Yarden Walks

Join Sylla on seasonal walks in her yarden! A “yarden” is what she calls her yard-turned-garden. After 30 years of living in the same home in Tampa, Sylla’s garden has taken over all the yard it can.

Sylla has worked hard to keep her yarden full of plants that are edible, medicinal, native, and of course, aromatic! Each season, you can take a walk with Sylla and see what’s grown, what’s sprouting, what’s blooming, and what’s going to seed.

Let’s see what she’s got going in her yarden.

 

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Breaking News: A New Dawn at the Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy

Breaking News: A New Dawn at the Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy

If you haven’t heard our exciting news yet, you can read all about it in the full announcement below.

 

Back in the late 1970’s, Sylla discovered essential oils and began using them in her massage treatments, skin care, and daily life for health and wellness. As clients and friends started asking questions for themselves, she began teaching everything she knew.

She founded the Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy in 1989. This turned into a 300-hour home study course, a two-volume reference manual, and countless workshops and lectures.

By the time I was in high school, she was an international speaker and author of several books. Naturally, once I started practicing massage myself a few years later, I began my own earnest study of aromatherapy as well.

In 2012, I began working with her on developing new classes and course offerings. In that time, we trained even more students through live and online classes. One of those students was Jennifer Wilson.

Jennifer’s superb attention to detail and undying passion and curiosity of aromatherapy made her indispensable in the years after her graduation from our program as a behind-the-scenes assistant. She worked with us on several projects including the Foundations in Aromatherapy Course and the Atlantic Aromatic Library.

In the past few years, Sylla has begun to embrace retirement and I have turned my attention to other passions (my massage and coaching practice). Neither of us had the energy to put towards the Atlantic Institute that it deserved.

So when Jennifer proposed the idea of her taking charge and continuing to teach in our stead, we both were thrilled at the idea.

I’d like to officially announce that Jennifer Wilson is now the new owner and director of the Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy.

Let me assure you, you will be in the best of hands under Jennifer’s steady guidance and care — I have no doubt she will be able to teach about the oils at an expert level, surpassing what we could give you.

She’s not only learned everything we have to teach (having reviewed all our programs and books several times over!), but she continues to learn from others as well. In the past few years, she’s taught us quite a few things regarding current science and research, which is an area neither Sylla or I had the patience or energy to keep up with.

We are thrilled that the Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy will live on under a new steward and can’t wait to see what comes out of this new season.

I’d love to keep in touch with you, please find me at www.nyssahanger.com or email me directly at ny***@ny*********.com. So much love.

Aromatically Yours,

Nyssa and Sylla

 

*Jennifer picks up mic*

 

Almost 10 years ago, quite literally overnight, aromatherapy sparked a sense of purpose and a quest for knowledge unlike anything I had ever experienced before. During that initial quest to understand the true art and science behind aromatherapy, I quickly learned that there was tons of misinformation on the subject. It took me months just to find resources that could help me with the answers that I was searching for.

While there were people who were less than eager to answer the questions I had, one person was kind enough to take the time and reach out to me. Not only did she answer my questions, but she also told me who I needed to pay attention to for more answers.

Among those people were two ladies with the passion, experience, and no-nonsense approach to aromatherapy that were willing to honestly tackle all of the hard questions without shying away from them. Sylla and Nyssa have made such a huge impact on my aromatherapy career and I am proud to have them, as well as many other Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy alumni, as part of my aromatherapy family.

While Atlantic has always felt like home to me, words cannot express how excited I am that I recently had the opportunity to make it official! I hope that I can make Sylla and Nyssa proud and carry on the Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy legacy.

Please bear with us as we get everything transitioned over and reach out if you have any questions. The Library and Foundations course will be back up for sale as soon as I can get the accounts for the website transitioned, but the Practitioner Course will be unavailable until I can get that fully updated.

If you are a current student, please know that Sylla is still around and Nyssa’s info is above. You will continue to have access to everything you already have and I will be updating things as I can. Please let me know if I can help you in any way.

Warm regards and aromatic wishes,

Jen

 

3 Go-To Essential Oils for Work

3 Go-To Essential Oils for Work

Running an aromatherapy business must be filled with calming music, soothing scents, and lots of relaxation, right?  We can all use essential oils for work!

Sometimes. But mostly, it’s just like any other business. The only difference is that we get constant reminders that life is too short to worry about the small stuff, and that number one, it really is all about taking care of ourselves.

I mean, I can’t preach self-care all day and then not properly hydrate myself or work too many hours. Actually, I know that I CAN do that because I have. So what I actually mean is—it just doesn’t work.

That’s why simple tricks to help us stay on track and return back to what matters are essential. I’ve found that besides the ever-present opportunity to just sit back and take a deep breath, essential oils also help bring me back to a focused state.

I recently wrote an article for Massage Today on using essential oils to re-center while at work. Though this is geared towards massage therapists, the article is relevant to everyone. It will not only apply while at work, but the info is great for getting focused in general.

Read the whole article here.

My three go-to essential oils for work (right now) are: Eucalyptus, May Chang, and Spruce.

  • Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) – Think of Eucalyptus as a breath of fresh air. This respiratory tonic and sinus opener will inspire you to breathe deeper. It helps to open the lungs to take in new air, and its expectorant qualities clear mucus from the respiratory passages.
  • Spruce (Picea mariana syn. P. nigra) – Spruce, to me, is like strength and growth in a bottle. It’s great for those days when you feel heavy and bogged-down by tasks or responsibilities. Spruce is another respiratory tonic, inspiring a full breath as if we were on a walk in the woods.
  • May Chang (Litsea cubeba) – May Chang smells like the excitement of a new day. It is a bright and uplifting, lemon-y smell that feels like the light of gold. It is a bit like Lemongrass but a little less irritant. (This is a super plus!)

These are three of SO MANY to choose from. I want to know, what is your favorite oil to use when you go to work? What about it works for you?

Thank you for letting me share my love for aromatics with you!

Aromatically Yours,

Nyssa

 

P.S. CALLING ALL MASSAGE THERAPISTS. I need your help! What questions would you like answered regarding massage and aromatherapy? I’ll be writing a few more articles for Massage Today this year, and I’d love to know any burning questions you might have. Leave me a comment on what future articles you’d like to see.  

Turn Crisis into Creation with Cistus

Turn Crisis into Creation with Cistus

Cistus helps us find the resources within to seek change. It transforms a sense of emptiness into one of spaciousness. 

When you’re feeling stuck, without direction, or just needing guidance in making decisions, turn to Cistus as a powerful ally in accessing the wisdom within you.

The scent of Cistus is a deeply penetrating, resinous, amber one. It has the tendency to bring one back in time, encountering past memories.

Therapeutically, the aromatic gum resin from this plant has long been used as a wound healing agent. On our psyche, it helps to heal old wounds and traumas by helping us to find the gift within our struggles.

Check out the lesson below and let Cistus guide you to your inner resources.

Trust what you find and continue to journey within.

 

When you’re done ask yourself these questions:

  • What is the gift in my current crisis or struggle?
  • What can I learn from those who’ve come before me?

Let me know what you find by leaving a comment below!

 

 

 

This is the final lesson in the Daily Practice Series happening this week.

👉If you want to make sure you won’t miss anything else from us, get on our email list by subscribing in the side bar.

You’ll also be added to the invite list for our online class this Saturday on How to Use Essential Oils for Emotional Healing.

So grateful to be on this aromatic journey with you!

See Beauty All Around You with Neroli

See Beauty All Around You with Neroli

When you’re feeling stuck in a dark place, Neroli helps you to recognize the beauty all around you.

The scent of Neroli embodies the sweetness of possibilities. Its strong floral note ends with an almost tart or bitter dry-down, communicating the dualistic nature of life. 

Derived from the flower of the bitter orange tree, Neroli holds the moment in time when this plant is its sweetest. Plants first produce flowers that eventually become fruit.

By picking these blossoms for distillation, we capture the energy of the flower. In some ways, one might say we’ve sustained the sweetness of the Citrus tree while keeping its bitter nature at bay.

Noted for its tendency to alleviate anxiety, depression, and stress, this scent is an excellent choice for promoting general emotional well-being.

Who wouldn’t feel great about the scent of orange groves in bloom? Who can worry while surrounded by this luscious bouquet?

We all have the capacity to be sweet or bitter in this world. Neroli provides us with an affinity for the acceptance of these tendencies, seeing them as beyond good and bad, and instead appreciating the beauty that exists in every moment.

Check out the lesson below and allow this powerful floral to quiet your mind and heal your heart.

Choose to see the beautiful things in your experience.

Leave me a comment and let me know how Neroli is helping you to see beauty in the simple things and in surprising ways.

 

 

This is the fourth lesson in the Daily Practice Series happening this week.

👉If you want to make sure you won’t miss any others, get on our email list by subscribing in the side bar.

You’ll also be added to the invite list for our online class this Saturday on How to Use Essential Oils for Emotional Healing.

So grateful to be on this aromatic journey with you!

Revive Your Sense of Wonder with Sweet Orange

Revive Your Sense of Wonder with Sweet Orange

Sweet Orange helps us to revive a sense of wonder in the world, urging you to approach each moment with ease and appreciation. 

Sweet Orange is a versatile oil that is great in diffuser blends as it has a pleasant and familiar aroma. It’s also one that’s relatively safe for children (though for both children and adults, we recommend against using old/oxidized oils as well as avoiding use in the bath — we know this from personal experience!)

In inner work, the bright fragrance of Sweet Orange invites our inner child out to play. This sweet citrus peels away the masks of adulthood, opening up a sense of playfulness—one we often feel is too frivolous for our fast-paced lives. 

This essential oil can help revive a sense of wonder in the world, urging you to approach each moment with ease and appreciation. 

Even when the stress of life weighs heavy on your mind, the scent of Sweet Orange will lift your heart and encourage your mind to follow. 

Watch the video below and let’s play around with some Sweet Orange.

Be open to the voice of your inner child as you use this playful essential oil.

Now, if you didn’t catch that, here’s the 3 questions I’d like you to ask yourself as you sit with Sweet Orange:

  • What brings me joy? 
  • When was the last time I became absorbed in the enjoyment of an activity? 
  • How can I insert a little more fun into my day?

Extra Credit: Allow yourself to approach your next task with the cheerful qualities of Sweet Orange, and remember how effortless having fun can be. 

Leave me a comment and let me know how Sweet Orange is encouraging you to play!

 

 

This is the third lesson in the Daily Practice Series happening this week.

👉If you want to make sure you won’t miss any others, get on our email list by subscribing in the sidebar.

You’ll also be added to the invite list for our online class this Saturday on How to Use Essential Oils for Emotional Healing.

So grateful to be on this aromatic journey with you!

Reclaim Your Peace with Patchouli

Reclaim Your Peace with Patchouli

Patchouli helps us to reframe the past so we can reclaim our future.

Patchouli is often used in blending as a base note or a fixative (something to help hold the aroma back and make a longer-lasting scent). It’s a deep resinous, ambery aroma that is a bit of a “love it or hate it” oil for most people. 

When blending for therapeutics, you might choose Patchouli for skin serums (especially for aging skin) as well as treatments for tissues that need tonifying, like hemorrhoids. 

But it excels in the mental realm as it can be calming and uplifting. 

I find that this oil is excellent at helping us to gain a new understanding of past experiences, particularly collective trauma. It can also help us find the peace that exists in any moment. 

Watch the video below and join me for a contemplative practice with Patchouli.

After you’ve watched this video, leave a comment below and share with me something that is ready to be healed for you and what Patchouli is teaching you about making peace with your pain?

 

Let me know by leaving me a comment below!

 

 

This is the second lesson in the Daily Practice Series happening this week.

👉If you want to make sure you won’t miss any others, get on our email list by subscribing in the sidebar.

You’ll also be added to the invite list for our online class this Saturday on How to Use Essential Oils for Emotional Healing.

So grateful to be on this aromatic journey with you!

Want to learn how to heal yourself with essential oils?


In this online course, you’ll gain the confidence for how to use essential oils safely for many common complaints and ailments.

Each week you’ll be guided to explore a new body system, learn how it works and how to support it, and how to use aromatics in your self-care.

Plus, you’ll have the course forever so you can go at your own pace and choose how you learn best.

Learn More
Create Clarity with Clary Sage Essential Oil

Create Clarity with Clary Sage Essential Oil

When in need of finding your spark, Clary Sage offers to clear the way for clarity and connection.

Aromatically, Clary Sage has the richness that we find in many herbs with a brightness almost like a citrus. It’s a versatile oil that is also known as a euphoric—something that makes you feel good.

Therapeutically, it can also be used for helping with menstrual cramps, muscle spasms, and oily skin and hair (just to name a few uses!).

But used in a Daily Practice, it can help you to gain clarity in your creative projects. 

Watch the video to learn more about how to use this essential oil in your daily practice.

Once you’ve watched the video and worked with Clary Sage, I want to know, what creative project do you want to bring into reality? What insights has Clary Sage offered you in how to make this happen?

Let me know by leaving me a comment below!

 

 

This is the first lesson in the Daily Practice Series happening this week.

👉If you want to make sure you won’t miss any others, get on our email list by subscribing in the side bar.

You’ll also be added to the invite list for our online class this Saturday on How to Use Essential Oils for Emotional Healing.

So grateful to be on this aromatic journey with you!

Find Balance with Geranium Essential Oil

Find Balance with Geranium Essential Oil

I was in the shower (don’t all great ideas come in the shower?) using my Geranium Salt Scrub and just wondering why I’m so attracted to work with Geranium right now. I remembered that it is excellent in helping us to stay in balance.

So I wanted to have an affirmation for it and this is what came to me: 

🌊As I ride the waves of life, my body, mind, and heart find balance. ⚖️

But the thing about balance is that it’s not a static state. 

It’s a movement between varying degrees of extremes, that is ever present, and can itself vary between appearing effortless and being um … less than graceful. 

We often think that balance is something to be captured, that once we have it, we’re done. Like it’s a scale we can obtain and stay there. But it’s the opposite, think of life as one long balancing act, we’re always having to adjust course based on current reality. 

And guess what? That’s always changing. Thank goodness we’ve got tools like essential oils always at the ready to help us find what adjustments we need to stay on course.

Anyways, I offer up to you this affirmation to be used with Rose Geranium, another essential oil of your choice, or a blend of the two. Or better yet, try all 3!

My favorite ways to use Geranium right now are in my Salt Scrub, my face oil, and I’ve even been keeping it by my desk to help me in stressful moments.

There’s a ton of ways to use Geranium, what’s your favorite? Leave me a comment below.

 

The Most Overlooked Way to Use Essential Oils for Emotional Healing

The Most Overlooked Way to Use Essential Oils for Emotional Healing

This might just look like a blank scent strip, but don’t let this baby fool you … she holds seasons of wisdom.

My friend noted the other day that we don’t really have good examples of people grieving AND continuing on with life. We tend to compartmentalize it, pack it away for “the right day,” put it on a shelf where it gets dusty and we can go years before our emotions catch up to us.

I want to write a new narrative around grief, at least my own.

Part of why you haven’t heard from me in a while is that about the same time that we launched our Spring Semester, my father-in-law went into hospice after a battle with pancreatic cancer that was only diagnosed in early January.

It was a low blow as we’re still healing from the sudden loss of my own father last June. Pop passed on February 16.

I was determined to continue on with our students and am so grateful for the grace and support they’ve offered me.

Sometimes it feels like this job saves me.

I’ve been reminded once again of the incredible power that essential oils have on our minds, hearts, and souls.

Before we knew what was coming in 2021, I signed up for the Aromatic Shamanism Mentorship with Aromagnosis and have got to witness within myself, and my classmates, how much profound healing can take place by simply smelling an oil.

It will take too long to explain how/why/what happened with this little scent strip.

Suffice it to say, I’m convinced once again that though diffusers, body oils, and room sprays are just fine and dandy, if you aren’t working with essential oils through simple inhalation, YOU’RE MISSING OUT.

You owe it to yourself to slow down, listen in, and pay attention to everything that’s happening under the surface. This is where the healing happens. This is how essential oils do their magic.

Also, it’s the simplest, most cost effective, most eco-friendly way to use aromatics.

If there’s anything I can do for the world of aromatherapy, it’s to remind us all of this truth.

I know you’re wondering what oil it is that I’m having such an experience with … but I’m going to save that for another blog.

And honestly, it really doesn’t matter what oil it is. Just pick an oil, any oil. Stop, smell, listen, repeat.

Really, pick and oil and go inward. Tell me what you find.

What are you smelling these days? Where is it taking you? Leave me a comment to let me know.