The Recovered Life Show

April Daniels (00:00):
I got to a point, you know, where I thought most of my life, that I was really managing my, my anxiety and these, these things. Um, but I found that they were actually suffocating me and I got to the point where the weight of the world was literally like crushing me. I felt like I was breathing through a straw every day. I was constantly taking deep breaths. And just trying to understand, like, why do I feel like I can't breathe? I felt like I needed an oxygen mask.

Introduction (00:28):
You're listening to the recovered life show the show that helps people in recovery live their best recovered lives. And here is your host Damon, Frank,

Damon Frank (00:39):
Welcome back to the covered life show. I am pleased to be joined today by April Daniels, April Daniels, uh, helps people live a better life and empower themselves through using essential oils. Welcome to the show April.

April Daniels (00:55):
Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Damon Frank (00:58):
Really excited to have you, uh, thrilled to have you actually, because is I know a lot of people in recovery talk about essential oils, the benefit of essential oils. We'd had a conversation. I was telling you my experience with essential oils, how they really worked, especially with anxiety. And I'm glad to have you on the show today because I want to kind of dive deep into what are these essential oils doing? How does it work? What's the whole mystery behind them, cuz it is a bit mysterious people, you know, people will talk about them as being like, oh, this totally saved my life. Other people are like, yeah, I tried it once. So it was kind of good, but I didn't really understand how it worked. And I know you have a really amazing story about, uh, about recovery, uh, your own personal recovery and then also how you got into essential oils.

April Daniels (01:42):
Yes. Thank you. So, um, I think first and foremost, the most important thing that you can know about essential oils is that not all essential oils are created equal, um, quality purity testing that all matters because the industry isn't really regulated by, you know, an indu there's not really an industry standard. So it's really important that what oil it is that you choose to go with, you make sure that, you know, you can go back to the source of where that oil was created and you know, ensure its potency.

Damon Frank (02:14):
Now April, how did you get into this? I mean, I know you have a, a recovery journey. Uh, can you share that with us and how you kind of stumbled upon essential oils?

April Daniels (02:23):
Yeah. So I actually had spent most of my adult life trying to recover from childhood. Um, I am a C a, I have severe anxiety disorder I codependent or in recovery for codependency. And so I really was just struggling. I got to a point, you know, where I thought most of my life did that was really managing my, my anxiety and these, these things. Um, but I found that they were actually suffocating me and I got to the point where the weight of the world was literally like crushing me. I felt like I was breathing through a straw every day. I, I was constantly taking deep breaths and just trying to understand, like, why do I feel like I can't breathe? I felt like I needed an oxygen mask and I had been to therapy and which is great, everybody. I, I highly recommend therapy.

April Daniels (03:14):
Everybody should go to therapy. Um, but you know, I was just really struggling with, you know, going to the doctor and medication after medication and those medications caused other side effects, which caused more medications. And I was just desperate. I, my family was being impacted by the way that I was, um, responding to them on a daily basis. And so, um, I got to the point where I really just didn't wanna be in the world anymore. Like I, I really just didn't know how to function. And so, um, out of desperation, I had a childhood friend whose son had been diagnosed with cancer and I was watching her use essential oils with her son to have him bribe through his cancer treatment. And um, so I just reached out and was like, is there anything that you can do to help me? And so she gave me some suggestions and some different protocols that I could use and I could try.

April Daniels (04:06):
And, um, essential oils are much like medication, you try something, it doesn't work, you try something else, you tweak it until you find something that works with your unique body chemistry. Um, and so as I kind of started down this journey, found a couple of protocols that I got very intentional with using on a consistent basis. And after about three weeks, my husband walked up to me and he gave me a big hug and said, it's really nice to have you talking to me and not at me. Um, I mean it was to the point where I would flip out if he, you know, took the garbage out and didn't put the Gar bag in before he came back inside from eing empty in the garbage I was, I was not in a good space. So having him recognize that I had kind of turned over that turn, that corner, um, kind of just melted me into a puddle. And I realized how impactful my reactions and my anxiety was impacting my family. It was, it was actually really emotional.

Damon Frank (05:04):
Yeah. I mean, you know, the, I, I, I talked to a lot of people that are in recovery and most of them would say that they've struggled with some sort of anxiety issue, right. Whether it was early sobriety or throughout their sobriety. And I've noticed just it with my own life when I started to kind of mess around with essential oils, it was just a family friend who recommended them. It's like, Hey, you know, you could really use this. Uh, and it will kind of chill you out a little bit more. And I was, you know, I was applying all the things, um, that people tell you to do to reduce your anxiety. And it's not that they weren't working. They, they were working and those were great things. And, you know, it worked to a certain degree, but there was an ability of, especially when I was at home, just to be able to kind of turn my brain off a little bit mm-hmm and just relax and be okay.

Damon Frank (05:56):
And I found that by using the essential oils, certain types of essential oils and just that in the, in the little, uh, Arro aroma thing that comes out what, yeah, I forgot the name of it, the diffuser, yeah. That I would find myself being able to like longer and longer periods of time. It was kind of like meditation. It was kind of like as I started to use it and, and I started to kind of figure out that it was the actual sense of it. Right. It was that I would smell it. It would be able to kind of take me to kind of anchor to a place where I felt a little bit more serene. Yes. And okay. I mean, and that sounded a little weird when I told people about that, you know, at a, at a local 12 step meeting, they they'd thought that was, that was a little strange, but a bunch of people were there that also had used it as well, that had done that. How, how does that work actually, do you have to find the right thing to diffuse?

April Daniels (06:48):
So I think there's a lot of different options out there. You know, the great thing about essential oils is that there's a million to one uses for one oil, right. So if you take, um, Gopi, for example, it's a really great anti-inflammatory, but it's also really good for reducing your anxiety. So it helps you manage pain while also helping you reduce your anxiety. And, you know, it's it, if somebody has pain, but they don't have anxiety, they actually get kind of a dual benefit without even realizing that they needed that. Right. Um, essential oils are really like plant extracts, right? So they not only support the plant in helping the plant thrive, but when we extract them and they come from an environment that where the plant is thriving, they can be really potent and powerful for you to apply to your, your own body.

April Daniels (07:33):
So when you're talking about like diffusing essential oils, um, people always say, E sounds kind of hokey, right? Because you're like, oh, what is this? You know, what is this woo, woo stuff that people are talking about? You know, they're gonna breathe it in. Um, but I go back to, you know, it's important what you're actually diffusing, because if you buy something from, let's say a box store, you know, you read the back of that bottle and it's gonna tell you not to apply it topic and you have to consider why would I put something on my skin that I can't, you know, why would I breathe in something I can't put in my skin? Right. Yeah. So it's really important that you're looking at that information, but, um, the way the aromatic stuff work is actually through your olfactory nerve, in your, like right above the bridge of your nose.

April Daniels (08:19):
So, um, when you kind of look at that, it's like anesthesia almost. So if you go to have surgery or something like that, and they put that mask on you, you know, you can count backwards from 10 and most of us are out before it even hits five. And it's because of smelling those synthetic compounds, the way that your brain responds is to immediately shut everything down. So you can also, you know, if you smell a certain smell, you can be back in their childhood memory, right. There are things that are triggered through that the, that olfactory sensory through your body and send signals throughout your body to respond a particular way. So when you diffuse an oil that is meant to bring a calming effect, it's going to hit your senses and tell your brain, Hey, everything's okay. Let's, let's bring the body down a little bit. Um, but they're really powerful. And I actually use them aromatically, topically, um, you know, brand specific. You can even use them internally if it's the, to do so.

Damon Frank (09:15):
Yeah. You know, I, I, um, you know, it's interesting because we talk a lot about on the recovered life show about neuroscience, and we've had a lot of clubhouse events about neuroscience. We have one every week, actually, we talk about how in recovery, we're creating these new brain patterns, right. We're creating these new neuro pathways and they're going down and, you know, and I think it's important to, you know, for people that are listening to this is that, you know, we're not claiming here and I'm not claiming you're not claiming that, uh, essential oils cure anything really. No. And, and because I don't really believe that they do necessarily, but what I, but what I believe is that it's a, it's a gateway to get down that neuro pathway quicker because how I used it for example is, is sometimes I would be a little, a D D when I would start to work, my mind would be racing mm-hmm .

Damon Frank (10:03):
And we were talking about how I'd use this, like, kind of orange essential oil that kind of made me a little bit more aware. It was very weird, but what, what I realized is I was, I was in my life, I was practicing becoming more and present when I was working. Right. Really like, not multitasking. So as I'm practicing that, and I'm using that essential oil when I smell that, or when I sense that, or when it's on my skin or whatever I do kind of go to that place much quicker. It is, it is very strange how that works.

April Daniels (10:33):
Yes. Our brain is a really amazing thing, right? So essential oils are really think of it as something you've hired to do a job for you, because that's really what it is. It's something that you're bringing into your life to, to do something for you. And we can use them for everything from pain to anxiety, to allergies, to asthma, to, I mean, there's a million different ways that you can use. Um, but it's rewiring some of those neuro pathways when you're having a triggered attack, right? Like if you a situation that triggers you, I was in target. And if mom raised her voice at a, at her son, and I kind of just shrunk down into a shell of myself and I felt myself, like, where's the nearest exit I gotta get out of here. And, and I realized, wait a second, you're, you're being, you are responding to something that has absolutely zero to do with you because of the way that mom is speaking to her child.

April Daniels (11:26):
And it made you uncomfortable for whatever reason, you know, I have internally. So I pulled out the essential oils that I had in my purse, and I kind of walked away and found a small spot where I could apply and just kind of smell my wrists and bring myself down a second. So instead of running to the exit and not completing what I had set out to do that day, I was able to rewire myself to say, okay, we're okay, you're safe. You are strong. You can totally do this. And we're gonna move on with our day. We're gonna move past the way that we're feeling right now. And the essential oils really were able to give me the tool that I needed to feel empowered to make that choice. And when you're really intentional with using them, you can find that they actually are something that you want to incorporate into your everyday life, because they makes such a huge difference in the way that you're responding or the way that you're emotionally reacting. So it's really meant to support you. It's not gonna cure you, but it is there to support you through whatever journey that is.

Damon Frank (12:24):
Yeah. It's, you know, I think the whole conversation about anxiety being triggered and recovery, especially early recovery, right? Like, so there are people that listen to the show that are new they're in their first 30 days, their first year. Right. And they're going through a lot of things. Like we were just, you know, we, we had a show the other day, we were talking about holidays and different things that are coming up and about how, yeah. You know, if this is your first year that you're in recovery, if you've just realized this year, that you're codependent, your life is, you know, a shambles and you're working on these issues, it's so easy to be triggered, you know, and especially, you know, with alcoholism and drug addiction and recovery and that relapse and everything else, and the ability to really, to use the essential oils, to get back to a place where you feel okay. Right. To be, to just start a new, to hit that reset button to talk

April Daniels (13:20):
A lot. Right.

Damon Frank (13:21):
Yeah. Yeah. Just hitting that reset button, you know, April, can you share with us some really kind of expert tips here about what are the different essential oils? What are a couple different essential oils and, and, and, and how can they be used to kind of hit that set bot

April Daniels (13:35):
For different? Yeah, absolutely. So you talk a little bit about orange, right? So wild orange is absolutely one of my most favorite oils. I challenge anybody who, who smells a bottle of wild, orange, not smile when they smell that it just bottle, it's like a little bottle of sunshine. Like you open it up and you just feel like, oh, it's so bright, Andre refreshing. So it's refreshing it, but it, it uplifts your spirit, right? It's bringing you that uplifting emotion that you really need, but fun fact Essent the oil essential oil is actually the oil of abundance. So people use essential oils to, you know, manifest other things, right. If they're, if they meditating and they're looking for, you know, bringing abundance to their life, they will use the orange essential oil to do that. Um, Melissa is an amazing essential oil because it's actually the oil of light.

April Daniels (14:27):
So one thing I don't think that we talk enough about is how essential oils are directly related to emotions and how they can really help you work through a lot of emo, like emotional baggage. At least for me, it was a huge thing. It's this oil of light. I would put a drop of Melissa under my tongue, and I could emotionally reset kind of where it was going or fully basal you open that bottle. And it is, that's what it's known for as an emotional reset, but it has all of these other properties to it that are really going to, you know, help you bring down that, that overwhelm, that, that feeling of anxiety, that feeling like I can't, I'm, I'm frozen. Right. And it's gonna help you kind of push through those feelings. Um, I think one of my very favorite oils is COPPA or maybe co COBA depending on how people announce it and the accent that they have.

April Daniels (15:19):
Um, but this is an amazing oil because it actually is like the C B D of essential oils. It's got a lot of the same properties as like a C B D oil would have. Um, but it's for pain, for information, it can help you sleep it's for anxiety. Um, I have a customer that actually was really in a lot of pain, had a huge injury, and she was working through a lot of emotional pain at the same time. And she started using the cop IVA on a daily basis. And after three months was able to actually wean herself of, you know, other things that she was doing to try and, and self-medicate that. Um, so it's a really powerful, powerful oil. Um, peppermint is a really great example. It's one that's out there, um, everywhere, right? From everything from being antiflammatory antifungal, headaches, um, ear aches, it actually can help with, um, cravings. So there are certain cravings that peppermint oil can help you kind of try and work through. Uh, it's really good if you are experiencing tension or digestion issues. I mean, the amount of things that this one bottle of peppermint can do is really, really amazing.

Damon Frank (16:30):
Now what about lavender? Because that was my first, you know, that was my first introduction into essential oils, the first essential oil that I bought and the first experience that I had, where it actually worked, because I was one of those people that were like, oh, this is just absolutely crazy. I, I think that this is kind of stupid, honestly. I mean, that, that was really my dialogue. And I was in OHI actually, uh, for a weekend and the whole resort was around lavender. Right. And I had suffered from anxiety for a long period of time, you know, most of my sobriety, most of my life. And it was an ongoing journey to try to get out of that anxiety. Right. And I, that was in the middle of this when I was starting to try to get out of it. And I remember seeing at this resort and yeah, the resort helped because it was a different, a different space and it was beautiful. But I remember this treatment that they did with lavender. And I was like, wow, I feel really good right now. Like, I feel like, like emotionally, like when you talk about emotional pain, you know, anxiety causes emotion, uh, anxiety fuels emotional pain, right? Yes. And I felt, I remember that experience of just feeling okay, like, I'm feeling like, Hey, it's cool. Like in the here and now, everything is fine. And I remember that, that the lavender smell and the sensation of that,

April Daniels (17:51):
Yeah. Lavender is an amazing oil because most of us think of lavender only as it related to sleep or, you know, um, it's gonna make you sleepy. A lot of people can be afraid that, oh, if I use lavender, I'm gonna be sleepy. Right. Um, and that's not really the case Thema again, the amazing thing about essential oils, um, is your body is going to apply the pure oil to where your body needs it to be. Right. So if you, if your body's feeling over tired and you apply a lavender, it might help you calm down to where you can feel a little bit sleepy. Um, but lavender is actually really great for minimizing the effects of stress. Um, it's really good for pain. It's actually excellent for bug bites. It can help, um, support pain with ear infections. It's good for sleep and fun fact.

April Daniels (18:38):
It actually used to be way back in the olden days, a cleaning agent, the hospitals used to, to clean because it just has all of these amazing properties to it. So when I'm feeling overly stressed, you can actually sit and just put like a drop of essential oil in your hand and rub your hands together, cup your hands over your face, and really kind of go into more of a meditation state where you just take some deep breaths and let that lavender de-stres you, and, and bring that, um, tightness, loosen that down, bring that calming feeling and all the while, if you're in pain, you can apply it to your pain and your bug bites while you're at it.

Damon Frank (19:19):
Absolutely. You know, I, I know that a lot of people are listening to this that are maybe new to this topic, right. So they're, they're listening to this. And one of the common, I think, misconceptions of essential oils and recovery is that people, especially that are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, you know, they hear about C, B, D. They hear about all the such like, and obviously that's a no-no right. Like, and there's a feeling it's like, well, if I use this orange peel diff you know, and I put it in the diffuser, is that gonna make me high? Is that gonna, is that gonna change? Change my emotional, yeah. It could change your emotional state, but just to clarify, like a lavender essential oil is not gonna make anybody high or anything like that. And there's a lot of people that are

April Daniels (20:01):
Afraid of that. Right. And there's, so there's no, um, like nutrition or anything in, in an essential oil that is actually going to, um, like inner, usually they interact with like medications and things like that, because it really is a constituent that, um, is meant to your, for your body to absorb and apply where needed. Right? So I think people get afraid that they're using some sort of foreign substance out there. And it's, it's really something that's meant to that and put on here to support the plants, right? The plants need those essential oils to thrive. And when we extract those oils and we apply them to ourselves, it allows our body to thrive as well. So when you're afraid of, you know, that altering your state, you know, you don't wanna use CBDs or, or things like that. This is a purely natural oil.

April Daniels (20:53):
And so it has no side effects. It's actually really quite affordable and more affordable in a lot of cases than conventional medicine can be. Um, and it's safe for everybody. It's safe for you. It's safe for me, it's safe for our kids if properly diluted. Um, it can even, in some cases, essential oils can be safe for your pets. So, you know, a lot of people, I hear that too, people are afraid, well, you know, I have a dog and I don't wanna diffuse lavender because my dog might not like it. Well, there are ways to see if your dog likes it. And my dad's dog loves lavender and will run to you when you, when you open the, the bottle. So it's, I think it just really depends on what your body's needing and, you know, listening to that. Right. And, and listening to how you're responding to that oil.

April Daniels (21:38):
And one thing that I struggled with when I first started using them was the emotional properties of it. I didn't know, nobody told me that essential oils could, could have an, an effect on your emotions, right. And not in a negative way, but in a way that I wasn't expecting, I wasn't expecting for them to help me work through some of that, that baggage and some of those trauma things and giving me the tool to be able to, um, remove my, remove my trigger, remove my trauma to the point where that I could see it more objectively and, and really work through it. It just brought me a sense of a sense of belonging, I guess. And it really empowered me that I was able to work through this and that I had the strength to keep moving through and, and, you know, heal and gain

Damon Frank (22:25):
Hope. Yeah. And I like how you put this, because it definitely just a little, it's a tool, but it's not the whole thing. Right. Like, right. You're not gonna just be able to, you, you know, put it in the diffuser and it's gonna solve all your problems. That's not, that's not really what we're saying. Right. It is no, it's a tool to help you get to where you want to go. Right. And just like, I always say, just like a good pair of running shoes, if you're a joer right. It, it, it helps you, it'll help you get down your journey a little bit, a, a little bit more enjoyable,

April Daniels (22:54):
Uh, process. Yeah. Every day's different, right. And every situation you encounter is different. Um, everybody's gonna process things in a different way. So it's, it's really important that you're thinking this as like an arsenal, right? You have this arsenal, that's in your bathroom, that's in your bedroom, that's in your kitchen that when something happens, you can just pull this out and say, I'm gonna use this. Um, and it's gonna, you know, it's gonna help me kind of realign where I'm at, right. Where it's not, it's not gonna fix you. It's not gonna take it away. It's not going to, you know, it's not gonna, it's not a magic, right. It not gonna magically solve all of your problems, but it is going to give you another tool in your toolbox that you can use in conjunction with all of the other tools that you've learned along the way, and really maybe enhance some of those other skill sets that you use.

April Daniels (23:43):
And they'll allow you to tap into what those things are like, you know, balance is a really great oil to help you meditate. It's a grounding oil, it brings balance to your soul, right? So using things like that to help you kind of realign is, is really important. I think. And just another thing that we can do to help support ourselves in this journey, cuz it's hard enough on its own, right? Working through all of these things is hard enough. And then you go through, you read books and you get help and you, you do all of the things to try and help yourself cope. And so what do you do when it's two o'clock in the morning and you're tosing and turning and you can't sleep. I felt really empowered by the fact that I knew that I could grab, you know, cedarwood and or wonder or serenity and apply that and feel calm and go back to sleep. And I didn't sit up for hours the rest of the night and ruin the whole next day. You know, there's, if there's something to be said for having something sitting in your pocket that you can just use,

Damon Frank (24:45):
really great advice. April. If, if people want to know more about essential oils and more about you, how, how can they reach you? Do you have a website that they can find out more information? I

April Daniels (24:55):
Do. I have a website. If you go to bit dot E slash April Daniels, you will be taken to my website. Um, and I'm also on Instagram, which you can find my link for in my Instagram, on my website.

Damon Frank (25:08):
Excellent. We're also gonna put a, we have a full profile of April on recovered life. So you can get access to all of her links, uh, social links and websites there as well as well as some other information on her. So thank you so much April for coming on the show today.

April Daniels (25:23):
Thank you so much for having me. This is a lot of fun. I really appreciate

Introduction (25:27):
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