Aromatherapy Newsletter

In this newsletter we will try to help you further your knowledge and use of essential oils.

Physical ailment and Emotional Concern

Sexual Performance and Libido

by Penny and Alan Keay

This article touches on a subject that we are often asked and recently were asked by a holistic physician doing research into the role aromatherapy could play in helping someone with libido (lack of sexual desire) and if essential oils could help with sexual performance.

Often times the cause of libido and/or sexual performance are affected due to psychological problems stemming from the rat race of everyday living.

As many of you know having experienced essential oils, realize they can help with many of the psychological stressors folks have every day.  Calming and relaxing enough to be able to even think of having sex is of utmost importance.  Getting enough rest is very important too, if you are not rested you won’t have the energy and will be too exhausted to enjoy it. 

Typically, in a consultation for such a sexual problem, we look at all the other aspects of the persons’ life.  

• Do they have an underlying health problem that might be affecting performance or desire?  Example and I’m sure many of you are aware of them – diabetes, heart disease, cancer, are you on medications that can affect performance and desire – not only men but women too.
• Or are they new parents – older parents with teenagers? 
• And are there job security and financial worries too?
• Do they set aside time to make love – not just have sex?  Yes, there is a big difference and those just seeking sex without the true love making will find the above problems are more prevalent. Start having problems with performing and next thing you know your sex drive decreases as you think you will continue to have problems, a vicious circle.

In peoples busy schedules – they get too tired and have kids to worry about and just can’t redirect their desires without interference.   

As far as any essential oil to help a man with impotence – to give him an erection, there is nothing. But again, any of the male enhancing drugs won’t work if they can’t get an erection in the first place.

BUT, what essential oils and aromatherapy can do, is to help the people – men or women – whoever is having the problem – to relax and hopefully refocus their brain, thoughts and energies.   They need to

• pay attention to the moments,
• to feel - the touch, the caress. Sensual massage can often times play a very major part to resolving sexual problems. 
• Using essential oils in the air (diffused) and in massage can help trigger past, present and future brain chemicals that will be very effective.

First there are many essential oils that may bring back memories of a time of wonderful sensual pleasure.   So we try to seek out smells that may have been around.  Floral smells, earthy smells.  It is often times the sweet floral smell that may help a man – Jasmine and Rose, Neroli , etc. – remember a woman wears sweet perfumes to attract a mate/male.  Also women often times like the smell of earthy or what I call manly smells on their man – Patchouli, Sandalwood, Cedarwood , etc. So depending on who is having the problem, might determine what essential oils can help or should be used.

As for relaxing and stress releasers – there are many. But we usually start with the obvious – Lavenderand then add more EO’s (essential oils) that are known to help relax, i.e. Roman Chamomile, Bergamot and others.    We have several synergy blends that can help to calm and relax.

In Aromatherapy, we can give general suggestions, but to really help someone, often times we have to allow the individual and their preferences in respect to the various and certain areas of their life, to make the choice. Only they know their desires to make their own choices by selecting different essential oils and this is a very personal decision.

We know you were hoping that we could give you a “one size fits all” answer, but since everyone is different and have different life circumstances it isn’t just one oil or blend that will work for everyone.    We do start with the obvious and then ‘tweak’ it as needed.  

You know that there are many factors involved when it comes to libido and sexual performance. And so we make suggestions for the obvious. If the patient is aware of other things in their life they can control then they have to work on them along with the use of essential oils.

Hopefully the essential oils will help to trigger a ‘great sex encounter’ memory and when they smell those scents again, the desire will be launched and the libido squelched!

You might be interested in reading any of these past newsletter articles – they should also provide more help not only to help with the sensual part but how to relieve stress that can be playing a major part of the performance and enjoyment of your relationship.

Article on Impotence - http://birchhillhappenings.com/v902006.htm
Love, Romance and Aphrodisiacs http://birchhillhappenings.com/love.htm
Romancing your Love http://birchhillhappenings.com/v982007.htm
Stress Part 1 http://birchhillhappenings.com/v732005.htm
Stress Part 2 http://birchhillhappenings.com/v742005.htm
Stress Part 3 http://birchhillhappenings.com/v752005.htm

So our suggestions for you are:

• Set time aside – make a date – have someone take care of the kids – including watching your teenagers (you don’t want to worry about what they might be up to).
• Take the phone off the hook, or shut the ringers down or off and shut off your cell phones, or anything else that could interrupt. SHUT off the Television!!!
• LOCK the doors – pretend you are not home. Start early in the evening.
• Set the mood - light a few candles, diffuse a few oils that you both like, play music very softly in the background or just let it be quiet – so you can listen to each other breathe, etc.
• Take a bath or shower or better yet give each other one.
• Take your time – enjoy giving each other a massage – slowly, feel your skin touch - each other – all over! Light touches.
• Oh and start your romantic encounter at the breakfast table – keep it going ALL day, little looks, teasing, phone calls, etc. This can start the mood for what is to come.

Will all these things help? It really is up to you. Clear your head of work, kids, etc, clear the stress and enjoy yourself and your loved one for a few hours. Let the world drift away and enjoy the moment, use essential oils to give you memories to trigger your next encounter. Enjoy each other afterwards and simply be together.

Beauty Tips aka Skin and Hair Care

Scenting your Hair

by Penny Keay

To go along with our Love making theme in this issue I decided to include several ways to scent your hair.

Many people never think about how easy it is and that perfumes or scented oils in the hair will often times last longer than using them on the skin.

Since we have several carrier oils that are good for your hair adding essential oils to them and adding a few drops to your hair brush, comb or even your finger tips can beautifully scent your hair.

With out a doubt Jojoba is known to be very nourishing and helpful to your hair. Although other fixed oils will work too, the fact that Jojoba is a liquid wax that most resembles your own sebum it works the best. Other fixed oils that work well include Sweet almond , Olive oil and Camellia oil.

Add your favorite essential oil or blend to Jojoba , mix well and apply a few drops to your hair. Simply brush or comb to work the oil and scent through your hair.

Another way to scent your hair is to add essential oils to your shampoo and conditioner. The same scent can help to spark memories of any encounter.

Or you can put your favorite essential oils in some of our Body spray or Spray on -Leave in Hair De-tangler . These are easy to scent and can always be used to refresh your hair scent in the spur of the moment.

For a fresh Fruity and Simple Hair spritzer/scent
Orange – 15 drops
Neroli – 12 drops
Emulsifier – 25 drops
Distilled water – 2 ounces

Blend the essential oils and Emulsifier in a 2 oz PET plastic spray bottle then add the distilled water. Shake well before spritzing on hair. (You can substitute the Body spray or Spray on – Leave in Hair De-tangler for the 2 ounces of distilled water.)

Around the House and Office

Setting the Stage for a night of Romance

by Penny Keay

You are planning a special evening of romance so where do you begin. Let’s give you a few suggestions besides those listed in the first article above.

• Straighten the house – don’t go hog wild cleaning, just pick up the piles of mail and other papers and tuck them away (don’t forget where you hide them). Spritz some air fresheners – use light citrus scents.
• Next set the table and arrange some flowers – use silk flowers and place drops of your favorite romantic oils on them.
• Prepare a simple meal – maybe just some meats, cheeses, crackers and fruit. Tonight – simple is better. (No chocolate or alcohol at this time - see the note below.)
• Change the bedding. Spritz some scented linen spray on the sheets and pillow cases – again using the fresh scents of essential oils that you enjoy. Of course Lavenderis always a good choice.
• Prepare your massage oil or a couple different ones if you are not sure which one you might want to use. Place a few towels near your bed to wipe your hands if you need to or want to.
• Clean the bathroom and set up some candles to light later on. Get the tub ready to fill – a few bubbles might be nice. Have a few rose petals if available to float on the top of the water, if you don’t have use bubbles. Lay out the towels and robes.
• Candles - Actually, you can place candles throughout the house – especially the dining room and bedroom too. Just use common sense and be careful with the open flames.

Set up a diffuser or two also, using some of the scents you have chosen for your evening. Start diffusing them early.

Allow plenty of time to enjoy the evening. After everything is all over and everyone is exhausted from all the fun, NOW is the time to sit or lay quietly – eat a little bit of chocolate and sip a little wine (or if you don’t drink – enjoy a soda or beverage of your choice) – served in a fancy glass of course!

We hope all these suggestions help. After all it is springtime and all the creatures in nature say –
Love is in the air!!

Recipes to try

by Penny Keay

BIRCH HILL HAPPENINGS NEWS

Hello Everyone,

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

Can you believe it is almost Mother’s Day? Spring should be here but I guess it is missing Northeastern Minnesota this year. We have had only a few days in the 50’s degrees although as I’m writing this it is near 70 but after the T’storms go through it will be back in the 50’s L.

We have a couple of important and exciting announcements to make.

# 1 - Penny just finished and passed her course in Medical Aromatherapy – YEAH!!!! ☺

She passed with distinction according to her instructor. He is well known in the aromatherapy world – Martin Watt, Cert Phyt. He is a Medical Herbalist and aromatherapy expert living in the United Kingdom.

The course was very long and took about a year to complete. The final exam took nearly 20 hours to finish.

One of the main features of his course is the safe use of essential oils when used for medical ailments AND for personal use. In the past, much of what was learned or is published in some of the older aromatherapy books has been disproven. We now hope to provide you with more up to date information and eliminate a lot of the misconceptions in aromatherapy and the use of essential oils.

If you have questions Al and Penny often times consult with each other and give you the most up to date information we have. Sometimes we still request a few days to do a little research to double check to see if there is anything new out there.

#2 – JayLene – we have a new employee!! ☺ YEAH!! ☺ Al and Penny have been burning the candle at both ends long enough and decided it was time to hire a full time employee. She is wonderful. She helps with order processing, fulfillment and packaging them to be ready to be shipped. Things that were left until the last minute are now being prepared a head of time!!! For now, she is just helping with orders and inventory. Slowly she will learn more about aromatherapy. So for now, if she answers the phone, she will only be taking your orders, not answering any aromatherapy questions. Al and Penny will still need to answer those questions for you.

Okay, now back to Mother’s Day. We know it is too close to Mother’s day to place an order and have it arrive for Mother’s Day, but there are many Mother’s that will get a few gifts as money that they can spend as they want too.

For all you Mom’s or Grand Mothers out there that might get a little extra cash to spend on yourself this Mother’s Day - You might want to pick out one of our
New Electric Tart Melters

Daisy - Rose and Daffodil
See them on the following page – http://birchhillhappenings.com/warmers.htm They are just perfect for the smaller areas around your house. They take up a lot less space than the big Oil and Tart warmers but these new melters will still diffuse a lot of essential oils. They hold about 1 ounce of melted wax. We, of course, have 1 ounce unscented soy/beeswax tarts so you can use your own oils and blends and a large assortment scented tarts in six packs of ½ ounce wax – mini tarts.

Last month we did not have our new Terra Cotta Pendants yet, but they did arrive about a week later. They are wonderful too. Just add a couple drops and let your body heat scent your own personal space. The new designs include five Chinese characters depicting – Love – Joy – Luck – Home & Family - Laugh.

The other two designs are a Dragonfly and WWJD (What would Jesus Do).
And for those of you that have been waiting for our supply of pendants to come in we have plenty of the 3 wishes and Promises back in stock too!

See the our large selection of Terra Cotta Pendants at http://birchhillhappenings.com/jewelry2.htm

The aromatherapy Sterling silver lockets are very lovely and personal too. They can be worn as regular jewelry without essential oils added but why not add the essential oils?
To see all our other aromatherapy jewelry. CLICK HERE!

A little side note- We know many of you, just like ourselves, do a little bit each day in the world to “Keep it Green”.

Well, many of you may not know or realize that we do little things in our business to help too.

Did you know that many times packing peanuts and materials like bubble wrap are not recyclable? (Granted we know about the cornstarch based peanuts but due to Al’s allergy to corn we do not purchase those, we do get some though and we do send them on to you! – please continue to read on.)

But here is where we help. Instead of them being used only the one time, we get much of our supply of packing peanuts and bubble wrap from large gift stores that normally would just have to pay to have them hauled away by the garbage man and end up just filling up the landfills.

We have several stores that save both their ‘peanuts’ and bubble wrap for us. So, if you can save some of them too, and reuse them to send packages, you will help to prolong the use. At least we both can do a little so it won’t be a one time use situation.

As for cardboard, we get a lot of boxes every week and we send them to the recycling center along with all our empty plastic and aluminum containers. Al takes our van to the recycling center every week.

To also help we are sending a Reusable Shopping/Tote bag to customers that purchase over $200.00 worth of merchandise in one order to them Free!

This bag is made of fabric and is washable. It can be used for your trips to do your errands and shopping. Or use it to go to the beach too!! If you would like to purchase one without placing a large order, we do have them available for $6.98. To Purchase - Click here

To all Mothers, Grand Mothers or Mothers-to-be enjoy your special day, and your children.
"Have a very Happy Mother’s Day!"
And pamper yourself a little just for one day!!

As always, if you have suggestions, questions or comments please feel free to send us an e-mail to bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

‘til next month,

Yours in Aromatherapy,
Alan and Penny

E-mail us at bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com

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For a listing of the Resources for information in this newsletter (including recipes) and others please visit our Reference page Click here