Tangible Choices over Taglines

It's Not Woo-woo It Works Series

Photo by Dave Reed on Unsplash

I was talking with a remote client today who is on a bit of a journey right now, and we were mapping out a plan for next steps.

I explained: “I want you to take time at least 4 days a week, to choose anti-inflammatory activities or choices.” We kept chatting and then on a hunch, I asked her to tell me what she heard as next steps.

“To focus on self love.”

Now, yes, we always want to do the best we can to love ourselves and make that a viable feeling. Yet, there are times and journeys in our lives where the best we can do is simply not let that which looks to defeat us, steal our joy.

When we are happy, joy is easy to explain.

When we are troubled, the idea of joy can be infuriating.

If you are walking through a crisis and someone tells you to love yourself, you can feel defeated or an impetus to throttle them, but rarely do you bop your forehead and say, “Oh my gosh, thank you why didn’t I think of that?”

Back to my client, I said, lovingly, “No. That sounds lovely, but no. I am asking you to be radical in the face of chaos and for one moment each day that your child is in school, look to do something real small and practical to drop the inflammation, the rage, and bring your body to a baseline, through a walk outside, through our counseling work, through accupuncture, through choosing to buy the Trader Joe’s flowers…” and on I went. “You are making a very small path, in a very dark wood so you can access it later on in the journey when you need it.”

I am not looking to incite a fight against anyone or anything. let alone my own disbelief, or meme’ing myself into silence. I am advocating to silence the doubt and hopelessness that current times are feeding, unleashing things that are best left in their cages. Championing women, to choose to be happy even when so much is wrong because knocking yourself over is not helping anyone up.

May you choose that for yourself, first and let that choice overflow to others. That step, that starts a thousand miles-journey, is made with one heel to toe on the grass of the dark wood.

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Ahhhhhhhhwhile, ago. Like a year, or two. I thought about doing a series on It’s Not Woo-Woo It Works because I find a lot of people are curious about alternatives, but they don’t know who to ask or how to figure out what works for them.

I thought today was a great day to start, and an easy place to start is essential oils & plants. I am actually sitting in my garden, which is small but mighty, along my precious returning strawberries and lemon balm, and scads of dandlion greens that I grow IN my raised beds, so we can eat them and make tea out of them in the beginning of spring, before I pull them out and place my lettuce there. I do leave some of the dandelions; they end up being a bit of shade for the lettuce and I may be imagining it but they tend to dissuade some pesky unwanted guests. I’m a whimsy gardener and pray that I don’t kill any plant brave enough to come into my world. It’s worked for the last few years, over the seasons of big, big plans and plants.

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You can read about those years in this post:

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Back to essential oils, which are a distillation of plants. The process happens differently based on different plants; a lot goes a long way. In an herbalism class two decades ago with Maia Toll, she made a point of putting a drop of rose oil on our hand and telling us it took about 40 roses to make that one drop, so use it sparingly with respect to the generosity of the plant. I appreciated that. I appreciate when people remind us where and how things come to be so that we may carry that reverence. It potentates the medicine.

We are living in a time where the ease of replicas are trying to replace the almighty originals. It won’t work, for those with discernment. There are no rules on fairness in this world, people can dupe you as much as they life. But there are spiritual laws of reciprocity and compensations, two ways to say what you seek is seeking you (good or otherwise) and what you put out comes back. It’s with this in mind that I’d like to teach on essential oils and why you want to consider getting the artificial fragrance onslaught outta your house.

Why not bring the divine intelligence of living beings in for assistance over the artificial promise of a “fresh scent.” No one describes roses or marigolds as a “fresh scent.” You know what smell I fell in love with last year in my garden? Heritage tomatoes. I loved, loved gathering them because there was an indescribable fragrance of bloom and Earth, of dirty and juice. I was so surprised. I had never paid attention before; I hadn’t planted tomatoes, to be honest, because so often they tasted like crunchy water, but when we made room in the garden for them, we ate them with salt and pepper alongside our freshly grown lettuce.

Now, I don’t have the capacity for a lemon tree, 40 rose bushes, or 40 basil plants, but I do use a diffuser and pop in 3 drops of Holy Basil, and 2 drops of Rosemary to clear my room for a good night’s sleep.

I do only, only use non-toxic, no artificial scented products in the home, soup to nuts, which means laundry detergent, dishsoap, bathroom products and on. One such product that I love is Molly’s Suds. I make some of my own cleaning supplies, and I also love and use Thieves.

I’m giving you a link🔗 here to make an easy clean switch on cleaning products if you are interested. I am an affiliate. But I am not Target or Amazon, so basically it’s another way to help keep Tending the Flame here.

Why am I talking about this?

Because we are all living in an inflamed state. We are living through rebirthing times of human consciousness and upheaval. Now, this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It might be a hard thing. But you know what they say, choose your hard. No matter what line you sit on, or if you sit where you believe there is no line, life is not what it was five years ago — for anyone — and human physiology has not adapted that fast. Translation: We aren’t built to live in this much stress.

So instead of swooning you with self-care taglines, I am offering you tangible solutions to take to decrease inflammation in your life, in your body & in your home. Welcome It’s Not Woo-Woo It Works

Inflammation is the first, well, actually I was taught that disrupted digestion is the first misalignment of the body; then I suppose is inflammation. Inflammation happens with overstimulation (too much scrolling, not enough silence), sugar (immediately inflammatory, it should be a fun treat not a lifestyle) and onslaught of undigestible things — news, artificial fragrances, foods, and fabrics take over our body terrain.

So what is one thing we can do and why?

Welcome in essential oils.

Why, the olfactory goes to the deepest recesses of our brain, so if we can go right into that sense of safety, calm down that amygdala (the emotional center of the brain that stores those past traumas and triggers) we can come back to where all potential exists, here and now in your body and be. [🔗 to Hopkins Medicine Aricle about essential oils

Inflammation knocks that presence off balance.

Where to begin?

With basics that can soothe or uplift easily: Lavender, Rosemary, Orange, Lemon & I’d like to add a Holy Basil. I toggle between two companies for these for different reasons and different oils. For first steps, for household cleaning, for home diffuser use — go look around Young Living. Why? Because it’s easy; it’s a large company; they distill their oils really well.

📍If you are looking wild-crafted with more esoteric properties, send me a DM via Substack and I can answer your questions. Or you can ask below in the comments!🌿

Clean it Up

I think the tipping point of just how toxic the cleaning aisle is at Target is going to be spilling out because there are just too, too many artificial inconveniences that the human body can’t keep up. SO, if you want to set your own curve & do it easily I think your very first step is either a diffuser with lavender (calm) or rosemary (soothing but also help respiratory) is fabulous. If you are ready to be economical in creating a home sanctuary, you grab the thieves bundle and notice within 10 days how much fresher your lungs feel in a home that is not saturated in artificial smells.

Curious about more? Don’t take my word for it —look at what the Lung association says here.

Also, this is not new to me. For those of you who are new, and maybe not new to this, I did a yoga teacher training in 2004 that opened my eyes to another world (by the way, I continued on leaning many modalities, like in 2009 I completed an essential training with Wisdom of the Earth, I digress.) I had an Ayurvedic Astrology reading by a master of a her craft, first female teacher at the Ayurvedic Institute if my memory is correct: Betheyla. She embodied Wisdom in a way few can achieve in one lifetime.

I have always been slight of build. I remember when she looked at my chart and my hand. She said, “The women in your family tend to gain weight after childbirth.”

I was astonished. I mean I wouldn’t have said that about them —it’s just what happens right?

“Yes, I suppose you could say that.”

“And you have a lot of sweets in your family - gatherings and treats?”

“Yes,” my brow crinkled, wondering how she could know that. My family, although members of so many different builds, would have copious dessert choices, I mean three to seven choices per celebration — cake, ice cream, cookies, mints, chocolates, and a back-up pie.

“And right now you can eat what you want. You keep it up, though, and after 40 it won’t be cute on your body or more importantly your health.”

I will never forget how she looked at me. About a year earlier, when the doctor had tried to tell me I had early asthma and I needed an inhaler I flashed on my mother, and told the doctor, No. They handed me a script for an inhaler that I never filled. Instead, I started running and doing yoga. I have never had the assesment of asthma again. Dodging that label & curiosity are what brought me to the yoga studio, to sitting in that chair, having Betheyla read my family diet through a line in my hand and lines of my chart — and opening my eyes.

I started cutting out sugar then, and changed to natural sugar ( today that looks like coconut sugar) and overhauled my diet. I believe that one warning was the domino that cleared out my eating, that strengthened my vessel, that opened my mind, which started me a on path that many didn’t understand but ignited a flame of discernment.

That is not to say I don’t get things wrong or consciously eat wrong, I could list all my mistakes, ones I should’ve known better than to make, and there are scores more to come. I know that about myself and life by now. However, what it does mean, is that I created a pathway to hear myself and my body. So even when I inevitably do wrong, somewhere a voice of knowing, a spark of wisdom has some kindling to reignite me back on my path — a pulse comes and says No, when everyone else is saying yes. I trust that pulse more than anything, and grateful I don’t feel a need to explain or defend it.

I believe this embodied wisdom, self to body, self to Creator, self to self, will be the differential for the upcoming era of human. Those who can hear through own wisdom and have a healthy relationship with their Creator, will have freedom others do not even know they are missing.

So it might seem like a small step to try an essential oil, or switch out your toxic cleaners, but one choice can ignite many.

This post is sent out as a thank you for a fellow flame-rekindler, a dear friend, mother and practitioner. She reminded me — we must share what we know, when we have the grace of being taught so well by others. May you ignite a light in others and continue tending to your own 🔥.

The better it gets, the better it gets!

Kate

Photo by BBC Creative on Unsplash

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. Matthew 5:15