How Can Essential Oils Support Women's Health?

Author: Suzy Volokh

Pregnancy Coach, Mama Rising™ facilitator, Childbirth Educator with Hypnobirthing Australia ™ and founder of Maiden Meets Mother.

Hi, I’m Suzy, Pregnancy Coach, Mama Rising™ facilitator, Childbirth Educator with Hypnobirthing Australia ™ and founder of Maiden Meets Mother. I have been a women’s empowerment coach for over five years and I am deeply passionate about supporting women through Matrescence and the Maiden to Mother journey. 

The birth of a child is also the birth of a mother and there is no one size fits all approach when it comes to the experience that is motherhood. 

The initiation into motherhood differs for everyone and encompasses all kinds of mothers, whether, through birthing, adoption, surrogacy, blended families, experienced miscarriage, or even women who choose not to have children. We all have the capacity to mother and the mother archetype lives within us all. Each journey is unique and comes with its own set of gains, losses and a gamut of emotions that requires its own set of care, understanding and support. 

My goal is to reconnect women to the wisdom their bodies hold and learn to build self-trust, embrace uncertainty, and let go of guilt as they step into their version of motherhood feeling empowered and aligned with their most authentic self.

First coined by anthropologist Dana Raphae, Matrescence is akin to adolescence and is the physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual shift a woman goes through during the immense transformation that is motherhood. 

There are conversations about when Matrescence first emerges, some say at the early stages of postpartum, others during pregnancy, or when a woman first thinks about the idea of being a mother. I believe it goes even beyond this and our beliefs around motherhood start to take shape by our own early experiences with our caregivers, culture, community and society. Language creates worlds and the more we can bring Matrescence to the forefront, the more we can support mothers more deeply. As one of my mentors and author of the best-selling book MAMA Rising and founder of the MAMA Rising movement, Amy Taylor-Kabbaz says “Heal the mother, change the world.” 

This is why as a pregnancy coach I meet women where they need to be met, at any stage of their Matrescence journey to confidently navigate through:

Pre-pregnancy -

• Explore and shift beliefs around pregnancy, labour, motherhood, relationships and parenting
• Discover their values
• Choose how they want to experience motherhood
• Heal any of their mother wounds
• Learn ways to deepen their relationship with self and embrace being a mother first and foremost to themselves

Pregnancy - 

• Gain a deeper understanding of how their body is designed for birth
• Feel more prepared for a calm positive birth experience
• Learn the tools they have available to support them during birth and labour
• Know their options and rights as a birthing woman
• How to make informed decisions where birthing women are walking into their birthing day empowered and see themselves as clients, not patients.

Postpartum - 

• Birth debriefing
• Preparing for the postpartum period emotionally and physically and navigating this time with kindness, grace and exploring her newfound sense of self

There are many tools available to support Mamas through pregnancy and Matrescence. One of my go-to tools during sessions and in childbirth education classes is essential oils. This is because essential oils can support on both a physiological and emotional level and I have firsthand experienced both professionally and personally the profound effects scents can have on emotional and physical well-being. There are a few ways I love to incorporate essential oils during sessions and as a tool mums can go to during pregnancy, birth and postpartum. The first way essential oils can support Mamas is by using them during labour and birth to feel a deeper sense of calm and relaxation. Certain essential oils can help calm our sympathetic nervous system and activate our parasympathetic nervous system to support mothers who are feeling fear around labour and birth.

Why does this matter?

When a woman can move through fear and feel calmer and safer during labour, not only does this support her in having a positive birth experience but also supports her body to birth her baby naturally and safely into the world. When a mother’s sympathetic nervous system or fight, flight, freeze or appease response is activated, her body will respond accordingly to the immediate threat at hand. This means her body will prioritise dealing with the perceived danger by redirecting oxygen to her defence systems, which the uterus is not a part of. Her body will release stressor hormones such as noradrenaline, cortisol and adrenaline. Furthermore, the circular muscles at the neck of the uterus which are linked to the sympathetic nervous system constrict and tighten. Meanwhile, the longitudinal muscles of the uterus continue to work and push the baby against the taut muscle. You can see how this could stall labour and increase the likelihood of medical intervention.

Inhalation of essential oils either through a diffuser or a couple of drops into a cloth gives Mamas a way to calm their nervous system and start to release and let go. Taking deep belly breaths through the nose whilst using an essential oil also activates the parasympathetic nervous system.