What Are Essential Oils and Where to get them

What Are Essential Oils?

I get asked this question a lot and I totally understand why! When I started my essential oil journey over 5 years ago I had never heard of essential oils. I won’t go so far as to say I thought they were hippie black magic…but… I just couldn’t understand how these oils could be so powerful. Nowadays you’ve probably heard someone somewhere mention essential oils. Seen them on store shelves. Seen the DIY projects on your Pinterest boards for sugar scrubs and the like.  But you still don’t have the answer to exactly what they are?!

I like to explain the oils initially by referencing the world around me. If you think about it, each and every living thing has their own innate ability to protect itself. Their “life blood” so to speak. Those properties which are innate in them are what we can distill and use on us. When the oils are grown in the right conditions, harvested at the right time and distilled properly they support our body’s intrinsic function to be healthy and happy. At a cellular level we share many characteristics with plants. Therefore it makes sense our bodies can readily absorb the oils and utilize them in much the same way plants do with similar outcomes.

Another example is if you’ve smelled a flower you have experienced the aromatic quality of an essential oil. These naturally occurring, volatile aromatic compounds are found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers, and other parts of plants. There are over 3000 volatile compounds identified to date and the type of volatile compound in the essential oil determines its benefit to us.

Oils & Purity

In this post I won’t debate different company’s oils or their efficacy but I will say a few things on quality. There is one true statement that applies to all oil companies. What is inside the bottle is not overseen by any government agency like the FDA. I think I can also safely say that we don’t want it governed. Thus the onus lies on us to determine the best oils to use. What this means to you is that you can see 100% Frankincense and it can actually have less than 5% of the oil. The rest can be fillers like weeds, additives, chemicals etc.

So, how do you know the oil you are using is pure? Do your own research. I can’t stress this enough. I started using essential oils while I was pregnant with my first son. In short I used them while pregnant, during labor, postpartum and on a newborn. I repeated all that when I had my second son. If I wasn’t 100% confident in the oils I was using I was doing my family a disservice.

Who do you choose?

I chose doTERRA for a few reasons. The main reason was they send every batch of oil out for 3rd party quality testing after they test it in house. This to me ranked highest on my list of confidence in these oils. This level of testing and the quality of the oils is why doTERRA labels their oils as CPTG (Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade). You can also search every batch of oil and the test information via the batch number on the bottle and going to their website and entering it. Like I mentioned earlier, the harvesting process from beginning to end is imperative for the efficacy of the oils.

And though I love their compensation plan and I’ve found personal success with many of the oils and products there is so much more to doTERRA that makes me love this company and every year I go to convention I get connected more and more to their WHY.

Why I love doTERRA

doTERRA coined the term co-impact sourcing. doTERRA is committed to making a difference in the lives of the farmers, harvesters and distillers of the countries that supply us our oils. doTERRA sources from more than 40 countries, half of which could be considered underdeveloped. They contract with the local growers and pay them a fair wage via a sustainable job creating a reliable income for them.

In addition, as a part of their Healing Hands foundation, doTERRA provides funding in some of these underdeveloped countries. This funding helps to provide them getting running water, medical clinics and schools. So knowing that my ylang ylang comes from it’s indigenous country of Madagascar not only makes me feel confident in the properties of these oils it makes my heart feel good about the impact we are having on their lives.

I would love to discuss in more details any questions you may have about essential oils. You can contact me HERE

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