Remember to use coupon code "DebbileMiles" to receive 1/2 off the Apan Supplements.
Click here to see info on the Apán supplements.siahus.com/product/apan-daily/
January 2024
By Dancing Rain, Native American Medicine Woman, Practitioner
January is the beginning of a new year and of course we think of New Year’s Resolutions. The top two New Year’s Resolutions for 2024 have been reported as:
1) Improve Fitness (exercise, weight loss, eating healthier)
2) Improve Mental Health (reduce stress, fight anxiety/depression, overthinking)
For me I see these two 2 resolutions go hand in hand. For instance, exercise releases feel-good endorphins that can enhance your sense of well-being. It relieves stress and improves mood, increases energy and stamina, and increase mental alertness. Two great essential oils that would assist you with these New Year’s resolutions are Brainstorm and Courage.
With the new year and the usual holiday indulgences, I would like to suggest starting first with a good cleansing. You can start eating properly and exercise but if you do not cleanse the colon, you will slow down the healing process. We recognize the importance of cleaning our homes and taking our car in for regular maintenance, so why not take care of our bodies? Two benefits of a healthy colon are energy, vigor and you will notice an inner calm and improve mental clarity. A healthy colon also slows down the aging process.
When you first wake up in the morning, begin your day by drinking a glass of warm water with juice from half of an organic lemon or 5-6 drops of Lemon essential oil. (This is a very mild cleanse which you can do daily and along with a deeper cleanse.) This rehydrates your body from its overnight rest and will assist in eliminating acid the body has been cleansing out.
Your body will continue to cleanse at least until mid-morning, so it is important to aid this process by drinking several glasses of water. Adding lemon to the water gives it an antiseptic quality and assists in stimulating the peristaltic action of the bowels.
I would also like to share a simple ancient Chinese method called, “The Crane Exercise”. Not only will you lose weight and inches but it promotes proper digestion, sound sleep, and a healthy heart. I have also seen when people use several Therapeutic Essential Oils with this technique a major enhancement to this process occurs.
As we get older, exercising the stomach and abdominal area becomes more difficult. The abdominal area seems to be the one place where various fatty tissues accumulate. The excessive weight brings on mental and physical fatigue. The shift of weight to the lower front of the body puts stress on the spine, often causing back pain. This effortless two-minute exercise consists of two parts. It is very simple yet effective.
First, begin by lying flat on your back and relaxing. Apply two or three drops of a Therapeutic Oils, on your abdomen and massage in a circular motion. (Tummy Rub, Ginger, Basil, Fennel, or Nutmeg are some of my favorite choices to rub over the stomach and abdomen area before starting this exercise.) Next, rub your hands together until warm. Put the palm of your predominate hand (if you are right-handed, use your right hand) on your navel.
Start to rub clockwise from the center, first in small circles, and then gradually expand the movement until the upper and lower limits of the stomach and abdomen are being massaged. When you have completed the first movement, reverse it, rubbing counterclockwise in smaller and smaller circles until you are back to the center of the navel. Rub slowly and with gentle pressure. Repeat this motion as long as you feel comfortable, or have time to do so, but for at least two minutes.
Part two of this exercise is to use visualization techniques to enhance your body’s energy. Your body is electrical and the gentle rubbing in ever-widening circles actually causes energy to flow from your hand through the skin. We have seen visualizing this energy process actually increases the effectiveness of the exercise.
There are various ways for you to visualize this technique. You can imagine energy coming from your hand, brushing the skin and organs before going deeper and deeper into the body. Another way is to imagine a small fire in the stomach that grows larger and larger as you rub. Or even imagine a small dot of blue, green, yellow or white (the healing colors) in the center of your abdomen that grows larger and goes deeper into the skin as you gently rub. You will soon feel actual warmth where at first you only thought about it.
In the first part of the exercise, the electricity from your own hand gently massages the intestines, the blood vessels, and the digestive and eliminatory systems. Fatty accumulations and deposits are disturbed from their resting places and eventually broken up. They are then passed into the eliminatory system and out of the body. Your stomach and abdomen are literally rubbed away!
When you rub in a clockwise direction, you are encouraging proper bowel movements. Quite often constipation and being overweight are symptoms indicating that the digestive and eliminatory organs have become lazy, obstructed, or de-energized. Using the Therapeutic Essential Oils with this exercise is highly beneficial.
The clockwise motion also stimulates the peristaltic activity of the intestine and slows the water removal process down to normal levels. This allows time so the food does not become compacted and cause constipation. Rubbing in a counterclockwise motion has the opposite effect and is beneficial for chronic diarrhea. It helps to solidify fecal material as it passes through the intestine. This rubbing action has been known to assist chronic diarrhea.
If chronic constipation or diarrhea is not your problem, but being overweight is, then it is necessary to incorporate both movements along with visualization into the rubbing sequence. Remember, losing weight is easy when you increasing the efficiency of the digestive organs. If your body is not functioning properly, it is much harder for you to lose weight. Have you ever tried eating less or changing your diet and still found yourself unable to lose weight? This may be because your digestive and elimination processes are not functioning as they should be.
When food assimilation and elimination is ineffective or obstructed, a significant portion of what you eat tends to be stored for very long periods of time in the body. The Crane Exercise is like a natural colonic irrigation. Most everyone who is willing to do the exercise regularly two times a day for two weeks will see wonderful results.
The first part of the exercise is rubbing. The second, and equally important part, is concentrating on the feeling of warmth within the area being massaged. When you feel warmth, no matter how small it may be, the excess fat is being burned off around the stomach and intestines, metabolized, then discarded.
The two important points are to rub lightly and concentrate on feeling warmth and energy as your hand moves over the entire area. The key is the energy not the pressure. If you have trouble concentrating, you may want to use one of the essential oils we have found helpful like Focus first across your forehead, on your ears, and the back of your neck before you begin the exercise.
I have also seen people that do this exercise regularly twice a day reap other health benefits as well. Not only does the digestion improve, but many report an upswing in the level of overall vitality. When you rub your abdominal area at night, blood is drawn away from the head and brain usually shutting down the mental chatter allowing you to drift into a restful sleep.
The essential oils I mentioned above will be on sale (25% off) for the month of January.
Blends
Brainstorm $25.00 $18.75
Courage $18.00 $13.50
Tummy Rub $17.00 $12.75
Singles
Basil $16.00 $12.00
Fennel $14.00 $10.50
Ginger $21.00 $15.75
Lemon $11.00 $8.25
Nutmeg $18.00 $13.50
Brainstorm: List of Ingredients: Wild, Ethically Farmed and Organic Essential Oils of Sacred Frankincense, Ylang Ylang Extra, Melissa, Sandalwood, Lavender, Cedarwood, and Helichrysum italicum in a 60% base of Fractionated Coconut Oil.
Primary use: It assists in developing greater focus, and clear mental cobwebs, and is beneficial when used for meditation. The scent produces a calming, uplifting, soothing, elevated mental state bringing peace, and acts as a sedative to overcome anger and stress-related conditions. It assists in overcoming grief, anxiety, depression, fear, mental fatigue, and poor self-esteem.
Courage: List of Ingredients: Wild, Ethically Farmed and Organic Essential Oils of Indian Rosewood, Spruce, Frankincense, Blue Tansy, Black Pepper, Cypress, Hyssop, Helichrysum italicum, Nutmeg, and Basil in a base of 75% Fractionated Coconut Oil.
Primary use: This formula is used to assist the alignment of the physical structure of the body, in overcoming fear so we can stand tall during adversity, and to bring the body’s electrical energies back into harmony.
Tummy Rub: List of Ingredients: Wild, Ethically Farmed and Organic Essential Oils of Peppermint, Fennel, Ginger Root, Juniper Berry, Anise, Marjoram, Cypress, Tarragon, and Hyssop in a base of 70% Fractionated Coconut Oil.
Primary use: It is beneficial in alleviating indigestion, cramps, upset stomach, vomiting, belching, bloating, heartburn, gas, colic, nervous tension, anxiety, and stress. Tummy Rub is beneficial for spasms, infections, viruses, bacteria, and inflammation. It improves circulation, and tones the liver, kidneys, and spleen that improves overall body functions. Also assists to assist the liver in producing enzymes, balances intestinal activity, and relieves discomfort from motion sickness, jet lag, morning sickness, urinary tract infections, diarrhea, and may neutralize negative emotions.
Basil, Organically Grown: India (Ocimum basilicum)
Primary use: It is known to be beneficial inflammation, intestinal problems, respiratory ailments (asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, chronic nasal catarrh, fevers, flu, colds, whooping cough, and sinusitis), repairing connective tissue, gout, rheumatism, muscular aches and pains, poor memory, mental fatigue, headaches, and loss of concentration.
Fennel Seed, Organically Grown: Hungary (Foeniculum vulgare miller)
Primary use: Supports and benefits the digestive functions(indigestion, gas, pain, restlessness, vomiting, intestinal spasms, constipation, eliminates parasites). Assists urinary tract (infections, increases urination, eliminates toxins, kidney stones), gout, cystitis, diabetes, hypertension, liver, and assist to maintain a healthy spleen.
Ginger Root, Organically Grown: India (Zingiber officinale)
Primary use: Assists digestive disorders (flatulence, food poisoning, intestinal infections, indigestion, cramps, nausea, motion sickness, heart burn, colic, diarrhea, morning sickness, improves appetite), relieves liver problems, anemia, fatigue, and nervous exhaustion. Enhance spirituality, increase the libido, and to energize the emotions. Current research showed that in animal studies Ginger was successful in slowing or preventing tumor growth.
Lemon, Organic: USA Pressed Peel (Citrus limonum)
Primary use: Use a drop or two ever couple hours internally as a general tonic to assist detoxification, lymphatic drainage, and to fight infections. Assist the immune system in the formation of red and white blood cells. Beneficial for digestive problems (indigestion, gas, intestinal parasites, nausea, vomiting, heartburn) and the smell stimulates the brain (focus, concentration, Parkinson’s disease). A wonderful low-cost oil to use in cleansing the air, water, and surfaces against infectious diseases.
Nutmeg, Organic: Indonesia (Myristica fragrans)
Primary use: General tonic that has adrenal cortex-like activity supporting the adrenals and increasing energy. Beneficial for the liver, kidneys, immune function, and the digestion(bad breath, gas, diarrhea, nausea, parasites, chronic vomiting, loss of appetite, infection).
Remember to use coupon code "DebbileMiles" to receive 1/2 off the Apan Supplements.
Click here to see info on the Apán supplements.