Sage Essential Oil: All-Around Natural Wonder for Skin and B

Sage essential oil (Salvia officinalis) is a key ingredient in a number of PHYTO5 skincare products mainly for the broad range of benefits it uniquely offers. From working to balance skin conditions to women’s health to the nervous system, sage essential oil is an all-around and extremely versatile remedy.

In France and Russia, sage is specifically cultivated for its essential oil. Sister to rosemary, its leaves are large and fuzzy while small blue/white, pink or purple flowers grow off the thin long stem.

The buds, flowers and leaves are steam distilled to prepare the essential oil of sage. Its aroma is herbaceous, spicy, nutty and warm.

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Sage essential oil contributes well to healthy balanced skin. It has moisturizing and conditioning properties that help soothe skin dryness and irritation. Enjoy sage essential oil in Metal Skin Toner, Water Skin Toner and Wood Skin Toner. 

Sage is very cleansing for skin with excess oil, grime or sweat. It’s anti-fungal and antibacterial.

Sage essential oil is antioxidant rich and therefore fights free radicals which cause signs of premature aging. It’s antioxidant* content is the primary reason why it is formulated in anti-age skincare. Water Ceresal and Night Cream from the Water element line, geared for more mature skin showing aging, are formulated with sage essential oil.

According to a study published in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, rosmarinic and carnosic acids are responsible for sage’s antioxidant properties.

Used cosmetically, sage essential oil helps eliminate toxins, offers relief to minor skin abrasions, lessens the appearance of blemishes and stretch marks. It calms skin conditions such as dermatitis.

Sage essential oil is also a key ingredient in anti-spot skin treatments. It helps to eliminate scars, post-natal abdominal stretch marks and blemishes caused by boils, pox, and sores. It has the resilient ability to quickly heal wounds and incisions. 

Sage is used in all types of home remedies from antiseptic throat gargles to lessening menopausal hot flashes, sage embodies just about every health benefit you can think of.

Sage essential oil helps regulate sebum production and other fluids of the body. It helps purge toxins from the fluids.

A mild hormonal stimulant, sage is very beneficial for women’s health, menstrual pain, regulating menses and easing the process of childbirth. It can be used for mothers weaning their babies because even a small amount ingested actually dries up mother’s milk production. 

Sage aids in the digestion of very fatty foods, helps lower cholesterol and as a bitter herb is very beneficial as a tonic for the liver.

Sage can help rebuild vitality and strength after a long-term illness. Because of its astringent and antiseptic properties it’s an effective cold and flu fighter and a classic remedy for inflammation of the mouth, throat and tonsils

Sage has energetic qualities of happiness and self-confidence. It calms the nervous system and is often therefore used in cases of stress, depression and anxiety. 

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* Antioxidants are substances like vitamins C or E that remove potentially damaging oxidizing agents in a living organism. They slow down aging and prevent symptoms of aging such as wrinkles, sagging skin and muscles, vision and hearing loss, nervous disorders and loss of mental capacity such as memory loss.

Keniston-Pond, Kymberly. Essential Oils 101: Your Guide to Understanding and Using Essential Oils. Adams Media. 2017.

Gladstar, Rosemary. Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use. Storey Publishing. April 2012.

Photo by Gary Barnes at Pexels.

Be a Rice Bran Beauty: How Rice Bran Oil Is Perfect for Anti-Aging Skincare Regimens

Rice bran oil, present in Metal element skincare products, is a highly valued anti-aging ingredient in Asia. Historically, Japanese women added the leftover water from washing rice to their baths to soften and smooth their skin. Both rice bran, known as Nuka or komenuka by the Japanese, and rice bran oil are commonly used in Asia to brighten and help detoxify the skin and remove blemishes. It is a very high compliment in Japan to tell a woman that she’s a “rice bran beauty” or that she has “rice bran splendor.” 

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Also known as rice bran extract, rice bran oil is produced from the bran of the rice kernel. The ferulic acid content in rice bran oil, an organic phytochemical compound found in plant cell walls, has potent anti-aging properties. Because of the anti-aging effect of rice bran oil, it is also an important ingredient in PHYTO5’s Ageless La Cure Five Secrets Serum and Cream Duo for a 3-Week Cure.

Nuka is a vital source of vitamins A, B2, B12 and E and naturally occurring moisturizing proteins. 

A natural enzyme exfoliant, rice bran actively removes impurities from the skin while providing skin nourishing oils. Mixed with water or in skincare formulations such as PHYTO5’s Metal element Phyt’Ether serum, Day Cream and Night Cream decongests pores, brightens skin tone, reduces hyperpigmentation and prepares skin to better absorb nutrients such as minerals for better hydration.

Unrefined brown rice bran is considered one of the most nutrient dense foods ever studied. Paul Pitchford, author of Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition, writes that rice bran is comprised of more than 70 antioxidants that protect against cellular damage and, as a result, preserve the youthfulness of skin.

Nuka has a very important anti-age polyphenol antioxidant, alpha lipoic acid (ALA). Alpha lipoic acid is also known to restore damaged liver and to convert glucose to energy.

Deeply hydrating, rice bran oil is very light and readily absorbed into the skin. Vitamins B and E combined with a high percentage of fatty acids which deeply penetrate the skin, beautifully and gently moisturize, firm, tighten and lessen the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Rice bran is exceptionally good for treating dehydrated, flaky, delicate and mature, fragile skin. Rice bran oil has been shown to prevent every aspect of ultraviolet damage and to reverse aging at the genetic level.

Rice bran oil provides a good source of tocotrienols, an antioxidant that is even more potent than vitamin E. They have gained a great deal of recognition in the cosmetics industry because of their potent antioxidant properties.

Tocotrienols accumulate in the skin and act as a first line of defense. The antioxidant components of tocotrienols, namely, beta-carotene and lycopene (a red carotenoid pigment present in tomatoes and many berries and fruits), help protect the skin from the harmful effects of aggressive environments.

For this reason, rice bran is especially beneficial to skin during cooler months of the year.

“When you use rice bran oil, you get exactly the benefits you need to reverse skin aging, including the synthesis of vitamin D, essential for good health.” Roxy Dillon, Bio-Young: Get Younger at a Cellular and Hormonal Level

Coenzyme Q10 present in rice bran oil helps the skin maintain a more youthful glow. In addition, rice bran oil is an excellent source of squalene which helps to stimulate your body to produce collagen, the main structural protein found in skin and connective tissues which helps your skin remain firm. Squalene in rice bran oil helps keep the skin bright, soft, supple and smooth.

There are many other rice bran oil health benefits in addition to those for the skin:

Cardiovascular health

Rice bran oil is also known as a heart-friendly oil. It helps lower cholesterol because it contains the perfect amount of the antioxidant known as oryzanol. It helps decrease cholesterol absorption and increase cholesterol elimination.

Weight reduction

Free of trans fatty acids, rice bran oil is an optimum choice for cooking.

Hair growth

Ferulic acid (mentioned above) and esters present in rice bran oil have the potential to boost hair growth and health.

Immune system

The abundance of antioxidants in rice bran oil fight free radicals which would otherwise contribute to aging and sickness.

Hormones

The high presence of vitamin B in rice bran oil balances hormone production in the body.

Menopause

Gamma oryzanol (mentioned above) in rice bran is known to alleviate uncomfortable symptoms of menopause.

Liver health

Rice bran improves liver function. It assists in the prevention of fatty liver development. 

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Cheong, Ling-Zhi et al. Rice Bran and Rice Bran Oil: Chemistry, Processing and Utilization. Elsevier Science. January 14, 2019.

Jhin, MD, Marie. Asian Beauty Secrets: Ancient and Modern Tips from the Far East. Bush Street Press. May 2011.

Pitchford, Paul. Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition. North Atlantic Books. November 2002.

Photo by Владимир Васильев at Pexels.

13 Tips for Balancing Your Chakras

In our blog post entitled, “Energy and Chakras,” we explored what chakras are and why it’s a very good idea to not just understand them but keep them in balance. In this article, we look at a number of ways to create that balance in our energetic centers that generate a healthy harmonious body, mind and spirit.

“The yogis have used the chakra system for thousands of years as an integral part of holistic healing; knowing that a person’s illness often first manifests itself in the chakras, before the body, mind, and emotions. Moreover, they knew that no one could be completely healed if the chakra system continued to be out of balance… However, by understanding how each chakra affects a particular body function and emotion it is possible to identify where a chakra is malfunctioning.”

— Teresa Hale, founder of the Hale Clinic, London

“Chakras can be aligned with relative ease, and the way in which you do it is ultimately up to you, whether you use everyday tools and situations, or create a personal ritual or ceremony to heighten the effect.”

— Margaret Ann Lemo in Chakra Awakening: Transform Your Reality Using Crystals, Color, Aromatherapy and the Power of Positive Thought

Following are a number of tips for balancing your chakric system:

• Because the chakras themselves each primarily radiate one of the seven colors of the rainbow, eat a good balance of foods the colors of the rainbow. The key is simply to align many of your food choices with the colors associated with the chakras.

  • Root chakra/red: beets, red carrots, radish, tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, red grapes, watermelon, red currant, red onion, red potatoes, red sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, chili powder, paprika

  • Sacral chakra/orange: mango, orange, tangerine, cantaloupe, papaya, apricots, mamey sapote, persimmon, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkin, orange bell pepper, edible nasturtiums, curry, turmeric

  • Navel chakra/yellow: banana, pineapple, peach, durian, jackfruit, longan, yellow plums, passion fruit, starfruit, rudabaga, organic yellow corn, yellow squash, yukon gold potatoes, yellow bell pepper, honey, edible chrysanthemums, mustard, yellow curry

  • Heart chakra/green: honeydew melon, green beans, broccoli, kale, lettuce, chard, spinach, sprouts, microgreens, collard greens, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, celery, asparagus, brussel sprouts, avocado, green bell pepper, green curry

  • Throat chakra/turquoise: there are almost no naturally occurring teal or turquoise colored foods.

  • Third eye chakra/indigo blue: blue corn, blueberry, elderberry, black raspberry, black currant, borage

  • Crown chakra/violet: damson plum, purple potatoes, purple carrots, purple grapes, purple sweet potato, eggplant, lavender

Partake of the mystique of quantum energetic formulated plant-based skincare for your exalted natural beauty and well-being. Subscribe for a discount promo code, plus get truly unique beauty tips and offers.

• Enjoy energetic skincare infused with essential oils such as PHYTO5’s five element skincare lines (according to traditional Chinese medicine). High grade well balanced essential oil blends create physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits that naturally bring the chakras into alignment and balance.

• Balance your chakras with high quality essential oil blends designed for this purpose. We offer a chakra oil for each of the seven chakras here.

• You may wish to explore flower essences such as Bach flower remedies.

• Practice mudras; similar to a pose in yoga, mudras are powerful energetic poses or gestures for the hands and fingers; here’s a beautiful, easy-to-follow guide from MindBodyGreen.

• Salt is well known for having the ability to cleanse negative energies. Many people sprinkle kosher salt around the perimeter of their property and Himalayan salt lamps inside the home help cleanse the air.

Take a bath or shower with PHYTO5 Selextreme Swiss mountain exfoliating salts. They’re infused with essential oils designed to help balance emotion and your skin condition. There’s a Selextreme for each of traditional Chinese medicine’s five elements. 

• Mantras and affirmations. What is a mantra? The word mantra is two words in one: man and tra. Man means mind and tra means tool, therefore a mantra is a mind tool we utilize to accomplish something. Mantras have nothing to do with prayer but are a form of incantations.

“To start, just thinking the thought, ‘I want to align my chakras,’ helps create the intention to restore balance.”

— Margaret Ann Lemo in Chakra Awakening: Transform Your Reality Using Crystals, Color, Aromatherapy and the Power of Positive Thought

• Explore Solfeggio sound healing for the chakras; check out “The Frequency of Love: Solfeggio 528 Hz–DNA Healing and Activating Higher Consciousness” by PowerThoughts Meditation Club on iTunes. (We are not an affiliate and make no money when you click on this link.)

• Learn to understand the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical domains of each chakra so you can ultimately know where balancing is required. Please read about the seven chakras on our page which features chakra balancing essential oil blends. When you click through on the grey button for each individual oil, you will be given a very good overview for that chakra.

• Herbal teas are earthy and carry source energy of the planet; they can assist us to balance our chakras.

• Discover the use of gemstones placed on your energy centers. Just as quartz emits a constant voltage that keeps a watch running with incredible accuracy, other gemstones also emit frequencies that can help to recharge our chakric energetic centers. You can study what others have to say about which stones correlate to each center and you can also approach it from your own intuitive sense. Not every stone will work the same way for every person.

• Place yourself in experiences and places you love and enjoy and which are safe for your energetic field–in other words and as an example, a beautiful park as opposed to a dark bar. Love and joy are the best remedies.

• For more on the topic of emotions and the potential they have to keep us in balance energetically, which includes our chakras, and physically, please visit our blog, Wei Chi and the Beauty of Emotions.

• “Alternate nostril breathing is one way to bring balance into your breath and harmony to your chakras, mind, body and spirit. It connects and energizes the two hemispheres of your brain. It calms your mind. It allows energy to move freely through your body, which empowers your body to use it’s natural healing abilities.” –Yogi Amrit Desai

• Experience a chakra balancing session with a reputable practitioner. PHYTO5’s Chromapuncter also helps balance chakras though they are available only to sskincare professionals.

Here are some creative exercises anyone can perform in association with each chakra:

Root chakra: Abate fear by connecting with the present moment to help balance the root chakra.

Sacral chakra: Learn more about sacred sexuality, taoist sexuality, and tantra for perhaps a more fulfilling journey into this energetic center.

Solar chakra: Create order in your life wherever you can for the solar plexus chakra. Energy goes where energy flows. Let improved energy flow move throughout your freshly organized and decluttered home. Practice yoga and approach big projects one small step at a time for the sacral chakra, your seat of creativity.

Heart chakra: Join a support or study group to create new meaningful relationships in your life for the heart chakra.

Remember, the greatest love of all is the love you have for yourself so don’t compromise yourself for another.  Practice feeling and envisioning your open heart.

Throat chakra: Journal your feelings or express them through art for the throat chakra.

Learn how to communicate directly and honestly without alienating another person.

Speak up. Don’t suppress what you feel to say.

Learn to say what you mean and mean what you say.

Third eye chakra: Practice periods of stillness for the third eye chakra. Meditation is also perfect for this chakra as is visioning, imagination, and daydreaming.

Crown chakra: Meditate or chant sacred songs for the crown chakra.

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Endnotes:

Lemo, Margaret Ann. Chakra Awakening: Transform Your Reality Using Crystals, Color, Aromatherapy and the Power of Positive Thought. Llewellyn Publications. April 8, 2011.

The Body Only Understands Emotio

The body only understands emotion. It’s a feeling-response mechanism. It doesn’t think. It feels. It feels for the information we give it in the shape of emotion and it acts on that emotion. This may be both a simple and complex concept to embrace.

We have all heard how “thoughts are things” and “thoughts create.” Yes, this is true, partially, but it is more so that the thoughts we think provoke an emotion or feeling within us and it’s the combination of the thought plus emotion that creates. It isn’t that we feel an emotion first and then produce the thought. We think the thought first and feel something as a result.

Thought alone does not create. In fact, there can be no thought in humans without a resulting emotion. Emotion is the powerful engine required in the process of creating but so often, in our ignorance, we misuse emotion and do not understand thought.

This will explain why we may think we want something and it doesn’t materialize because deep down we harbor contrary feelings. Without a feeling of joy or love or other positive emotion, that thing we want will not manifest. In fact, the opposite will manifest as it corresponds to the contrary negative emotion we truly feel.

When we allow random thoughts to take over our thinking mind—which is a subconscious programming and understandably for most of us a “normal” way of being—we are either in the past which is old and done or the future which has not yet occurred.

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Past memories (which aren’t truly thoughts but simply old past events dredged up) and thoughts of the unknown future all too frequently elicit destructive negative emotion within us. Feelings of anxiety, anger, sadness, regret, frustration, overwhelm and more engulf our beings before we even realize it.

“Much human suffering stems from destructive emotions, as hatred breeds violence or craving fuels addiction. One of our most basic responsibilities as caring people is to alleviate the human costs of such out-of-control emotions.” —Daniel Goleman in Destructive Emotions: How Can We Overcome Them?

Destructive emotions wreak havoc not just on our ability to create the lives we want in general but on our ability to heal our physical bodies or keep them functioning in a state of balance.

“What you feel emotionally becomes how you feel physically.” —Don Colbert in Deadly Emotions: Understand the Mind-Body-Spirit Connection

“You can do much to improve your physical health by addressing first and foremost your emotional health.” —Daniel Goleman in Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama

For example:

“A person with a scarcity mindset selects negative thoughts and adopts a victim mentality. The strong emotions they experience on a daily basis creates stress in the body with the range of emotions shifting from anxiety, fear, worry, anger and resentment. Their negative emotions, thoughts and beliefs create illnesses in the body leading to general poor health.” — Dr. Jyoshi, Dr. Piyush and Dr. Ritu Choudhary in Wings of Wisdom: Realize Your Inner Strength.

PHYTO5 provides quantum energetic skincare that can actually assist you to make a shift in emotion toward greater balance. All the high grade essential oil rich five element lines are formulated in such a proprietary way that they actually register very high on the vibrational scale. These products assist us to begin to access the deepest core of the mind-body system. As Deepak Chopra says, this is “the junction point between mind and matter, the point where consciousness actually starts to have an effect.”

We need to get into the habit of actively and consciously choosing our present moment thoughts because it is in the Now that we create our future. We cannot create our future in the past or in the future!

Consciously choosing our thoughts will help us to believe new things and thereby shift our subconscious programming to a new more desired programming, if you will.

Once we have more dominion over our thoughts and consequent emotions we begin to connect to the quantum field of all possibility where all of creation is connected as ONE.

Another way to describe this is as we develop a state of more heightened aware consciousness we spontaneously, naturally and electromagnetically, connect our now higher mind to the feeling heart. And it is the heart that pulls from the quantum field all that is a match for our emotion to bring it in to our reality.

If we want to know where we stand as we create our vitality on all levels all we have to do is look to our current state of emotionality.

If it’s negative, we have a shift we need to make and it can be as simple as shifting the quality of our emotion up even if just by one notch or by as little as three degrees, so to speak.

The shift need only be slight to make a difference and create a new positive momentum. And since we usually can’t get there without some sort of uplifting thought this will involve a slightly new thought process in the moment.

Lining up the sequence of:

1. our higher more conscious aware mind

2. in turn connecting to the ever feeling heart,

whether we allow PHYTO5 quantum energetic products to facilitate this sequence or we go about it on our own, is the key to pulling from the quantum field all that we desire. These desires include everything from perfect health to the accomplishment of an enormous project to bringing new enriching relationships into our lives—whatever we can conceive of.

There is nothing that can prevent what we desire when we consciously line up this sequence of chosen thought to feeling heart. But we must first get into the habit of choosing our thoughts rather than allowing the ego mind to run rampant with random past memories or negatively conjured imaginations of the future! Pause. Take a breath. Inhale a drop of Phyt’Ether Serum and feel more emotionally balanced and empowered to consciously direct your thought.

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Endnotes:

Jyoshi, Dr. Piyush and Choudhary, Dr. Ritu. Wings of Wisdom: Realize Your Inner Strength. Booksclinic Publishing. India. 2021.

Goleman, Daniel. Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Bantam Books. 2003.

Colbert, M.D., Don. Deadly Emotions: Understand the Mind-Body-Spirit Connection. Harper Collins. 2003.

Using Your Body Shape to Help Explain Health Challenges and Reverse Them

Morphology is the study of body shapes. Your physical appearance is the specific manifestation of the sum total of all hidden and subtle energetic influences at work within you—what you were born with as well as what results from where and how you live your life. (This article was originally published September 2, 2016 and has been updated here for freshness and comprehensiveness.)

A healthy human constitution can be described as a relatively harmonious symbiosis between body and spirit. This is comprised of one’s morphological structure, physiological function, psychological makeup and ability to adapt to environments.

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Every person has his or her own stamp, so to speak—a set of unique characteristics which is reflected in differences in morphology, function and psychology.

While there are an infinite number of body shapes, traditional Chinese medicine categorizes them into five groups based on specific characteristics and corresponding to each of the five elements of traditional Chinese medicine theory.

To each of the five elements corresponds a body type—a specific morphology. Here’s an overview:

• Wood: Muscular-type in need of physical activity; well-developed upper body (strong yang) with a generally lesser development of the legs (declining yin); dynamic; Sensitive to wind.

• Fire: Red-faced; rounded upper body with thin legs (strong yang and weak yin); likes to laugh; extroverted; sensitive to heat.

• Earth: Good proportions between upper and lower body (yin and yang in balance); likely to develop a belly; thinking type with stable demeanor; can be nervous when problems occur; sensitive to humidity.

• Metal: Skin poor in oxygenation, looking paler than usual, particularly for Caucasian and Asian complexions; skin sensitive to dryness and visible signs of desquamation; early loss of skin tone.

There are two possible versions of Metal body shapes:

1. Yin type: Thin and withdrawn; loss of minerals with poor oxygenation; poor circulation; cold perspiration.

2. Yang type: Bloated face with poor lymph drainage; puts on weight easily all over the body; poor venous circulation (on legs in particular); perspires with a strong odor.

• Water: Thin to skinny (strongest yin); early gray hair, black circles or puffy eyes, localized water retention; early loss of skin tone resulting in wrinkles; poor muscular development, very flexible articulations; dislikes cold.

Numerous descriptions of body morphology appear in Chinese medical texts. A famous passage from the Divine Pivot (Ling Shu)* corresponds the shape, number and types of human body parts to the structure of Heaven and Earth.

The texts documented the crucial spots on the body where a practitioner could insert needles or apply the heat of burning mugwort to cure illness, and they taught practitioners how to locate these points by describing their position relative to the bones, creases and swellings of the body.

Awareness of human morphology similarly shaped therapeutic texts in which illnesses and their cures were categorized according to the part of the body that was afflicted.

Morphology provides an additional set of information to help confirm the dominating energy influencing your health and appearance. It is a quick tool that can be used in tandem with information ascertained from your skin condition and biorhythm.

Morphology and biorhythm are likely to correlate and confirm each other. This combined information allows a trained practitioner to anticipate the likely direction of your aging process and to create a highly personalized skincare program for you.

In the case of an established esthetic challenge, skin condition or body shape, information from morphology helps define the proper solution for you. It confirms the right treatment protocol and the proper home regimen.

Morphology is just one important tool to help us better understand the energetic tendencies that affect each of us. It can also help explain the reasons behind some of our chronic health challenges.

“Setting aside any consideration of human evolution or racial groups, the human body can be broadly categorized into three types: ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph. People classified as ectomorphs usually have a long, lean frame and narrow shoulders and hips… Endomorphs, by contrast, are short and broad, with wide hips and a tendency to gain weight. Mesomorphs are athletic in build with broad shoulders, narrow waist, and powerful, but not wide, hips…

The basic shape or skeletal framework of a person, whether ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph, or a combination (few people will fall neatly into one specific category), cannot be changed by exercise. Exercise and food intake, however, can influence how you look.”

— Chan Ling Yap in Fusion Fitness: Combining the Best from East and West

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Endnotes:

*Ling Shu: Also known as Divine Pivot, Spiritual Pivot, or Numinous Pivot, is an ancient Chinese medical text whose earliest version was probably compiled in the first century BCE on the basis of earlier texts. It is one of two parts of a larger medical work known as the Huangdi Neijing (Inner Canon of Huangdi or Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon). The other section, which is more commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine, is known as the Suwen.

University, Tsinghua University Press Tsinghua, and Dongpei Hu. Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory and Principles. De Gruyter, 2017.

Yap, Chan Ling. Fusion Fitness: Combining the Best from East and West. Alameda, CA: Hunter House, 2003. Print.

Wu, Yi-Li. Reproducing Women: Medicine, Metaphor, and Childbirth in Late Imperial China. University of California Press, 2010.

Wu, Jing-Nuan. Ling Shu: Or the Spiritual Pivot. The Taoist Center, 2004.

Image in the public domain: Bather and Maid (La Toilette de la baigneuse) (1900–1901) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Escin Derivate from Horse Chestnut: Beneficial for Chronic Venous Stasis, Venous Circulation and Leg Edema (Heavy Legs)

Escin (aescin) is the main active component in horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), the unpalatable nut of the horse chestnut tree.* Horse chestnut derivate with escin is formulated into PHYTO5’s Metal element Yogi Body Gel specifically for the purpose of improving venous circulation. A group of 43 females who suffered from chronic venous stasis (slow blood flow in the veins) were treated once a day for 30 days with 2% escin in an oil/water emulsion and experienced marked improvements in 11 skin characteristic categories. (See results below.)

Escin is a substance that both thins the blood and supports blood coagulability. It works to reduce edema and increase venous tone. Escin also makes it harder for fluid to leak out of veins and capillaries and weakly promotes fluid loss through the urine to help prevent water retention.

Escin derivate is anti-inflammatory, vasoconstrictive and vasoprotective. Evidence suggests that escin, especially pure β-aescin, is a safe and effective treatment for short-term treatment of vascular fragility, varicose veins and veinous inflammation.

Escin is a dry extract and has long been extensively used by general practitioners in Germany in the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency. Escin is used intravenously in vascular medicine and topically in cosmetics.

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Especially for topical cosmetic application as in Metal Yogi Body Gel, escin is an excellent astringent, anti-inflammatory and decongestant that supports venous circulatory energy. Metal Yogi Body Gel is recommended for ‘heavy legs’ helping to keep legs light during long periods of travel, especially during flights. In fact, studies show escin may be just as effective as compression stockings for many people experiencing edema in the legs.

The horse chestnut tree is native to the Balkan peninsula and is commonly found in European ornamental gardens. Both the dried seeds and the bark of the horse chestnut tree have been used medicinally since the sixteenth century.

Homeopathic preparations of both the leaf and the seed are also used for treating hemorrhoids, lower back pain and varicose veins.

The buds and the flower of the horse chestnut tree are used to make the Bach flower remedies chestnut bud and white chestnut. The BACH remedy identifies the white chestnut remedy prepared from horse chestnut as encouraging to one’s positive potential to find tranquility and peace of mind. According to the BachCentre, white chestnut is “the remedy for unwanted thoughts and mental arguments that intrude into the mind… repetitive. They worry at us like a dog worries a bone.”

Related to this, the entire Metal element skin and haircare line by PHYTO5 also assists with the emotion of discontentment, helping to bring us to a balance point where we know that all is well.

In addition to horse chestnut derivate containing escin, unique ingredients in Metal Yogi Body Gel are essential oils of niaouli, eucalyptus, lemon and thyme. Metal Yogi Body Gel is rich in minerals iron, copper, zinc, magnesium and silica. Nourishing and hydrating biosaccharides and aloe and apricot oils are also unique ingredients in this decongesting, hydrating, mineralizing line of skincare.

Results of the 30-day study with 43 females suffering chronic venous stasis discussed in paragraph 1 above
The following values are approximate and each reflects an improvement in that area.

• roughness: 46%

• pastiness: 36%

• elasticity: 6.5%

• flexibility: 9%

• lipedema (a condition that is almost exclusively found in women and results in enlargement of both legs due to deposits of fat): 60%

• ‘plaques’ with edema: 55%

• spontaneous pain: 30%

• provoked pain: 35%

• flaccidity (loose hanging skin): 45%

• striae (ridges in the skin): 5%

• cold skin: 24%

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* Unrelated to true chestnuts, the horse chestnut bears unpalatable nuts enclosed in fleshy, thorny husks.

8 Ways to Expose Yourself To Earth's Healing Negative Ions

Many of us are aware that a return to nature is sorely needed in a world of technological devices, 5G, wifi signals and more. We are literally being insulted all day and sometimes all night long not just physically, but psychologically, socially and mentally as well. And the reason we know that a return to nature is our best remedy to counteract our technology bombarded lives is because when we enjoy even a short time in a nature setting we just feel better—and quickly. Why do we feel better? One big answer: NEGATIVE IONS. 

What are negative ions?

First, positive ions are atoms or molecules that have lost one or more electrons and consequently have a shortage of electrons.

In contrast, negative ions have gained one or more additional electrons which makes these odorless, tasteless, invisible molecules negatively charged as a whole.

There’s a delicate positive-negative ion balance in nature.

In a thunderstorm, the natural ratio of positive to negative ions can be disturbed very easily.

The normal concentration of positive ions in the air is very high. During and following the storm, the number of positive ions gradually declines while the concentration of negative ions increases.

Negative ions are actually biologically active and make a positive impact on the natural 24-hour cycle. Created in nature as air molecules break apart due to sunlight, radiation, ultraviolet rays, the vital energy of plants and moving air and water, they are not harmful even if their concentration is high. 

Offices, factories, and shopping malls are places where we will encounter an excess of positive ions.

We should very frequently expose ourselves to places with very high concentrations (tens of thousands) of negative ions such as these:

• mountains

• parks

• waterfalls/water fountains/your bathroom shower/misty rain/dewy grass

• springs

• beaches/pounding surfs

• forests (especially pine forests)

• moving air/wind

• dirt/earth

Along with placing ourselves in nature settings teeming with negative ions, here are some other creative activities you can do to generate negative ions right in your home or office environment:

• Burn beeswax candles; they are said to clean the air, produce negative ions and assist with allergy and asthma reduction. Make sure your beeswax candles are the real thing. Some manufacturers sell candles that are not 100% beeswax.

• Operate a Himalayan salt lamp wherever you spend a good deal of time in your home. They counteract the electronic vibrations and excessive positive ions caused by electronic devices in the home. The heated salt attracts and absorbs water in the air and then evaporates it; the salt mixes with the water molecules creating a solution. The positively charged ions of sodium and the negatively charged ions of chloride become neutral and are released into your environment. This reduces pollutants, irritants and allergens from the air.

• Run an indoor water fountain. The force or energy of falling or splashing water causes the neutral particles in air to split which frees electrons to attach to other air molecules resulting in negative ions.

• Have amethyst and tourmaline crystals nearby or wear them. Tourmaline is believed to convert moisture from the air to negative ions. Amethyst is considered to be similar in nature.

• Surround yourself with plants. They clean the air by taking in carbon dioxide and breathing out fresh oxygen and many negative ions. Some plants release higher levels of negative ions than others (best choices: chrysanthemum, coconut palm, gerbera, spider plant and weeping fig). You will be able to tell if your plant is effective at dispersing negative ions into your environment if it thrives in its growth inside your home or office.

  • Adding on to the concept of plants in the home, diffuse high quality purely natural essential oils in a good diffuser. This creates a natural ionization effect. Read more about how to in our article, How Essential Oils May Help Purify the Air We Breathe.

• Use radiant heating from far infrared devices (they warm the body and not the air) and emit negative ions.

• Sit in front of bon- or hearth fires. Fires creative negative ions, too.

• Walk barefoot or use earthing/grounding inserts in your shoes; try earthing sandals (see earthrunners.com). When you come into direct contact with the earth, your body is suffused with negative ions and aligns to the same electric energy level as the earth.

  • In addition to walking on bare earth, walk on dewy grass or take a walk in the misty rain. Dew and mist also contain negative ions.

There are more ions in the WOODS than in the FIELD; more on a SUNNY day than on a CLOUDY day; and more where the ground has a high RADIOACTIVE content. PLANTS are nature's most prolific source of negative ions for they conduct the negative energy of the earth into the air by ejecting it from the tips of their leaves. We are told that "there are life-giving properties in the BALSAM of the PINE, in the FRAGRANCE of the CEDAR and the FIR, and other TREES also have properties that are HEALTH-RESTORING....

One potted plant per 100 square feet of floor space can help clean the air in the average home or office.... 15 to 20 potted plants of the right variety, such as PHILODENDRONS, SPIDER PLANTS, ALOE VERA, PEACE LILIES, CORN PLANTS, POTTED IVY, SNAKE PLANTS, and FLOWERING BANANAS would do the work of a good high-efficiency air cleaner in purifying the air in a room. – Paulien, Gunther B. The Divine Prescription and Science of Health and Healing. Brushton, NY: TEACH Services, 1997. Print.

…

Photo courtesy of Louis at Pexels

The Flower of Life Meaning: Junction Point Between Mind and Matter

The Flower of Life pattern is a captivating sacred geometry form. Awareness of the Flower of Life symbol dates back several centuries but it has always existed. The Flower of Life design is both simple and intricate. Without words, the Flower of Life speaks ‘quantum energy’ and all that issues from that energy: quantum health, quantum mind and quantum beauty.

For this reason, PHYTO5 adopts the Flower of Life symbol to depict the quantum energetic nature of its five element lines of skincare (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water).

The Flower of Life Pattern Is Mathematical.

Sacred geometry holds that mathematical and geometric principles form the foundation of all life forms and structures in the universe.

The Flower of Life symbol is considered one of sacred geometry’s most important. It represents the interconnectedness of all living beings.

Epitomizing cosmic order the innately powerful Flower of Life symbol encompasses ancient spiritual wisdom and the secrets of creation.

The Flower of Life pattern consists of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles that form a mesmerizing flower-like pattern.

“The Flower of Life pattern can be extended as a fractal, containing variations of itself within itself at all scales. It is the template of the fundamental symmetries of form in all the infinite dimensions. ”

— Narada Dan Vantari in Understanding Sacred Geometry and the Flower of Life

Partake of the mystique of quantum energetic formulated plant-based skincare for your exalted natural beauty and well-being. Subscribe for a discount promo code, plus get truly unique beauty tips and offers.

Image courtesy of Sonu John @psyyych at Unsplash

The pattern of the Flower of Life symbol exhibits evenly spaced repeating, overlapping circles of equal radii in two-dimensional space.

If you love the mandala(2) of Hindu and Buddhist symbolism, you’ll immediately recognize the the Flower of Life design in most mandalas.

The oval-shaped spheres in the Flower of Life form a flower-like pattern with a sixfold symmetry similar to a hexagon.

Look closely and you’ll see the center of each circle in the pattern sits on the circumference of six surrounding circles of the same diameter.

The Flower of Life symbol exists as sacred geometry blueprint representing two fundamental desires every human being holds:

Image courtesy of Zoltan Tasi @zoltantasi at Unsplash

• our primordial desire for completion

• and Oneness with Source.

These quantum(3) concepts abound in all of nature of which humans are an integral part.

The Flower of Life In Nature Unfolds Its Beautiful Design and Radiates Mathematics.

Gaze at the Flower of Life symbol and the overlapping circles seem to infinitely repeat themselves. This pattern tells us life goes on forever.

Look closely at the dahlia (pictured above) or the seed core of the sunflower blossom.

They typify the Flower of Life in nature repeated within their blossoms. The pineapple and pine cone are other good examples.

Countless examples of the Flower of Life in nature wait for you to notice and enjoy them.

Whether it’s in a flower blossom or a diagram of the Flower of Life design, you’re witnessing the unfolding of the sacred geometry concept of phi or the golden ratio.(1)

Phi appears virtually everywhere—in architecture, art, nature, the human body form and technology.

We find the most inspiring appearances of the Flower of Life’s golden ratio demonstrated in nature and art.

To see phi in action, notice how plants grow and the Flower of Life pattern unfolds. You see repetitive arrangement (called phyllotaxis) of petals, seeds, florets, and some branches.

Where flowers demonstrate the Flower of Life design and the mathematical phi, you’ll also see the rows of petals numerically unfold in the Fibonacci sequence.

The Fibonacci sequences is a series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers. The simplest is the series 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so on.

Take the dahlia flower and count the number of petals in each row. Each row of petals will demonstrate quantities in the Fibonacci sequence.

Sometimes called the Genesis Pattern, esoterics also call the Flower of Life symbol the Language of Silence and the Language of Light.

“[The Flower of Life] is the source of all language. It’s the primal language of the universe, pure shape and proportion.” ”

— Drunvalo Melchisedek in The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life

The Flower of Life Symbol Conveys Quantum Energy in Health and Healing.

For quantum physicists inclined to the spiritual, the geometric pattern of the Flower of Life symbol represents the essential concept of quantum mechanics.

Many mathematicians believe that all linguistic languages can be mapped from the sacred geometry of the Flower of Life form and design.

They tell us the Flower of Life patterns shows us in a visual way that language is energetic vibration. And just like the nested petals of the rose, the Flower of Life design forms ‘petals’ that are nested. It blooms too illustrating the first vibratory patterns of the universe.

The Flower of Life symbol communicates to you that all things emerge from one perfectly organized quantum pattern.

The dahlia is one of the best depictions of energetic vibration in the Flower of Life in nature and in language. Just as energetic vibration always radiates outward from its core so too do the petals of the dahlia in the Flower of Life design.

Quantum energy is the subtle energy that permeates all matter. It connects everything in the universe. We influence this energy by our thoughts, emotions, and intentions.

In other words, quantum energy responds to our thoughts, emotions, and intentions. And for this reason, it plays a vital role in our well-being.

• PHYTO5 five-element skincare is quantum energetic. It’s extremely high vibrational skincare going beyond the level of skin to the quantum level of thoughts, emotions and intentions.

• We incorporate the energy of the Flower of Life pattern and vibration into our innovative five-element formulations.

• PHYTO5 five-element skincare works to align with the natural rhythms of your body. It works to restore balance and vitality to skin and exalt your natural beauty. And beyond surface beauty, because our skincare is quantum energetic, it creates overall well-being and emotional balance.

Both the Flower of Life symbol and PHYTO5 skincare remind us of the infinite healing potential that lies within each of us.

Anytime you gaze at the wonder and beauty the Flower of Life in nature, see it as the symbol of creation, beauty and eternal life it is. It embodies the potential of quantum health and healing.

And it actually emits quantum energy in its exquisite Flower of Life pattern of boundless elegance. We find no better icon to represent PHYTO5’s quantum energetic skincare than the Flower of Life symbol. Our missions and functions are intertwined and the very same.

The Flower of Life pattern illustrates the first vibratory patterns of the universe. These first vibratory patterns are your healing essence.

1. First, we create physical balance where our systems work harmoniously with each other and we enjoy good health.

2. The next level of health is called high vibrational or potently energetic. Here vital energy abounds and flows freely in the body. We’re less prone to sickness and disease at this level, but if we become ill, we can venture into the quantum realm for healing (#3).

3. We achieve the quantum level of health by accessing the higher quantum-spiritual realm as Deepak Chopra describes below. We go there to provoke the true healing response.

PHYTO5’s five element skincare lines are formulated to be quantum energetic. We utilize an unduplicated proprietary method to substantially elevate the vibratory frequency of essential oils of flowers and plants—the quantum frequency range.

This means that, at the very least, you can treat your skin, the largest organ of your body, to the quantum healing vibration and essence.

Remember, we said the Flower of Life illustrates the first vibratory patterns of the universe.

These first vibratory patterns form your healing essence. They’ve always existed within you.

“Quantum healing moves away from external, high-technology methods towards the deepest core of the mind-body system. This core is where healing begins. To go there and learn to promote the healing response, you must get past all the grosser levels of the body–cells, tissues, organs, and systems–and arrive at the junction point between mind and matter, the point where consciousness actually starts to have an effect.”

— Deepak Chopra, MD

Dive deep into the mysteries of the Flower of Life symbol and quantum energy. Open yourself to a world of limitless holistic healing. Elevate your skincare routine to a transformative self-care ritual.

The Flower of Life Meaning Lives in the Foundational Beliefs of Ancient Spiritual and Philosophical Sages.

The Flower of Life pattern has always fascinated artists, scientists, and philosophers alike. Its exquisite precision and harmony hold significant meaning across various cultures and spiritual practices.

They found connection with higher consciousness and divine energy by integrating the Flower of Life symbol into their art, architecture, and spiritual practices.

Many spiritual and philosophical sages believe the Flower of Life symbol illustrates the fundamental forms of space and time.

Still other scientifically-rooted philosophical groups say the Flower of Life symbol is the foundation of the universe.

Many present day physicists like Nassim Haramein, founder of Resonance Science Foundation (resonancescience dot org) have resolved quantum theory mathematics to the same geometry as the Flower of Life.

The temple of Osiris at Abydos in Egypt contains the Flower of Life pattern carved in granite. This is completely appropriate since Osiris was the God associated with immortality and the afterlife.

The Phoenicians, Assyrians, people of India, Asia and the Middle East all knew about the Flower of Life symbol. And they featured it in their art. Eventually the Flower of Life design made its way into medieval art too.

R. Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome (nicknamed the ‘Jitterbug’) is an obvious representation of the Flower of Life.

The Flower of Life Pattern Gives Birth to Many Other Sacred Geometry Forms.

If we connect points in the Flower of Life design, we can identify many other sacred geometry forms nested within it.

• Metatron’s Cube

• Vesica Piscis created by the interaction of two circles.

• Tree of Life

• Seed of Life

• Egg of Life

• Fruit of Life

We also find all five platonic solids in the Flower of Life symbol:

• tetrahedron with four faces; the pyramid

• cube with six faces

• octahedron with eight faces

• dodecahedron with twelve faces

• icosahedron with twenty faces.

Metatron’s Cube Within the Flower of Life Symbol

Metatron’s Cube is a pattern composed of thirteen circles dating back at least many centuries BCE.

It’s called Metatron’s Cube since Archangel Metatron played a crucial role in the creation of the universe (according to Jewish mysticism or Kabbalah.) Each of the thirteen circles represents one of the thirteen spheres of the Kabbalah Tree of Life.

Vesica Piscis and the Tree of Life Nested in the Flower of Life Symbol

The image of the Tree of Life nests itself within the Flower of Life and so does the Vesica Piscis.

The Vesica Piscis forms when the centers of two equal radius circles are placed on each other’s circumferences.

Every line in the Tree of Life measures out to either the length or the width of a Vesica Piscis in the Flower of Life pattern.

Leonardo DaVinci was very interested in the Flower of Life design. He studied its form and mathematical properties. The way the Flower of Life pattern seemed to connect physical reality to consciousness intrigued DaVinci.

Da Vinci very often used the golden ratio (phi) in his artwork. Remember, we discussed this mathematical concept above, also known as the Fibonacci sequence or spiral. The Fibonacci sequence and spiral derive from the Flower of Life pattern.

The Seed of Life Nested Within the Flower of Life symbol

In the Seed of Life six circles, without exception, always exactly fit around a seventh circle of the same size.

Similar to the fractal, the number seven also repeatedly appears in spirituality:(4)

• seven chakras

• seven colors of the rainbow

• the heptonic seven-note scale in music.

The Flower of Life Symbol Contains the Egg of Life.

Adding six additional circles to the Seed of Life you produce the Egg of Life.

The Egg of Life is the second iteration in the construction process of the Flower of Life.

The Egg of Life represents fertility, new life, and rebirth.

The Flower of Life Pattern Contains the Fruit of Life Symbol.

The Fruit of Life symbol composed of 13 circles is also nested inside the Flower of Life.

It’s called the blueprint of the universe because it contains the starting point for the design of every atom, molecular structure, and life form in existence.

The Flower of Life meaning can help us begin to understand universal creation.

Sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and proportions.

You only have to look at the Flower of Life symbol once to recognize the platform it creates for contemplating universal creation.

To start, think of it this way: Each sphere contained within the Flower of Life symbol explains another aspect of reality.

And they all interconnect and relate to each other.

The Flower of Life symbol is only limited by the circle we draw to frame it.

Left unframed, it radiates into infinity in both directions—inward and outward. It’s no wonder it represents creation of the universe.

You Are the Flower of Life Design Yourself.

Today, many use the Flower of Life a focus point for study and meditation. The Flower of Life's intricate design and harmonious structure resonate with quantum energy frequencies.

By meditating on or simply observing the Flower of Life pattern in nature, you can intensify your connection to this universal energy field. You may even feel and experience a sense of balance, harmony, and alignment.

All objects and creatures in our tangible world are believed to have emerged from the Flower of Life design in sacred geometrical essence.

We are all products of the Flower of Life’s higher intelligence, consciousness and vibration.

While the Flower of Life symbol connects all individual souls within the web of life, the universal concept of ‘as above, so below’ applies here.

You yourself are the microcosmic aspect of the Flower of Life pattern.

We emerge from our mother’s sacred womb as repeating fractals of humanity. Humanity is constantly replicating itself in the same way of the Flower of Life pattern.

And this pattern is encoded in the deepest recesses of the human body. We can access its creative nature in the quiet places of our beings—the junction point between mind and matter as Chopra describes it.

This is the quantum realm the Flower of Life represents.

And it’s where true healing begins.

We invite you to explore PHYTO5’s quantum energy formulated five lines of skincare. No one else is doing what we do.

“The higher dimensional patterns and principles revealed in the Triangles, Hexagons, and Circles of the Flower of Life, attract the human spirit back to its source and accelerate the evolution of consciousness.”

— Narada Dan Vantari

…

Endnotes:

1. Golden ratio is the ratio of a larger to a smaller quantity when this is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities (i.e. 1 to about 1.618), describing a geometric proportion that is considered to be particularly pleasing to the eye.

2. Mandala: a geometric figure representing the universe and the search for completeness and self-unity; a symbolic meta-geometric circle used by Buddhists in meditation, 1859, from Sanskrit mandala "disc, circle;” adopted 20c. in Jungian psychology as a symbol of unity of the self and completeness.

3. Quantum: the smallest discreet quantity of some physical property that a system can possess

4. Fractal: "never-ending pattern," 1975, from French fractal, ultimately from Latin fractus "interrupted, irregular," literally "broken," past participle of frangere "to break" (from PIE root *bhreg- "to break"). Coined by French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot (1924-2010) in "Les Objets Fractals.”

Sources:

Sacred geometry images from https://pardesco dot com blogs / news / sacred-geometry-art-symbols-meanings

Roth, Stephanie. The Cosmic Visions of Hildegard of Bingen. TheEcologist dot org. January 2000.

Melchisedek, Drunvalo. The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life. Light Technology Publishing, Flagstaff, AZ. 1999.

From Archangel to Geometry: Metatron's Cube and Its Spiritual Legacy. N.p., M.A. Hill

Vantari, Narada Dan. Understanding Sacred Geometry and the Flower of Life: A Higher Dimensional Perspective on an Ancient Wisdom Stream. Australia, Dan Vantari, 2017.

Harper, Douglas. “Quantum.” Etymology Online. 2001. Search: quantum

Harper, Douglas. “Quantum.” Etymology Online. 2001. Search: mandala

Harper, Douglas. “Quantum.” Etymology Online. 2001. Search: fractal

Guaiacwood Essential Oil Benefits

Guaiacwood essential oil benefits include skin tightening, age mitigating and purifying. Guaiacwood essential oil heals and soothes skin with its non-irritating, non-sensitizing and anti-inflammatory properties.

Guaiacwood essential oil contracts blood vessels and skin tissue creating a tightened more youthful appearance. It works as a diuretic moving excess fluid. Guiacwood essential oil is able to mitigates signs of aging because it’s antioxidant rich. Antioxidants fight free radicals that cause aging in skin.

Guaiacwood essential oil benefits include skin restoration. This is why cosmetic companies will formulate the oil into their therapeutic skincare.

Partake of the mystique of quantum energetic formulated plant-based skincare for your exalted natural bxeauty and well-being. Subscribe for a discount promo code, plus get truly unique holistic beauty tips and offers.

A Comprehensive List of Guaiacwood Essential Oil Benefits

• skin tonifying; astringent/skin pore tightening

• cleansing and purifying to tissues and skin

• supportive of venous and lymphatic circulation (so necessary for radiant skin)

• balsamic (sharing a root with the word ‘balm,' balsamic here means healing to skin)

• antioxidizing (for slowing down the visible signs of aging)

• soothing to swollen or injured skin tissue

• anti-fungal (especially for skin)

• anti-inflammatory

• antiseptic (therefore good for acne and oily skin)

• astringent

• diaphoretic/sudorific (stimulating sweat)

• diuretic

• laxative

• anti-rheumatic

• tight muscle loosening

• easing of respiratory challenges

• stimulating to the genito-urinary system

• aphrodisiacal, calming, relaxing and tension relieving (slows down reflexes)

• mood uplifting

• mental clarity sharpening

• balancing anxious or depressed emotional state

• emotional pain relieving

• creativity enhancing

• restful sleep supportive

• meditation experience enhancing

Technically known as Bulnesia sarmientoi, guaiacwood essential oil benefits enhance a number of PHYTO5 skincare products:

• Zen Body Exfoliation

• organic certified Zen Massage Oil and

• organic certified Ageless La Cure Nourishing Cream.

Guaiacwood essential oil benefits skincare products like the PHYTO5 products mentioned above in part, because it’s very viscous.

Unfortunately, even though the guaiacwood essential oil benefits for skin are numerous, it’s more often used for foods, beverages, candles, soaps, and perfumes because of its inherent intriguing flavor and scent.

Guaiacwood essential oil serves as an excipient or medium for the delivery of other ingredients in many products.

The cosmetic and perfume industries often utilize guaiacwood essential oil for its excellent fixative properties and delicate wood-rose odor.

Guaiacwood essential oil benefits include scent balancing. It smoothes out strong or harsh fragrances with its sweet, delicate balsamic fragrance reminiscent of tea roses.

Guaiacwood essential oil benefits and balances the rose notes in Chanel No. 19 with its own woody notes.

Once reserved strictly for use as incense, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) now regulates and protects guaiacwood and its trade.

Guaiacwood essential oil benefits or those from the pure burning wood itself (often called palo santo) offer a calming fragrance similar to the burning of cedar. The calming nature of palo santo explains why meditating people enjoy when it releases its smoke into the air.

Guaiacwood essential oil possesses high levels of a highly complex mélange of odorant terpene compounds.(3) Roughly two thirds of guaiacwood’s terpene composition are guaiol and bulnesol. Guaiacwood is composed of approximately twelve different terpene compounds.

Click through the following links to learn about terpenes in our articles on the topic:

• The Terpene: Most Fundamental Fragrance, Flavor and Healing Component of Essential Oils; and

• Scent, Flavor and Healing Are Found In All Plants Because of Terpenes

Many soaps contain unpleasant smelling synthetic ingredients. The soap manufacturers utilize the natural fragrance guaiacwood essential oil benefits to potently mask the chemical odor.

Guaiacwood essential oil benefits include the flavor component. It’s used in baked goods, meat products, gelatins, puddings, confectionary, beverages including alcoholic, and frozen dairy desserts.

Guaiacwood Essential Oil Benefits In Folk Medicine

Guaiac grows endemically as a tree with beautifully fragrant wood in the Gran Chaco region(1) of South America.

For hundreds of years, the local population takes advantage of guaiacwood essential oil benefits in the wood as a multipurpose folk medicine. They make infusion remedies by brewing the tree’s bark, crust or leaves. Guaiacwood essential oil benefits seep organically into the tea. And the people enjoy a whole range of health benefits from the tea.

The Gran Chaco people tap into guaiacwood essential oil benefits as:

• blood cleanser

• perspiration inducer

• diuretic

• gastric pain reliever and

• wound and skin healer.

They use guaiacwood essential oil to treat serious diseases and conditions like syphillis, leprosy, gout, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. And they treat less serious conditions with guiacwood essential oil such as common colds, flu symptoms and headaches.

Guaiacwood Essential Oil Benefits Derive from the Exemplary Strength of the Tree Itself.

Guaiacwood possesses a high resin content and is particularly dense. It makes an excellent wood in some construction, in floor parquetry and handicrafts.

Essential oil manufacturers produce guaiacwood essential oil by steam distillation of the heartwood,(2) sawdust and wood leftovers of the tree.

The wood of the guaiacwood tree grows 20 to 65 feet tall. And the age of the guaiacwood tree determines how potent the essential oil will be.

As mentioned earlier, guaiacwood grows in the Gran Chaco region which includes Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and to some extent Brazil.

Essential oil producers in the Gran Chaco region yield roughly 100 metric tons of guaiacwood essential oil per year.

In the Gran Chaco region, the people call guiacwood—palo santo (holy wood). The name palo santo originated in the jungles of Northwest Argentina.

But guaiacwood goes by many more names:

• champaca-wood

• pockwood

• lignum vitae (wood of life)

• essence bois de guaic in French.

If you come across guaiac resin understand that it’s an entirely different product from guaiacwood essential oil. Guaic resin comes from the tree Guaiacum officinale of the Bahama Islands. They use this resin to produce drug store stool tests looking for hidden blood in a sample.

Perfumers rarely use guaiac resin. But the tincture prepared from this resin does have a pleasant balsamic vanilla-like odor with a slightly smoky undertone. This particular guac tincture is the same tincture Sherlock Holmes used to identify blood stains in a murder scene.

…

Endnotes:

1. The Gran Chaco region is a lowland plain in central South America that extends from southern Bolivia through Paraguay to northern Argentina.

2. Heartwood is the dense inner part of a tree trunk, yielding the hardest timber.

3. Terpenes are aromatic metabolites found in the oils of all plants. Almost without exception, when a plant produces a scent or flavor, that odor or flavor comes from the terpenes present in the plant.

…

Sources:

Tissandié L, Viciana S, Brevard H, Meierhenrich UJ, Filippi JJ. Towards a complete characterisation of guaiacwood oil. Phytochemistry. 2018 May;149:64-81. doi: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2018.02.007. Epub 2018 Feb 23. PMID: 29477626.

Schmidt, Erich, and deGroot, AntonC.. Essential Oils: Contact Allergy and Chemical Composition. United Kingdom, CRC Press, 2021.

Arctander, Steffen. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. N.p., Lulu.com, 2017.

Abourashed, Ehab A., and Khan, Ikhlas A.. Leung's Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients: Used in Food, Drugs and Cosmetics. Germany, Wiley, 2011.

How Both Positive and Negative Ions Work to Elevate Our Physical and Mental Well-Being

Negative ions, abundantly found in nature, can positively and remarkably influence well-being. Get enough exposure to negative ions in nature and you may be able to get to sleep more quickly and sleep more soundly. Negative ion exposure helps you relieve your allergies, feel more energetic, concentrate better, perform athletically at higher levels, and feel happier.

But positive ions occurring in nature are also a key factor in producing uplifting physical benefits, too, most especially when it comes to mood, well-being and happiness.

Positive Ions and Beneficial Serotonin Production

Many of our previous articles have focused on the myriad of health benefits of negative ions but positive ions in healthy doses can be very beneficial to our physical and mental health also.

We are all aware that negative ions are produced and linger in the air after a thunderstorm. But the positive ions that are naturally present in the air before a storm cause the body to transfer the positively charged ions in the air you breathe from the lungs into the blood causing the blood platelets to release serotonin.

Serotonin is a compound present in blood platelets and serum which constricts the blood vessels and acts as a neurotransmitter. The hormone serotonin impacts the entire body facilitating brain cells and other nervous system cells to communicate with each other. When our cells are communicating with each other unimpeded, we enjoy good health.

The production of serotonin in the body creates a whole array of feel-good benefits. It produces a normalization of the endocrine glands thereby reducing stress to the physical body. That in itself is enough to bring a sense of ease to both body and mind.

Serotonin also creates a sedating and pain-relieving effect. If you’ve undergone surgery or suffered an injury such as burns, the release of serotonin into the bloodstream can actually help ease your discomfort.

Serotonin increases brain amplitude and gives you an ability to think better and clearer. A shift of alpha activity occurs to the frontal area of the brain when serotonin levels are optimum and as a result you’ll have better conceptual ability and experience a higher synchronization of right and left brain hemispheres. With this left and right brain balance a more even balance of personality and temperament results.

As well as affecting our nervous system, mood and mental well-being, serotonin quite strongly affects the joints and numerous other physiological functions in the body. Even lactating mothers produce more milk and of higher quality when serotonin levels are higher.

POSITIVE IONS AND DESTRUCTIVE “ILL WINDS”

Very often, however, positively charged ions wreak havoc to our health even when produced naturally. The ancients often considered disease to be the result of possession by winds. They actually were not far off the mark in this belief.

“Ill winds” or “witches’ winds” really do blow on earth such as the Santa Ana winds of Southern California. They are dry, warm winds with a strong positive ion concentration which cause people to get headaches and become irritable, aggressive and listless. The warm and dry electrified atmosphere imposes a strain on the body and the body responds with an alarm reaction. The adrenals become depleted and the body gets exhausted without ever even having exerted itself physically.

Modern living is causing a positive ion poisoned atmosphere. We literally create artificial witches’ winds in our environment. Western technology is distorting the electrical charge of the air where people spend their time. Examples of man-made “witches winds” include:

• man-made fragrances and chemicals

• modern structures of concrete, steel, plastic

• mobile phones

• cell towers

• power lines

• office buildings with central heat and A/C

• hermetically sealed high-rise apartments

• automobile exhaust fumes

• off gassing of man-made plastics, paint, etc.

• factory fumes

• airplanes

• synthetic fibers

• smoking

• air pollution

• industrial waste

• state-of-the-art insulation (actually prevents negative ions from entering the building)

• synthetic products

NEGATIVE IONS IN NATURE

We know that the healthy climate of mountains, the pristine freshness of a pine forest, the exhilaration we feel from breathing seashore air, the lingering charge we sense in the air post thunderstorm all are loaded with a high density of negative ions. We feel a sudden rush of aliveness and a deep sense of well-being.

Flora all around us and especially in forests or parks densely planted with trees are constantly at work producing negatively charged ions in the air we breathe. The needles on the trees in pine or fir forests, for example, act as points for the generation of negative ions and they do this in conjunction with the atmospheric electric field.

Even inside our homes, if we will allow green plants to grow we will notice a similar impact on the quality of our air immediately on entering the house. If your house plants thrive they are providing you with a direct illustration that you are living in an ion-enhanced atmosphere. They demonstrate this air ionization by a marked increase in size and growth rate because they tend to gather negative ions around themselves. This is particularly true of evergreens and ferns which focus negative electrical charges on the pointed tips of their leaves.

ENERGY EXCHANGE

The human body emits a positive energy field. It naturally produces electricity to function. Our bodies are resonant with the Earth’s electromagnetic field holding electrically charged particles in equal proportions of positive charge on ions and negative charge on electrons.

Studies have shown that the natural oscillation frequency of the atmospheric field of Earth (7-10 Hz) is the same as our brain’s alpha state–our most relaxed yet still alert state of being. Further, 3 to 5 Hz waves produced by weather activity producing an abundance of negative ions have been shown to cause heightened alertness with increased reaction time.

It’s a good thing that humans and the Earth and its magnetosphere are constantly exchanging energy with each other. What we don’t want to happen is a buildup of positive charge in our bodies.

We cause positive charge to build up in our bodies and adversely affect our health when we create our own man-made “witches winds” (see list of examples above) or when we do something as simple as wear shoes made of synthetic materials which are very insulating and don’t allow energy to flow. If we can stop positive charge buildup we can keep things like inflammation under control and reduce stress hormones.

Whether its positive or negative ions we are after, we’ll want to create an environment similar to nature’s. To that end there are simple everyday actions we can take such as the following to ensure we get pelted with enough negative ions to bring balance to the positive. For even more tips, consult our list of published articles on the topic in the sidebar, right.

• Wear natural fiber clothing.

• Live in a home made of materials found in nature.

• Stay away from artificially climate-controlled environments.

• Surround yourself with live green plants.

• Drink eight glasses of water per day.

• Shower often, most preferably with a good water purifier attached to the head.

• Walk barefoot in the dew or on the grass or dirt.

• Avoid plastic footwear or wear grounding footwear.

• Utilize grounding devices that bring negative ions into the home from the outside.

• Drive out to the country, roll down your windows and breathe the fresh air.

‘Negative ions’ defined:

Created in nature as air molecules break apart (as a result of sunlight, radiation, ultraviolet rays, the vital energy of plants, and moving air and water), negative ions are not harmful even if their concentration is high.

After thunderstorms, as raindrops strike the earth, there is a splitting of the water droplets into larger positive particles and smaller particles containing the negative charge. This is known as the Lenard effect. The smaller negative particles are repelled away from the negative surface of the earth back up into the air. What is occurring is that as electrons leave water molecules they attach themselves to oxygen molecules. Once an atom or molecule acquires more electrons than protons, it instantly becomes a negative ion.

…

Endnotes:

Photo courtesy of Andrea Davis at Pexels

Mindell, Earl. The Happiness Effect: The Positive Benefits of Negative Ions. Square One Publishing. November 2015.

Donsbach Ph.D., D. Sc., N. D., D. C., Kurt W. Dr. Donsbach Tells You What You Always Wanted to Know About Negative Ions. The International Institute of Natural Health Science. Huntington Beach, CA. 1981.

High Tech Natural Compound DEFENSIL PLUS Soothes Inflamed Skin

DEFENSIL®-PLUS* is a high tech natural compound and a slightly viscous, olive-green liquid formulated in gels and emulsions designed to protect and prevent the appearance of sensitive and irritated skin in need of regeneration. For this reason Defensil Plus is a unique principle ingredient in PHYTO5’s Yogi Body Gel.

According to RAHN, the maker of Defensil Plus, it is scientifically confirmed to be a soothing, anti-inflammatory used as first aid in sensitive skin. It protects and replenishes the damaged skin barrier, reduces allergic reactions, reduces tissue damage resulting from mosquito bites, soothes the skin after shaving and epilation, and helps alleviate atopic eczema.

One of Defensil Plus’ main components is black currant seed oil.

Skincare products infused with black currant oil benefit provide a protective and moisturizing boost to the skin.

Black currant (Ribes nigrum) has high contents of anthocyanins, major contributors to the antioxidant capacity of the oil. An excellent source of Vitamin C and phytochemicals, black currant oil’s antioxidant content helps protect skin from harmful free radicals caused by environmental insults.

Black currant is used in cosmetic products for its astringent and skin smoothening action as well as for its fragrancing and emollient properties. The oil of black currant is considered effective for enhancing skin’s ability to develop normal barrier functions resulting in improved water-retention and an overall increase in skin hydration. It also lends a protective effect on the corneum layer (outer layer of the skin). Black currant seed oil contains fatty, linoleic,** and linolenic*** acids, all enormously beneficial to skin. When applied to dried skin, Defensil Plus may increase the skin’s own content of these fatty acids.

Another major component of Defensil Plus is extract of balloon vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum). Rich in antioxidants, it is also an anti-inflammatory as well as analgesic and anti-arthritic. Medical studies have confirmed that balloon vine extract is effective in treating eczema.

Extracts from balloon vine are added to creams and oils for treating eczema and dermatitis. The herbal extracts are even added to hair oil preparations to reduce dandruff and even to darken the hair. Powdered bark extracts of balloon vine are also internally administered to treat skin diseases, asthma, sore throat, diarrhea and abdominal discomfort.

Other unique ingredients found in Fire Yogi Body Gel but which are not components of Defensil Plus include: rosemary essential oil (circulation balancing), lavender essential oil (quickens healing; soothing to allergic dermatitis), ylang ylang essential oil (calming to skin), biosaccharides (moisturizing and soothing), aloe vera extract (pain and dermatitis soothing), apricot kernel oil (nourishing and hydrating) and menthyl lactate (cooling to skin).

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Endnotes:

* Made by the American company RAHN, a leading global supplier of high-quality specialties for the personal care and cosmetics industry; Defensil Plus is comprised of Octyldodecanol (and) Ribes Nigrum (Black Currant) Seed Oil (and) Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil Unsaponifiables (and) Cardiospermum Halicacabum Flower/Leaf/Vine Extract (and) Tocopherol (and) Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil (and) Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract

** A polyunsaturated essential Omega-6 fatty acid found mostly in plant oils. It is used in the biosynthesis of prostaglandins and cell membranes.

*** An essential fatty acid belonging to the omega-3 fatty acids group. It is highly concentrated in certain plant oils and has been reported to inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandin resulting in reduced inflammation and prevention of certain chronic diseases.

Lim, T. K. Edible Medicinal and Non-Medicinal Plants: Vol. 4 Fruits. Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg. London, New York. 2012.

Michalun, M. Varinia and DiNardo, Joseph C. Milady Skincare and Cosmetic Ingredients Dictionary. Cengage Learning. 2014.

Hari, Ven. Phytomedicine: Healing Herbs. Notion Press. 2020.

“Linolenic Acid.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Linolenic-acid. 

“Linoleic Acid.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Linoleic-acid. 

Brod, J. et al. Evolution of lipid composition in skin treated with blackcurrant seed oil. International Journal of Cosmetic Science. 10.4, 149-159 (1988).

Tangerine Essential Oil: Purifying, Refreshing and Toning to Skin and Body

Tangerine essential oil (Citrus reticulata), the brightly sweet essential oil expressed from the pericarp (peel) of the ripe tangerine, is excellent for cleansing, purifying, refreshing and toning skin. For this reason, tangerine essential oil is a primary unique ingredient in PHYTO5’s Cleansing Milk.

Tangerine essential oil contains a significant quantity of d-limonene, an antioxidant, found to be excellent for skin and hair. D-limonene reduces inflammation and fights disease-causing germs.

The antiseptic, antibacterial properties of the oil help to remove bacteria on the surface of the skin and reduce excess sebum and congestion in oily and combination skin types. This makes tangerine essential oil an effective fighter against acne.

Tangerine essential oils helps alleviate stagnant fluids.

With a high folate content (vitamin B9/folic acid, tangerine essential oil speeds the healing of wounds while it staves off infection.

Further, tangerine essential oil assists in the healing of scars, spots and stretch marks and is widely considered a tonic for the entire body.

The high vitamin C, vitamin B, potassium and magnesium content in tangerine essential oil means good hair health when it’s present as an ingredient in haircare. It penetrates the scalp to nourish follicles from within.

Tangerine essential oils is regarded as a remedy for indigestion. It helps to eliminate toxins by regulating liver function and health.

A 2018 scientific study referenced in the endnotes of this article found that the use of citrus peels, particularly of Citrus reticulata (tangerine) which is wasted in huge amounts, may indeed be a cancer preventive and anticancer agent, in part, because of its strong antioxidant properties.

The essential oil of tangerine is known to relax both physically and mentally. Post workout, it can assist to relax strained muscles and relieve muscle cramps.

When mentally stressed tangerine can be mildly aphrodisiacal as it helps soothe and comfort and uplifts a sad spirit. Tangerine essential oils supports a feeling of stability and strength when one is in need. It promotes better, sounder sleep and encourages mental focus. Diffused tangerine essential oil works to lift burdens of the creative mind to allow the art to flow and it nurtures a sense of well-being. (Read our blog about diffusing essential oils to purify the air here.)

Tangerine is a hybrid of the mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata) and the pomelo (Citrus maxima). Often interchangeably called mandarin essential oil, the two are actually distinctly different since each represents different chemotypes.

Tangerine is one of the sweetest of the citrus fragrances. The first shipment of tangerines from Asia was believed to have been sent to Tangiers around 1845 and so tangerines got their name from Tangiers in Morocco.

In both the flavor and fragrance industry, differences are said to exist between the various varieties of tangerine both in the juice and the essential oil.

Applications for tangerine essential oil are skincare, haircare, the bath, massage, in a diffuser, in perfume and as flavorings in food.

The following is a summary of the properties of tangerine essential oil:

• antibacterial

• antioxidant

• antiseptic

• antispasmodic

• carminative (flatulence relieving)

• digestive

• diuretic (mild)

• laxative (mild)

• sedative

• stimulant (digestive and lymphatic)

• tonic

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Quezada, Maria. Finding Infinity, Vol. 1: An Easy Aromatherapy Guide to Blending Essential Oils (Anti-Aging Secrets). Mount Olympus Books. Aliso Viejo, CA. 2010.

Lawless, Julia. The Encyclopedia of Essential OIls: The Complete Guide to the Use of Aromatic Oils In Aromatherapy, Herbalism, Health and Well-Being. Red Wheel. San Francisco, CA. June 2013.

Ishfaq M, Akhtar B, Muhammad F, Sharif A, Akhtar MF, Hamid I, Sohail K, Muhammad H. Antioxidant and wound healing potential of essential oil from Citrus reticulata peel and its chemical characterization. Medicinal values of peels essential oil. Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2020 Sep 17. doi: 10.2174/1389201021999200918102123. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32957881.

Nair S A, Sr RK, Nair AS, Baby S. Citrus peels prevent cancer. Phytomedicine. 2018 Nov 15;50:231-237. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2017.08.011. Epub 2017 Aug 17. PMID: 30466983.

Photo by Sunsetoned at Pexels

Negative Ions Skin Benefits and How Negative Ions Improve Your Health

Both positive and negative ions contribute to life and are very necessary. Air minus these elements is neutral air and won’t sustain life.

But too many people constantly expose themselves to a positive ion poisoned atmosphere. In today’s modern lifestyle, we constantly deprive ourself of negative ions benefits. It contributes to disease. Living a more natural life gives us the antidote. It’s how we reap negative ions benefits both for skin and health.

Are negative ions good for you?

Negative ions benefits truly exist even if their concentration is high. Nature creates them as air molecules break apart. This breaking apart action happens as a result of sunlight, radiation, ultraviolet rays, the vital energy of plants, and moving air and crashing water.

Studies show exposure to negatively ionized air increases oxygenation of the lungs and the vital capacity of lungs’ ciliary(1) activity.

Negative ions benefits help to relieve headaches and respiratory conditions and even assist to regulate blood pressure.

Regular exposure to negative ions in nature generates a sense of profound well-being.

Skin and your anti-aging efforts benefit enormously from exposure to negative ions. (Read on for those important details.)

Partake of the mystique of quantum energetic formulated plant-based skincare for your exalted natural beauty and well-being. Subscribe for a discount promo code, plus get truly unique beauty tips and offers.

Here’s how negative ions occur in the example of the thunderstorm:

After a thunderstorm raindrops strike the earth. Water droplets split into larger positively charged particles and smaller negatively charged particles. And the smaller negative particles repel from earth’s negative surface back up into the air (negative repels negative).

As electrons leave water molecules they attach themselves to oxygen molecules. Once an atom or molecule acquires more electrons than protons it instantly becomes a negative ion.

Science calls this natural action the Lenard effect named for German physicist Philipp Eduard Anton Lenard. Although he didn’t discover negative ions Lenard did scientifically prove that air is negatively charged in certain natural conditions like the waterfall.

Negative ions benefits and health go hand in hand. They give us enormous health benefits based on increased energy and vitality. We can say this because naturally occurring negative ions in air, ground, plants and water enhance our own internal electrical conductivity.

The more you daily expose yourself to the negative ions benefits from these natural sources, the more energy and vitality you’ll enjoy.

Earth’s sand, soil, grass abound with negative ions that raise from the rocks underground. The sun, cosmic radiation and lightning strikes also offer us negative ions. They float in the air and also go into the natural ground surface under our feet.

Depending on what time of day you choose to enjoy sunlight, you’ll subject your skin and body to either positive ion harm or negative ions benefits. The sun emits different light frequencies and energy depending on its height and trajectory in the sky.

The midday sun causes major proton generation dumping masses of positive hydrogen ions into the atmosphere. These positive ions pelt your eyes and skin.

It’s better to enjoy either the sunrise or sunset because both generate a copious buffer of negative ions benefits.

Or connect your bare skin with the ground to absorb vitality generating negative ions. Walk barefoot or lay down on the ground for at least 15 minutes at a time. We call this action earthing or grounding—your natural gateway to negative ions benefits.

As soon as your skin makes contact with organic negative ion surfaces, you create a natural pressure gradient between the negatively charged earth and your body. Negative ions immediately transfer into your body through the skin for as long as you keep skin and body and the negatively charged medium in contact.

Negative Ions Skin Benefits: Better Circulation of the 5 Fluids

Contrary to synthetic ingredient skincare devoid of negative ions skin benefits, PHYTO5 5-element quantum energetic skincare is naturally formulated. PHYTO5 skincare is rich with natural plant-based hero ingredients—bringing negative ions skin benefits right to your skin.

PHYTO5 skincare works to balance the five fluids present in skin for improved radiance and exalted natural beauty. Almost without even trying, PHYTO5 deliver negative ions skin benefits to your skin.

Each of these five fluids corresponds to one of the five elements in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). And each of these five fluids, especially when balanced, offer you negative ions skin benefits.

The five fluids are:

1. vital energy: energetic Spring and the Wood element

2. red blood: energetic Summer and the Fire element

3. lymph: each of the four 18-day transition periods of the Earth element, bridging one of the other four seasons to the next

4. blue blood: energetic Fall and the Metal element

5. water: energetic Winter and the Water element.

Grounding improves circulation of both red and blue blood so necessary for skin health.

By improving circulation, negative ions skin benefits also include improved lymphatic flow.

Lymph is a colorless fluid containing white blood cells that bathes tissues and drains through the lymphatic system into the bloodstream. Radiant skin health and beauty demand good lymph flow.

Earthing also supports the flow of vital energy which is another requisite for natural beauty and skin health. It enhances cellular health vital to skin. (And it also supports good brain function.)

Negative ions you naturally absorb also supports you to maintain moisture balance in body and skin.

Negative Ions Skin Benefits: Balanced pH

Negative ions also help restore an optimal pH level important for health and skin. It shifts your body’s indicators blood acid-base balance to alkaline.

Lay on the earth or walking barefoot on it for several minutes a day and help alkalize your skin.

Negative Ions Skin Benefits: Counteract Harmful Positive Ions in Some Skincare Contains

Many cosmetics, fragrances, shampoos, conditioners and body washes are formulated with synthetic ingredients with a plethora of harmful positive ions.

They bombard skin, hair and body with too many positive ions. Fluoride toothpastes generate many positive ions.

It makes complete sense to use only natural skin, hair and personal care products if you want to reduce your exposure to positive ion bombardment.

Negative Ions Skin Benefits: Mitigating Signs of Aging

Theoretically, if skin cells contain positively ion charged free radicals and they do, then negative ions should slow signs of aging and cell damage. This is because negative ions bond to free radicals that hold a positive charge.

Since skin is permeable to negative ions, it better absorbs the nourishment from quality natural skin care products. These naturally formulated products also help you maintain moisture in skin. Radiant dewey skin looks younger.

Negative Ions Skin Benefits: Accelerated Wound Healing

Studies demonstrate accelerated wound healing when the wound’s exposed to negative ions. Negative ions skin benefits include rapid closure of the wound beginning at skin level.

One among them, a 1986 study published in General Physiology and Biophysics, showed that accelerated wound healing occurred in rats whose skin was exposed to negative ions for three hours.

The researchers also found that harmful microorganisms (Clostridium perfringens and Staphylococcus aureus) proliferated on oxygen deprived skin. Negative ions pulsed onto the injured tissue immediately killed the harmful microorganisms.

Are negative ions good for you? Absolutely. Stay away from these positive ion generators.

Unfortunately, positive ion poisoned atmospheres form the foundation of today’s modern living. Western technology is distorting the electrical charge of the air we breathe. So we need to take proactive measures against this.

Here's a list of positive ion generating offenders:

• man-made fragrances and chemicals

• modern structures of concrete, steel, plastic

• mobile phones

• cell towers

• power lines

• office buildings with central heat and A/C

• hermetically sealed high-rise apartments

• automobile exhaust fumes

• off gassing of man-made plastics, paint, etc.

• factory fumes

• airplanes

• synthetic fibers

• smoking

• air pollution

• industrial waste

• state-of-the-art insulation (actually prevents negative ions from entering the building)

…

Endnotes:

(1) Cilia are small slender hair-like structures on the surface of all mammalian cells. They play a major role in locomotion as they move water to the cell in a regular movement.

Sources:

Donsbach Ph.D., D. Sc., N. D., D. C., Kurt W. Dr. Donsbach Tells You What You Always Wanted to Know About Negative Ions. The International Institute of Natural Health Science. Huntington Beach, CA. 1981.

Mindell R.Ph., M. H., Ph. D., Earl. The Happiness Effect: The Positive Benefits of Negative Ions. Square One. November 2015.

Matadeen, Harry. Negative Ions: The Grand Unifier Of Health And Life. Self-published. September 2019.

Robertson, Sheena. “Negative Ions and Anti Aging.” Guardian Liberty Voice, 4 Dec. 2020, guardianlv.com/2020/12/negative-ions-and-anti-aging/. 

“Role of Vegetation in Enhancing Radon Concentration and Ion Production in the Atmosphere.” Environmental Science & Technology, pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es201152g. 

Silica Rich Horsetail: Very Beneficial for Anti-Aging Skin and Hair Care

Horsetail extract (Equisetum arvense), one of the most important ‘cosmetic herbs,’ can be found in PHYTO5’s Facial Cleansing Gel and Water element Phyt’Ether serum and Horsetail-Buckwheat Shampoo. Horsetail is a very rich source of silica and a basic component of hair, skin and nails. The silica in horsetail (70% silica in soluble form) is very bio-available making horsetail an extremely effective constituent in skincare and nutritional supplementation.

Silica rich horsetail is very beneficial for use in anti-aging and acne skincare products. Horsetail in PHYTO5’s Water element Phyt’Ether serum for skin, scalp and body works to soften lines and firm and tone. Because of its silica content it promotes elasticity and helps rejuvenate skin. This potent ingredient also acts as astringent tightening the skin.

Horsetail helps cleanse the body of impurities and excess water and as a result reduces swelling and puffiness while restoring color to the skin. It helps strengthen the kidneys, the organ associated with the Water element according to traditional Chinese medicine.

It can help heal skin damaged by fungal diseases, allergies and rashes such as eczema, skin irritated by shaving or disfigured by acne or blemishes.

Horsetail also improves the health of brittle fingernails and cuticles.

PHYTO5’s Water element Horsetail-Buckwheat Shampoo provides horsetail as a perfect primary unique ingredient because it gives body to lifeless hair and improves the condition of the scalp. It naturally helps create lather for the shampoo and acts on scalp's blood vessels to stimulate 1) circulation in the scalp; 2) the function of silica and sulfur which are both anti-seborrhea;* 3) the function of the amino acid cystine which acts as a bridge in the structure of hair.

Horsetail discourages dandruff and restores scalp oil glands to their proper working order. It’s known to hasten the scalp’s recovery from rashes, fungal diseases and allergic reactions and it helps to prevent hair loss.

Research shows that plants that have adapted to survive in difficult conditions often contain phytochemicals with medicinal value to humans and horsetail is one of those plants. The fern plant horsetail has been used medicinally by Native Americans, Tibetans, the Chinese and ancient Greeks and Romans. 

Horsetail when used for skin is also stimulating, soothing, healing, and nourishing. It assists skin to increase its own defense mechanism. Because of its rich mineral content, it helps regulate the skin. The silicic acid present in horsetail makes it able to strengthen connective tissue and capillary walls..

Additional constituents of horsetail extract are amino acids citruline (antioxidant and skin conditioning agent), valine (tissue recovery and repair), lysine (collagen builder), serine (natural moisturizing agent) and asparaginic acid (strengthens skin’s natural defense system and helps slow signs of aging caused by environmental damage).

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Endnotes:

* working against excessive discharge of sebum from the sebaceous glands

Michalun, M. Varinia, and Joseph C. Dinardo. Milady Skin Care and Cosmetic Ingredients Dictionary. Milady, 2015. 

Arrowsmith, Nancy. Essential Herbal Wisdom A Complete Exploration of 50 Remarkable Herbs. Llewellyn Publications. 2009

Bio-dynamic Farming and Gardening Association. Bio-dynamics Issues 182-202. Cornell University. 1992.

Jones, Pamela. Just Weeds: History, Myths and Uses. Prentice Hall Press. 2009.

Schoffro Cook, Michelle. Be Your Own Herbalist Essential Herbs for Health, Beauty, and Cooking. New World Library. 2016.

Photo by Julia Schwab at Pixabay.

Green Tea: Powerful In Treating a Variety of Skin Conditions and Elevating Our Vitality and Well-Being

Green tea extract is effectively absorbed through the skin and provides skin with a whole host of nourishing, protective and age mitigating actions. Skin has measurably more health, vibrancy, elasticity and firmness after continued application of green tea containing skincare. This is why green tea is a vital unique ingredient in PHYTO5’s Earth element Yogi Body Gel, a product that effectively reduces the appearance of ‘orange peel thighs’ or cellulite.

More than 150 in vitro and in vivo studies have reported the benefits of green tea for skin. A number of mechanisms in green tea appear to be responsible.

Green tea extracts play a protective role in preventing free radical damage that may result in skin tumors, cancers and DNA damage (Chiu and Kimball, 2003).

The methylxanthines(1) in green tea extracts help stimulate skin microcirculation and therefore influence skin’s health. For this reason, green tea polyphenols can be used as an anti-aging ingredient in skincare as it fights inflammation that induces premature aging.

Green tea is a potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic and vulnerary (wound healer), studies show.

The research also shows that green tea extract “can be exploited against a variety of skin disorders. Although more clinical studies are needed, supplementation of skin care products with green tea may have a profound impact on various skin disorders in the years to come.” —S. K. Katiyar et al in “Green Tea and Skin”

Green tea’s antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties makes it effective against acne and oily skin. When green tea is applied to the skin, its polyphenols(2) help reduce sebum secretion which may lead to acne.

Green tea contains polyphenolic compounds also known as epicatechins(3) which are antioxidant in nature. These polyphenols have been found to limit the rate of cell death when cells are vigorously exposed to ultraviolet radiation. The polyphenols in green tea protect the cells against damage from sunlight and reddening of the skin. Research has proven that topical application of green tea to skin one half hour before ultraviolet light exposure protects the user against sunburn and epidermal damage (Elmets et al 2001). The effect is largely due to EGCG (the catechin,(4) Epigallocatechin gallate), a primary polyphenol in green tea. EGCG is 20 times more powerful than vitamin E as a free radical neutralizing antioxidant.

In fact, Dr. Andrew Weil(5) found that EGCG in green tea shows “impressive activity against many kinds of cancer, while appearing to protect the heart and arteries from oxidative damage.” It contributes to a healthy heart and even blood pressure as it works on strengthening the lining of the blood vessels.

Those who consistently drink green tea are shown to have greater dilation of the arteries on ultrasound 30 minutes after drinking the tea compared to those drinking simple hot water or a diluted caffeine beverage. Slightly less than 1/4 ounce of green tea consumed daily or three to four cups of tea per day is all that’s required to achieve healthier cardiovascular function.

In addition, you get a healthy dose vitamin C when consuming green tea–approximately 280 mg in every 3.5 ounces of raw tea.

One 2009 Japanese scientific study conducted by Tokushima Bunri University found that green tea is able to effectively fight against the H1N1 influenza virus.

In addition to protecting cells and organs including skin, consuming green tea helps reduce stress and assists to creates balance of body and mind acting like a natural medicine.

Besides drinking green tea for its enjoyment or applying topically to the skin, green tea is beneficial to:

• Curb an overactive appetite by drinking one cup before meals

• Fertilize plants with leftover green tea leaves from steeping tea

• Prevent or lessen dental cavities

• Refresh the mouth since its tannin content removes stickiness and bad breath, also killing bacteria

• Deodorize and freshen the air (by simply boiling some on your stovetop)

• Stimulate the mind and mental faculties

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(1) A naturally occurring mild stimulant

(2) A type of naturally occurring plant antioxidative compound that protects the body's tissues against oxidative stress and associated pathologies such as cancers, coronary heart disease and inflammation.

(3) One of the most abundant flavonoids (plant pigments) present in different fruits such as apples, blackberries, broad beans, cherries, grapes, pears, raspberries, cocoa, and also in tea leaves.

(4) Natural antioxidants that help prevent cell damage among other benefits

(5 )Andrew Weil, MD is founder and director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, where he also holds the Lovell-Jones Endowed Chair in Integrative Rheumatology, and is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health.

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Endnotes:

Juneja, Lekh R., et al. Green Tea Polyphenols: Nutraceuticals of Modern Life. CRC Press, 2016. 

Chiu, A., and Kimball, A. B. 2003. Topical vitamins, minerals and botanical ingredients as modulators of environmental and chronological skin damage. Br J Dermatol, 149; 681-691.

Braun, Lesley, and Marc Cohen. Essential Herbs & Natural Supplements. Elsevier Australia, 2017. 

Kayaki, Toshimi A. Green Tea Living: a Japan-Inspired Guide to Eco-Friendly Habits, Health and Happiness. Stone Bridge, 2010. 

H;, Katiyar SK;Ahmad N;Mukhtar. “Green Tea and Skin.” Archives of Dermatology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10926734/. 

CA;, Katiyar SK;Elmets. “Green Tea Polyphenolic Antioxidants and Skin Photoprotection (Review).” International Journal of Oncology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11351267/. 

Photo pouring green tea by Tima Miroshnichenko at Pexels

Essential Oils: Regenerative Wonders of Nature for Skin and Body

Essential oils can be used to help positively shift many health conditions. Though they are not a miracle cure for all ailments they can be used in a strategic holistic way to help bring balance back to the body and assist us to regain higher levels of health.

Humans have long consumed plants for their healing value. Plants and their highly concentrated essences–essential oils–can be used to complement and support whole food diets that aim to uplift physical vitality. We are meant to consume hundreds of different plant species each year and not just a handful. The more diverse our plant consumption is, the greater our resiliency and vitality.

As your body digests plants, thousands of metabolites–substances produced when the body breaks down food and chemicals–are absorbed by the gut into the bloodstream. These metabolites have a major impact on our risk of diseases: cardiovascular, autoimmune, mental imbalances, obesity, diabetes and even cancer. These metabolites created through the digestion of a wide array of plants contribute to how our cells create our internal chemistry of life. We will create a more perfect chemistry of life when the thousands of metabolites streaming through our bodies come from a great diversity of plant life.

Essential oils contain the key components of the plants’ immune systems. The oils assist the plants to grow, thrive, evolve and adapt to their surroundings and what essential oils do for the plants, they can do for us also. Humans have a shared chemistry with plants. Both plants and humans are made of three primary elements–carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The oil of the plant protects the plant from bacterial and viral infections, heals injuries, repels unwanted predators, guards against environmental aggressors, and deliver nutrients to the cells. And the essential oils of plants have the ability to do all the same for the human body, too.

Along with oxygen, plants pass along the nutrients which they’ve absorbed from the soil and solar energy from the sun when we consume them.

“Plants take the energy of the sun and transform it, through photosynthesis, into the food energy upon which all animals rely. Essential oils are the concentrated form of that sun energy.” —Valerie Ann Worwood in Aromatherapy for the Soul: Healing the Spirit with Fragrance and Essential Oils

The healing benefits of plants are largely more accessible when the plants are immersed in water for a period of time. The method used to extract the oils from plants, steam distillation, obviously exposes plants to water along with heat and pressure. Through steam distillation the essential oil becomes accessible to the body and easy to assimilate.

Since many of us, even when our diet is largely good and balanced, consume some foods and beverages that are terrible for our bodies, a great variety of plant metabolites in the body over time will result in fewer physical challenges and enduring health.

Terry Wahls, MD, who became an expert in the use of essential oils after she used them with great success to treat a number of her own health issues says:

“When I look at essential oils through a food lens, I know that essential oils are interacting positively with our biochemical pathways and nervous systems, even calming excessive inflammation. The inhalation of essential oils activates the same pathways in the brain. The topical application of essential oils on the skin ensures they are entering the bloodstream and affecting the body’s pathways.”

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And says Stephanie L. Tourles in Pure Skin Care: Nourishing Recipes for Vibrant Skin & Natural Beauty:

“The molecular structure of a pure plant essential oil is so compact that within minutes after inhalation and a bit longer following topical application, the oil can be detected in your breath and in your bloodstream. Just imagine what benefits your skin will receive from the rapid absorption of these regenerative wonders of nature.”

Dr. Wahls urges:

“I encourage the addition of essential oils in your self-care program along with different vegetables, spices and teas as sources of plant diversity. There are literally hundreds of essential oils and spices that you can integrate into your life to expose yourself to at least two hundred different plant species in a year.” —Terry Wahls, MD

Intriguing Facts About Essential Oils You May Not Have Known

• Once essential oils are applied to the skin, they are quickly and easily absorbed, then carried by the bloodstream to every cell in the body within minutes.

• The super small size and light weight of essential oil molecules are what make them so aromatic.

• There are approximately 40 quintillion molecules (that’s a 4 with 19 zeros after it) in one single drop of essential oil. Our bodies are composed of 100 trillion cells, therefore once we consume one drop of essential oil, there are 400,000 molecules for each cell in the human body.

• Essential oils are fat-soluble which makes them especially helpful for penetrating the blood-brain barrier and enhancing brain function. (The brain is 60% fat and needs fat to function well.)

• It takes 28 cups of peppermint tea to equal one drop of peppermint essential oil. More than 250 pounds of peppermint leaves are needed to make one pound of peppermint essential oil. There are five drops of lemon essential oil in one lemon.

• Diffusing essential oils can actually help increase the atmospheric oxygen in a room.

• When diffused, certain oils have the ability to remove toxins or metallic particles from the air (e.g. tea tree, lemongrass, pine, citrus, ylang ylang).

• Citrus oils like lemon, orange, and grapefruit have been found to boost positive thoughts and enhance your mood.

• Many European doctors prescribe oils to be taken internally, in addition to or in place of pharmaceuticals.

• Each essential oil contains several to several hundred different kinds of molecules, each of which offers benefits in promoting good health, healing and regeneration.

• Testing the purity of your oil is best done by placing a drop on construction paper. If there is nothing left behind after 15 minutes, it is pure. If there is an oil ring, it is not pure.
  
  

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Cohen, Jodi. Essential Oils to Boost the Brain and Heal the Body: 5 Steps to Calm Anxiety, Sleep Better, and Reduce Inflammation to Regain Control of Your Health. Ten Speed Press, March 2021. 

Worwood, Valerie Ann. Aromatherapy for the Soul: Healing the Spirit with Fragrance and Essential Oils. New World Library, 2006. 

Photo by Elly Fairytale at Pexels

How Essential Oils May Help Purify the Air We Breathe

Synthetic mass marketed perfumes and aerosol fragrances are commonly used to overtone unpleasant smells but they don’t actually cleanse the air we breathe. Diffusing only the purest essential oils in a room using the natural air as a propellant will fill an average sized room in minutes with millions of ionized micro-droplets–a natural aerosol.

Negative Ions

This simple method of diffusion is actually more effective than heat and evaporative methods which oxidize the oil and suppress the natural ionization effect. Many essential oils are also highly antiseptic and kill most airborne bacteria and viruses within a short period of time.

As a diffused essential oil decomposes it releases ionic oxygen into the air creating a negative ion charge. Air negative ions* are naturally produced by cosmic rays, weather fronts, moving water and wind, for example and these negative ions are extremely beneficial to our health.

For more extensive details on negative ions and your health, please read our viral blogs:

“24 Ways to Reap the Benefits of Earth’s Gift of Negatively Charged Ions"

“8 Ways to Expose Yourself to Earth’s Healing Negative Ions"

Most buildings we spend time in, including our homes and offices, are sorely lacking negative ions because of electrical fields and electrostatic charges created by electric and electronic appliances and devices, especially if they are not grounded. Faulty and harmful wiring combined with static charges from synthetic surfaces and air with less than 50% relative humidity will tend to deplete negative ions in the air. Other offenders include metal ducting, cigarette smoke and general indoor air pollution.

Similar to how we’ll find high levels of negative ions close to a fireplace fire, a beeswax candle or falling shower water, diffused essential oil of plants will balance the electro-climate as they emit negative ions into the air.

Diffusing an essential oil is one excellent way to balance the air we breathe with natural negative ionization.

Partake of the mystique of quantum energetic formulated plant-based skincare for your exalted natural beauty and well-being. Subscribe for a discount promo code, plus get truly unique beauty tips and offers.

Ozone

Ozone, an active form of oxygen, is a constituent of the atmospheric air we breathe and is not the same as negative ionization.

Sometimes we may find ourselves uncomfortable in a room and can’t put our finger on the reason why. This feeling is often due to the condition of the air in the room which is impure or unfit to breathe.

The ozone content of the atmosphere is exceedingly small but without it, we breathe in stagnant air. The air in a closed room, for example, rarely contains any ozone, while the air in an open room is very rich in ozone. As another example, in months with abundant precipitation, the air will register more ozone than usual. The same will occur on nights with heavy dewfall. And in forests we find greater amounts of ozone above the tips of the trees.

Ozone acts as a stimulant to the entire nervous system which is why we’ll feel so good when we walk through a forest. The evaporation of the essential oils from the branch tips of the pine trees assist to form ozone in the air. Essential oil of Sylvester/Scots pine possesses this ability to a very high degree and since its fragrance is so delightful, it was one of the very first to be used in air purification applications. Juniper berry and lavender essential oils are also very effective in adding ozone for air purification.

Properly distributed essential oil fragrance through diffusion makes the room’s air pleasantly fresh and rich in ozone as the essential oil slowly evaporates. Simply burning an essential oil causing the oil to rapidly evaporate does not distribute the aromatic molecules in a finely divided condition rendering it ineffective before it even reaches the air.

Antimicrobial, Antifungal

Research supports that very many essential oils possess antimicrobial and antifungal properties that can help clear surrounding air. The following essential oils have been found beneficial for air purification from microbes and fungi.

Tea Tree: ”Tea tree essential oils have an affinity for the respiratory system and have been clinically shown to kill the airborne flu virus," says Leigh Winters, M.A., M.S., neuroscientist, psychologist and aromatherapist.

Eucalyptus: rejuvenating, freshening, energizing and purifying to the air

Lemongrass and Cinnamon bark:

”Lemongrass and cinnamon bark are known to be a tad too strong to use in high dosages for DIY skin care products, but they work wonders on battling bacteria in the air," Winters adds.

3. Conifers Pine, Spruce, and Fir: all containing pinene, a chemical compound with well-documented antibacterial properties

4. Citrus: Sweet orange, lemon, and grapefruit essential oils are antimicrobial, destroying airborne germs with their high levels of limonene.

5. Clove bud and ylang ylang: In the study, “Essential oils may help fight effects of pollution,” we read about … “the first evidence that natural essential oil components counteract the inflammatory effects of particulate matter, such as that contained in polluted air.”

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*Positive ions are atoms or molecules that have lost one or more electrons and consequently have a shortage of electrons. In contrast, negative ions have gained one or more additional electrons which makes these odorless, tasteless, invisible molecules negatively charged as a whole.

Kanuka-Fuchs, Reinhard. Healthy Home and Healthy Office: Sick Building Syndrome, Indoor Pollution and Solutions. Reinhard Kanuka-Fuchs, 2001. 

The American Perfumer and Essential Oil Review. Independent International Journal, 1914. 

Authors, All, and Oleg V. Pyankov. “Inactivation of Airborne Influenza Virus by Tea Tree and Eucalyptus Oils.” Taylor & Francis, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02786826.2012.708948#.VMb5Af7F-GG. 

Posted by CBD & Chronic Pain - Dank Flavors, et al. “Terpene Profile: Pinene.” The Leaf Online, 5 Oct. 2017, theleafonline.com/c/science/2014/10/terpene-profile-pinene/. 

02, Shara Rutberg | Mar. “Essential Oils May Help Fight Effects of Pollution.” New Hope Network, 3 Mar. 2017, www.newhope.com/breaking-news/essential-oils-fight-effects-pollution?NL=NP-05&Issue=NP-05_20170317_NP-05_936&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_3_2&utm_rid=CNHNM000000808938&utm_campaign=20527&utm_medium=email. 

Photo by Eva Elijas at Pexels

Arnica Montana: Natural Soother, Healer, Tissue-Regenerator

Arnica montana extract, the principle unique ingredient in PHYTO5’s Arnica-Lavender Massage Oil is derived from the medicinal Arnica flower of the aster family. It’s used for soothing pain from injuries, accidents, and for relieving rheumatic muscles and joint pain. Arnica also stimulates skin’s complexion and has been used for centuries to soothe irritated skin while moisturizing dry skin.

For centuries, arnica has been a staple in folk medicine in North America, Germany and Russia. More than 100 prescription drugs are today derived from arnica in Germany alone. Indigenous North Americans prepared a tea from its roots to ease back pain and in Russia, arnica preparations were indicated to treat wounds, black eyes, sprains and contusions. They also used herb itself for uterine hemorrhage, myocarditis, arteriosclerosis, angina pectoris, and cardiac insufficiency.

Twelfth century polymath and healer Hildegard von Bingen, a German nun known for her intimate understanding of nature and physiology, recorded her observations about the wide range of healing properties of the Arnica montana plant.

Arnica brings relief to discomfort and pain experienced by all sorts of lifestyles, including aching athletes, children, yogis and weary travelers.

“Arnica, also known as Arnica montana, is the most loved and the most widely used remedy in all of homeopathy. It could even be said that it is the success of Arnica that has led to the success of homeopathy.”

— Ruth Elston in What Is Arnica? Why Arnica Montana is the #1 Bestselling Homeopathic Remedy in the Worl

Current Health Enhancing Uses for Arnica Today

• Adding a few drops of arnica tincture* to warm water for a foot bath may relieve fatigue and soothe sore feet.

• Hair rinses prepared with the extract have been used to treat alopecia neurotica, an anxiety condition leading to hair loss.

• Hair tonics formulated with arnica work to combat dandruff.

• Homeopathic arnica is ingested to relieve vertigo, hoarseness, seasickness, swelling from injury, pain and muscle soreness.

• Arnica can be used as a natural antibiotic.

• Arnica is excellent for jet lag and for transient insomnia caused by overexertion or stressful events. It is non-habit-forming.

• The herb can be used to relieve stiffness from flying or long-distance driving.

• Many therapists give arnica to their patients post-surgery to help alleviate residual pain.

• Arnica soothes playground bumps and bruises.

Arnica’s Properties Make It An Ideal In Massage and Pain Therapy

• analgesic

• anti-inflammatory, calming, soothing

• formative and reparative of tissue

• anti-bacterial

• antioxidant

• anti-fungal

• antitumoral

• immunomodulatory**

• healing acceleration

• relaxation

Common names for Arnica montana include leopard's bane, mountain tobacco, mountain snuff, and wolf's bane.

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*Arnica can be toxic when consumed in large quantities; only highly diluted homeopathic preparations are considered safe for ingestion. In some individuals, arnica may also cause rashes and contact dermatitis due to its helenalin content. Prolonged exposure to this allergen has been reported to cause blistering, skin ulcers and surface necroses. Arnica should never be applied to open wounds.

** Encouraging homeostasis or balance in the immune system

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https://www.encyclopedia.com/plants-andanimals/plants/plants/arnica

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15569527.2020.1743998

http://www.paolobellavite.it/files/322_2020-HomeopathyFN1Arnica_1zchz70u.pdf

Anderson, Rachel Grabenhofer and Katie. “Jar Deconstructed: Arnica.” Skin Inc., www.skininc.com/skinscience/ingredients/Jar-Deconstructed-Arnica-573900821.html?utm_source=newsletter-html&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SI%2BE-Newsletter%2B03-04-2021&absrc=img. 

Elston, Ruth. What Is Arnica? Why Arnica Montana Is the #1 Bestselling Homeopathic Remedy in the World. Better Life Books, 2012. 

US;, Kriplani P;Guarve K;Baghael. “Arnica Montana L. - a Plant of Healing: Review.” The Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28401567/. 

What is Nana Mint? This Exotic Spearmint Is a Key Anti-Age Skin Care Ingredient

Nana mint (Mentha spicata) is a variety of Moroccan spearmint long known for its natural rejuvenative and healing properties. These includes benefits for skin, energy, mental acuity and the health and immunity. Spearmint is largely used as flavoring in foods. But Moroccan Nana mint’s cleansing, rejuvenate, anti-age properties make it a superb ingredient in PHYTO5’s anti-age Cleansing Foam.

What is Nana Mint? It’s an anti-age agent when used in skincare.

Anti-inflammatory and soothing Nana mint offers powerful antioxidant action in skincare. It contributes to slowing visible signs of aging.

Nana mint essential oils helps rejuvenate and energize mature skin while minimizing lines. Nana mint also powerfully helps clear acne.

What is Nana Mint? It’s the source of the Moroccan woman’s beauty.

Moroccan women have long been known for their natural beauty. With radiant flawless skin and shiny silken hair, Moroccan women practice unique natural beauty rituals. And Nana mint plays a key role in their beauty rituals.

Moroccan people combine Nana mint with gunpowder (Chinese green) tea and sugar to create a beverage they consume every day several times a day. This Nana mint tea elixir is not only a staple of Moroccan culture, Moroccan women consider it key to their youthful beauty.

Moroccan people enjoy Maghrebi mint tea hot even during Morocco’s ultra warm Summers. They’ve found that the spearmint is superb at cooling down the body. It defends the body against the Summer heat. Chemicals in Nana combine with the body’s cold-sensitive receptors tricking the brain. The brain sends cooling sensation messages into the body.

Partake of the mystique of quantum energetic formulated plant-based skincare for your exalted natural beauty and well-being. Subscribe for a discount promo code, plus get truly unique beauty tips and offers.

What is Nana Mint? It’s a spearmint grown in the Maghreb region of Northwestern Africa.

Nana is Arabic for mint. It’s also called Moroccan or Maghrebi mint. Nana mint is grown in the Maghreb region of north and northwestern Africa where Morocco is located and Arabic is spoken. Nana is also grown in the Mediterranean region.

Nana mint is called by many different names. Its original and real name is crisped mint. Nana mint’s original name is ‘crisped mint.’

What is Nana Mint? It’s a milder form of mint with warm herbal tones.

With no menthol nuances such as with peppermint, Nana mint has an earthier, sweeter flavor.

Nana is one of 210 species of mint cultivated all over the world and is one the oldest of all mints.

Moroccan Nana mint looks very similar to most common mint varieties except that it's more compact in shape. Nana leaves are a bright green color with slightly toothed edges.

The Nana plant itself bears soft stems with leaves that grow closely together. Pale purple flowers bloom in whirls at the tops of taller stems in late Summer and early Fall. Even the flowers of Nana are edible. The leaves tastes intensely spearmint flavor whether you consume them fresh or dry.

What is Nana Mint? It’s an important nutritious food.

Nana mint is very nutritious. One cup of Moroccan Nana mint tea delivers a generous serving of fluoride, calcium, magnesium, copper and selenium. All of these boost immune function.

Nana mint is rich in niacin (vitamin B3). Niacin lowers LDL bad cholesterol and increases HDL good cholesterol.

Folic acid in Nana mint regulates the body’s level of homocysteine, an amino acid that can cause heart disease if too much of it is present.

What is Nana Mint? It’s a cleansing tonic for internal and topical use.

Nana mint contains less menthol than other mints. This makes it a milder yet still efficient cleansing agent. Nana still possesses all the benefits of other mints. It’s very uplifting and energizing.

Nana spearmint contains the amino acid l-Theanine which raises your levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter that promotes feelings of relaxation and calmness.

What is Nana Mint? It’s a potent healing spearmint.

For thousands of years we’ve cultivated spearmint for its medicinal and healing applications.

You can use Nana spearmint for digestive support including upset stomach, heartburn, flatulence and nausea.

Use the essential oil of Nana mint to support oral health just as it’s been used since the Middle Ages. Back then, the people regularly added spearmint to drinking water to purify it.

Nana mint offers many more healing benefits:

• provides greater mental performance and focus

• offers analgesic soothing for respiratory tract

• loosens congestion and cough

• abates bad breath as an antimicrobial

• kills off bacteria, fungus and viruses

• relieves nasal allergies

• cleanses blood

• relieves headaches when rubbed on the temples

• soothes muscle pain as an anti-spasmodic

• boosts immunity

Chili Pepper Ferment Extract: Potent In Skincare and Especially for Athletic People and Anyone Needing Better Blood Circulation

Chili pepper ferment extract is a unique ingredient in PHYTO5’s Wood element Yogi Body Gel specifically for its ability to help increase blood flow and create better absorption of Yogi Body Gel’s other ingredients on the skin’s surface. Only a tiny bit of extract is formulated into the product therefore the burning that many might associate with chili peppers is nonexistent. Studies show no 'meaningful irritation or contact dermatitis’ when chili pepper is formulated appropriately into skincare as it is in PHYTO5’s.

For the active athletic person, the fact that chili pepper ferment extract is a unique ingredient in Wood element Yogi Body Gel can be very important. This is because the capsaicin compound found in chili pepper has potent pain-relieving properties. In addition, chili (Capsicum frutesense) is a stimulant and thermogenic which means it actively helps encourage blood circulation thereby bringing oxygen and nutrients to the skin and also causing a feeling of warmth important for good athletic performance. Capsaicin is also a potent muscle relaxant.

The capsaicin compound in chili pepper functions as an external analgesic since it desensitizes neural pain receptors. This can also be an important consideration for those who are experiencing arthritic pain.

The ferment extract of chili pepper captures the full range of phytocompounds found in chili pepper making it very useful in skincare. Today’s cosmetics industry utilizes chili pepper as a fragrance ingredient and skin-conditioning agent. It is antimicrobial and antioxidant, both of which are extremely important for good skin health.

Chili pepper offers the following additional health benefits

• helps keep hair and skin healthy

• improves digestive health and metabolism

• fights fungal infections, colds and flu

• alleviates migraine headaches

• provides joint pain relief

• fights inflammation

• encourages greater cardiovascular health

• promotes red blood cell growth

• improves vision and overall ocular heath

In addition, studies suggest that chili pepper can decrease the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Because chili peppers are high in antioxidants, cartenoids,* and vitamin C, chili pepper helps regulate insulin. A number of Australian scientists found that a meal containing chili pepper can result in proper insulin production in the body that reduces blood sugar levels. (As documented in “Effects of chili consumption on postprandial glucose, insulin, and energy metabolism;” see endnotes for complete citation).

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Endnotes:

• Carotenoids are a class of phytonutrients ("plant chemicals”), mainly yellow, orange, or red fat-soluble pigments, including carotene, which give color to plant parts such as ripe tomatoes and autumn leaves; carotenoids are found in the cells of a wide variety of plants, algae and bacteria and help plants absorb light energy for use in photosynthesis. They also have an important antioxidant function of deactivating free radicals — single oxygen atoms that can damage cells by reacting with other molecules, according to the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.**

** “Carotenoids.” Linus Pauling Institute, 1 Jan. 2021, lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/dietary-factors/phytochemicals/carotenoids.

“Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Capsicum Annuum Extract, Capsicum Annuum Fruit Extract, Capsicum Annuum Resin, Capsicum Annuum Fruit Powder, Capsicum Frutescens Fruit, Capsicum Frutescens Fruit Extract, Capsicum Frutescens Resin, and Capsaicin1, 2007.” SAGE Journals, 1 Jan. 1984, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10915810601163939?journalCode=ijtb&. 

Ahuja, Kiran DK, et al. “Effects of Chili Consumption on Postprandial Glucose, Insulin, and Energy Metabolism.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 1 June 2006, academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/84/1/63/4633023. 

“Carotenoids.” Linus Pauling Institute, 1 Jan. 2021, lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/dietary-factors/phytochemicals/carotenoids.