Many of you may know Erin– the fabulous Pharm D that worked in our office a few years back. Erin is a phenomenal gal and we embarked on the journey into natural medicine around the same time. As we both share a real passion for nutrition and natural remedies, I wanted to introduce you to her wealth of knowledge about essential oils. I am using them and really loving all the benefits — so here is a little about ERIN!
How a Pharmacist Got Started With Essential Oils
Well, hello! Allow me to introduce myself. I am a classically trained, Western medicine pharmacist AND a natural wellness enthusiast. “How can this be?” you may ask. Aren’t Western medicine practitioners and natural wellness practitioners supposed to be diametrically opposed to each other? I used to think that too. I admit, I am a “natural” skeptic {pun intended}. My training has taught me that if there is not a double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial to back up a claim, it is merely unsubstantiated mumbo-jumbo. So what changed my mind? Perhaps it was the subtle (and not so subtle) ways my body started telling me I’m not as young as I used to be. Or, perhaps, it was the desire to keep my family healthy without the use of synthetic chemicals. Becoming a parent certainly increased my desire to find the best and most natural ways to do things. Whatever the reason, I developed a desire to find a better way to achieve and maintain health and wellness. So, I went back to my old standbys: research and experience.
Western vs. Natural Medicine Approaches
Over the years, what I have learned, both through research and personal experience, is that while Western medicine is great at using a variety of medical and surgical interventions to keep you alive, it is not so great at keeping you from needing those interventions in the first place. Western medicine shines in treatment more so than in prevention. If you think of your wellness like a horizontal line, with health and vitality above the line and sickness and disease below the line, in Western medicine we wait until you have fallen way below the wellness line before we do anything. By that point you are in trouble. You have a disease, so we prescribe a medication or surgical intervention that helps to manage that disease. The problem is most medications that are prescribed for chronic conditions do not provide a cure, but are used to mitigating the symptoms. They do not get to the underlying cause, and they do not bring you back above the wellness line. Not to mention, most medications come with a variety of toxic and adverse effects that then also have to be managed. Does that mean that I think we should never use Western medicine approaches? Absolutely not! Western medicine has its place, and offers us many tools in our wellness tool belt to utilize. However, I think we can all agree, it would be ideal if we could utilize these tools less.
What if there were tools to help us stay above the wellness line? This is where natural medicine shines. By supporting your body to do what it was made to do in the first place, natural medicine approaches prevent much of the need for Western interventions. Our bodies are amazing creations that were made to be healthy. Given the right environment and the right building blocks, most of the time our bodies will be healthy. The problem is that in today’s world we are surrounded by things that tear down our bodies instead of support them. We eat junk, we breathe in junk, we apply junk to our skin, we don’t get enough sleep or exercise, and we are constantly STRESSED OUT! It’s no wonder all sorts of disease rates are climbing.
A Better Way
What if there was a better way? What if we gave our bodies an environment in which they could thrive and the building blocks with which to heal? What would that look like?
- We would put nourishing foods into our body. Not overly processed, chemical laden junk, but REAL food. Hippocrates knew what he was talking about when he said “let thy food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”.
- We would stop breathing in toxins. True, you cannot always help the air quality where you live, but you can stop making it worse. Quit smoking and get rid of the toxins in your air. Did you know formaldehyde is just one of a number of chemicals commonly used in scented candles and air fresheners?!? So stop “freshening” your air with toxins.
- We would clean up our skin care products. Check out your product labels. Do some research into the dangers of ingredients like parabens, phthalates, triclosan, artificial dyes, and many others. Don’t be fooled, anything you put on your skin is absorbed into your body!
- We would start moving more, resting well, and stressing less!
I know that seems like a pretty tall order, and no one is going to be perfect 100% of the time, but every step you take in the right direction is a step toward wellness, and that is a worthy goal!
Essential Oils as a Tool for Wellness
So where do essential oils come in? For me, adding in essential oils was another step in my path toward natural wellness. When I was first presented with the idea of using essential oils for wellness, guess what, I was skeptical of that too. My pharmacist brain kicked into gear and wanted to dismiss the idea. After months of pondering, I finally gave in and got my Young Living Premium Starter Kit. And then it sat on my counter…for weeks. Finally, my old friends, research and experience won. I opened up those little bottles and started using them. The more I used them, the better I felt, so I would research more, and then use them more, and then feel better, and then research, and then use them, and then…well, you get the idea. My biggest “Ah Ha!” moment in using essential oils was when I finally realized essential oils are NOT like medicine, they are like FOOD! The properties and constituents in essential oils that make them so amazing do their job by supporting your body to do what it was intended to do. Just like food, they give your body the building blocks to heal and stay above the wellness line. Just like I would not go a day without eating or drinking, there is now not a single day that goes by when I am not using my essential oils. Yes, there are specific oils that work better for specific purposes, but so long as you have high quality, therapeutic grade essential oils, such as those provided by Young Living, just use them! Once you understand a few common sense safety issues (like don’t put them in your eyes or ears- duh!), unlike medications that can cause serious problems if used at the wrong time in the wrong way, using Young Living Essential oils is always going to support your body in a positive way.
How do I Use My Young Living Essential Oils
We have been using our Young Living Essential Oils EVERY DAY for well over 2 years now! They can be inhaled, applied topically, and most can even be ingested. Here are just a few examples…
- Peace and Calming, Lavender, or Cedarwood for a restful night’s sleep
- DiGize or peppermint for digestion
- Thieves to support our immune systems
- Peppermint, Copaiba, or PanAway for muscles, joints, and ligaments
- Stress Away when life gets too crazy (or just because it smells AMAZING!)
- Lavender and Frankincense in our skin care
- Progessence Plus, Clary Sage, or Idaho Blue Spruce for hormone balance
- Grapefruit to support metabolism
- Purification and Lemon in our household cleaning
If you go down our previous list about what a “better way” would look like for improving your health, literally every item on that list has been touched by Young Living Essential Oils in our home.
Why I Love Young Living Essential Oils
I could write another post about why, after much research, I chose Young Living for my family and why it is the only brand I recommend if you are looking for actual wellness benefits and not just pretty smells from essential oils. I will save those many details for another post. For now, please believe me when I say there is a HUGE difference between Young Living’s therapeutic grade essential oils and almost any other oil on the market, so, Buyer Beware! If you would like to do a little of your own research, you can start by learning more about Young Living’s commitment to purity and quality through their unique Seed to Seal® process. For more information and videos describing this process check it out at www.seedtoseal.com.
Ready to Stay Above the Wellness Line?
If any of this peaks your interest, I would love to tell you more. Come check out more information or message me through www.facebook.com/EssentiallyErin or email me directly at erinruth@sbcglobal.net. I’ll be waiting for you!
To get your own Premium Starter Kit, go to http://tinyurl.com/ErinArkins1. The Premium Start Kit is by far the best deal to get you started on your oily journey, and by signing up through my link you will have access to member only essential oil education and FREE reference material as a gift from me. Getting my kit was the best decision I made for my family’s health and wellness! I am excited to help you on your journey as well!
Blessings and wellness to you and yours,
Erin