of each oil is what makes it unique, and there are even differences within the same species of botanicals. Quality can be influenced by variations in the production process. My goal is to teach you how and what to look for before you purchase, and what the uses are so you can choose the appropriate oils.
Most people have heard of essential oils and a huge percentage use them daily. The company I purchase my oils from and now partner with enjoys a 68 percent retention rate after people try them and buy them month after month. There are certainly several books on essential oils on the market and lots of information on the Internet. Why, then, would we need another book? Hasn’t this story been told?
Nope. Not my version!
Since this book is a beginners’ guide to essential oils, I’m going to assume you might be right there, you know, at the beginning. Throughout these pages I will introduce you to essential oils and how they can compliment a healthy lifestyle.
I take a holistic approach to present a big picture overview because I want you to get more than what you came for. If I hit on elements you’re already familiar with, hang in here with me. It’s important to me that my book is comprehensive so true beginners can grow, chapter by chapter.
A Beginner’s Guide to Essential Oils is not a textbook, and it’s more than a how-to book for using essential oils. Along with education, I share my favorite recipes and blends and easy-to-learn practices you can incorporate immediately. Over the next few chapters, I address personal development and aspects of mental and emotional wellness. Mind and body are connected, and essential oils can benefit both at the same time.
Honestly, if this guide were only about how to choose and use essential oils, it would miss the mark. You see, essential oils are so much more than yummy smelling drops we rub onto pulse points to make us feel better.
Essential oils saved my life.
See, there was a time my life was a hot mess. To say I was under pressure would be an understatement. But as tense as it was, I didn’t walk away from my challenges or allow my slips and falls to break my stride. It was just the opposite. I tried even harder.
Some of my most painful lessons became stepping stones to my dreams come true. I believe that in telling my story and teaching my wellness strategies I will reach others, like you, who seek a life of balance. No matter where you are on the wellness scale, there is hope in living a holistic lifestyle.
Wellness isn’t just about working on a single aspect of life, like eating or exercise. It is a culmination of all the choices we make in every area: emotional, mental, physical and spiritual. There are essential oils to support each of these. How do I know? Because I’ve experienced it. I began using oils and have never stopped. I still use them every day.
I’m going to walk this path beside you as you learn ways to integrate powerful wellness modalities with essential oils. My desire is to support you in living the life you’ve only dreamed about.
So, let’s begin our journey.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that several years ago, incorporating essential oils as part of my wellness program saved my life. I was virtually one breath away from the edge and the only thing left was for me to take that final step. But I never gave up.
My body was deteriorating. It was responding to a noxious lifestyle and mental state; neither of which were very healthy. I had been dealing with poor health since I was a child and it was coming to a head.
Here’s where my story began.
At the age of five, I was diagnosed with severe stomach issues, starting a chain reaction of illness that continued until I was forty years old. My health eventually got so bad that my liver, pancreas and other organs started shutting down—I was experiencing autoimmune disease-like symptoms. Can you imagine living this way as an adult, let alone as a child?
My dad was a doctor and what kid doesn’t hang on every word their dad says? He was compassionate with my health challenges and really tried to help. He believed western Medicine had all the answers, and I trusted it because he did. We never questioned it, even though I wasn’t getting well.
Throughout my young life and into adulthood, I ended up in the hospital for weeks at a time, on IV antibiotics. This weakened my immune system and irritated my gut even more. It had also probably been irritated from the toxic products and foods my body could not digest. So, basically, I had a stomach ache my entire life.
As most of society at the time, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We consumed too much dairy, and I later found out I was completely lactose intolerant. We used household cleaning and personal care products that today head the list of contributors to sickness and disease. Most of the western world didn’t know wellness was in our own hands and so we lived toxic lives.
People who know me are shocked to hear that when I was young I was super insecure and gawky. I wasn’t just shy. I was petrified; literally unable to hold a conversation.
In high school and college, I was terrified in social situations, and as an adult I used to have to hold a drink in my hand just to relax. My insecurity was serious.
I finished college and went to law school. After passing the bar I opened a law practice within a boutique firm and I was pretty successful, earning a six-figure income. Most people in my position would have been happy. But I wasn’t.
You see, I didn’t want to be a lawyer. I followed someone else’s plan for my life. I was sad and dissatisfied most of the time, just going through the motions.
Physically, I was a mess; suffering from poor digestion and hardly eating because of it. Seriously, I almost never felt well. Add this to my emotional distress and there wasn’t much quality of life. It had been that way for a long time.
I wouldn’t go to parties or clubs without heading straight to the bar the minute I walked through the door. OMG! Even to speak to one person freaked me out. I never thought I had anything important to say. So of course, with that kind of thought process, I’d feel nervous just having to open my mouth. I went on that way for many years until one day I found myself at a crossroads. It hit me like a slap in the face.
It was obvious. What I was doing wasn’t working and I had run out of road. Two choices were in front of me and I had to make one of them.
Either I could take an honest look at my life and where I was headed, you know, contemplate.
Or I could STOP immediately, own-up to the past choices I had made, turn and walk in another direction.
I chose the latter. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have written this book. Honestly, I am not sure I would even be here today.
I did one of the hardest things any of us can do, and that is to admit I needed to leave behind everything I stood on my entire life. An obsolete thought process and toxic lifestyle were slowly destroying me every single day. I had to acknowledge that what I was doing wasn’t working and then make some changes.
It took a lot of courage to act on my new choices for life, but let me tell you, I was ready. I am forever grateful to the part of me that picked me up by the shoulders and set me on my current path; one that embraces Integrative Wellness. That meant looking
