Hi Folks, this is an interview I recently gave (October 8th 2011) for the web radio programme – Beyond the Heart- hosted by Jenetta Haim. I talk about how I got into essential oils as well as how and why essential oils work. Check it out at :

Beyond the Heart with Jenetta Haim Aromatherapy 10/08 by The Difference | Blog Talk Radio

Cheers

Anthony

After our short article on essential oils for pregnancy several weeks ago,  a number of questions were raised by some readers and so this article is a follow up.  Are stretch marks from pregnancy a concern for you? Or perhaps you’re concerned that you may have to undergo an episiotomy after delivery? Well essential oils can and have helped women with these problems. Today I’m going to talk about  about two remarkable essential oil based products known as ClaraDerm and TenderTush.

ClaraDerm is made up of the essential oils of Myrrh, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree), Lavender, Frankincense, Roman Chamomile and Helichrysum in a base of fractionated coconut oil. Gary Young developed this blend for his wife, Mary, who was expecting at the time. She sprayed it around her vaginal area after each elimination, for up to two months before she had her baby.

Mary also rubbed on TenderTush (also created by Gary for her) on her tummy. Tender Tush ointment consists of Virgin coconut oil, cocoa butter, pure bees wax, Wheat germ oil, Organic olive oil,  Almond oil and the essential oils: Sandalwood, Rosewood, Roman Chamomile, Lavender, Cistus, Blue Tansy, Lemon, and Frankincense.

The end result was that Mary had no stretch marks and no need for an episiotomy.

ClaraDerm is also fantastic for skin irritations, rashes and yeast infections such as Candida.

The following are some of the testimonials I found for ClaraDerm. If you click on the link it will take you directly to their testimonial. In the first example you may contact them if you have any questions.

ClaraDerm Spray after childbirth
Nancy Ziganti (may be contacted if you have any questions – Gavina)
Parma, OH, United States

“ I have two daughters who have each recently gone through childbirth. They
each delivered
without any medication, but unfortunately each required an episiotomy.

I watched the doctors stitch them afterward and they should have been
miserable from
that procedure. However, they had both decided to use ClaraDerm spray.
Each used
it from the first time to the bathroom and then for several weeks
afterward. Neither had one
single bit of discomfort, let alone pain — no swelling, itching,
inflammation.

And they never had to use any of the things provided by the hospital”.

Claraderm works amazingly for itch
Author: Gulie Molkenthin
Location: Kimmell, IN, United States
Posted: 2008-07-27

”This may sound gross to anyone who has not suffered the itch of Candida.
I’m detoxing from arsenic poisoning and the arsenic flooding out has
turned
my ph VERY acidic. I have NEVER been so acidic in my memory! The
result is Candida and irritation of ‘delicate tissues’. In fact the itch
was
driving me NUTS. I tried Melrose splashes, yogurt, apple cider vinegar,
garlic paste and maybe a few other things I can’t recall.

This AM after my shower, I splashed on some Claraderm. I ordered it
since it was going to be discontinued and discovered that it healed some
‘toxic bumps’ that came up on my nose because of the arsenic detox, so
I just grabbed it this AM. Instant relief and it has lasted for hours.”

For Tender Tush, visit this link to the testimonials site. You’ll also find other testimonials for Clara derm.

We’ll back be in the New Year. We have lots of info to share with you after a recent conference call with Gary Young from Ecuador.

Both I and Anthony would like to take this opportunity to wish you all, and your families, much peace and joy in this festive season.

See you in 2011.

Gavina

Disclaimer: Please remember that anything discussed here does not
constitute medical advice and cannot substitute for appropriate medical care. Where essential oils are mentioned, it’s recommended you use only pure, unadulterated therapeutic grade essential oils and follow the safety directions of the manufacturer.

A NASA photo of Salalah, its port and the Jabal Qar'a mountains in Dhofar Oman. Conditions in this region are just right for Frankincense trees to grow.

Last week, we looked at how Young Living used their Seed to Seal process to bring an essential oil on to the market – specifically the Frankincense from Oman. This week, we’ll check out the Sacred Frankincense (Boswellia Sacra), the kind of environment it grows in, the country that Young Living will be harvesting it from – Oman – and the uses and benefits of using this essential oil.

About the Frankincense Tree

The photo from NASA shows the region of Dhofar. This is the only region in Oman, that Frankincense trees will grow and thrive in.

Frankincense loves limestone and they’ll often be found growing in rock. When near water, it will grow like a tree, but when the area is dry it will resemble more of a bush.

In actual fact, frankincense trees don’t like too much water, as the tree is susceptible to mildew. For that reason you will often find the trees growing high up (as in the Jabal Qar’a mountains in Dhofar) or in the dry wadis (or valleys) at low altitude.

The mountains in Dhofar are also close to the sea, and June to August is the summer monsoon period (known as the Khareef). The trees thrive on the moist air, that comes up in mountain mists.

Frankincense trees have to be at least 6 years old before they can be harvested for their resin. The tree flowers in May (which I’m told is the best time to visit this region and see the trees) with harvesting taking place in the  following months.

The green tree bark is cut down to the red cambrium layer, to release the resin from the tree. In under a minute, a white resin (known as Luban) starts to ooze out from the tree. This first cutting is not collected. The resin from the second and third cuttings is collected, with each tree producing up to a kilo of resin each year. It will take each tree about a year for its scars to heal.

The white resin, Luban, after cutting back the green tree bark. Courtesy of C Woolley

Once the resin has been exposed to the air, it dries. This allows the tree to begin healing. Courtesy of C Woolley

After the resin has dried, it’s cut of from the tree, de-barked, sorted and graded. The very best grade is reserved for the Sultan Qaboos and most of the rest of it will end up being sold to other Arabian princes, sultans and kings.

The dried resin is cut from tree only after the second and third cuttings. Courtesy of C Woolley

Sorting and grading of Frankincense. Courtesy of C Woolley.

Sultan Qaboos and his two treasures

Sultan Qaboos’ two treasures are: his people and his frankincense. Only Omanis are allowed to harvest the resin, with rights to the respective trees being owned by tribes or families. At the top of the season, a kilo of resin will sell for $300-$400 and in the low season, about $100 a kilo. About 99% of all frankincense resin will be used by Omanis to burn in clay burners. To obtain the essential oil of frankincense, we need to steam distill (hydrodistilled) the resin. It takes about 16 hours to process each batch of resin.

Frankincense resin. To obtain the essential oil, this resin is distilled with steam. Courtesy of C Woolley

The Young Living Distillery

In early 2010, Young Living Essential Oils partnered up with Dr Mahmoud Suhail, M.D., and obtained commercial and industrial licences for frankincense oil research and production. Dr Suhail was able to assist Young Living to find local sources of consistent high quality Boswellia Sacra resin and in February 2010, the first batch of Sacred Frankincense essential oil was produced.

Differences in Frankincense.

There are several species of frankincense and they are definitely not the same.

Boswellia Carterii which grows in East Africa (Somalia and Ethiopia) is high in Incensol and Incensol Acetate, and has been found to be beneficial against cancer, depression and anxiety.

Sacred Frankincense from Oman, is very high in boswellic acids, sesquiterpenes and diterpenes (more on why this is important later).

Boswellia Frereana, the other species that grows in East Africa contains no Boswellic acids, Incensol and Incensol Acetate. It has little to no therapeutic value, being mostly used to burn in churches and for use in perfumes.

Benefits of Sacred Frankincense

Being high in boswellic acids, sesquiterpenes and diterpenes, this essential oil is very psycho-active. Sesquiterpenes are molecules which have the capacity to cross the blood-brain barrier, and so assist in more oxygen and nutrients reaching the human brain.

Sacred Frankincense is great for meditation, spiritual healing and emotional healing. It helps:

• Dissolve negativity, insecurity and fear
• Helps to ease feelings of bereavement
• Reduces re-occurring nightmares
• Guards your feelings of self-worth and purpose.
• It fights against feelings of depression and assists with moments of anxiety.

How to use it

• Breathe it in a handkerchief
• Diffuse it in your environment
• Spritz it on cloth in the clothes dryer
• Add it to your massage oil
• Add it to a foot bath or your bath-water
• Add a drop to your personal care products, such as skin care creams.

That concludes our report on Dr Cole Woolley’s visit to Australia

Till Next time,

Cheers

Anthony

About Dr Cole Woolley:

Dr Cole Woolley obtained his doctorate in chemistry from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He has spent 20 years working and consulting with Fortune 500 companies to develop products in the areas of foods, pharmaceuticals, flavours, petrochemicals, beverages, and analytical equipment. While living in Pennsylvania, he developed more than 150 devices and inventions in addition to giving hundreds of technical presentations in many different countries. Dr Woolley’s most recent endeavours have involved the development of nutritional products and subsequently marketing these health and wellness products around the world. He has helped formulate over 50 nutritional products, and has created strong product recognition by way of his expert writing skills.

Last week, I outlined the 3 steps to nutritional balance, as put forward by Dr Cole Woolley. This week and next, I’ll share with you Dr Woolley’s experiences with the harvesting and distillation of Sacred Frankincense (Boswellia Sacra) in Oman. Frankincense resin CANNOT be legally shipped out of Oman, therefore Gary Young of Young Living Essential Oils, decided to build a distillery in Oman itself. The Frankincense oil, distilled from the resin, can legally be shipped out. Most of the photos came to me courtesy of Cole Woolley (Thank you Cole.  ).

Sacred Frankincense (Boswellia Sacra) grows in Yemen, Oman and the island of Socotra. The other species of Frankincense, Boswellia Carterii, grows in East Africa. Picture courtesy of C Woolley

Seed to Seal

Dr Woolley explained to us that Young Living Essential Oils (YLEO) utilise a 5-step Seed to Seal process to ensure its essential oils are potent and  therapeutic grade in quality. Throughout his presentation he used Frankincense as an example of this process. The five steps are:

1.  Seed. Plant species are authenticated by YLEO utilising scientific research, field studies and university partnerships
2.  Cultivation. Plants are cultivated on YLEO farms or on partner/co-op farms where these farms meet YLEO’s strict quality standards. If YLEO have to buy from other farms/producers, the guiding principle is that they want them AS IS, nothing added and nothing subtracted – Pure and unadulterated.
3.  Distillation. Essential oils are distilled in the correct manner, utilising a proprietary low-temperature, low-pressure steam distillation process. This ensures beneficial compounds in the plant’s oil remain uncompromised.
4.  Testing. Oils extracted have to go through stringent testing – at least 7 major tests before they are ready for shipping. This ensures that the optimal natural compounds are present in the oil. YLEO uses its own labs, in addition to third-party audits, to check that international purity and potency standards are met and surpassed.
5.  Seal. Each bottle is carefully sealed. Research and testing continue on the finished product to add to the growing knowledge bank on essential oils.

With that explained, let’s see how the process worked with Sacred Frankincense in Oman.

Read the rest of this entry

Discovery of the ultimate superfood

I began using Ningxia Red, the beverage which is made up from the Ningxia Wolfberry, some 7 years ago. And I credit it not just with the improvement in my health and eyesight, but that of my family. When Gary Young first began investigating the Ningxia wolfberry in the early 90s there were claims that people in the Ningxia region were living healthy lives of more than 100 years. Further research has shown this berry to be one of the most potent foods known to Man – in fact, of all foods it has the highest antioxidant capacity. This book presents some pretty impressive evidence and information concerning the Ningxia Wolfberry and other foods such as the pomegranate. If you’re interested in not just a long life, but a healthy one, I highly recommend this book.  You can read more about the science at this site.

To buy the book from Abebooks

Read the rest of this entry

Gary Young examining Frankincense resin. Courtesy of Young Living

A friend of mine recently sent me a link to a website which sold essential oils and other organic products online. It looked like a great site, beautifully presented and fully functional. I came across Frankincense which they listed as being 100% Pure. When I looked at the price, it was AUS$14.30 for a 17ml. From my own background knowledge that seems cheap. Very cheap.

Let’s play with numbers a little. The best quality Frankincense (and we’ll look at the different types available later in this post), Boswellia Carterii comes from Somaliland and Puntland in East Africa. They produce something like 400-450 tons a year. [1] Young Living source their Frankincense from this location and distil it in Nairobi, Kenya. Contrary to popular opinion, Frankincense is currently not commercially harvested and distilled in Oman. In fact, according to Dr Ahmed Warfa, a world authority on Frankincense, Oman hasn’t exported Frankincense for over 50 years. [2] Watch out for any company that makes this claim for their frankincense. Read the rest of this entry

This one comes from Gary Young, but I thought I would share it with you:

“I feel very strongly that the biggest problem we face today is a lack of love. I learned several years ago from patients I saw in my practice that the cause of what we call “dis-ease” is nothing more than a deficiency of self love. When we have self love, we take care of our body–our temple–because we expect it to serve us. When we have self love, we feed it the way it should be fed. When we have self love, we nurture and care for our bodies. We don’t damage and destroy them.

When there is no love, that is when war rages–between countries, between people, and within a person’s head. Several years ago I did a seminar in which I preformed blood research. I had my microscopes there and performed the tests on site. A lady came to me after we had concluded the seminar. She said, “Gary, have you ever looked at the blood of someone who is having a real emotional trauma, then given them oils and tested their blood later on?” I said, “No, I haven’t.” She then asked me if I would mind doing that for a client of hers, and I did so.

Of course, her client’s blood was very aggregated—it contained a great deal of bacteria from undigested food particles. When people are under stress they don’t digest their food very well, so that is a pretty natural thing to see. The woman was clearly upset because her husband had left her, she was in the middle of a divorce, and her home was under foreclosure. It was a traumatic time for her.

We applied some oils on her and she calmed down and stopped crying. After about 20 to 30 minutes, we took another blood specimen. That is when I realized that we were dealing with something that was very, very real. Her tests the second time were very different from the first results, much more normal.

That’s one of the many reasons I am so proud of the things we do at Young Living, our products, and the care we take with them. I have heard countless testimonials about the wonderful effects our oils have on people’s lives. Real effects, life-changing effects. I have seen miracles, and I have experienced miracles. I know how important these oils are and how much good they do. The oils can make a tremendous difference, but they have to be used…. and shared.

None of us has to settle for second best in this life–unless we choose to settle. No matter how big obstacles seem, they can be handled or improved. The oils can help you move beyond the things that are blocking you–both physically and emotionally.

If you have a battle going on inside you, stop fighting it. Focus your energy on positives instead of negatives. Place your trust in a better future and in the ability you have to change whatever needs to be changed so you can move into that future. Use the oils; they will help you. And share them with others who also need them. Be a positive force that lifts other up rather than dragging yourself down. Start loving yourself, and things will get better.”

D.Gary Young

As this video shows, essential oils have a long history.  To understand how essential oils work and what they can do, I cannot recommend enough this transcript of a lecture given by Gary Young in 1998 – The Missing Link.