on the plane and you're just sitting on the plane for 20 hours, you know, whatever it is, you can't, You can't really control what happens in the internal external world, but you can control your own internal response. So you can always carry like a safety triggering familiar scent with you and just smell it. And no matter what is going on, you're like, oh, I'm okay. It could be freezing outside, but you're, you know, you're wearing the right gear. You have the right hat and gloves. So even though it's freezing, you're still warm. You know, even though unpredictable things are happening around you, you're still feeling safe.

I'd never even thought to do that. What it's, it's one way we can give ourselves agency. Yes. Right. To have that. I mean, you were talking about the parasympathetic, you know, I put it on while you were talking about it. And every single time I put it on, it just, I just relax. I feel it does create that kind of that, that bubble of safety around me. I do agree.

Like, I don't know about you, but my grandparents' house had a certain smell. You know, and sometimes I'll smell it and I'll be like, oh, it, it just, it makes me feel like I was like a little kid getting to eat grandma's cookies, you know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I, um, all right. My grandparents' house did not smell like cookies. It smelled like cigarette smoke.

One grandparents' house smelled like cookies and chicken soup and one smelled like mothballs. And oddly, whenever I smell mothballs, it's the strangest thing. They passed away when I was in high school, but I can visually, like, it's almost like I'm there. Like I'm on a movie set and I can, I I can visualize exactly what it looked like, like things I hadn't thought about in decades.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So thank you for sharing about the limbic system and thank you for helping us understand the role between scent and the nervous system. I, this might be kind of an odd question, but is there a best scent for the home? So, you know, we talk about decluttering. Well, what's the point of decluttering? It's so that we can create these amazing safe spaces around us so that we are free to lean into whatever it is that matters most to us. And I know we're all unique and different, but I'm curious what you'd have to say. Like, is there—

Yeah, we have one that's called Histamine Balance. And basically what it does is it cleans the air. Like, it's great. I should actually outfit you with it because, you know, when you're traveling, you never know if a hotel is going to be moldy or not. And so what I do is I just bring it with me always. And then if it is moldy, you can always get like a teeny cup of salt from the hotel. Just put a few drops. Salt can act as like a natural diffuser and the oils in Histamine Balance have proven to kind of clear the air for you. So a lot of practitioners that we work with, you know, they're scent-free, but they diffuse it in the clinic because it kind of just cleans the air and makes the air feel more fresh, you know, so it clears mold out. It can clear, toxins out. If there's pollens or allergies, it just helps clear your sinuses so that you're able to breathe better.

Wow. I needed you like a month ago. Uh, so why, why the salt? Why do you—

this salt acts as a natural diffuser. Like, this is one thing that you asked me what is kind of misunderstood. Here's what I really think. Oil is really concentrated and really powerful. And honestly, just smelling it, just doing this makes a big difference. You know, if you want to topically apply it, putting it on your skin, does a big difference, but I don't think that you need to drink it or diffuse it 24/7. I think that when you do that, basically you're burning through it faster so that you need to reorder faster. So you're making someone money faster. That's what I really think is going on. And so there are these diffusers where you put a couple drops in water and it diffuses out into the air and maybe the diffuser gets moldy. That is one way of doing it, but salt, salt crystals, it can be regular table salt. If you wanna get fancy, it can be Epsom salt or Himalayan salt, but that acts as a natural salt control diffuser. Like if you're in a pinch, you know, it's complicated. I have friends that travel with an entire suitcase of their health gear, you know, God bless them. I don't do that. I like things that are kind of easy and convenient. So this fits in my pocket. And if I get to the hotel, even if it's a really fancy hotel and gosh, it's moldy. Okay. It doesn't matter. I'm not going to change rooms 7 times because maybe the next room will be moldy too. I'm just going to go get a tiny little thing of salt. I'm gonna put a couple drops in this and I'm gonna definitely leave it on my nightstand so that when I'm sleeping, I'm kind of breathing in the cleaner air. You know, when we were at that conference together in Scottsdale, I gave this to a couple people and they were funny. They're like, I carried the salt with me. Like, you know, when I went in a different part of the hotel, I had it. And you can do that too. But it's just, it's again, it's this idea of, you know, the world is gonna be what it is and it might be unexpected, but we can always have agency over ourselves and how we respond.

What oils do you refuse to go without? What are your go-to oils?

My, okay. My favorite, I call it the vagus nerve kit. So the parasympathetic, the lymph, because I think lymphatic drainage is everything and gives us space. And I absolutely love fascia release. I think this is the one thing that no one is doing yet. You know, our fascia is amazing and so misunderstood and kind of under understood. So it wraps around everything. So it supports us in that way. It's also where we hold our emotions. You know, and I have this joke, like when I don't know what to do, I do nothing, you know, or like I too was trained to be like kind and, you know, make nice. Big girls don't cry. They don't get angry. So like when I'd have a feeling that I know wouldn't be received, I would just stuff it. I would suppress it, suppress, suppress, suppress, suppress. And what's interesting is that that then takes some space in our fascia, in our tissues. And I'm not sure that we need to kind of re-experience it or re-traumatize ourselves. But what I love about this oil is I feel like it opens up that space. You know, if you think about, um, I like seltzer. So sometimes, you know, if you're opening a seltzer can, it could explode. So you have to kind of do it gently. You have to like decant it and titrate it. So I feel like just smelling oil, or I tend to put it around my throat a lot because speaking up for myself has been the one thing that I've kind of suppressed. And I feel like it just, it almost gently allows that emotion to kind of work itself out. You know, like if you were to say declutter, you know, one drawer at a time, just take one on today and then You know, when you're ready, do the next one. That's what this does. It gives you that, that space and that grace and allows you to kind of gently move through things. And when I was talking about like taking things out of the attic and, you know, moving them, like, I will be honest, it was uncomfortable for me. It was a little bit like you are, like my nervous system got used to everything being in a certain spot. And when I'm moving it around, not even like getting rid of it, but just like moving it, I was like, oh, you know, and this just allowed me to kind of regulate and be like, it's all right. I'm just going to let it. It's a feeling. It will pass.

Yes. You know, you've got the, um, the new one you said, the Unstuck blend. And I'm just imagining we could all just like, it's so fun because we'll tell ourselves story when we're decluttering, like, oh, I'm stuck or, oh, this is too hard. So I can just imagine, like, let's all put the Unstuck on together. Yeah. Right. It gives us a new, it gives us a reframe. It gives us the possibility. It kind of gives us that gentle nudge. Yes. To move forward. Cause sometimes people are saying, well, I just need motivation or, or I just, you know, I need something and it could just be as simple as essential oils and smelling that.

Yeah. There's that thing. How do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? Like I, I definitely, you know, I get paralyzed sometimes I get anxious. I get overwhelmed. I have mornings where I call it like putter time. I'm just like paralyzed. I'm like, all right, I'm just going to I'm just gonna put my coffee cup in the dishwasher. That's all I'm gonna do. Okay. I'm just going to, you know, move the dog collars to a place by the door. I'm just gonna hang up this coat. Like I literally, it's almost like I just, I'm just gonna put one shoe on. I'm gonna put the other, like I have to break it down for myself. Like I'm, you know, a toddler, but every action builds momentum and allows for the next action.

You know, you said like I'm a toddler, but frankly, what went through my mind is because you're human and there are so books that really talk about the power of small habits, tiny habits, atomic habits, you know, and, and you're right, we're human. And so, you know, the brain wants to overcomplicate and make things really hard. So we don't do anything, the primitive brain. And I love, I love how you just shared, like, no, you just break it down. You break it down one thing at a time, one bite at a time. How did you come up with the name Vibrant Blue Oils?

Okay. Funny story. When I was growing up, my mom always liked antique stores and my sister and I did not. And so my mom decided that if we collected something, we would like it more. And so she could shop for longer. So you can see the bottles behind me. I started collecting blue bottles and this is really interesting to me. So long ago, medicine was stored in blue bottles because there's a frequency in every color of glass and the color of blue glass, you know, there's a reason the sky is blue and the water is blue. It lets in kind of the good things and keeps the bad things out. Like darker isn't necessarily better. So this was just what I collected cuz I love cobalt blue and I think it's really pretty when the light goes through it. And oddly, you know, like there are things that you go to college and you leave in your childhood home. I, I took my bottles like with me, like every, they were in my college dorm room, they were in, you know, my after college apartment. Same way my blue bottles traveled with me through life. And when I got into oils and started kind of looking at the options for bottles, I'm like, oh, of course I'm gonna pick blue because I like the frequency.

What a beautiful story. The vibrant blue oils. I love that blue. And I didn't realize that the colors carried frequency.

That's really interesting. You know, it's funny because Valentine's Day is coming up. So I'm like, oh, I'm going to wear pink. Like, you know, I definitely feel, I've noticed that in myself, like when I'm choosing what I'm going to wear that day, like some days I wear green because I really need to be heart-focused. Some days I wear like, this is to ground, you know, like kind of the red hues. It really impacts kind of your energy and your frequency.

Did you say the blue is a cobalt blue? Yeah. Well, okay. I'm going to see how that feels, bringing in some more cobalt blue into my life.

Love. Yeah. It's my favorite color. Well, that and purple, but yeah, it's just a great color.

It is a great color. How long, how long has Vibrant Blue Oils been around?

14 years. I started it in 2012. I know.

Wow. Wow. What would you tell? Like, what would you— so if you could, you know, go back in time, um, what would your today self tell your, your self 14 years ago?

You know what I've been playing with? So I, I was always kind of like the go, go, go, busy, busy, busy overachiever. And I have since learned that creating space allows for creativity, that it doesn't always have to be hard. You know, in yoga they talk about like the rigidity versus the flow. I think I would tell myself to have more fun and give myself more downtime because it's not wasting time. It's actually allowing for things to kind of flow through and be easier.

Mm-hmm. So fun to hear your responses to these questions. They're so inspiring to me. Yeah.

Um, answer the following: a lighter path is A lighter path is already, you know, it's kind of like Dorothy, right? It's already there. It's just a choice. A lighter path is a choice.

Love the agency in that. The lighter path is a choice. What's the lighter path for you, Jodi? Describe it for us.

Oh God. You know what? What I actually, I'll be honest. I've been, I'm really good at my Google calendar. I schedule in fun. And fun for me is it could be a walk, like anything outside, any kind of movement, any kind of creativity. I've started doing like adult coloring books. Like I love the mandala ones and I love it. There's something like really, you know, I love to read, but I think I had this idea, like my daughter is graduating college and she's taking a job that's awesome because she's not going straight into the rat race. She's going to work for this outdoor travel company. So she's going to get to see the world, you know? And I'm like, oh, that's so smart. Like, I, you know, like I didn't realize even, you know, if I'm trying to lift weights, because that's what you're supposed to do when you're in your 50s, but it's not just, it's not like you go in like for an hour, you're lifting weights. So like you lift and then you rest. And so building in that rest, that recovery, that's really, I guess, what the lighter path looks like, like building in fun, making sure that I have something every day that I'm looking forward to. And that I enjoy.

This is why you're in my life. I love it. Okay. We are going to provide a link to the parasympathetic. Actually, for somebody who's like, they keep saying this word parasympathetic, and if they don't know what it means, will you give us an explanation?

And then, of course. Yes. Yeah. So your autonomic nervous system controls all your automatic functions, everything you do without having to consciously think about it. Like, breathing, digesting your food, inflaming, anti-inflaming, turning on your immune system. And so your nervous system really has two branches, two gears. You know, if it perceives danger, it prioritizes survival, right? So blood is routed towards your arms and your legs. So you can either fight back or flee. And that is called the sympathetic branch of your nervous system. There's danger and resources are allocated to survival, not to repair and maintenance. Once the danger has passed, then you shift into what's known as the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system. And that's where blood is routed back to your core so you can digest your food, detoxify your toxins, all of those things. Your vagus nerve is the gear shift between sympathetic and parasympathetic. It literally is the gut-brain axis. So it starts at the very back of the head, splits, winds around, and is most accessible behind your earlobe on your mastoid bone. That's where it's the closest to the surface and the thickest. And then it winds through your throat, your heart, every organ of digestion and detoxification. And so if you are stuck in that like fight or flight sympathetic branch and you, you know, and you're not healing and you're doing everything and you're feeling crazy anxious, 'cause anxiety is really like a response to danger and you want to activate that rest and digest response, all you have to do is stimulate your vagus nerve. You can do it with essential oils, right here. You can do it with like deep breathing, any, anywhere that the vagus nerve, you know, goes through. You can splash freezing cold water on your face. You can gag yourself. All of these things. I just find, you know, I will demo it. It takes like 2 seconds, just boom. And that's it. I find this to be the easiest because especially when you're in those moments of overwhelm, if it's hard, it's too hard, you know?

Yeah.

Nice. As it gets to the point where you can just smell it and you're like, okay, I smell and now I feel different. Like, this works.

Yeah. So I hope all our listeners and viewers are— that the takeaway is these don't just smell nice, but they really can impact your physiology and give you more space, give you more space, create more space so that the door is open to what's next. And yeah, thank you, Jodi. I love it. So we'll do a link for the Parasympathetic. It is— I love all your oils. This is It's always been my favorite. They're all so good. And this is one that I will not go without ever. It's so good.

You have to hook you up with the histamine balance too, especially if you're sensitive to mold, because you could be in the moldiest space ever and you can still be fine. It's like going to your friend's house that doesn't believe in heat and you can wear your coat and your, you know, hat and you're still fine.

It's, you know, I, um, I am looking forward to trying it. I get plenty of opportunities with the travel and Probably 90% of the time the hotel rooms are moldy and it's, it's again, it's, it's, these are even some, these can be very nice hotels. These can—

No, it's shocking. And sometimes the air conditioning system.

Oh yeah. Yes. Yes. I can sometimes see mold through the vents because I've gotten up and looked and like, and some of us who are so sensitive to mold, we just walk in and we feel it immediately. And so I will be traveling with salt. Moving forward, you don't—

you could bring your own salt, like in a little plastic bag, but more often than not, you can easily— the hotel restaurant will give you like a little, you know, to-go cup with salt. So you're good.

Okay. I always learn so much when I'm with you. Jodi, is there anything I didn't ask that you think would be important to convey right now?

I mean, the only other thing is just kind of mental space. And one of the things, you know, I always— my big thing is if someone else has done it, it's possible you can do it. And so when my son died, one of the things that I really looked for was like, who else has been through kind of a really hard situation and wound up being okay? So I reread Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl's book, A Man's Search for Meaning. And there was this one quote that I highlighted that really stuck out to me. And it's between the stimulus and the response, there is a space. And in that space lies our power to choose our response. And in our response lies our growth and our freedom. And that to me is really about agency, you know, like something happens in the world, a lot seems to be happening lately. And instead of reacting immediately, you get to pause. And that pause to me is activating your parasympathetic nervous system and regulating your nervous system so that you're not, you know, reacting or feeling attacked and like you have to fight back right away. You're kind of having that moment of like, oh, awareness, space, space to choose. Do I respond to this? Do I say, let me get back to you? You know, do, do I maybe not respond? Like, What do I really, what's right for me?

You know, space to really show up in a way that's aligned with who you are, aligned with your integrity and your values. Yes. Yeah. Because there are so many distractions out there and we lose ourselves sometimes.

And I always think of driving, right? Like Seattle's traffic has gotten bananas. And it's interesting to me because there are days when someone will cut me off and I'll be like, whatever, maybe they're in a hurry. Who knows? You know, and another day someone like exact same traffic situation. And there are these four-letter words tumbling outta my mouth and I'm like, oh look, it's me. I'm the problem. It's just that I'm not regulated. So I'm like reactive. And that's always a clue to me. Like, okay, well, you know, I'm gonna clean up my side of the street.

Thank you for being so human about that. I was flying home the other day and the guy in the middle seat started making phone calls while we were in air through WhatsApp. And I thought, can this be true? And it can't be true. And multiple phone calls. And then I looked and actually, I think, yes, a 4-letter word came out of my mouth too. So are you kidding me? And actually that was like an 8-letter, 7-letter word. Anyway, and that's not who I want to be though. That's not who I am. Yeah. Thank you, Jodi. This has been so wonderful. And I just, the more people that know about you, the the better off we all are. Thank you so much. Thank you. Oh, Jodi, hold on. We're not done yet. We're going to share the link to the parasympathetic essential oil. Where can our listeners, viewers find you? Where else should they go to look?

Well, they can go to the Vibrant Blue Oils website. That is our hashtag on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and then They— I have a book, I have a couple of books, but my most recent book is Essential Oils to Boost the Brain and Heal the Body that they can find anywhere books are sold.

Amazing. Amazing. Wonderful. Jodi, thank you so much for this conversation.

Thank you.

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