Me + doTERRA - Why this is important to me.

Most of you will know that I have been using doTERRA essential oils for the last 8 months or so and have been posting about my oily love on social media and the like. I also recently ran my first essential oils workshop in Airlie Beach!

Thank you to all those who came and supporting us.

I am really LOVING learning, using and sharing these beautiful gifts from the Earth. I mean like "really".  To the point of can't get enough ie. staying up late reading about them, learning more about the company, reading more about the business side of it, buying more and more oils and products, giving family and friends oils and oil blends, making products, drinking them in mineral water, cooking with them etc. 

* Cool story (well I think it's cool) that I wished I had taken pictures off. When I went home for Christmas my step-dad who has very easily irritated skin and a slightly compromised immune system making him very prone to rashes and infections had a nasty itchy, red, inflamed rashed on his leg and chest that he had been applying hydrocortisone to for a few days to control the itch. I made him up a tea tree + lavender + Frank in coconut oil mixture and got him to apply it regularly and we watched it somewhat magically disappear over a few days. It is results like this that allow people to see the power of these incredible compounds. Needless to say Mum now has the Home Essentials Kit. 

But in all honesty, I have been holding myself back from sharing all this with you, out of fear of being seen as just "another" doTERRA/Young Living/essential oil/pyramid marketer/annoying salesperson.

Hence, why I think it is best that one, I am honest to myself about my intentions, with what I am doing and, two, I am honest with all of you so you know my intentions. 

This year I am going to pursue this passion and see where it takes me. Whilst for some of you that may be annoying (just another person posting about oils) I still very much intend to keep a holistic perspective on health and share other content aligned with my philosophy on health that I know will be useful. I have created a separate email list of people who are in my tribe of oil lovers and a separate FB group so that I am not too annoying if you "just aren't that into it". 

For others, my hope is that this will be exciting and spark your curiosity into the oils, as it did me as I learned more and more about there properties. 

What are these amazing properties I speak of? Well, I am glad you asked!

• Essential oils are natural, aromatic, compounds and volatile liquids (easily evaporated at normal temperature) extracted from the seeds, roots, bark, stems, leaves, flowers, resins and other parts of plants.

• They’re what give herbs, flowers, and fruits their distinctive scents.

• For several thousand years, people all over the world have been extracting these oils using methods such as steam distillation, cold pressing, resin tapping, or absolute extraction.

• Essential oils aren’t there by accident, or just because a flower decided to smell nice. The chemical components help the plants function and fight pathogens, disease, and stress.

• For instance, these components can:

  • act as chemical messengers and hormones;

  • protect the plant from bacteria, fungi, and viruses; and

  • protect the plant from environmental stressors such as heat.

  • These active compounds are such small molecules that humans can easily absorb them through the skin, nasal passages, lungs, and digestive system.

• The chemical makeup of essential oils is very complex and may consist of hundreds of distinct chemical compounds.

• For example, peppermint has more than 40 known constituents. (And probably a bunch of unknown ones). It’s been shown to: soothe the digestive system, relax tight muscles, be mentally and physically stimulating, and helps lower blood lactate levels during exercise.

• Essential oils have been used extensively throughout recorded history for medicinal and ritual purposes, psychological, social reasons, food preparation, beautification and even as currency.

So they sound pretty great, right? But one of my primary concerns for me was...

If we are extracting all these wonderful oils and selling them in a multi-level marketing way, won't we run out? Is this sustainable? 

This is just a little FYI before I get to the above concern. Guess what industry that uses essential oils consumes the highest volume of essential oils in the world? 

a). perfume industry

b). food and beverage

c). network marketing

d). the cleaning industry 

The answer is b). food and beverage industry. (Had I not known the answer I would have said c). Network marketing which is actually the lowest consuming. 

One of the many amazing things about doTERRA as a business is their model of co-impact sourcing. With over 100 different oils on offer doTERRA source their oils from over 40 different countries, of which over half are from developing countries. 

"Co-Impact Sourcing is an initiative that seeks to develop long-term, mutually beneficial supplier partnerships while creating sustainable jobs and providing reliable income in underdeveloped areas. doTERRA is committed to the ethical treatment of its suppliers by providing on-time payments at fair prices. Growers and harvesters are encouraged to form cooperative groups to share collective benefits and bargaining power while improving skills and capacity. " From https://www.doterra.com/US/en/difference-co-impact-sourcing

This type of on the ground partnership means that care is taken at every step of the way to ensure we the consumers receive the highest quality oils as well as ensuring that the growing, harvesting, workers and community is taken care of to ensure the process can continue to thrive and benefit both parties.

You can read more about this here. 

Why doTERRA?

There seems to be a bit of heated debate about which company is the better company. Quite honestly I really haven't dived deep into this. I just happened to go with doTERRA but I have numerous friends/colleagues who use Young Living products and are equally passionate about the product and company. So this is less important to me. I happened to align myself with doTERRA and to date, I am so happy that I did. Their business model is extremely generous, their products are of the highest quality, their support is second to none, the women who are a part of the community are passionate and inspiring, they seem to have peoples best interest at heart, so it feels right and good for me! 

You can read more about their Healing Hands Foundation work here, I highly suggest you check out this video. 

How and why I essential oils to support my health and others?

Probably the biggest realisation I have had on this whole wellness journey with myself and through working with clients is that as women, the emotions that we encounter on a day to day basis within ourselves is a biggest determinate of our health status even more than the food we eat or the amount of exercise we do.

Emotions result from the stories and perceptions that we (our brains) create. When we carry with us on a daily basis negative stories and perceptions this causes physiological changes in our bodies which present as hormone imbalance, gut issues, fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, infertility and more. 

I see essential oils as one of the easiest, cheapest, most effective tools to support women and negate the harmful effects of this. Stay with me.

When you emit these volatile compounds to the air through diffusing or simply opening the bottle, thousands of different chemicals interact with millions of nerve cell receptors in our nose. Once bound to the olfactory nerves, these odor molecules travel, become intensified, and eventually send an impulse to the limbic system in the brain. The limbic system is a complex set of structures in the brain that regulate endocrine (hormone) and nervous systems and is responsible for controlling memory, emotions, learning, instinct, motivation, influence sleep, libido, appetite, blood pressure, heart rate, stress levels, and hormone balance.

In response to these different chemical odors, the limbic system initiates physiological changes in the body by releasing hormones, chemicals, and neurotransmitters that influence so many aspects of health including relaxation and a sense of wellbeing that eventually modifies one's emotions and behaviors and generates memories that cause profound physiological responses.    

To me, this is absolutely incredible. And without oil users, in particular women, intentionally knowing that this is going on, it is, for this reason, I believe there is a crusade of happier, joyous, hormonally improved women obsessed with essential oils. 

Beyond this, here are some other main reasons why I use them:

• To replace many of the synthetic chemical laden personal care, cleaning products from my home that can disrupt hormones and contribute to toxins in our bodies

• As natural first aid treatments for minor ailments eg. on guard to ward of viruses, lavender and tea tree for bites, cuts and grazes, peppermint for fever, lavender + frank for sunburn, digestzen for stomach upset and so much more.

• To add incredible flavour to cooking. Peppermint + chocolate or wild orange + chocolate is EPIC.

• To enhance support for certain areas in the body as a part of a greater wellness protocol eg. Clary sage has been shown to reduce cortisol levels by 36% and improve thyroid markers (https://draxe.com/clary-sage/). Wild orange reduced depressive symptoms better than Prozac according to a clinical trial in 150 adults with major depressive disorder (Evidence-Based Essential Oil Therapy 2015).

• They are practically absent from side effects

• They save you money over time due to their potency and wide range of applications

• They SMELL amazing and make me FEEL like a goddess.

In Summary... 

I am a doTERRA Wellness advocate. I am a part of a Team of amazing women who have found love in the product and who also want to share these gift with others. I also have my own team who are a part of this larger team. I would be doing myself and my team a disservice if I am to remain small out of fear of being judged for being a part of something that I actually really LOVE and have found to be essential to my health and wellbeing and can see how beneficial it can be to other women's health and well-being.  

Are you currently using essential oils? If so what do YOU love most about them? How have they helped you? Hit reply or comment below, I would really love to know. 

If you are interested in taking charge of your health in 2018 and want to address it by understanding the root of your problems and address it holistically using simple nutrition and lifestyle strategies (and essential oils), then I am currently taking a small number of new clients.

To learn more about how I work please head to https://www.chantelgough.com/work-with-me/. Or if you are intrigued to learn more about doTERRA essential oils, then please reach out. 

Remember that heath is never a final destination, it requires a commitment to self to do the little things, that add up to big things and allow you to show up as the best version of yourself to this world and those around you. 

Love, 

Chantel