In my quest to generate attention for WellnessDestinationsCentral.com (WDC) by writing a blog post about and a letter to one of my alternative healthcare heroes every day of December, I have broken stride. My emotional state yesterday required that I shut off the computer (less work) and spend an extra long time in the very hot bath (more self care). I had a true holiday induced temper tantrum and then meltdown which led to the skipping of one hero attribution. Alas, my project moves into the first day of January 2009. And the beat goes on.....
Today I wish to highlight Gary Young, the founder and president of Young Living Essential Oils. In 1999 I first learned about essential oils as alternative medicine, purchased a few bottles, tried to turn everyone on to them, got zero positive responses (most were along the line of "You're crazy!") and the bottles slowly found their way into the dark recesses of my medicine cabinet. When I was close to graduating from massage school in 2006, I was trying to figure out how to create a unique niche for myself in a market full of excellent therapists.
That's when I remembered Young Living essential oils and dove back in. Deep.
Therapeutic essential oils - think lavender, peppermint, rose, cinnamon - not only smell good, they do good work in the body too. Like many "new age" alternative medical therapies, what's old is new again. Essential oils have been around for centuries, but never before had they been distilled to meet therapeutic quality and made widely available in the US until Gary Young.
Gary came from a pioneering family and in his youth was involved in a tragic and near fatal tree logging accident. He was told that he would never walk again. Unwilling to accept this fate, Gary charged down the difficult road of finding his way in the dark, alone to help his body heal itself naturally in the midst of the hospital setting and conventional, allopathic approach.
He began to understand the body's healing energies and how to harbor and support them through controlled diet. His miraculous recovery kept him on this path which later lead to the introduction to essential oils. Seeing Gary now, one would never suspect that he has ever been anything but strong and able-bodied and certainly never broken.
Gary has perfected the ancient art of distilling plants to harness their essential oils. He has combined modern machinery and contemporary science to assure vast controlled volumes of therapeutic oils. He has introduced these oils around the world to developed countries as well as to impoverished cultures. Gary has now situated his home and clinic in Ecuador to study, propagate and distill lesser known oils such as copal, palo santo and rue.
I admire Gary Young for his dedication to the preservation and advancement of the distillation process and for demanding the use of a grading system to help assure quality and purity of oils. Too many modern oils are tainted with synthetic materials, but Gary has instilled the quality check points to assure the users of his oils that therapeutic results can be achieved naturally.
Young Living oils have changed my life in that I no longer use any over-the-counter self-medicating agents such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Motrin), cough/cold/sinus pills or even aspirin. It's gotten to the point where I taken even few vitamins because I feel my body is getting what it needs through the essential oils and my food.
Gary Young has helped me to become healthier - and in turn helped me help others to get healthier by using the oils in my practice - and it is for this reason that I will write to him a personal note today to express my gratitude, invite him to advertise for free on WDC in exchange for a mention of my alternative healthcare directory to his audience.
If you know Gary, please put in a good word for WDC!
Oh, and if you know of any natural remedies for surviving the holidays intact, please do let me know! ;o)
Live Light, xo-C.
