Qi Drop Therapy

Tags

cypress, energy alignment, essential oils, health, Jan Benham, Qi Drop Therapy, ravensara, relaxation

For the past week I have been taking some more classes. Last Saturday I took a class Qi Drop Therapy with Jan Benham. It was amazing and I’m looking forward to adding this to my list of treatment options in a couple of months!

Qi Drop Therapy is a treatment developed by Jan based on her many areas of study over several years. It combines the application of neat essential oils, acupressure, massage and compress application. While the essential oils are applied to the back and legs, the result is an introduction of essential oils to treat the entire system. The focus is on energy alignment, the spine, and fighting viruses. It helps bring balance to your system using 13 different essential oils. The treatment is done on a massage table and takes around an hour. For me this week, it was a great way to help clear my lungs which had once again become fluid and mucous filled upon our return after our California vacation to the smog and humidity of Toronto.

For me, it was a great introduction to a few oils that I haven’t had the pleasure of working with yet such as Cypress and Ravensara. I’m looking forward to doing some more studying on all of the essential oils we used (yes – you can expect some blog posts on specific oils soon!). During the class, each student was able to give a treatment and receive a treatment. It is a wonderful way as a student to get a full appreciation of the treatment. Soon I will have my essential oil kit with everything I need to administer this treatment. I have a number of training treatments to do before I offer it up to the general public but I’m looking forward to getting started with Qi Drop and I’m looking forward to having some of my fellow students do treatments on me!

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Taking Time for Yourself

Tags

health, relaxation

We recently came back from a wonderful vacation. It was a very busy trip with lots of sightseeing and tons of activity. And yet still it was relaxing! It always amazes me how we can be twice as busy when we are away and yet come back feeling revitalized.

But in a short time back at home that lovely feeling can disappear. Why is that? Frankly my vacation was busier than most of my normal days here in the city. Some will say it is the stress of being back at work but I’m self employed and love what I do. Money worries tend to be another easy excuse. It would be easy to blame it on the stress of making sure those bills are paid but that issue still existed while on vacation. In fact if money was the reason then I would have felt worse on the trip as all we were doing was spending and for two weeks I wasn’t generating any income. So why do we generally feel less relaxed and revitalized when we are home? What is the difference?

I feel it is how we allocate our time. While away on vacation, it was so much easier to find time to spend on me. You may say an entire vacation is about the self. But that isn’t true really. While you are enjoying yourself, you do still have to meet other schedules (for example buildings are only open at certain times), deal with a lot of new people and new environments, plan what to do next, etc. However, it also becomes easier to spend some time that is completely devoted to oneself. I was able to relax in a bathtub, go for a swim, sit outside and enjoy the fresh air, or walk in a park. Sometimes it was as simple as being able to spend the time in the morning and evening to pamper my feet with cream. Most of these things I can easily do here at home as well – but end up not doing.

We seem to get trapped into a cycle of working and doing things for or with others. All of that is a benefit to us as well but I think we need to remember to spend a little bit of time each day just on ourselves. Even it is just to pamper ourselves for 5 minutes with some foot cream.

Sweet Orange Essential Oil

Tags

essential oil, orange

Like many of the citrus EOs, Orange essential oil is obtained from the peel. The extraction method is called “expression”. The peel is squeezed to release the essential oil. It does take a lot of pressure to squeeze the oil from the peel so it is not something that is done by hand!

Orange EO is a very versatile essential oil. With a fresh, crisp scent, I enjoy it in a bath or a body scrub. It is great for dull or oily skin. As with most essential oils, it should be mixed with a carrier oil or a base lotion/cream and not applied directly to the skin.

It is also great as a household cleaning product. There are many commercial products out there that advertise using orange oil. I use it the liquid soap mix I make for my laundry.

While we were in Sacramento, California recently, we were actually able to see a number of orange trees just growing out in the middle of the city!