DEPRESSION

A big black cloud, blotting out the light from the sun, is how I describe depression when it happens to me. But as depression is something that affects most of us at one time or another, the way in which it manifests itself will vary from one person to another. One friend of mine describes it as like 'wandering through thick fog, not knowing in which direction I am walking, and not knowing when or if the fog will lift'.

Another friend describes depression as being like an invisible, suffocating weight which she has to carry, and which makes
so exhausted that she feels tired all of the time. She told me that when recently depressed, and lying on her bed in the middle of the day thinking about her dire financial problems and wallowing in self?pity, a thought came into her head 'like a distress flare sea', to turn to aromatherapy for help. Knowing that certain essences are beneficial in lifting depression she got up off the bed, sorted through her oil collection, and put three drops of clary sage onto her fragrancer, closed the door and window and again lay down on her bed, thinking that although she was beyond help, she ought to give it a try. This is how she described the following half hour:

'It was incredible. Within minutes I was feeling lighter. I began to feel happier and less worried. The money problem was still there, but somehow I felt detached from it, as though it had been put into a balloon, which was floating above my head even though it was still attached to me by a string. The stifling weight which had robbed me of my energy and inner harmony was not there any more, and after 30 minutes I felt like getting up and getting on with things.

She experienced more energy than she had had for several days, and began to function normally again. Contrast this with the stories of women who have become addicted to tranquilizers, having been prescribed them for depression.

Some people find clary sage to be euphoric, and will not use the essence in their working environment for fear of becoming too light?headed. I like to use clary sage in my office occasionally, possibly because I don't really like paper work, and doing it makes me feel moody. I have a theory about clary sage. Imagine that our emotions are like an elevator or lift, and that our normal state is the ground floor; when depressed we travel down to the lower ground floor, and when euphoric, we are on the first floor. Imagine that clary sage has the ability to take us up one floor level. If we are depressed, it returns us to the ground floor, but if we are already normal then it takes us to the first floor. This would explain why different people have different experiences with this essence. But the common denominator is that clary sage is emotionally uplifting.