Everyone’s invited!!

This summer I began teaching two types of classes to share what I’m learning about essential oils.

I offer a two-hour Introduction to Essential Oils with PowerPoint presentation. The class begins with a brief history of essential oils, then a simple explanation of the chemistry of oils and why they are perfectly suited to cleanse and restore the cells in our bodies, including the emotional center in our brains. I pass around samples of therapeutic grade essential oils and share the reference works I use to match up oils with needs. Then I do a demonstration of Raindrop Technique. Here’s what one participant wrote:
“Wow…the amount of information regarding essential oils was incredible.  You were very well-informed about your subject, and made people feel at ease with your presentation style.  The demonstration was simply fascinating and I’m so glad I got to see your technique and use of the different oils.”

The second “class” is Emotional Release. Rather than a lot of factual information, this is an hour-long experience with 12-15 high-frequency blends of essential oils that each participant places on his or her body and then inhales deeply.
“I enjoyed it immensely and intend to be at any future classes you hold.”

Classes Offered this October and November

The next scheduled classes are:
Emotional Release:
• Saturday November 14, 2009 4-6 pm at Satya Yoga Center, Saugatuck, MI 269-857-7289 $25
Introduction to Essential Oils:
• Saturday December 12, 2009, 1-3 pm at Pump House Gym, Saugatuck, MI 269-857-7867 $10
• Tuesday February 9, 2010, 7-9 pm at Lake Michigan College, South Haven, MI 269-927-8100 $12
Call to register or for more information.

I also offer one-on-one Raindrop Technique ($60) and Emotional Release ($75) in my studio in Saugatuck. Click here to read about Raindrop or for more information.

My wonderful son-in-law just sent me this article from the New York Times by Anahad O’Connor, published September 7, 2009:

“In a country obsessed with germs and sickness, antibacterial soaps and sanitizers are becoming more and more common. But because such products contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, some researchers recommend sanitizers made with cinnamon oil, which has been shown in many studies to have powerful antimicrobial properties.

A recent study by a team of surgeons, for example, found that a solution made with cinnamon oil killed a number of common and hospital-acquired infections, like streptococcus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. The study found it was just as effective as several antiseptics widely used in hospitals. Another study by French researchers in 2008 had similar results, showing that at concentrations of 10 percent or less, cinnamon oil was effective against Staphylococcus, E. coli and several antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.”

The article goes on to mention Dr. Lawrence D. Rosen, a pediatrician in New Jersey, who recommends a recipe for homemade hand sanitizer containing cinnamon bark, lemon oil and eucalyptus, that he’s taken from a recipe that goes back to the Middle Ages.

This is similar to the many Young Living products—including hand sanitizer—based on their Thieves therapeutic-grade Essential Oil Blend. In our family we put a drop of Thieves oil on the bottom of our feet every morning when we get dressed. It’s a powerful preventative against bacteria. If you want to learn more, and I’ll send you a pdf booklet all about Thieves.

too many moons

Yesterday a friend asked me if there were any essential oils that aided sleep and I replied: Peace & Calming, lavender (and those two in combination), Valor, Idaho balsam fir, and Dream Catcher among many others. (Check the Essential Oils Desk Reference for more ideas.) Essential oils help balance the energy circulating in our bodies and calm us down for sleep. But not long after that exchange I lay restless and awake in my own bed for three hours—after applying one of my own recommendations to the bottom of my feet. That gave me plenty of opportunity to reflect on the complexity of well-being.

Essential Oils are not drugs. They don’t work like pain killers or muscle relaxants or mood elevators in the way we’ve come to expect modern pharmaceuticals to behave. EOs don’t treat symptoms and fool our bodies into feeling better while the cause of discomfort still remains; they go to the root cause. They are tiny molecules built of “isoprenes” that form phenols, monoterpenes, and sesquiterpenes that clean the receptor sites of our cells, erase miswritten codes in cellular memory, and reprogram the correct information. It’s sort of like rebooting your computer after too many messages make it freeze.

While essential oils help us enormously on both physical and emotional levels, there are other aspects of our lives that contribute to our dis-ease. For example, the large bowl of extra-dark chocolate ice cream I ate at 9:30 last night might have been too much for the oils to overcome. Or sometimes I need to get up in the night and make a calendar of my overloaded schedule, or a list of meals I’m going to prepare when my whole family visits, or write a letter to my father, or—you fill in the blank—before I sink into a peaceful sleep.

Happily I can report that my friend slept better than ever last night and for me today is Saturday and I slept in. Hopefully I’ve learned my lesson (again) and will control my after-dinner appetite…..

Jacob’s Ladder by Marc Chagall at the Chagall Museum in Nice

Today in church I caught my sandal on my chair and crashed to the floor, wrenching my special metal-jointed toe and landing on my knee with a rug burn. I wanted to cry. Instead I hobbled to the back and found a Bandaid and a bag of ice. I could tell my whole system had been jarred off balance from my toe to my knee, my hip, my shoulder, my neck, my wrist that broke the fall. As soon as we got home, I asked John to apply the Valor blend of essential oils to my shoulders and then my feet. This is what we do at the beginning of a Raindrop Treatment.

As he put three drops of Valor on each of my shoulders and held them, waiting to feel a balance in the pulse and prickle of energy, I could feel movement in the interior of the whole right side of my body—a tingling and almost a numbing sensation. He held that for a few minutes while I breathed deeply. Then he applied Valor to the bottoms of my feet and held there even longer until he sensed a movement of energy back and forth between my feet. He’s never done this before, but he did a great job (and so did the oils). I felt very balanced and the shock of the fall left me.

Valor is a wonderful blend of oils, one of my favorites. What I’ve just described is something anyone can do to restore the body after any kind of startle or accident. Valor’s also a great aid to peaceful sleep, or anytime you feel the need for extra courage.

Eagle footprint like one I found next to our creek

I’ve had a pea-sized lump in the arch of my left foot for a year or so. I’ve tried various essential oils but it hasn’t budged. Then my friend and teacher, Kathy Spohn, mentioned the spot corresponded to the adrenal glands on the reflexology chart and said Endoflex, a blend of oils I wasn’t familiar with. So I ordered some and was really surprised when I opened it to smell spearmint. When I was 5 I had my tonsils out. As I emerged from the ether I had a nightmare that I was trapped inside a spearmint jelly jar. I couldn’t stand the smell of spearmint until later years when I made distant friends with it. I wondered if somehow my lump was connected to my surgery 55 years ago.

Yesterday I told this story to Kathy and she mentioned words like stress and trauma since that’s what adrenaline is for. I started filling in the rest of my story for her, how the nurse promised me that when I got back to my room I could have some ice cream—-and then I started to cry. You see, ice cream is my weakness. Ask any of my family or friends. I have trouble controlling myself around ice cream. It’s one of my best and most comforting friends. BUT the story goes on….

When I got back to my hospital room, the girl in the bed next to me was already eating ice cream, the very last portion of ice cream in the hospital. There was none for me! All these years later I can still see myself in the bed, looking to my right at the girl who got what I was promised. I think the 5-year-old me is still shouting, “Give me MY ice cream!!” I’ve always had a hard time with broken promises. I’m beginning to see why.

I’m still applying Endoflex to my foot, and on my adrenals, and inhaling it from my palm. I can’t report improvement with the bump, but I am learning some deep lessons about myself and my appetites. As you may know, when smelled, essential oils go straight to the amygdala, the emotional control center of the brain. They are able to retrieve buried emotions and bring them, along with memories, back to the surface when we’re ready to deal with them. This is powerful medicine.