Beautiful, functional carriers to essentially align your life.
Beautiful, functional carriers to essentially align your life.
Common Sense + Compassion Note follows.
A Common Sense Note: I do not claim that any of these materials or products will cure, treat, diagnose or eliminate the potential of any disease or condition. However, based on my own learning I have decided to include these things to support my well-Being because I believe them to be beneficial in my own experience. I believe it is my body that does the curing and healing anyway, so I don’t feel the need to claim these things do it—I’d rather give my miraculous body the credit it is due. Please do your own research to come to your own empowered decision and always consult a healthcare professional that you trust to guide you to the best decisions for you. A Compassionate Note: Below the books + tools section I am honest about my life experiences, if you have experienced trauma it may be triggering for you since I write about my own trauma. Proceed of your own will, but know that many of the tools found below it have been helpful in softening those triggers in my personal life experience.
The Essential Emotions text is the ultimate resource for your emotional aromatherapy journey. Each oil that doTERRA makes is listed and their emotional association is explained in beautiful detail. This book has invited me to explore the underlying cause of my emotional state so I can reach for a better feeling even in the most difficult moments. Available in print, or in its 6th edition on Kindle, for easy reference when you might need a shift in your vibrational experience throughout the day. I recommend getting the emotional reference wheel along with the book because sometimes it helps to see an emotion in writing so you can recognize and name it.
The Essential Guide to Aromatherapy and Vibrational Healing
The Essential Guide to Crystals, Minerals and Stones
These two books by Margaret Ann Lembo are my go-to’s for a Spiritual perspective of essential oils and healing stones. She has a comprehensive way of describing esoteric ideas, offering layers of information about each oil or stone that I find applicable to my own personal healing. I love her tone, care and detail.
Both guides offer a variety of alternative modalities to approach physical, emotional and spiritual health. Each oil has metaphysical associations with it that may aid in the healing journey. This is the book that I reference for creating blends for spiritual practice. I love the way she offers the botanical name, category of the note associated with perfumery, method of extraction, parts of the plant, fragrance description, associated colors, chakras, astrological signs, planetary bodies, numerology, animal and elemental references for each oil. There is also a beautiful affirmation, suggested uses and complementary crystal suggestions in the aromatherapy book.
The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood
This is my EVERYTHING book, recommended to me by my dear friend Mary Cole. It has everything you would need to know and more to become a season sage in the world of essential oils and aromatherapy. There is a chart for age appropriate oil usage for every stage of your child's life, health topics big and small--she has protocol to support most of life's health challenges. Details abound in this book, from plant information to skin care to perfumery. Truly amazing and a must have for any essential oil using household in my opinion.
The Essential Life, 4th Edition
This is such a beautiful reference book, it has the most gorgeous photos and is surprisingly low in price for the quality of the book. It has great material that can be found quickly and easily for general usage for essential oils. It is a wonderful starter reference for those new to oils to get acquainted with the numerous possibilities for their every day application for the health and wellness of your family.
Essential Oils Natural Remedies: The Complete A-Z Reference of Essential Oils for Health and Healing
This is a great book for reference to have on hand at home. It is also available on Kindle. It is convenient to have with you on the go to reference when questions about essential oils come up or if challenges in your wellness come up--or for some light reading during a break. I love that it references research studies, has contraindications listed for pregnancy and suggestions for uses and I can have it all in my phone. So useful.
Woman Code by Alisa Vitti, HHC
Part of what brought me to doTERRA was a need to address my hormonal imbalance, which was causing debilitating cramps along with mood swings and inflammation. This book has opened my mind to syncing my diet and oils usage with my cycle. I am still healing from years of hormonal birth control and the constant onslaught of hormone mimicking chemicals in our environment—this book in concert with my supplement and oils regimen is transforming my experience in my sacred female body. It does not give oils advice, rather it focuses on diet, lifestyle and herbs. For oils advice for hormone balance, refer to the person who enrolled you with doTERRA and doTERRA’s site for recommendations. Stay tuned for a future workshop I will host once I gain enough footing to properly teach on the subject and follow us on Instagram as I share my journey.
If you or someone you love is a biological female, they are in need of this book (and essential oils) to empower them in taking charge of their health and making choices in harmony with their body. I wish I had it as an adolescent, it would have created a sense of self confidence and security that was sorely missing from my puberty experience.
I prefer Organic Fractionated Coconut oil for most of the diluting I do with my essential oils. It's really important that essential oils are diluted before you apply them topically so that you reduce your chances of sensitivity and so your body can absorb them more fully. Diluting with a high quality carrier oil is as important as using high quality essential oils, so if you can always look for organic.
I also like to use jojoba oil. It is very similar to the oils our skin naturally produce, so it absorbs really well. I use it sparingly on my face because I have other face oils I love to use, but for perfume and body oil it can't be beat. I don't recommend NOW foods essential oils, simply because doTERRA's are far superior in quality and purity, but their carrier oils are decently priced for the organic options.
To preserve my concoctions, and for antioxidant benefits, I use organic Vitamin E oil. Just a few drops, two or three for a 10ml roller, will help keep your custom blends from degrading.
Vegetarian Capsules
I use Essential Oils internally judiciously, after doing research and ONLY from doTERRA. If you feel this is a good route for you and your body, you may want to get some empty capsules so you can take a drop or two. Always empower yourself with your own research before choosing to take oils internally and feel free to contact me if you need guidance to resources to help you make that decision--I use doTERRA.com as a resource for making this choice for myself, along with my own intuition, some of the texts listed on this page and the consultation of my Naturopath.
DIM Complex + BioPerine 60 capsules
DIM Complex is supportive for balancing the effects of estrogen mimicking hormones in our diet and environment. This formulation is made from Organic cruciferous vegetables in concentrated form, along with whole food powders and Dong Quai, an herb used in Chinese medicine to support hormonal imbalances. Woman Code, linked above, recommends Dong Quai supplementation during the second half of the cycle which led me to choose this supplement. Jimmy and I are both taking this supplement daily to protect our bodies from the numerous sources of hormone disrupting chemicals in our environment, including synthetic fragrances, petroleum by-products, plastics and genetically modified soy products. Rather than leaning into fear about the state of our world, we have chosen to use natural options to support our vitality so we can remain aligned with being a part of improving the world for all beings on the planet as much as possible. Below you will find some of the information I used to make the decision to include this as part of the support of our wellness routine.
Here is a link to a study on DIM (one of the active ingredients in this supplement) and its therapeutic benefits for patients with Thyroid cancer.
Here is a link to a study regarding the effects of estrogenic chemicals on male reproductive development, with a particularly eye opening section titled “3.2. Environmental significance of bisphenol A.” This is why we are both taking this supplement. It feels like the right thing to do for us.
We began supplementing our bodies with collagen two years ago. This is the brand I chose based on our budget and its quality level, I always want the very best thing I can find—but we work within our resources as we build abundance. That being said, I have noticed a difference in my joints, hair, nails and skin since starting on collagen. I make us a round of coffee or chai in the morning with two heaping tablespoons in each cup. It dissolves completely and does not leave any flavor or odd texture to our drink. I also add adaptogenic mushrooms, raw organic cacao with a little maple syrup or honey and coconut (or goat) milk to our morning concoction. I use a milk frother from Daiso with rechargable batteries to whirl it all together. It’s the fanciest morning drink on a dime and it supports our energy levels for hours.
Sacred 7 Mushroom Adaptogenic Supplement
This blend of medicinal mushrooms is a daily part of our morning ritual. I combine it with raw cacao powder to add to our coffee or chai as part of our morning nourishment practice. It contains whole fruiting bodies of Reishi, Maitake, Cordyceps, Shiitake, Lion's Mane, Turkey Tail and Chaga mushrooms, which offer a variety of supportive nutrients for immunity, energy, cognition and healthy aging. I like them because I feel more alert and connected to the Earth when I drink them. Coffee without elixir just seems like an empty cup to me after inviting these wonderful Earth energies into our rising routine. Did you know that the largest organism on the planet is a mushroom? There are a multitude of reasons to be in awe of mushrooms, and that is just a small part of why.
Organic Medium Chain Trigylcerides
Another part of our morning beverage treat is MCT oil to fuel our brains. I also love using this for diluting oils before ingesting them, putting them on my skin and I used them to dilute oils to help a stray dog we rescued get rid of his fleas while we found him a safe home. They are a safe and nutritious way to dilute oils or to just add a boost to our morning elixir. Check out this National Institute of Health study on MCT and Alzheimer’s disease.
This mini diffuser can be plugged in via USB and fits in a cup holder! It also has a rainbow light setting, which is super fun in the car or on your desk. It's also great for travel because it's easy to pack and can use a spare phone charging block to plug it in.
A simple large capacity diffuser with multiple settings and clean design. Using a diffuser is an excellent way to gain all the benefits of essential oils and to raise the mood in your environment. Unlike air freshener, which contains questionable chemicals, you'll be getting all the health benefits of your oils and improving the atmosphere of your space. This one will run for up to 16 hours, so it's great for your living room or office.
Until Jimmy and I design our own (we want something more beautiful with less plastic,) I'll be continuing to try to find the best diffuser I can. I will update this page as I find suitable candidates.
Aromatic Plant Research Center is a company that provides testing to a vast number of essential oil companies, as well as consumers should they choose to pay for testing, that has some of the highest sensitivities in their testing methods. They are able to distinguish the adulteration of essential oils by synthetic chemicals, carrier oils, as well as the extremely difficult to detect natural adulterants of inferior plant materials. Often when a company wants to be able to cut costs without being found out, they will use plants with similar chemical profiles of a more expensive oil to combine with the genuine oil. At doTERRA’s 2018 convention, Prabodh Satyal, Ph.D, CSO of APRC and co-owner, spoke on stage about their company’s testing abilities as well as doTERRA’s unsurpassed standard. They test for many companies, but doTERRA is the only company willing to make the testing that APRC does for them public. They are not affiliated with doTERRA, but the companies clearly share a mutual love of essential oils and their possibilities. It was surprising to learn that more than 80% of essential oils on the market are adulterated and contaminated and that only 3 companies that APRC tests for have genuinely pure oils. doTERRA is one of them, the other two are undisclosed.
What I love about APRC is they are committed to sustainability and study of essential oils. Their blog has a wealth of information for those of completely obsessed with plants and the essential oil industry. They test oils beyond doTERRA’s offering, so it is also a great place to explore other medicinal oils and expand knowledge. It is a plant and science lover’s dream come true.
Elena Brower, yoga luminary and our team mentor of shining light, has created a great resource at Essential-Practice.com. It has everything we share on Facebook in one convenient place for Wellness Advocates and Wholesale Customers alike. If you enrolled with me or anyone on our team, you can register for this private site, it is both beautiful and enlightening.
Doterra.com has excellent educational resources for using oils, knowing their source and learning why they work so well. The Empowered Life Series is a wonderful video portal with episodes on various lifestyle topics and uses for the oils that are novel as well as helpful.
This is me. Holding what Jimmy and I have created. Living in Sobriety. Loving life after 35 years of resisting it. I am a child from a broken home, I am a child of a home with deep denial and pain, I am a survivor of psychological, sexual and emotional abuse, I am a sister of a miracle sibling, I am a daughter of a mother who kidnapped her children, I am a daughter of a mother who came to sobriety when we were taken from her, I am a sister who confronted our abuser on our behalf, I am a daughter of a mother who died of cancer and I am a sister who joined my miracle sibling in caring for her as she passed, I am a daughter who became an alcoholic like her mother, I am a woman who hid from pain, I am a woman surrounded by Love, I am a Woman Awake and I am here, healing each and every day.
I have experienced trauma in my life and I have come to realize that the only suffering that I experience is my resistance to allowing my pain to have its space so I can connect to more Love. I am a person in Recovery and a person in Discovery. If I can make the changes that I have created in my perspective of life, anyone can. I believe this in my body, in my mind and in my infinite spirit. Joy is possible. It is our Birthright. It is our Nature.
I will show you how I am doing it, I have no secret tricks. It has taken time and choices and cultivating a belief that I am worth my time and my choices. This is where I will share the tools as they come along.
The best thing that ever happened at the restaurant job I used to work were the people. Other than my husband, Danielle Kurtz has had the most positive impact on my life since coming into it through that service industry portal. Having Danielle as a co-creative ally has allowed me to find more of mySelf in every aspect of my life. The beauty of co-creating with Danielle is that she sees people for what they Truly are: Infinitely Becoming. I encourage anyone ready to step fully into the journey of unbecoming the victim in their life to Deep Dive with Danielle, attend her yoga classes, travel to her retreats and have her transform your workplace. Join our doTERRA team. Danielle’s ability to provide the mirror and tools needed to empower myself has value beyond measure. The most important thing a person can have as they begin to Awaken is someone who can mirror the Higher Perspective, see them for who they are beyond the limitations and call them to continue on their Higher Purpose as they expand. This is precisely Danielle’s innate gift. Below you will find many things that Danielle Kurtz has brought into my life and you will hear what I have done with them. Go-Alignment would not be manifest without Danielle, nor the many profound, soul expanding realizations I have had on this path.
For those seeking Life Transformation, the first thing I recommend after the oils is Kundalini Yoga. For me this Practice has opened everything, my heart, my mind and my entire existence. I am more patient, resilient, kind, connected, powerful and Present because of my Practice. Kundalini has helped me transform every relationship in my life because it has transformed my relationship with Me. I am a better friend, sister, daughter and wife because of my dedication to my Practice. It is a powerful tool for Sobriety because it provides genuine Presence.
Kundalini is meditation for those who cannot stop thinking and cannot sit still. Anyone in any condition can practice it, it can be practiced anywhere and anytime throughout your day because it truly becomes a way of Being. And I will even make a cure claim for this one: it certainly, always, every single time, without fail, cures boredom. You cannot be bored while doing Kundalini. And you cannot be boring either. It is the most impactful thing I do with my mind and body and it has become non-negotiable. Stay tuned for our class offerings in 2020, Jimmy and I are BOTH doing teacher training. It is going to be Cosmically Explosive.
Jimmy and I use the Life Force Academy membership portal for our daily guidance for practicing at home. It is just $25 per month for unlimited access to classes and other expanding content. We are not affiliates, just devoted fans.
The Work of Byron Katie is an excellent place to start if one has an open mind and would like to open it up, dump out its contents, rexamine, reframe and re-form their experience. I came upon TheWork.com after hearing Byron Katie on another podcast, perhaps Luke Storey’s The Lifestylist (linked below), and it was as though a bomb was dropped on my ego. And I continued to welcome the devastation. I listen to her podcast, go to TheWork.com and learn to do The Work worksheets all for FREE. The worksheets provide a way to free myself from the thoughts that have kept me trapped in fear, worry, lack, opposition and isolation. It is an ongoing process, so I keep The Work app on my phone so I can dismantle my mind on the go.
