essential oil rant

Last night I attended an pure essential oil (peo) party. Think tupperware but sooo much better. No really. For a company called doTerra. They're a very young company, but very respectable and honestly their single peos and their blends are some of the best I've ever used. The executives at the company branched off from Young Living because, as peo legend goes, Young Living has lost it's way. That's probably an entire blog post in itself. Short version, Young Living has been around for a very long time, as a company they were the first to really raise the bar for peos.

doTerra really prides themselves on two things, the fact that they still wild or local source all of the plants they make their essential oils out of from the original places in the world that they are grown, and they source them from independent small farmers or harvesters. Young Living is rumored to be moving away from this. There is a major difference in quality and effectiveness when you start to make peos from things that are mass produced and not grown in their native environment. The other major difference about doTerra is that they are the only peo company that has a Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade label. These essential oils are 100% pure natural aromatic compounds carefully extracted from plants. Many essential oils can state that they are %100 but by law only have to contain %10 peos. That means the rest can be synthetic or made up of dangerous or useless additives. They are 100% pure and natural and free of synthetic compounds or contaminates. They are subjected to rigorous mass spectrometry and gas chromatography testing to ensure extract composition and activity. They subject their oils to third party testing, and although Young Living does too, doTerra is the only brand that the FDA allows to print nutritional labeling on their bottles because they are that safe.

Now I'm also not saying that doTerra is the be all and end all of essential oils. There are many small companies out there offering safe peo options but do not have the financial backing and multilevel marketing that doTerra and Young Living have. I am very aware of that fact. BUT if I'm going to be putting this stuff, on or in my body, I'd like to know that it went through some rigorous testing.
And I know that doTerra knows their shit, and their shit is trustworthy.

I'm going to slowly build my collection. I ordered my own copy of Modern Essentials: A Contemporary Guide to the Therapeutic Use of Essential Oils, which is basically a hard core text book on essential oils. Also it cites all reputable clinical studies that prove why and how essential oils work. JR, the peo guru at the studio lent me her copy last year, it's freaking awesome. I really want to help others too, friends & family, only if they are open to it though. I just feel like there are so many small things one can do for ones self to make life better and peo can be a very powerful tool!!!

I'm surrounded by different healing systems and I'm very interested in all of them. Everyone keeps asking me, 'well when Drew is done with school - what are you going to do? You can't stay at the studio forever, that's not a real career'. WELL goshdarnit, I'm still figuring it out, I know that's the lamest excuse ever for a 26 year old, but I just feel like I'm getting very very close to putting my finger on it. Things are becoming clearer and clearer, just as other parts of my life are starting to dim.

I do know that for the meantime I'm trying to get this healthy thing to go beyond just supplements and peos but to the damn gym. I'm going to focus a lot of my energy on California. On moving houses. On saving monies. I just feel like these peos can really support me in doing these things on so many levels, beyond just the healing aspects, but to the mental strength. If they really really help, then I'll know I've found something to believe in, something to carry with me forever - just like the ayurvedic principles I've learned.