71: Are You a Disconnected Aromatherapist?

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Liz: You're listening to the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast Episode number 71.

In today's episode, I'd like to have us look together at the concept of being “disconnected”. 

Are you disconnected from the source of the ingredients you love and use? This is such a common problem in aromatherapy, and I'm going to share with you a personal story that was very embarrassing, and it brought this disconnect into really sharp focus for me and led to quite an enlightening moment.

 For more information and show notes, visit:

• Show Notes on the Podcast Website AromaticWisdomPodcast.com/71
• School Website:  AromaticWisdomInstitute.com 
• Liz’s online courses AromaticWisdomInstitute.com/course

Hi, friends! Welcome back to the Aromatic Wisdom podcast.  What in the heck happened to March? I just realized the last time I recorded was in February, and here we are now deep into April. So I'll tell you you know, I'm transparent. I'll tell you I've been going through a really rough time. January, February, March, even somewhat now into April have just been really dark months for me, and this is a pattern in my life. No need to worry. I'm fine. 

The black dog just follows me around, and sometimes he bites. And this winter has been a little challenging for me. So I'm here, though. I'm back recording another episode for you! 😃 

I want to say thank you, first of all, to a brand new Patron!  I have the Aromatic Wisdom, Podcast on Patreon where subscribers can support the show and my newest subscriber is Candace. Candace M ❤! Thank you so much for your support Candace and to those of you who hang in there.

I can't tell you how much it means to me. I mean that seriously. 

Main Topic of Episode

Let's move into the topic of being a disconnected aromatherapist. I'm actually very curious to learn if after you hear this episode, you see some disconnect in yourself. So let's talk about being a disconnected aromatherapist. 

What do I mean by “disconnected” 

Let’s start with my own humiliating experience of disconnect.

I may have already told this story on the podcast. Regardless, if I have and you've heard it, you probably need to hear it again. I think it was 2014. It was around 10 or 11 years ago. I was taking a course in Spokane, Washington with the wonderful Ann Harman, learning how to distill plants into hydrosol. It was a Harvest to Hydrosol course. Ann no longer teaches it as a live course, so  I was I'm very lucky that James and I each took this course. In fact, I took it twice for how much I loved it. We were on her property and it was just fabulous. 

Anyway, one of the exercises that we had to do as people learning to distill plants, We were broken up into groups, and each group was given one plant that they had to go and and harvest. We had to go and find the plant, harvest the plant, and distill the plant. There was a rose group, a lavender group. I was in the lemon verbena group.

 Let me tell you. I know all about lemon verbena. I know that it's high in citral. I know the therapeutic healing effects. I know the shelf life. 

Do you think I could identify the plant in the garden? I could not! For the life of me, I could not imagine what the lemon verbena leaf looked like. I only knew that we had to go into the garden, this group of 5, and locate the plant and and harvest it. I was mortified. Here I am an “expert”, and Educatora and Aromatherapist since the year One. I remember thinking, “Liz, how in the world is this possible that you cannot identify this plant that grows in every garden?” It's not even an uncommon botanical! I was very shocked at myself. 

So - God forbid I would say anything because I did not I didn't want people to know that my ineptitude. So I just very quietly got in the back of the line as everyone went into the garden. And as soon as the lemon verbena plant was identified by the others in the group - I never said a word - I just went ahead and harvested and distilled her. Let me tell you…nmot only did it shift my relationship with lemon verbena, I now consider her one of my valuable plant teachers! 

I now adore the plant. I adore the oil, the hydrosol, all of it, because she taught me a great lesson.

 What does it mean when I can tell you all the things about the oil the hydrosol but can't identify the botanical source physically. 

Wow. What a disconnect. 

That happens to so many of us, and in particular beginning essential oil users. We become enamored with the bottle and the label and the brand and the supplier and the the multilevel marketing and all of it, and use the oil, and we completely forget to to think about where it comes from. 

There is a tendency among aromatherapists, especially those working with essential oils, to forget that these precious elixirs, if you wanna call them that, are more than just delightful scents or or even potent medicines in these beautiful, aesthetically pleasing bottles. You've got to remember that behind every drop of essential oil, behind every drop of carrier of hydrosol, There are dedicated farmers, for example.

Do you know how much work it is to harvest a plant? Harvesting is one of the most labor intensive tasks. Well, I would say it is. The most labor intensive task of a growing season for these small farmers that grow our aromatic plants. Many of them have very little equipment. They are reaping, thrashing, cleaning, transporting. It's a lot of work to harvest. And then we have all of the artisan distillers, or even if they're not artisan. You know, people are distilling.

There is an entire supply chain. There are loads of people along the way. And just as an aside, because I will forget to say this, I always tell my students that the less space there is between wait. That the less distance between distiller and user, the better. In other words, there are less people handling the product. There are less opportunities for, shenanigans happening with the with the product. Again, these are all things to be aware of that go way beyond using your product. This disconnect can lead to a range of issues from overuse of essential oils to a fundamental misunderstanding of that that these plant extracts come from powerful plants.

This concept of overuse is huge and I really blame it on, honestly, the multilevel marketing companies. I'm not saying they're bad. I'm not saying that their products are bad. Feel that, encouraging people to use essential oils undiluted frequently, and I do feel that, encouraging people to use essential oils undiluted frequently leads to both irresponsibly and dangerously overusing the amount of product that is necessary. If you're using an essential oil undiluted when you could be diluting, necessary. If you're using an essential oil undiluted when you could 

be diluting let's just say undiluted. You're using 5 drops when one drop in the issue that you're addressing. That may not sound like much, but you multiply that times 1,000 and 100 of thousands of people using essential oils, and before you know it, we have a sustainability issue which is actually happening.

How to Foster the Gap

So one way to bridge this gap is to foster a connection with the origin of the aromatic plant. So regardless of what you're using, even if it's a carrier oil, see what you can learn about the source. For example, a very common carrier that we use, to dilute our essential oils is jojoba. Now we say jojoba oil, but it's not an oil at all. It's actually a wax. And it grows in the desert, and it comes from a bean. Did you know that? Do you know where it grows? Do you know why sometimes the cost is exorbitant? Because if there are problems agriculturally in the desert, it will directly impact the quality and availability and pricing of the products, in this case, jojoba. And let me just say, I keep saying the desert because I'm thinking of a very specific incident that happened years ago in which there was a drought in the desert where the jojoba plant grows and it affected the the plant and, therefore, the price went up.

If you see that a price has suddenly been increased, take a look at that. Is the price increase coming from the supplier because he needs to hire more people, or is there something indigenous to the product that is causing the price to increase? For example, my husband sells copper stills that people use to make essential oils and hydrosols. The price of copper went up a couple of years ago and everyone thought, oh, the people are taking advantage. Now copper's a big deal. Everybody, you know, is raising their prices. No, no, no. The price of copper went up even for the suppliers, even for the people who buy the copper that make the stills. That's because when oil prices went up, so did the cost of operating the machinery that mines the copper.

So you can see how it affects all the way across the spectrum. Paying attention to changes is another way to stay really connected with whatever you're using. Why have hydrosol bottles they used to be a beautiful blue, now they're clear. Well, that is because we've learned that hydrosols, you can see that there can be microorganisms and blooms and things in there that shouldn't be. Years ago, and now I'm really dating myself, essential oils were sold in clear bottles. But with time and understanding, we realized that they need to be protected from UV rays, with dark glass. 

Notice if the Latin Binomial Has Changed

Why is there suddenly a change in the Latin binomial? Rosemary is a great example. Rosemary used to be called Rosmarinus officinalis and still is actually very much what we call the Rosemary plant. However, it has been reclassified as a sage, and Salvia rosmarinus is the true Latin name of the Rosemary plant.

What Do You Know About the Country of Origin?

Here's a question for you, and a huge area of disconnect for Aromatherapists.

What do you know about the country in which your essential oil or hydrosol is produced? 

What do you know about the country of origin? Have you ever heard of the country in which the essential oil is produced or grown? 

Do you know where it is on a map? Can you look at a globe or open a map of the world and point to Comoros or Madagascar, two countries that produce Geranium Bourbon? 

90% of the world's Frankincense comes from the Horn of Africa. Do you know what that means, or do you know where that is? Do you know the difference between Somalia and Somaliland? That's a very important distinction!

I could literally talk for another hour on this topic because there are just so many avenues to be explored when you're looking at the source of an aromatic product. 

I think that I've made my point, and so I just want to conclude by inviting you to look deeper into the source of the ingredients you’re using. For example, are any animals being endangered from the harvesting of the plant source, such as palm oil and the orangutan. 

As I said, please stay mindfull of the source of all the products that you're using. Increase your knowledge by looking at the backstory.  What was the journey from plant to bottle? 

Keep yourself a connected aromatherapist. 

Smell My Life

And now, boys and girls, it's time to ...Smell My Life! *Children Cheering*

In March of this year, my husband James and I had a most wonderful aromatic adventure. I was invited to be a speaker at a symposium in Grove City, Ohio. It was about one year ago they asked me to come out and speak.

A symposium is actually a one-day conference. This one was specifically for Master Gardeners, andI was one of four speakers that day. I was invited to speak about essential oils. I was kind of surprised because they asked me to talk about the basic of essential oils - what are they - how to purchased the best one, et. I asked if they wouldn’t prefer I talk about hydrosols or something more complete.  Nope. They just wanted an Essential Oils 101 talk. Well, I can tell you I can do that in my sleep. I've been talking about aromatherapy for 33 years, so I was thrilled.

It was divine!  ot only did I receive an honorarium, they paid for 2 nights hotel, we had lots of food. It was just the most wonderful little paid vacation, and the symposium itself was spectacular. The other speakers were awesome. There were about 130 people in attendance, all of them gardeners. And the other speakers also gave presentations on plant-related topics. 

One was a gentleman who spoke about all the different kinds of “weeds” that grow in your garden that are edible; that is very much of interest to my husband James. He loves learning about edible weeds and plants and so forth. 

A speaker talked about trees and roots; and another speaker talked about the impact of how small things make a big difference in a garden. She's a science teacher and photographer and had some really incredible pictures of little teeny tiny bugs and things in the garden. I may not I'm not making it sound great, but it was a wonderful presentation. 

I love getting to give my presentation!  Since the pandemic, I've done very little public speaking, and I really enjoy speaking at conferences and so forth. For those interested in astrology, I have my ascendant in Leo, which means I, you know, like to be the center of attention! 

I just love talking about aromatherapy in front of groups of people. I don't have a fear of public speaking at all. One day I'll talk about that because I used to and then I overcame it. So maybe I'll do a podcast episode about that. 

Over all it was a rewarding weekend, intellectually and educationally as I learned so much from the other speakers and from the gardeners in attendance.  There was also a room with vendors where James and I had a table. I shared about my online educational opportunities and classes, my podcast and James displayed his beautiful copper stills there. AND, he sold a 20 litre still to Gantz Gardens! 

So give you bit more information on the Gardens at Gantz… It is a historic farmhouse that was donated to Grove City by the Gantz family. It was a farmhouse that had been handed down generation after generation after generation. When the last two members of the Gantz family were left, rather than sell the farmhouse, they donated it to the city to be used as an educational center. The entire operations is run by volunteers. They have many little gardens throughout the whole thing, a labyrinth, beautiful brick walkways. There was a Fairy Garden, and Medicinal Garden, an Aromatic Garden. They haed a Taxonomy Garden, which I loved and a Rock Garden. There were so many different types of gardens. It was just wonderful. James and I were there in March and all the plants were still very much asleep, so we’d like to return in full summer when things are wonderfully in bloom.

If you live in Ohio, if you have a chance to ever go to Grove City in Ohio, you must visit the Gardens at Gantz. If we lived there, I would be a full0time volunteer. I can tell you that. That was just such a wonderful it was wonderful to get away in March. Winter is over, but it’s not quite spring yet and everyone has cabin fever.  There’s my Smell My Life for this week! 

Aromatherapy Certification Level 1 

I almost hesitate to say this… I have started to create an online Level 1 Aromatherapy Certification Program. I’m about halfway through the creation of the content. I thought I would be launching it in April. That has not happened. I have to learn not to say this is when I'm launching a new course or product because sometimes things just take me longer than I give myself time for. 

For example, just today I learned how to use two cameras so that I can have one overhead and one straight down so that people can see me blending and making products. 

Sigh… It takes me so long to do everything. Part of it is my perfectionist nature. Part of it is I just procrastinate. Part of it is it just takes me a while to do things. I'm really, really hoping that by the end of May I can give birth to this exciting course. The sales page is done and I’m going to offer a nice early bird discount of 20% off the tuition. 

My Patrons ❤the people who support the podcast ❤ will get a 30% discount off the course! As I said, this is a Level 1 program, 75 hours.  Once Level 1 is launched, I’ll move onto Level 2. 

None of this is new to me.  For many, many years, I taught a 235 hour live Aromatherapy Certification Program in my classroom. I could just jump right into creating that - I think I've already talked about this in this podcast - but, to make it manageable for me to create it and not be overwhelmed, I'm doing 2 levels. 

That's all I'm going to say about that. Stay tuned for updates - if you're on my mailing list, I will send out an email as soon as that course is open. 

Conclusion

That’s it for today’s episode.  If you would like to  support the podcast through Patreon, I appreciate that down to my little bitty warped toes. I love that so much!  Thank you.

 If you don't feel that that's the way you wanna support the podcast, you can leave a a 5 star review here:  https://www.aromaticwisdompodcast.com/reviews/  That never hurts my feelings 😁

…or just come back and listen to me. That always makes me happy. 

So until next time, 

Be Happy, Be Well, 

Liz Fulcher
Podcast Host, Aromatherapy Educator

AromaticWisdomInstitute.com