3/26/15

Today we chose between Geranium, Lemongrass or Vetiver to put on our palms.

We based our meditation around being in Oz-like protective bubbles and domes, and reframing our birth experience so that an easy, graceful, joyful birth = easy, graceful, joyful life!

After looking in our books (where we found beautiful pictues of geraniums, and a couple of fun tidbits for each oil), we each read aloud a line or 2 about geranium. It is a great one for skin and hair, so many people have added it to their lotions & toners, shampoos & conditioners, or made their own.

We saw a video each about sourcing Lemongrass in India, and Vetiver in Haiti.

Lemongrass, with its citrol content, is a great insect repellent. It can also soothe aches & pains, and help the digestive system.

Can you remember which fact below matches which oil video? (See if I remembered any incorrectly, or if you could add other factoids!)

• It takes 5 men 15 days to harvest enough material for one gallon of this essential oil. 
• People here would walk 3 miles to get 1 gallon of water (unsafe for drinking). 
• It takes 5-7 days to harvest a 100-acre farm.
• Rains make it grow faster.
• It can be harvested every 60 days.
• There was a farmer's cooperative meeting together.
• It is carried down off the mountain on their heads.

I hope to hear from you!

Have a great Spring Break!

3/20/15

We first chose between Cardamom or Ginger to put in our hands, then our meditation for this Thursday was 3 paragraphs in Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now. We focused on our bodies and envisioned a wave going back and forth from our feet to our heads.

We each chose a different oil to put on a piece of Styrofoam, in order to see the process of petrochemical breakdown in action. They all worked, the citruses working the most quickly and thoroughly,  and the tree-based oils (like White Fir) were slowest and seemed to do the most good only once it seeped into the cut edge.

Teacher Nalanie brought us Cardamom tea to taste, and we all enjoyed Ginger flavored shredded cabbage and apple, and Cardamom flavored sliced apples with the tea. (To try at home, remember to mix the essential oil with olive oil for the "coleslaw", and essential oil with water for the apples first so that the flavor can be easily distributed. The coleslaw tastes fresh & looks good for a few days!)

We listened to a recording of a training on the Cardamom,  and the students did a great job answering questions about the material along the way! (You may like to ask your student how big the plants get, how many seeds are in each pod, how many days the seeds are allowed to mature, what is unusual about the process of getting the seeds ready, why doTERRA chooses the Guatemalan source over the Indian and African sources, and which body systems it can benefit the most from Cardamom.)

Next up: Geranium,  Lemongrass,  Vetiver!

Citrus Bliss!

This week, we treated our noses to the delightful scents of Lemon, and Lime! 
We tested the claim that citrus oils are invigorating and bring a joyful mood.  What a room full of happy people we were!
We started our discussion with a worksheet on all the ways that Lemon Essential Oil can benefit us every day.  We can add it to our tap water to cleanse the impurities, we can add it to the washing machine to freshen a stinky mildew smell.  Freshen our toothbrushes, dissolve sticky residues, and even cook with it!   Lime has similar uses, and we talked about how it freshens the air wonderfully.  (Mollie had several ideas for how to use Lime to make her brothers smell more pleasant) ha!  

Teacher Liesl had us try a guacamole recipe that called for a few drops of Lime Essential Oil.  Delightful!  (and delicious)  Each student participated in preparing the guacamole, and then we all enjoyed eating it with corn chips.  Yummy!   If you didn't get a chance to taste our guacamole with lime, we're sorry-there wasn't even a drop left over.  Maybe your student can share the recipe with you at home.