One Year Healthier

Deb and I just celebrated ONE YEAR as Independent Product Consultants with doTERRA!!!  We get amazing benefits as IPCs, also known as being a Wholesale Member.  I’d like to share some of these benefits with you, and give you an idea of why we are so enamored with these oils and this company.

The first and foremost benefit we get from our membership with doTERRA is that we have access to some of the best essential oils we have ever experienced.  doTERRA checks every bottle of oil with a mass spectrometer.  You may have seen this process on CSI or Bones, or another super high-tech forensics show.  In case you haven’t, the mass spectrometer is a thingy that checks the chemical composition of whatever is being tested.  doTERRA has rigorous standards of specific chemical compounds before they will put their label on it.  When someone asks me if they are organic, I happily tell them that it is BETTER THAN ORGANIC because this process of approving only the best oils assure that there are no contaminates such as GMOs, pesticides, herbicides or weeds.  Plant sources for doTERRA oils only come from the finest plants grown in the most ideal conditions for that particular type of plants.  doTERRA only distills the most potent plant parts in order to ensure that only the purest, strongest essential oils become doTERRA Oils.  Only the very best make it through their process to make sure each bottle of oil is CERTIFIED PURE THERAPEUTIC GRADE (CPTG).

Through these amazing oils as well as doTERRA’s Lifelong Vitality Pack (a daily regimen of vitamin, mineral & herbal supplements along with essential oil capsules that also include omega 3’s and antioxidant oils), our lives have radically improved.  Aimee has been able to better manage the Epstein-Barr virus that she carries, has been able to better manage mood fluctuations and menopause symptoms (including hot flashes).  Despite working with kids, she has not gotten half of the infections and crud that her coworkers and kids at work contract and spread to each other and back to themselves.  Deb has been able to work with her doctors to greatly reduce her prescription drugs and over the counter supplements.  Her pain levels are reduced, her moods are better, she is getting fewer migraines and illnesses even though she has an incurable immune disorder (common variable immune deficiency) and she cannot take the only treatment available through conventional medical means.  Her doctors are amazed and excited to see how well she is doing.  (Before using doTERRA, she was visiting the ER an average of once every 5-6 weeks needing treatment for chest pain, migraines, upper respiratory infections, etc.  We have gone once in the past year). Deb now has a vitality that she hasn’t had in years.  Woohoo!

Although there is absolutely no minimum monthly order (unlike most multi-level marketing programs), we get another series of benefits since we do place an automatic monthly LOYALTY REWARDS ORDER, which we can change at any time just by jumping online.  With each order that we place, we get a certain percentage of “Loyalty Rewards Points”.  These points can add up.  After being consistent with ordering for at least 3 months in a row, we can start using those points to get FREE PRODUCT (we pay $3.00 for $100pv worth of product per 100 points.  It may seem to take a while to accumulate points at first, but as the months go by, the percentage you get in points increases.  Next month, we will be up to the maximum of 30% free pv (personal volume) for every Loyalty Rewards Order (LRP) that we place.  If we place an LRP worth 125 pv before the 15th of the month, we get a free product-automatically!  This month, we got a 5ml bottle of On Guard, a product that we use every single day and order every month anyway.  In the past, we have gotten lemon, oregano, peppermint, Breathe blend, Balance blend, white fir, and other amazing gifts.  Every once in a while, they add other offers as well.  By increasing our December order, we even got a free bottle of Frankincense oil.  (We actually didn’t order more than we expected to for that one, because, being December, we were buying lots of great CPTG oils as gifts for our friends and family.)  We have also gotten fantastic sets of essential oils for cooking.  (see some of our recipes in an earlier blog post or check out these recipes highlighting doTERRA's summer sensations oils.)  

As WHOLESALE MEMBERS (IPC), we get 25% off the retail price of all doTERRA products.    That means that with a typical Loyalty Rewards Order for us, we save about $50 per month.  That’s not bad for paying an initial $35 sign up fee, which includes the $25 annual fee plus $10 for a start up kit.  With our $25 renewal fee, we also got a free bottle of peppermint!  So our membership has already pretty much paid for itself!  (See my earlier blog post about peppermint to learn why this is well worth the price!)  As IPCs, if someone wants to take advantage of these amazing products and signs up under us, we get a percentage of whatever they spend, as long as we maintain our Loyalty Rewards Orders at a minimum of $50 (which are keeping us healthier, happier and even flavors some of our food, so of course we maintain our LRP orders).  With all the products that we use and love from doTERRA, we easily spend at least that much. And, this month (August 2012), for the first time, we are getting a $50 bonus check because 3 people that signed up through us as IPCs placed qualifying LRP orders.  Adding theirs to ours gave us the 600pv our team needed for doTERRA to cut Deb, whose name the account is under, a check.  If we had been pressing it, we probably could have earned this earlier, but we just let the amazing products and company standards sell themselves for the most part. 

I must add here, that even with adding a Lifelong Vitality Pack each month for each of us, along with the oils that We are using to keep Deb healthy despite having a compromised immune system, we are still paying less than we were for all of her prescribed drugs and Dr ordered supplements.  (Do not alter your medications without consulting your doctor and going very slow with this process.  You may not be able to get the same results that Deb has.  She has some great doctors who are open minded about complementary modalities and who open more as they see her improve.)  She feels so much better than she did when dealing with all the negative side affects of multiple medications, and the expense of the supplements she was having to take-Ugh!  

We use doTERRA oils for so much more than massage or air freshener.  We use them as mood stabilizers, pain relief, cleaners, antibiotics, perfumes, cooking and diffusing into the air to clean and refresh the house.  Even the animals use them.  For example, Sky, one of our dogs, had a badly damaged nail, and we treated it with On Guard.  She didn’t get an infection or anything, even though she runs outside in dirt and who knows what germ-ridden stuff, every day.  You can read an earlier post about relieving Sky’s trauma with Balance Oil after we rescued her from being tied up outside in the cold and rain without food or water.  Like me, Balance is her favorite.

doTERRA is committed to using not just the best oils, they are also a company that supports its members with webinars, seminars, essential oil news, conventions and up to date information on the most recent and exciting scientific studies being conducted on essential oils.  They are committed to not just relying on ancient wisdom or anecdotal evidence, they also look for scientific studies to support their work and our education.  I never knew essential oils were so powerful until I started reading their educational materials.

We would love to help you get discounts and earn free products from an amazing company.  We have tried a lot of different essential oil brands, from very expensive, rare ones, to inexpensive off the shelf at the health food store.  By far, doTERRA is the best oil for the best value that we have found.  The superior quality makes us confident to use them in and on our bodies.  Their soaps, body wash, diffusers and educational tools are all exceptional.

There are a lot of links included in the text of this blog entry.  click on any of them to get more information on the subject highlighted.  Most of the links connect to our business website, www.mydoterra.com/livingmindfully

Blessings,

Aimee

Essential Goals

Goals!  Okay, this is a new word for me.  I rarely use that term.  I usually say “I hope to…”, “I plan to…”, “my dream is…”.  I think, as part of living more MindFully, I need to be honest with myself.  Those statements all equal goals.  GOALS GOALS GOALS GOALS!  As a writer, I know words are very powerful and important, as well as often inadequate and clumsy.  I’m not sure why words like “goal”, “commitment”, and “I will” are so much scarier than “plan”, “loyalty,” and “try”.  

I will try (oops)...I plan to (oops)...I want to (oops)..  I am Committed to my new Goal of being firm in my confidence to succeed in whatever I choose to succeed.  I Will keep reminding myself of this one.

Someone in one of my classes half jokingly told me that if I were to ever run for office, he would definitely vote for me.  A few others chimed in with agreement.  I don’t want to run for office, but I do want to be more MindFull of how I influence people.  I want to be as encouraging as possible, and empower others with as many tools as possible to make their lives, and this world, better.

Years ago, I worked in a bookstore and in a fabric store.  I loved those jobs, not because I brought home a paycheck, but because I was helping others to find just what they needed.  I did that not our of obligation to sell to them, but out of a genuine human connection and excitement for them.  I learned as much from them as they did from me.  My best days were the days when someone returned to the bookstore, glowing with excitement over a book I recommended that was just the right one.  Or, the best days in the fabric store were when a customer enthusiastically brought in a finished project I had helped them plan.  Those were not moments of selling, but of genuinely touching another life in a positive way, and in turn, they touched mine.

That is how Deb and I feel about doTERRA Oils.  We actually did buy membership in another essential oil company once.  Those were good quality oils as well, and we liked them, but we didn’t love or believe in them enough to sustain our membership or share them at every turn with our friends, coworkers and strangers.  We knew they smelled good, and there were some remarkable stories of how various people were positively affected by this oil or that.  With doTERRA, we’re hearing the stories, but we are also learning about various scientific studies that support the anecdotal evidence as well.  And, even in our short time with doTERRA, I have already felt amazing, transformative results in my own life, with the application of a single oil blend.

I have had chronic neck and right shoulder pain for around five years.  Some days it is so bad I can’t fully turn my head or lift a gallon of milk or turn a key or a doorknob without excruciating pain.  I started dropping things and having trouble pouring myself a cup of coffee.  I found that acupuncture helped for about one to two weeks.  The one time I had a Thai massage, I was pain free for two weeks.  Doing yoga on a regular basis helps to lessen the pain, but if I am already acute, I can't get into position to stretch the right muscles and my shoulder and arm are too weak and painful to get into certain positions safely.  So I have lived with pain pretty much every day for five years.  (I forgot to mention that NSAIDs like ibuprofen and aspirin give me nosebleeds and acetametaphine doesn’t touch the pain.  I take NSAIDs cautiously and they rarely work completely or for more than 2-3 hours at a time- after the 30-60 minutes that I wait for them to kick in.)

One night I was sitting at work, unable to turn my head very far because of neck, upper back and shoulder pain.  My trapezius muscle was so tensed that when I tried to reach back (with my left hand) and press on it for relief, there was no give.  It was literally as hard as a rock.  I had taken my ice pack out of my lunch bag to try to numb the pain a bit.  I was in so much pain that my stomach was upset, I was clenching my jaw from pain and I had a headache starting at the base of my skull and quickly spreading.

In the past, as I said, oral NSAIDs were ineffective and troublesome for me, but had always been my goto solution.  My doctor didn’t seem to care much that I was in pain, and all he did was give me a prescription for a topical NSAID, which had minimal effect, for a very limited amount of time.

This particular night, I was chilly (I work midnights), so I put on my fleece jacket.  In the pocket was a vial of “Past Tense” oil that our niece, Gini, had given me on her visit about a month earlier.  I had forgotten I had it.  I knew it was good for headaches, and, I reasoned, that I did have a headache from a reaction to pain originating in my neck and shoulders.  So I uncapped it and slathered it over the base of my neck and my shoulder muscles.

Within five to ten minutes, the ice pack came off, opening a door ceased to hurt, and I could turn my head without pain.  I was pain free for the first time in weeks.

Sounds like snake oil, right?  Well, after that experience, Deb and I were converted into essential oil believers.  Specifically, believers in doTERRA’s Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils, which only get this designation after every batch in every bottle gets put through a “mass spectrometer” to make sure everything that is supposed to be in there is, and nothing that is not supposed to be, isn’t (herbicides, pesticides, contaminants from other plants or pollution, etc.).  Few other companies can make this claim.  With Deb’s multiple allergies and sensitivities, it is essential that in our household we be MindFull of potential contaminants of any kind, and we have faith that what is claimed to be in these oils is there, and that there is nothing else.

I have long combined natural remedies with allopathic medicine, but I have always approached natural and homeopathic remedies as slow-acting treatments that I have to be patient and wait for the results, keeping an eye toward easing pain and illness over time.  I have always paired them with over the counter drugs.  

I am beginning to realize that some natural remedies, like certified pure therapeutic grade essential oils, can have an instant, transformative effect on my quality of life.  I like it, and am excited to keep exploring the possibilities.  Let us know if you want to learn more!


Shalom,
Aimee

Being MindFull of our Vision to Promote Healing

Our Vision is to create a healing and retreat center where all kinds of people can come to experience a sense of community, healing, self awareness and peace.  We hope to offer different paths toward wholeness for those who come, with a variety of complimentary healing modalities, including aromatherapy, Reiki and massage; classes including meditation, diversity training and yoga; and places to be at peace with oneself, such as an on grounds labyrinth, retreat cabins, gardens and walking trails.

We envision that this center will be a non-exclusive community where healing can occur on many different levels- certainly the mind/body/spirit levels, but even beyond that.  We hope to nurture a community where we pay attention to environmental concerns, personal growth and community building.  

Humans and their animals will have the opportunity to utilize the skills of those at the center.

We believe that everyone who comes for healing and solace also has something to offer to the community, be they there for a day or for a month.  Children and elders alike have gifts to share.  

Although we have held this vision for several years, there have been many road blocks to reaching this dream.  We have each had serious health challenges along the way, which seemed to crop up and steer us off track for a while, before we take hold of the reins again and get back into view of our chosen path.  We have even found that these roadblocks tend to be more like classrooms along the route, where we learn new things about ourselves and new ways to be in the world.  Of course, as with any endeavor, money is always an obstacle as well, but thus far it has been more about health issues and time constraints.  We believe that it will happen in the time and place that it is meant to be.

Even hough the healing center is not yet a physical reality, we are both committed to empowering people to help themselves through learning to live MindFully.  We hope through this blog to nurture the spirit of the healing center, even if the physical reality has yet to manifest.  Through this blog, we will offer various meditations, book and music recommendations & internet links that may be of interest.  (We have recently become enamored with DoTerra essential oils, and have become independent product consultants, so you will see several links to various parts of our website there, but also many other resources that we find useful, informative or interesting.)  We will share some of our stories of moments, people and places that have helped us grow in our journey toward health and Living MindFully, a journey we are still on and a journey we invite you to take with us.  We also want to hear your stories, with the hope that we will grow from your experiences as well as ours.


Peace,
Deb and Aimee