Esther (of the Bible story- who saved the Jews from certain slaughter) cleansed with essential oils for  a FULL YEAR prior to her marriage to the King of Persia.

Lent is traditionally a time of fasting or cleansing in readiness for Easter – an assencion -  a renewal of life and closeness to God.

Ancient far Eastern tradition has it that Anger is stored in the Liver and Grief in the lungs.  Modern science has shown that metabolic and environmental wastes can lodge themselves in various bodily tissues- question is why do they lodge in different places for different people? 

There is a theory that we develop health issues that are intended to wake us up to the negative emotions (and thier associated toxins) we are harboring.  Debbie Ford’s “Dark Side of the Light Chasers” indicates that while we refuse to acknowledge and heal those negative areas, we will continue to experience the ailment and we will continue to experience people and situations that will push our buttons.  Colin Tipping’s “Radical Forgivness” provides iseas and methods to release the negativity.

There are many book sources for answers and solutions to these toxin issues… A good new one is “The Ultimate Balance-Infusing Essential Oils to Energize Chakras, Meridians, Organs and Emotions”  by Dr. Leanna Deardeorf DC.  This will help you work on specific organs with oil, tapping and several other modalities to eliminate the negativity that may be holding you back in health, life and love.  Available from Essential Science Publishing. 

The following is an article by my friend, Marilee Tolen R.N., aka The Home Spa Lady.

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Home Spa: Ready for Romance – By Marilee Tolen, Home Spa Lady
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Readying for romance can be healthy and fun…

and it doesn’t have to cost big bucks and long hours at a day or destination spa.

Here are some quick tips and techniques you can do at home to get ready for Valentines Day. (Note- We have past this date but the process is a great pre-nuptual practice- or for anyone who has kept negativity inside.)

To start with, the two big secrets to being prepared are:
 –Feeling good from the inside out
 –Charging your energy field

When you come from that awareness and follow these tips you will create an irresistible ‘glow’!

First start with your thinking process.

Some key words to hold in your mind:
. . . softness, centered, receptive, grounded, cleansed, moisture, compassion, gratitude,
      love, heart.

      These words will vibrate in your energy field and “set the stage” for you to create those ‘states of  being’

Internal cleansing can help your skin and aura glow.

 A few ways you can internally cleanse:
 –Foods – veggies, fruits, juices
 –Fasting – juices only or the Master Cleanse prep
 –Essential oils / herbal preps
 –Colonics

Taking a steam shower will purify, cleanse, and hydrate

–Run a hot shower and sprinkle your favorite essential oil into the running water and steam (precautions: don’t burn yourself with the hot water – and don’t slip  if there is a fatty base oil in your essential oil!)

Do a body scrub

Scrubbing with sugar is a great way to get sweetness without taking sugar internally (which is a big no-no)

 Sugar topically is great for the skin because the sugar cane produces glycolic acid which is a great exfoliant.   (see recipe in essential oil tip below).

Adequate hydration make skin and tissues soft and plump 

Do you notice on some days you have more wrinkles  compared to other days?

 This can have alot to do with how much water you drink.

 Drink more water than you normally do.

 You may think you drink enough water but chances are  you are not. Even if you think you drink enough try  increasing your water intake by 50% and notice your skin
 changes (and your clarity of mind!)

 The standard rule is eight eight-ounce glasses a day. Another popular water intake rule is your weight in  ounces plus 20 ounces more. 

Of course if you have a medical condition that warrants water restriction you wouldn’t do this. (that topic is for another article!).

Supplements. . . Essential Fatty Acids / Vitamins A & D, Cod  Liver Oil

Fish oils and flax are great for your skin (along with their many other benefits).  Taking adequate amounts of  these oils can help make your skin more supple, soft, and shiny.

Essential Oils

 For skin:

 There are wonderful essential oils and essential oil products for skin.  My favorite essential oil product  line, Young Living, has a great wrinkle cream made with Boswellia (that is Frankincense!) called Boswellia  Wrinkle Cream.

 For your energy field:

 The frequency or vibration of YL essential oils are  unmatched.  This is the special part of the oil that  has the life force.  The life force of these oils can enhance your life force – which charges your energy  field.

 For scent:
 Therapeutic grade essential oils are not perfume grade oils.  There is a world of difference between the two.   There are no fixatives and fillers and chemicals in therapeutic grade oils, so consequently the scent won’t linger for hours like a perfume or perfume grade oil.
 But I would still recommend using a therapeutic oil because the transforming qualities will last ongoing - even way beyond the time where the oil evaporates and the scent dissipates. (Essential oils are volatile – they evaporate).

Back to the mindset – one more time:

Be open to receiving. Soft receptivity. Realize that this may require a lot of effort if you tend to be a  controlling person

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2. Essential Oil Tip: Body Scrub with Sugar
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This is effective for your whole body.
If your facial skin is sensitive don’t scrub as hard as you would your feet, or maybe skip your face.

Use a plastic container to mix – glass may break in the bathroom.
For storage, use glass.

Combine:

–1/2 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
–1 cup of sugar
–Few drops of your essential oil

Do this in the bathroom.
Use small amounts at a time and massage gently on the skin.
You can leave it on for a minute or two for a tightening effect.
Rinse.

Here is a video that shows the same recipe but for a hand scrub.  This is good for skin all over your body!
http://snipurl.com/org_hand_scrub_video
(video: 1 min 23 sec)

 For more info or to order any of these Young Living products see your Young Living Distributor or go to www.YoungLiving.org/tjohnson

Turn On to Sea Vegetables

brown kelp

What’s neither plant nor animal, but still one of the healthiest foods in the world?  Give up?…  It’s kelp — the marine “vegetable” with over 70 essential nutrients plus fiber, protein, and lignans — a phytochemical being studied for it’s anti-cancer properties.

Kelp is seaweed, algae really, that’s found in both salt and fresh water.  It’s rich in all of the vital minerals like magnesium, potassium calcium, and iron found in sea water — and needed by the human body.  Kelp is also nature’s best source of iodine, the essential chemical your thyroid must have for healthy functioning.

One of kelp’s functions in the sea is to act as a purification system. It balances the water’s pH and removes harmful gases and chemicals while releasing valuable nutrients.  Kelp acts in much the same way in the human body.  It helps to purify and alkalize the blood, balance the digestive system, and scavenge for harmful toxins and free radicals.

In herbal medicine, kelp is used as a nutritional supplement for weight loss, lowering high blood pressure, balancing thyroid hormones, and relieving the symptoms of arthritis. While kelp powder and capsules are nutritionally packed and convenient, think about using fresh or dried kelp for a twist on your favorite recipes.  It makes a healthy and delicious addition to soups, salads, stews, and mixed vegetable dishes.

The Japanese are one of the biggest consumers of kelp in the world.  Japanese kelp, known as wakame, has been a dietary staple for generations in dishes like seaweed salad and miso soup.

In the West, wakame is becoming increasingly popular with enthusiasts of raw food and macrobiotic diets.  Newer research shows that it may be beneficial in weight loss, regulating blood glucose, and lowering blood pressure and blood lipids.¹

Always be sure that the kelp you purchase is labeled certified organic.  This will ensure that it was harvested in pristine waters, safe from pollutants and contaminants.

Reference  zhion.com/herb/Brown_Seaweed

[Ed. Note: Melanie Segala is the author of numerous articles on the topics of health and alternative medicine.  She is the editor of Disease Prevention and Treatment, 4th edition, the Life Extension Foundation and the Managing Editor of Total Health Breakthroughs.]

Sea vegetables are available in products from LifeForce International 

 http://www.mylifeforce.net/raindroptexas/   Look at Body Balance for a daily boost of minerals and try True Boost for a non-caffiene energy boost plus nutrients.

I will leave those detailed disputes to micro-biologists because it seems a no-brainer to me that toxic build up in our body’s systems can be at least as devastating to our health as crud in the fuel, oil or air filters is to our cars.

So what are our choices?   There are many.  Dedication and education is needed to more fully understand.

We Change our Air Filters and our Oil Filters!

There are different cleanses needed for different of our organ systems…  Just like we have a fuel filter, an oil filter and air filter on our cars.  Make sense?

Most of us have a lot of undigested food in our intestinal tract.  Reports indicate that even the prep tests prior to a colonoscopy can be inadequate to clear the mucus from the walls to allow a clear picture of the whole tract.

So, my vote is to start with the gut.  A good intestinal cleanse will clear the colon so that when you begin a cleanse of otehr areas, the liver, gall bladder, etc, the toxins released by those areas can be easily eliminated.  This one is often also the most powerful for increasing energy and flexibility for people.   (For this I like the Cleansing Trio or the 5 Day Nutritive Cleanse from Young Living . )

I also like the Raindrop Technique…. because therapeutic quality essential oils are also natural solvents, they can loosen stuck molecules from our receptor sites so that they can be released and float away on the water going through our system.   (When you find a Raindrop Practitioner, be sure that they are using Young Living essential oils, these are the only American produced oils that are both pure AND tested for therapeutic quality.)  Raindrop can also enhance other cleansing modalities like colon hydro-therapy or ion footbaths.

Lack of water is one of the reasons we get a build up of toxins in the first place.   Think about it,  you would not canoe in a dried up creek – would you?   We need water to deliver nutrients into cells, to fill the cell itself and to take waste products out of the cell.  Normal intake of water (NOT Coffee, soda or juice- these increase our need for water to process them) is 2 oz for each 1 pound of body weight.  If you are sick, detoxing, exercising, working icrease that amount.  AND here in Texas adn the Southwest we should drink nearly twice the reccommended amount simply because of the temperatures.

• We add to our toxin load with the foods we eat… antibiotics in our feed animals, chemicals on the plants, then there are presevatives and artificial flavors and MSG. 
• Stress creates an acid environment in our bodies- an added toxicity level and great home for germs.
• Waste products are manufactured in each cell as it conducts metabolic processes to make energy from the food molecules.  This stuff has to get out somehow. 

Even with an absolutely organic diet, even in clean mountain air, our bodies still produce toxins- by-products of living- that must be eliminated.  We have limited ways to do this… urine, feces, breath, sweat…. all require water and all can use some additional help.  Therapeutic Quality essential oils can assist us – after- all that is what they do within the plant and they will perform the same function within our bodies.

Each of us has a different background, genetic make up and habits,  so each has a different toxin combination and each will need a slightly different set of cleanses to be free of them.  Again, my vote for starters is a good intestinal cleanse, and building a healthy digestive system with enzymes and probiotics. 

Many Experts agree that Toxins are the cause of most of our degenerative diseases.

Here in Texas, the general rule among “alternative” or “Complimentary” health practitioners is that we are not supposed to use the term “Detoxification” or to imply that toxins may be released or removed through various protocols. This makes it very difficult to communicate the benefits of our techniques to others who have not studied the same things that we have studied.

With respect to therapeutic quality essential oils and products infused with them, please remember: 

Essential oils from plants are the life-blood of the plant, they are also natural solvents.   They act as anti-oxidants, and they help to carry nutrients into the cells and to remove waste products.  Nutritional supplements containing essential oils help the body to actually deliver the nutrients inside the cells.

With the aid of water -which basically acts as a life river in your body- things like the metabolic waste products from our cellular energy processing or petrochemicals that we breathe, ingest, or touch, can be loosened and removed. 

We have 4 removal avenues:

• Sweat/Skin  
• Breath/Lungs
• Urine/Kidney
• Feces/Intestinal

These are the only ways OUT of our bodies!  Key to clearing debris is the adequate consumption of water!  Even drugs require water to do thier work otherwize they would just sit in the stomach and never get to the rest of the body- or get stuck in the throat!

I love the Cleansing products from Young Living because they are infused with the oils.  Check out the Cleansing Trio, 5 Day Nutritive Cleanse program and ReJuvinate Kit. 

My favorite is the Cleansing Trio… all 3 have essential oils to enhanse the impact the trio includes:

• Essentialzyme- powerful digestive enzymes
• ComfortTone- to stimulate peristalisis and clean the intestinal tract
• ICP- Mixture of fibers to “scrub” the intestine and colon

Other cleansing modalities may be enhanced by the use of essential oils because of thier solvent capability.  For these purposes it is CRITICAL to use only the highest grade of therapeutic essential oils possible.  It is your reponsibility to ask the producer what the quality control methods are and what tesing protocols are used. Many massage supply and grocery stores sell inferior oils because they cost less.  When people use them for simple smell good in the house or laundry purposes, low quality might be ok.  BUT—If you are using the oils with a health enhancing intent- you must be sure that you are purchasing oils that are prepared with quality in mind. 

Over 98% of the essential oils produced on planet earth are used for perfume or food flavoring.  These industries do not care about the full compliment of molecule types, they are only looking for a few specific molecules.  Please see Distillation and Purity

In sum-  experts are coming to agreement that wastes that remain in our bodies are harming our health.  There are many ways to remove the variety of wastes that we encounter.   More than one method may be needed to cleanse the body. Water is critical for all methods. Therapeutic quality essential oils may enhance these methods because of their solvent abilities. 

 For additional information on the chemistry of essential oils, see the book- The Chemistry of Essential Oils made Simple- God’s Love Manifest in Molecules, by Dr. David Stewart.  Or check the Training  for a class near you”

More on Enzymes see books by Karen DeFeliece….Enzymes-Go With Your Gut Karen used enzymes to help reduce her son’s ADHD behaviors.