Taking a warm shower after a work-out is one of the best things you can do, not only to make you feel good (all those negative ions you are inhaling are so beneficial) but to help eliminate the lactic add that causes muscle ache.

A shower with just soap and water cannot provide the deep cleaning your body requires, but using essential oils will help to eliminate waste products from the body, preventing sore and aching muscles.

Before taking a shower, rub the body with a clean flannel on which you have put 3 neat drops of essential oil, rub it all over yourself and then shower in the normal way. A combination of equal parts of rosemary, lemon and eucalyptus peppermint would be ideal for this purpose.

After showering, massage the muscles with a muscle relaxant oil or toning oil, depending on what you want to achieve.

Essential Oils to use before and in the Shower: Lavender, Eucalyptus, lemon, Rosemary, Birch, Lemon, Niaouli, Eucalyptus, Juniper, Eucalyptus, peppermint, Bergamot.

Saunas are extremely useful but they can leave you a little depleted unless you are able to roll in the snow afterwards! Oils to use in the sauna are those that promote the elimination of waste products and debris through the skin. Use them in the water that you throw on the coals or other heat source.

Essential Oils for the Sauna: Eucalyptus, Birch, Pine, Rosemary, Lemon, Lime, Lavender, Grapefruit, Niaouli, Bergamot, Cypress

Although not generally thought of as a sauna scent, the following synergistic blend is effective, gentle and relaxing, and it has a very nice fragrance:

Relaxing Sauna synergistic Blend:

* Sandalwood 10 drops
* Lemon 5 drops
* Geranium 2 drops

Make up in these proportions and use 4 drops at a time.

Stimulating Sauna Synergistic Blend:

* Pine 3 drops
* Rosemary 3 drops
* Niaouli 2 drops
* Grapefruit 10 drops

Make up in these proportions and use 4 drops at a time.