Using Your Cents and Sense with Scents

I came across another helpful site, Steve Pavlina. Check out his blog where he thoroughly documents results of his 30 day experiment with 811rv. I found it quite helpful because I have been having some serious cravings the past several days for salty junk food type stuff. I haven't given in to them, but they can be quite maddening from time to time. I have been practicing meditating through them rather than trying to avoid the uncomfortable feelings.

"True comfort also includes learning to be comfortable with discomfort."

So I seem to get more comfortable once I have meditated for a little while but the initial knee jerk reaction to the craving is grasping to quench the discomfort. What I've heard from most people is cravings subside after about 1 or 2 weeks. This is almost 2 weeks and they are still pretty strong. My experience when coming off refined sugar and white flour was that I struggled A LOT with cravings for the first month and after about 3 months I really had no cravings.

I loved the explanation in the movie, "What the Bleep, " about addiction and what happens with the chemical cascades in the brain and how the brain is literally rewiring it's neural pathways when we make changes in our habits. It takes time for those new pathways to be built. It helps to think that with every choice I make I can either choose to reinforce the old pathway that has outlived it's usefulness or to support the building of the new more highly effective habit.

So it occurred to me at some point that I needed to get out and do something fun. I found out about an all day introductory class and "play day" on essential oils and aromatherapy. It sounded exactly what I needed to do so I packed a lunch and headed to Spirit House.

It was a great experience. I learned that I previously had no idea what aromatherapy was. I had this general idea that aromatherapy was about warm fuzzy feelings you got from smelling different fragrances. WOW, how clueless I was! The teacher Cindy Loving from Loving Scents is very knowledgeable. I feel that she opened a whole new world to me and I am eager to learn more.

I found out that essential oils are great antibiotics (that kill the bad bacteria but leave our good beneficial bacteria alone), anti-fungals, and antivirals. There are oils that are good to assist the body with pretty much anything and with mild or no side effects. Again, turning to Mother Nature is the best bet. she takes good care of us if we let her!

In the class we made our own disinfectant/perfume spray. It's really an art learning to combine scents and it's great fun to experiment with different combinations to come up with a personalized fragrance. Mine was a combination of clove bud, citrus, and peppermint. It took a little trial and error to get something that I liked. At first it had quite a strong citrus scent with a slight hint of sweaty gym sock. With the addition of a little more clove I got something that is quite nice. And she says that after 3 days the smell changes anyway so I hope it doesn't end up smelling like gym socks again...lol.

I love the idea of making my own soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc. just because it's fun and also because I know what's in it. Part of the class Cindy shared with us some info about the cosmetics industry and the chemicals they use to make their products. The stuff most companies sell these days in America is laden with chemical crap I'd rather not use; cancer in a bottle with pretty packaging. One example is the synthetic or artificial fragrances that are used in many, many products most Americans use on a daily basis, not only personal hygiene and household cleaning items but things like children's plastic and rubber toys (because those materials naturally stink and need fragrance to cover up the natural bad smell.) Even things like non-scented laundry detergent has artificial fragrance in order to make it not smell! The US Environmental Protection Agency classifies synthetic fragrances in the same category as pesticides and heavy metal solvents for potential adverse health effects. Consider this:

The $35 billion cosmetics industry in America is so powerful that they've kept themselves unregulated for decades. Not one cosmetic product has to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration before hitting the market. The European Union has banned more than 1,100 chemicals from cosmetics. The United States has banned just 10. Only 11% of chemicals used in cosmetics in the US have been assessed for health and safety – leaving a staggering 89% with unknown or undisclosed effects. It's not just women who are affected by this chemists' brew. Shampoo, deodorant, face lotion and other products used daily by men, women and children contain hazardous chemicals that the industry claims are "within acceptable limits." But there's nothing acceptable about daily multiple exposures to carcinogenic chemicals — from products that are supposed to make us feel healthy and beautiful.
"Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry," Stacy Malkan

I'd like to get to the point where I make all my own personal hygiene products and household cleaning supplies. I am making gradual changes and learning new ways all the time to do this. Or if I stick to the 811rv long term I may not need personal hygiene concoctions at all! I have heard some long term raw foodists claim they don't require the use of soap, shampoo or deodorant any more. I have heard believable claims that it is not natural for us to stink and that it is the altered and adulterated food we eat and toxic chemicals we use that gives us body odor to begin with. So for whatever that's worth. It would be interesting to find out first hand if that is true. :)