Super-Hydrator Aquaxyl Replenishes Skin with Necessary Moisture While Helping Skin Develop an Ability to Naturally Retain Moisture Over T

Mitigating signs of aging in the skin is an important goal to help us look and feel our best. In answer to this demand there are a plethora of products promising to help making it challenging to know what is best. You can always feel not only safest but really good about yourself when you take a holistic and natural approach to, as naturally as possible, address signs of aging. Today, there are many leading edge companies dedicated to creating natural high tech compounds that can be formulated into skin condition mitigating products especially those concerning aging. One such compound is Aquaxyl utilized in very many PHYTO5 products including Water Yogi Body Gel.

“Aquaxyl [is] another ingredient that helps cells maintain moisture and prevents the skin from becoming dehydrated and damaged. Researchers have found that Aquaxyl not only replenishes moisture but helps the body learn to naturally retain that moisture over time. Cell water loss was reduced after one month of using Aquaxyl on the skin.” —Neil Sadick et al in The New Natural: Your Ultimate Guide to Cutting-Edge Age Reversal.

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.

Aquaxyl is the trade name of a high tech natural super-hydrating compound composed of three plant-based sugars: xylitol, xylitolglucoside and anhydroxyxylitol. It’s developed by SEPPIC, a company out of Courbevoie, France. The compound is accepted as natural and authorized in organic certified skincare products (Bio).

Aquaxyl’s maker SEPPIC describes this carbohydrate derivate super-hydrator as optimizing skin's hydrous flow by helping to balance water circulation and control water reserves. This “anti-dehydration shield,” as they call it, reinforces the synthesis of essential lipids and proteins involved in the organization of the outermost layers of the epidermis.

Aquaxyl is proven to restructure and strengthen these skin layers known as the stratum corneum.*

Aquaxyl boosts all skin hydration elements including lipids, proteins, polysaccharides (naturally occurring dermal and epidermal hyaluronic acid), and very importantly the NMF of the skin—Natural Moisturizing Factor.

“Natural moisturizing factor (NMF) is essential for appropriate stratum corneum* hydration, barrier homeostasis, desquamation,** and plasticity.” —Marisa Robinson et al in Natural moisturizing factors (NMF) in the stratum corneum (SC)

Aquaxyl reinforces the skin’s natural barrier within 24 hours by limiting loss of water. Softer smoother skin with normal desquamation and smoothing of fine lines can be noticed within 28 days of its use.

Hydration regulator Aquaxyl also helps improve tone of the skin. It makes skin more visibly beautiful with noticeable results in eight hours according to SEPPIC. It also strengthens the beneficial action of glycerin while nullifying any of its negative effects.

Aquaxyl is the ideal moisturizing agent for hands and it’s found in PHYTO5’s Hand Cream. In a recent in vivo study on Aquaxyl’s use on hands, a positive 13.5% hydration effect was noticed after 24 hours and a negative 15.4% transepidermal water loss (TEWL) after eight days.

Xylitol, the most familiar component of the three that make up Aquaxyl, is a beneficial sugar alcohol which naturally occurs in many fruits, vegetables and even trees like birch and maple. Considered a healthy sweetener it has a prebiotic action and therefore can positively influence the gut microbiome if consumed as part of food.

But just as importantly, xylitol also offers proven skincare benefits. If you’ve ever applied moisturizer to your skin only to find it dry a couple hours later, this indicates your skin’s natural barrier isn’t functioning optimally. Xylitol helps replenish moisture in the skin and also helps to prevent it from evaporating by strengthening the skin barrier.

The other two components of Aquaxyl, anhydroxylitol and xylitylglucoside are natural, plant-derived humectants which, like xylitol, work to keep skin hydrated for longer.

Anhydroxylitol is a compound only relatively recently found to exist in the vegetal kingdom. It optimizes the skin’s natural stores of moisture by synthesizing glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)—substances such as chondroitin sulfate** which help naturally retain moisture in the skin. It supports synthesis of skin barrier ceramides*** and works to prevent loss of water through the skin.

Xylitylglucoside is made from two water-binding plant sugars, glucose and xylitol. This compound in itself also possesses a significant degree of skin moisturizing capability. It stimulates the formation of enzymes, proteins and ceramides*** necessary for a healthy skin barrier.

Aquaxyl enhances skin’s dermal water reservoirs making the skin better able to absorb more moisture and strengthen the skin barrier and its function so that water does not evaporate through the skin. It helps the body to produce its own hyaluronic acid, a key factor in skin’s hydration, elasticity, tone and firmness.

For all these reasons, PHYTO5 has chosen Aquaxyl to work in a number of its most hydrating and toning products. In addition to being formulated into Water element Yogi Body Gel and Hand Cream, super hydrator Aquaxyl can be found and enjoyed in PHYTO5’s Face Gel, Face Gel Mask, organic certified hydrating Body Milk and Ageless Extreme Hydrating Cream.

#####

Endnotes:

* stratum corneum: outermost layer of the epidermis

** in its negative sense, skin flakiness and scaling; in its positive sense, the absence of skin flakiness and scaling

*** an important structural component of cartilage; ceramides provide much of cartilage’s resistance to compression

Sadick, Neil, et al. The New Natural: Your Ultimate Guide to Cutting-Edge Age Reversal. United States, Harmony/Rodale, 2011.

Marshall, Samantha, et al. The New Natural: Your Ultimate Guide to Cutting-Edge Age Reversal. United States, Harmony/Rodale, 2011.

Rhode, Deborah L.. The Beauty Bias: The Injustice of Appearance in Life and Law. United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, 2010.

Procedures in Cosmetic Dermatology Series: Cosmeceuticals E-Book. United Kingdom, Elsevier Health Sciences, 2008.

Robinson M, Visscher M, Laruffa A, Wickett R. Natural moisturizing factors (NMF) in the stratum corneum (SC). I. Effects of lipid extraction and soaking. J Cosmet Sci. 2010 Jan-Feb;61(1):13-22. PMID: 20211113.

Mohan, Narendra and Singh, Priyankia, Editors. Sugar and Sugar Derivatives: Changing Consumer Preferences. Germany, Springer Singapore, 2020.

Maibach, Howard I., and Lodén, Marie. Treatment of Dry Skin Syndrome: The Art and Science of Moisturizers. Germany, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2012.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels (pexels-karolina-grabowska-7321557.jpg)

Best Eating Practices and Tips for Eating During Energetic Winter According to Traditional Chinese Medicine

According to traditional Chinese medicine, in energetic Winter, the season of the Water element, our energy moves inward. Quieter more passive yin chi is highlighted and active yang chi is subdued. Even in today’s world, we should find ways to hibernate and withdraw during Winter. One way to practice this inward movement is through food. Traditional Chinese medicine is very good at prescribing the particular foods to eat that will warm, sustain and nurture us all season long. And just as important is the manner in which we prepare these Winter foods.

Winter is the perfect time to allow our blood sugar to regain homeostasis by reducing our simple carbohydrate intake (carbohydrate calories made of starchy and sugary foods). We don’t require these like we did in the Summer. Moreover, we simply don’t need sugar-rich foods.

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.

Winter is the season of storage. We want to look at buying more foods that store well in our homes for Winter like root vegetables, nuts and seeds. We have refrigerators and other methods for helping us to store and keep food from spoiling but this isn’t the whole reason for gathering foods that keep for longer periods of time. The reason is more so that these simply tend to be the foods we should be consuming more of during energetic Winter. 

These storage type foods don’t just keep well, they create energy that our bodies can also store well. 

In Winter, it’s beneficial to have a richer diet since cold temperatures and winds are very drying. The cold air and wind directly attack the skin and nose causing the lungs and your wei chi (immunity) to have to work harder. 

If we allow ourselves to become run down during the Winter and Water element season, our lungs can become inflamed and we can catch a cold. In traditional Chinese medicine, kidneys, the organ of the Water element, are the ‘children’ of the lungs. When the lungs become weak, so do the kidneys, and this makes us more susceptible to colds.

When coldness seeps into our bodies in Winter it causes contraction and limits our movement, and as a result, we become even colder than we were before. Internal cold manifests as poor circulation, aches and pains, asthma, colitis or asthma.

During the energetic Winter season, focus on fat, protein and complex carbohydrates which tend to be very stabilizing and nourishing. The body will draw energy from such foods for a long period of time.

Black turtle beans are the most warming legume and they are very yin-building. You can further increase black turtle beans’ warming energy by adding fresh rosemary when cooking them slowly.

Other foods that will help warm you up are pine nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, anchovies, mussels, and trout. Encourage circulation and thus, warming, with ginger, cloves, fennel, cinnamon and anise.

The following are food prep principles to observe during energetic Winter according to traditional Chinese medicine:

• Make all your food nutritious and warming. Cook everything.

• Cook slowly over long periods of time but on lower heat. Leave the food unmoved during the cooking process. This will bring a calming effect to your food when you eat it. It will also help properly combine food essences which takes a long time. Although living uncooked food can be extremely healthy to eat, sometimes the body needs the certain kind of assistance that combining food essences through slow cooking can provide.

  • If you need to concentrate for study or another task, eat warm simple two-ingredient meals.

  • To enhance your sociable nature during the holidays, eat light meals made of several ingredients.

• Incorporate salty foods into your diet.

• Ingest nothing cold. Everything you consume during this season should be warm.

• Avoid dairy foods.

• Make nutrient-dense broths and consume them daily. Tie some star anise, licorice root, cloves, fennel seeds and a mandarin peel in a muslin cloth and let it simmer in your next broth. This can pack a punch.

• Go no longer than four hours without eating. (Your sleep hours don’t count, of course.)

• Eat lots of kidney-shaped foods like beans and seeds.

• Enjoy lots of nuts at this time.

  • Just like the season, Winter foods like grains, dehydrated foods and seeds and nuts have inward-moving energy.

• Consume black and blue-black foods rich in anthocyanins like blueberries and black beans. For more info., read our comprehensive blogs on the topic, Black or Blue-Black Foods: Excellent Sources of Ultimate Black Food Nutrition During Winter Plus Bonus Cocktail Recipe and More Than A Dozen Oh So Nutritious Black Foods for Winter.

• Make the winter squash family a nurturing hearty addition to almost any meal: acorn, butternut, delicate, hubbard, kabocha and spaghetti squash.

• Bring lots of root vegetables into your Winter diet. They do well in slow cooked stews and soups. Root vegetables include beets, carrots, celery root, jicama, onions (yellow onions, green onions, leeks, shallots), parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, and sweet potatoes.

• Season food with warm pungent herbs and spices which remove inner cold in the Winter: basil, black pepper, garlic, horseradish, turmeric, cinnamon and cloves.

• Though alcohol is not generally recommended, it’s appropriate during energetic Winter to enjoy a small amount of spirits to warm your system up since they are ‘hot-warm’ in nature. They do promote circulation, stimulate the appetite and keep out the cold.

Winter is the season that plays host to holidays and celebrations for a number of cultures and traditions. Even celebrations can be more yin-like and subdued when they’re made cozy and intimate with low lights, soft music and plenty of warming, comforting foods served to the people you love.

#####

Endnotes:

Counts, Mindi K. Everyday Chinese Medicine: Healing Remedies for Immunity, Vitality, and Optimal Health. United States, Shambhala, 2020.

Wong, Lun, and Knapsey, Kath. Food for the Seasons: Eat Well and Stay Healthy the Traditional Chinese Way. Australia. Red Dog Books. 2012.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska at Pexels

The Water Type Personality According to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Understanding Your Archetype for Harmony and Balance

At the time of our birth, the prevailing cosmic and telluric energies have an important effect on our personality. It can be said that at the time of birth these energies give us our own individual rhythms that seem to transcend our genetic makeup and upbringing.. Traditional Chinese medicine embraces a fivefold concept known as the Five Element or Five Phase Theory that help explain these rhythms. Traditional Chinese medicine points out that we all tend to be one predominant ‘type’ from among the five elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, though no one is one hundred percent one type alone. In this article we discuss both the in-balance and out-of-balance (maladapted) Water type personality.

The Mystery of Water

Water, hidden and unseen, is the deepest part of our energetic system. It’s the root of aliveness and vitality in the human body. Water is essential for the maintenance of life. It carries evolutionary memory and powers the activities of the body including healing and regeneration.

Traditional Chinese medicine has assigned a color to each of the elements and Water’s color is black. Appropriately, we begin our life’s journey in the unknown—in water, floating in amniotic fluid—our eyes closed creating black darkness in a womb which, too, is absent of physical light, it, too, mirroring that black darkness. The Water element is the most yin of the five elements.

The Primary Archetype

The archetype that best describes the Water personality in balance is the wise one or philosopher. The wise one strives to bring the dark black mysteries of life into the light. She knows when to be active and when to retreat. She understands the intricacies, paradoxes and enigmas of life and is able to astutely share these insights she has developed in order to help others live more fulfilled lives.

The Water personality is all about searching for meaning. Water runs deep and so do Water type personalities.

“The Sage, the Water element archetype, represents the power of the Water energy to transform fear and doubt to wisdom and trust and to promote acceptance of the unknown and the unknowable as part of life.” —Charles A. Moss, M. D. in Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance

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.

This wise Water personality knows he has benefited from all the knowledge and experience he has garnered from generations before him. He loves applying the lessons he has learned from that history. At the same time, it takes all the wisdom Water has developed to maintain his or her equilibrium, grounding and balance in this type.

“The cafés in Paris, the hookah lounges in the Middle East, and the urban coffeehouses in America are filled with them. They love to sit with close friends, ruminating about life, waxing eloquent about all this is right and wrong with the world. They are great conversationalists, and the deeper the conversations, the better.” —Dondi Dahlin in The Five Elements: Understand Yourself and Enhance Your Relationships with the Wisdom of the World's Oldest Personality Type System

Water loves to plumb the depths of life, losing themselves as blissfully in the arts as they do grocery store aisles searching for just the right wine. Water takes life very seriously often not getting the jokes along the way.

Theirs is a slower rhythm. They take their time. They have patience. Hurry is not part of their consciousness. Calm is evident in their manner of speaking and speech, their gait, their breathing and their response to life. They find rituals, symbols and traditions alluringly poignant. You have to be well-read to keep up intellectually with an in-balance Water.

Water type personalities are very people oriented and will readily allow new people into their lives but tend not to initiate these relationships. Water loves to help other people succeed. If Water can help others succeed, then Water has succeeded.

A good listener, Water does not enjoy confrontation and will work to achieve harmony among people however he can.

Water must live a life that is fully aligned with his core values and beliefs. Deeply philosophical and profound, Water tends to see menial tasks as art. In fact, Water types are very artistic themselves. The most creative and artistic people the world has ever seen tend to have strong Water personalities. Their creations are awe-inspiring.

Water type personalities live in their minds. They prefer predictability. They need to make sense of life, but out-of-balance or maladapted Water will have difficulty reconciling a world that looks very warped to them. This causes them to feel depressed as the world looks murkier and quite different from what others perceive.

Two Types of Water

For most people Water is the most challenging of the five element personality types to understand. This is because there are two types of Water: 1) the wise philosopher archetype and 2) the new baby full of wonder, delight and playfulness.

The philosopher spends time reading, journaling, writing, studying, and contemplating life. The philosopher prefers time spent alone. He or she has a keen interest in the past and how it has influenced the present. Even when it comes to meeting a new person, the wise one type of Water wants to know everything about her new acquaintance's history so that she can better understand who is before her.

The second archetype, that of the playful new baby, is the adult who is still quite childlike, bubbly and radiant. This type of Water will follow a crowd or easily make new friends simply because she is curious and finds it fun and interesting. This Water type can be very endearing, delightful and even spontaneous.

Their primary challenge is that they have so many ideas they never follow through on many. They lack motivation to see their ideas through. They need someone to push them along.

Both archetypes of Water, the philosopher and the playful baby both have a yin energy. The influence of the strong yin energy is translated as intense inner focus. Both archetypes of the Water personality tend to be quieter than others, more introverted and more private.

Water-in-balance can be an enormously captivating personality with a zen-like air, but out-of-balance can have inhibitions, low self-esteem, a tendency to overcautiousness with a preoccupation for worry and agitation. False bravado is another of maladapted Water’s personality traits.

The maladapted Water type will tend to feel overwhelmed, agitated through crisis, resigned to what she cannot conquer, isolated and fearful.

She finds a pathway back into balance through tapping in to her innate sense of calm and wisdom where she can once again begin to confidently manage life’s crises. Regaining her balance by diving in to her core essence she will no longer feel alone but instead supported by the universe whether she has people around her or not.

Whether you are in- or out-of-balance as a Water type, embrace your wondrous archetype of wise one, philosopher and playful child. Stand in your essence of life. You are Water.

…

Endnotes:

Dahlin, Dondi. The Five Elements: Understand Yourself and Enhance Your Relationships with the Wisdom of the World's Oldest Personality Type System. United States, Penguin Publishing Group, 2016.

Moss, Charles A. Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance. United States, North Atlantic Books, 2011.

The Terpene: Most Fundamental Fragrance, Flavor and Healing Component of Essential Oil

One of the most important compounds present in essential oils is the terpene.* Terpenes are vibrantly fragrant molecules that occur naturally in plant life, especially in conifers, bearing pigment, scent and flavor. When applied to skin, terpenes in essential oils work to promote homeostasis (balance) not just in skin but throughout the entire body once they enter the bloodstream through the skin.

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.

Terpenes are bioactive compounds which influence the body’s endocannabinoid system responsible for regulating various biological functions in the body such as immune response, appetite, metabolism, memory, respiration, sleep, stress response and more.

The effect of a terpene on the body will vary based on:

• its concentration

• its characteristics

• the physical makeup of the person using it.

“The endocannabinoid system is a network of cell receptors that responds to chemicals like THC, among others. These receptors are mostly found in the brain but also show up in the immune cells, liver and lungs. This system is what helps with pain and inflammation regulation… Cannabinoids are a group of chemicals that interact with and bind to receptors in the brain, which can help regulate mood, sleep, appetite, and pain sensation… Cannabinoids are found in every person. What makes it different is the level of neurotransmitter that is present in a person's body.” — “The Endocannabinoid System for Dummies: 7 Facts.”

The term terpene was coined in 1866 by the scholar Fr. A. Kekulé. Later, German chemist Otto Wallach made a major discovery about terpenes noting a pattern of carbon to hydrogen atoms in all essential oils. Though the number of hydrogen and carbon atoms vary from terpene to terpene, the ratio is always the same: five carbon atoms to every eight hydrogen atoms. This “isoprene rule” earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1910 and he was literally dubbed the “Messiah of Terpenes.”

The isoprene rule is the basic concept of terpenes' molecular structure and their biogenesis.

The isoprene unit acts as monomer or single unit that builds up in repeating units to form groups of terpenes we find in essential oils. Their names usually but not always end in -ene.

“A terpene can fall into a number of given classes, including mono, sesqui, di, tri or tetra terpenes, all of which are found in nature. Isoprenes are bonding units, and a terpene is classified into one of these categories by how many isoprene [units] it contains. Think of isoprenes as the building blocks of terpenes.” Andrew Freedman in Terpenes for Well-Being: A Comprehensive Guide to Botanical Aromas for Emotional and Physical Self-Care

• monoterpenes consist of two isoprene units

• sesquiterpenes consist of three isoprene units

• diterpenes: four units

• triterpenes: six units

• tetraterpenes: eight units

Terpenes are known to modulate mood and heighten our sense of well-being. Stimulation of our olfactory receptors which happens when we take in the fragrance of a flower, for example, often makes an emotional impact on us. But this isn’t the whole story. The chemical composition of the terpenes interact directly with brain cells to regulate and influence their activity, in turn interacting with the entire body.

Terpenes present with woody, earthy, floral, fruity, citrusy, spicy or sweet aromas. An example of the woody note is the terpene guaiacol, a component of guaiac wood essential oil found in Ageless La Cure Nourishing Cream (above) by PHYTO5. It also provides the woody notes, for example, to support the rose fragrance in Chanel No. 19. All PHYTO5 skin and hair care is extremely abundant in terpenes given that all products are essential oil rich.

Over 20,000 unique terpenes exist in nature but only a fraction of them have been explored. In addition to working to create stasis in the human body, they play a vital role in maintaining stasis in our ecosystem. As one example, scientists believe terpenes evolved to protect plants from pests by repelling them with an unpleasant odor, killing or luring them with their scent only to trap them in their resin. Still other terpenes give off a pleasant odor that attracts beneficial insects.

Alpha-Pinene is the terpene found in essential oils like peppermint, rosemary, sage and frankincense. Alpha-Pinene gives evergreen trees their aroma. It’s anti-inflammatory and is known to help improve respiratory function.

Basil, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, patchouli, oregano, lavender and rosemary contain the peppery smelling terpene beta-Caryophyllene. It’s anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory and analgesic.

A final example of a common terpene is linalool. It exudes a calming fresh, floral smell and offers analgesic action as it promotes relaxation and stress relief. Lavender, basil, cilantro, clary sage, neroli and bergamot all contain linalool.

Terpenes are the constituents of flavors for spicing foods or creating distinct fragrances in perfumery. They equally serve as vital components in medical therapies and are hardly given the attention they deserve in most organic and pharmaceutical chemistry textbooks.

“Many of us think of aroma as a linear concept, a characteristic made up of easy to identify elements… but what really is the source of that aroma?” —Andrew Freedman

Terpenes are the building blocks of scent and flavor and layers of them create the aromas, the flavors and the healing properties we take for granted today. When you dissect what really creates combinations of scents and flavors, you become more aware of the majesty of nature. You become more aware of the enormous potential terpenes and essential oils have for your self-care, well-being and healing.

#####

Endnotes:

* You may have guessed that the word terpene is derived from the word turpentine. This is because terpenes are a major component of turpentine most of which is derived from coniferous trees.

Kreider, Heather. “Terpenes In Essential Oils.” Skininc.texterity.com, 7 Oct. 2021, https://skininc.texterity.com/skininc/october_2021/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=1730052&ajs_uid=5912I1544689E4Z&oly_enc_id=5912I1544689E4Z#articleId1730052.

Potter, Beverly A. Terpenes: The Magic in Cannabis. United States, Ronin Publishing, 2019.

“The Endocannabinoid System for Dummies - 7 Facts.” ShredCBD by PFX Labs, https://shredcbd.com/blogs/shredcbd/the-endocannabinoid-system-for-dummies.

Breitmaier, Eberhard. Terpenes: Flavors, Fragrances, Pharmaca, Pheromones. Germany, Wiley, 2006.

Freedman, Andrew. Terpenes for Well-Being: A Comprehensive Guide to Botanical Aromas for Emotional and Physical Self-Care. N.p., Mango Media.

Our Bodies’ Cells Sing! Discover How 'Singing Cells' Are the Foundation of Your Health and Vitality

Living cells in the human body create sound as a natural aspect of their metabolic and life process. Each cell has a unique ‘song’ that changes in response to our thoughts and emotions. Our cells literally sing. ‘Singing cells’ have long been part of non-Western belief systems(1) and have recently been explored by modern Western scientists.

It has long been known that cells communicate with each other in nature: “Every living organism makes noise, but most of us aren't sensitive to it," says Bernie Krause, author of Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World.

Every cell is in contact and continuous communication with every other cell and holds the unique imprint of YOU. The cells communicate without ceasing about the tasks they perform in order to establish harmony and balance in your body.

Every individual cell holds a unique vibrational tone which is light (intensity, color) and vibration (resonance, sound). This communication actually creates a chatter, a cacophony or a symphony depending on how we treat our bodies. Moreover, these cells are not just communicating with each other, they are communicating with and responding to you every second.

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.

Our cells let us know when something is out of balance:

“… diseases in organisms are often the results of disturbed or damaged communication between cells.” — Joseph Seckbach in Biocommunication: Sign-mediated Interactions Between Cells And Organisms.

The cells of humans (and animals) may not be the only forms of life that emit sound or ‘sing.’ Plant life communication has been the focus of intensive research over the last 20 years.

"Sound is overwhelming, it's everywhere. Surely life would have used it to its advantage in all forms,” says Monica Gagliano, plant physiologist and acoustics researcher at the University of Western Australia in Crawley.

Further she says, “We have identified that plants respond to sound and they make their own sounds. The obvious purpose of sound might be for communicating with others.”

Vibration creates sound. Without vibration there is no sound.

The field of plant bioacoustics tells us that plants vibrate at various frequencies and thus emit sound: Plants emit audio acoustic emissions between 10–240 Hz as well as ultrasonic acoustic emissions (UAE) within 20–300 kHz.

Get your cells singing with PHYTO5 quantum energetic skincare. Help your body’s cells work in concert with your vital energy to create exhilarating aliveness and vitality.

PHYTO5’s five element quantum energetic skincare lines are known to vibrate at very high frequency which is proven in this video, therefore it might be said that the molecules of flower and plant essential oils comprised of cells that vibrate and ‘sing’ are what ‘speak’ to the skin and body. This form of plant cell to human cell communication creates the quantum healing effect provided the host accepts and allows it.

“All coordination between cells, organs, and organisms depends on successful biocommunicative processes. There are abundant cases of communication in the biological world, both within (intraspecific) and between (interspecific) single-cell and multicellular microorganisms and higher animal forms.”  —Joseph Seckbach

Camilo Sanchez in Daoist Meridian Yoga: Activating the Twelve Pathways for Energy Balance and Healing tells us that information, which comes in a variety of forms, namely, light, electromagnetic radiation, and subtle energy, travel through the network of chi channels and they control the communication of biochemical messages between cells. These same channels of chi work like “magnetic vectors” that give direction to the flow of vital energy.

In fact, the entire premise of PHYTO5 is to balance vital energy, a precondition to overall wellness. This balanced flow of vital energy benefits the skin, in particular.

The study of cell sounds or ‘singing cells’ has been dubbed “sonocytology" by its founder, Jim Gimzewski, a UCLA chemist. He conducted the first sonocytology experiment(2) with yeast cells.

The researchers found that the frequency of the yeast cells remained roughly in the same high range, "about a C-sharp to D above middle C in terms of music," says Andrew Pelling of the UCLA Chemistry Department. They found that sprinkling alcohol on a yeast cell with the intent to kill it raises the pitch. Conversely, they found dead cells to give off a low, rumbling sound. 

To view and listen to the video documenting this experiment, click here. You will also be able to witness a series of complex geometrical forms that comprise the yeast cell in motion.

“Cells can be observed and their sounds recorded but they can also be manipulated, which results in a change of sound. A ‘singing cell’ can be turned into a ‘screaming cell’ by altering its living environment.” —Anne Niemetz in her thesis, Singing cells, art, science and the noise in between

That living environment looks one way in the laboratory but in the natural laboratory called the human being, the manipulations of the cells equate to our thoughts and emotions, and still further, even to the nutrition we give our bodies and all the externals to which we subject them.

But our body’s cells can be energized and purified by the very thing they emit: sound.

Githa Ben-David, author of The Note From Heaven: How to Sing Yourself Into a Higher State of Consciousness presents a method for liberating the natural voice using what she calls ‘regressive cell singing.’ She says this method is one of the most direct ways to get in contact with the subconscious mind. She utilizes what she calls the ‘note from heaven’ to establish this contact.

Ben-David describes the ‘note from heaven’ as the tonal expression of the divine state—the quantum field. This field is inherent in all of us and we have the ability to contact it. 

In the regressive cell singing method, the ‘note from heaven’ one sings acts like a tuning fork retuning cells to their former harmony. The cells not only sing, they dance, according to Ben-David and this causes a reorganization of cells and brings the body back to its original balanced matrix.

“We are all born in tune, with a beautiful composition in our cell.” —Githa Ben-David

We are constantly imprinting either our cohesive or chaotic thoughts and emotions upon our cellular structure.

The topic of ‘singing cells’ and how they relate to our mental, physical and emotional well-being should give us pause. It’s not just an interesting topic, it is a vital one.

Without managing our thoughts and emotions with awareness, we might negatively feed our cells in such a way that they respond to us darkly, emitting a base, droning tone without quantum spiral or cohesive ecstatic aliveness.

We should want to give our cells a positive frequency or radiation of light causing our cells to create a beautiful sounding symphony and incessant lovely chatter.

…

Endnotes:

(1) The indigenous of the Ecuadorian rainforest is one example.

(2) In 2002, Professor James Gimzewski and Andrew Pelling at the UCLA Department of Chemistry first made the discovery that yeast cells oscillate at the nanoscale. When they amplified this oscillation they found the resulting sound lies within the human audible range. They used an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to ‘listen’ to the sounds of cells. The AFM isn’t exactly a microscope. The device ‘touches’ a cell with its small tip similar to a needle that ‘feels’ the bumps in a groove on a vinyl record. The AFM ‘feels’ oscillations taking place at the membrane of a cell. The researchers then amplify and distribute these electrical signals via speakers.

Niemetz, Anne. “Singing cells, art, science and the noise in between.” http://users.design.ucla.edu/~aniemetz/Niemetz_Thesis2004.pdf. MFA Thesis 2004, UCLA Department of Design/Media Arts.

Ben-David, Githa. The Note From Heaven: How to Sing Yourself Into a Higher State of Consciousness. Watkins Publishing. March 22, 2016.

Seckbach, Joseph et al. Biocommunication: Sign-mediated Interactions Between Cells And Organisms. World Scientific Publishing Company. November 2016.

Sanchez, Camilo. Daoist Meridian Yoga: Activating the Twelve Pathways for Energy Balance and Healing. Singing Dragon. October 21, 2015.

Krause, Bernie. Wild Soundscapes: Discovering the Voice of the Natural World. Yale University Press. May 24, 2016.

Trussell, Dianne, and BSc(Hons); 17 years in medical and biological research. “Singing Cells – Science and the Music of the Human Body.” Unimed Living, https://www.unimedliving.com/music/the-science-of-music/singing-cells-science-and-the-music-of-the-human-body-part-2.html.

Bright, Richard, et al. “The Rhythmic Sound of Living Cells.” Interalia Magazine, 14 Sept. 2015, https://www.interaliamag.org/blog/the-dark-side-of-the-cell/. 

Magazine, Smithsonian. “Signal Discovery?” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Mar. 2004, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/signal-discovery-104663195/. 

Image by agsandrew from Getty Images Pro via Canva.

Lemon Essential Oil For Skincare and Emotion

Lemon essential oil, which is present in many Metal element line skincare products among many others by PHYTO5 is astringent, antibacterial and antiseptic making it perfect for skincare. Cleansing and stimulating, it is primarily and best used for 1) oily and/or acneic skin and for tired, sluggish and aging skin, and 2) the nervous system, however its benefits to our health do not stop there.

Lemon is one the most common oils and because of its abundant presence in nature, it is most often cold pressed. The more rare and expensive steam-distilled oil has an indefinite shelf-life and is the one most suitable for 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.

Lemon oil clarifies and brightens the skin by removing dead skin cells from the surface as it gently and deeply cleanses. It provides tone, tightening and lifting the skin. 

Lemon essential oil in skincare controls oil production in the skin and helps shrink large pores. It eases out blackheads as a result of its skin tightening ability and prevents blackhead formation by blotting excess sebum and shrinking the pores.

This versatile essential oil is known to help promote hair regrowth. Its presence in shampoos like PHYTO5’s Metal element Shampoo, Earth element Shampoo and Wood element Shampoo balances oil production dry itchiness in the scalp.

“Typhus germs may be killed in less than one hour; germs causing pneumonia in three to four hours and staphylococcus germs in five minutes. Its antiseptic properties will last for twenty days.”

— Susanne Fischer-Rizzi in Complete Aromatherapy Handbook: Essential Oils for Radiant Health

Antioxidant-rich, it can help prevent premature aging because of its citric acid and vitamin C content. It boosts collagen and helps the skin regain elasticity.

Lemon reduces scarring, makes the hair shine and balances skin’s pH.

A disinfectant and styptic, lemon can stop wounds from bleeding. It may be applied directly to insect bites to stop the itching and reduce swelling. 

Lemon is also an antibacterial and acne fighter. Its antibacterial properties give lemon its potent germ-killing ability.

Lemon essential oil is excellent in treating colds and throat infections. By adding one or two drops per quart of water in a sponge bath, lemon oil relieves itchy eczema.

Lemon oil is perfect for destroying air-borne germs in well populated places when used in aroma lamps and diffusers. 

Lemon also strengthens vascular tissue and is therefore beneficial for treating varicose veins. It strengthens the heart and proactively may prevent the onset of arteriosclerosis. It also promotes red blood cell formation.

Lemon stimulates the immune system. It cleanses the blood and activates white blood cell formation for the purpose of protecting the body during flu or any virus epidemics.

It has a tonic action on the lymphatic system supporting the movement of lymph, a colorless fluid containing white blood cells which bathes the tissues and drains through the lymphatic system into the bloodstream.

Lemon oil cleanses the body by stimulating the liver to flush out the essential oil along with toxins that have accumulated in the liver and blood. 

Lemon can be a great heartburn remedy and can help balance sickness-causing high body acidity. By taking lemon essential oil orally, it can help counteract a high acid content in body fluids by stimulating the production of neutralizing potassium carbonate in the body. (Caution: Never consume more than one or two drops of any essential oil at a time because their composition is extremely concentrated.)

In massage, lemon essential oil can be a vital muscle tonic.

Lemon also stimulates the nervous system. Lemon lifts the spirit, balances mood, helps regulate mood swings and is excellent for both physical and psychological heaviness. It can be psychologically strengthening people who feel depressed or fearful. 

In addition to improving sleep, lemon essential oil is known to increase concentration and the ability to memorize by activating the center of the hippocampus in the brain. It helps clears the mind and aids one in the decision-making process. Lemon is quite helpful in calming stormy emotional outbursts and when pursuing challenging intellectual tasks. 

Lemon essential oil is present in the following products by PHYTO5:

• Metal element Phyt’Ether serum

• Metal element Day Cream

• Metal element White Clay Mask

• Metal element Shampoo

• Wood element Phyt’Ether serum

• Wood element Day Cream

• Wood element Night Cream

• Wood element Green Clay Mask

• Wood element Shampoo

• Wood element Yogi Body Gel

• Earth element Skin Toner

• Earth element Phyt’Ether serum

• Earth element Yellow Clay Mask

• Earth element Yogi Body Gel

• Earth element Shampoo

• Fire element Skin Toner

• Water element Skin Toner

• Phyt’liss Hair Conditioner

• La crème acide [Natural pH Balancing Cream]

• L’émulsion corporelle [Body Lotion]

• Le Phyt’Acid [Phyt’Acid Face & Body Cleansing Gel]

• La crème visage [Face Cream with Vitamin E]

• L’alguessence bain [Algae-Essence Bath]

• Chi Yin Massage Oil (certified organic)

• Contouring Serum

• Hand Cream

• Ageless La Cure Nourishing Cream

#####

Endnotes:

Fischer-Rizzi, Susanne, and Jeanette Green. Complete Aromatherapy Handbook: Essential Oils for Radiant Health. Sterling Pub. Co., 1990.

Miller, Light, and Bryan Miller. Ayurveda and Aromatheraphy: The Earth Essential Guide to Ancient Wisdom and Modern Healing. Motilal Banarsidass Publishing, 1998.

Atkinson, Alicia. Essential Oils for Beauty, Wellness, and the Home. Skyhorse Publishing. November 3, 2015.

Photo by Sasha Pritchard via Canva.

Balanced Flow of Blood and Chi Are Essential for Beautiful, Younger Looking Skin

I recently received a series of non-invasive facelift treatments (called the Chromalift) performed by PHYTO5’s Director of Education. I’m at the point in my life where I’m actively working to counteract or reverse fine lines and some loss of elasticity in the skin. As Gina and I chatted while I was on the table, she said something that really struck me: people with red, ruddy, rather flushed looking skin—a sign of a little too much red blood circulation—don’t usually get lines and sagging later in life. This is because all that red blood marked by skin redness has been abundantly delivering nutrition to the skin cells all along. I learned in that moment how critical blood circulation is to beauty.

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.

I’m sure people with red and hot skin don’t enjoy that skin condition either. Each of us has unique challenges. But since Gina told me that, I’ve been on the lookout for women whose skin tends to redness so maybe I can observe the effects in action. And I have to say I do admire the firmness and ‘lift’ they seem to more naturally enjoy.

Beautiful skin really does start with healthy clean blood and proper circulation. Improved blood circulation can prevent the formation of fine lines. It opens the capillaries in the body and improves oxygen uptake of the skin cells.

Still, lines and wrinkles are the result of a number of conditions and not always poor blood circulation. They can be caused by exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun, weak connective tissue, acidification of the body, metabolic disease, hormonal disorders, declining oil production of the sebaceous glands, poor nutrition, heredity, environmental insults, stress, an inactive lifestyle, alcohol and tobacco.

But the five fluids of the body system (vital energy, red blood, lymph, blue blood, water) are our deepest source of nourishment and detoxification and, ultimately, defense against aging. These fluids actually bathe our cells. If we don’t pay attention to the fluid environment of the body and work to support it naturally, the quality of not only our skin, but our organs and glands will suffer.

Beautiful skin and hair require that we support our internal organs. After all, they produce and constantly circulate blood. This is how we prevent inflammation and acidity.

Wrinkles, that rather awful sign of aging, are not only lessened or maybe even prevented by improved fluid circulation, but our flow of vital energy is tantamount to it.

Says Letha Hadady, D. Ac., renowned herbalist and acupuncturist:

“Wrinkles begin from inside due to weak chi originating from poor digestion and circulation. The Chinese medical texts explain this energetically.”

Hadady goes on to explain in her book, Asian Health Secrets: The Complete Guide to Asian Herbal Medicine, that chi becomes weak in certain acupuncture meridians located on the dorsal sides of both arms and hands. These meridians naturally flow upward to lift the face. When these meridians become weak, when what is called the ‘upper Yang’ deteriorates, wrinkles develop.

While you could visit an acupuncture physician to help remedy this, Hadady says you can prevent wrinkles and stay young and beautiful with blood and chi building herbs such as these:

• elderberries

• chicory root

• burdock root

• red clover flowers

• comfrey

• coltsfoot

• rose hips

• nettle

• dandelion greens

• parsley

• watercress with a pinch of paprika

Refer to page 297 in Hadady’s book for the exact recipe to achieve beautiful skin with perhaps little incidence of lines according to the author.

“Chi is the invisible envelope that lifts your energy. You can lift your face by lifting chi. This is done with good nutrition and herbs.” —Letha Hadady

Finally, the issue of collagen depletion causing skin to get saggy and lethargic also contributes to lines and wrinkles. Collagen loss happens incrementally year by year until one day the percent of collagen loss is significant.

Hadady tells us an excellent approach to amplify collagen is by increasing our intake of herbal vitamin C.

Herbal vitamin C means you are ingesting herbs that are rich in naturally occurring vitamin C and these actually increase your chi. See the list above.

Herbal vitamin C cleanses the liver ensuring healthy calcium absorption and better blood circulation. Vitamin C rich herbs combine the vitamin with important minerals that work together to maintain healthy collagen and blood circulation. Moreover, the body is always going to accept nutrition from a whole food better than it will from an isolated nutrient.

The PHYTO5 Metal element skincare line is formulated with specific essential oils like rosemary, eucalyptus and niaouli that support better blue and red blood circulation. These cause the superficial capillaries to dilate and regulate temperature while an interchange of tissue fluids takes place increasing nutrition to the skin’s surface layers.

When you apply a skincare product you should always do it mindfully and in a way to increase the blood circulation of the face and neck. (I noticed when Gina gave me my facial treatments she used light circular motions with her fingertips to bring red blood into my face.)

Both PHYTO5 skincare plus your mindful application of the products can work synergistically to increase the local skin temperature and bring color to your skin.

Maybe do what I do. Approach your skincare from all directions:

• the skincare products you put on your face and body

• your vital energy flow

• your nutrition

• your lifestyle

When you understand what the skin and body need, you can get to work to give both the raw materials, love and kindness they deserve. And you can be a natural beauty no matter your age.

…

Endnotes:

Isla, Dr Jeremiah. Gua Sha: The Healing Guide On Using Gua Sha To Improve Your Skin Beauty. N.p., Independently Published, 2021.

Howard, Jackie, et al. Principles and Techniques for the Beauty Specialist. United Kingdom, Nelson Thornes Limited, 1993.

Kopf, Robert. Wrinkles - Prevention and Treatment with Homeopathy and Schuessler Salts (homeopathic Cell Salts): A Homeopathic and Naturopathic Guide. Germany, BookRix, 2018.

Hadady, Letha. Asian Health Secrets: The Complete Guide to Asian Herbal Medicine. United States, Three Rivers Press, 1998.

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.

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.

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. 

…

* 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.” 

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.

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. 

#####

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.

…

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.

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.

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.

…

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.

Live With the Five Elements: "Know How” for a Balanced, Healthy, Happy, Long Life

Living in alignment with the five elements of traditional Chinese medicine (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) may foster a return to health or elevate your vitality even if you're already quite healthy. Five element lifestyle tenets and choices can be excellent tools for modulating unhealthy responses to stress, the causes of many chronic illnesses and premature aging.

“Thus Knowing How is the maintenance of life.
Do not fail to observe the Four Seasons
And to adapt to heat and cold,
To Harmonize elation and anger
And to be calm in activity as in rest…
In this way having deflected the perverse energies
There will be long life and everlasting vision.”

— from the Nei Jing Su Wen (206 BCE-220 CE)

Five element living helps one to recover from illness and become resilient in adaptation. Adaptation is the ability to adjust to changing circumstances and challenges of life without suffering the consequences.

Symptoms of illness and unhealthy behaviors are always signs of an imbalance in one of the five elements. They prevent the body, mind and spirit from adapting and “knowing how.”

Allopathic medicine focuses on the disease, not the person who has emotions and propensities that often actually encourage the sickness.

True healing is not just the relief of symptoms. It is about regaining the energetic balance of that element.

Events in early life can alter one’s underlying constitutional energy thereby leading to disease vulnerability. Healthy aging depends on understanding our constitutional pattern.

In order to stay healthy in the face of life’s challenges, we must embrace conscious living by learning to adapt, but how do we adapt?

Traditional Chinese medicine tells us we are born with five Virtues inherent in each of the five elements. As we transform the Virtues, we transform stress-inducing events into opportunities for growth. We become more consciously aware of ourselves and our environment.

The five Virtues of the five elements and their corresponding organ systems are:

• compassion/liver/Wood/Spring

• order/heart/Fire/Summer

• trust/spleen/Earth/between-seasons

• integrity/lungs/Metal/Fall

• wisdom/kidneys/Water/Winter

When we accumulate toxic emotional energy from the traumas and hurts we experience in life without clearing and integrating them with understanding and gratitude for what they have taught us, this obstructs not only the positive support the five Virtues give us but it also impedes the health of the corresponding organ systems.

Carrying undealt with toxic emotion prevents our ability to adapt–physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It impedes the natural flow of life force energy (chi) in the body. This can cause disease or exacerbate conditions that already exist.

Premature aging and many chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, depression, and autoimmune disorders are the result of a failure to adapt. This failure leads to elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol. It causes changes in the midbrain—where emotions and hormonal secretions interface.

PHYTO5 has pioneered both technology and products that energetically work to assist us by bringing to balance an imbalance of emotion and physical health caused by everyday stressors. PHYTO5’s modern light therapy device, the Chromapuncteur, and the Biostimulator which also uses light to work on points and meridians, both aim to balance vital energy.

Additionally but just as importantly, PHYTO5’s quantum energetic skincare products incorporated into a daily skincare regimen also vigorously work to balance vital energy responsible for radiant health and vitality. The Beauty of Emotions proprietary treatment unique to PHYTO5 which utilizes quantum energetic skincare from our five element lines (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) squarely addresses the matter of negative emotions as a barrier to wellness and of positive emotions as a booster of Wei Chi so vital to human wellness.

Ancient Chinese Taoist physicians came to realize that the path to immortality depended on two things:

• maintaining physical vitality

• focusing on the life of the spirit

The Neijing Suwen mentioned above, the world’s first truly holistic healthcare text and system, meticulously describes how to adapt and thrive by “knowing how.” The Taoist physicians who recorded their observations in the Neijing Suwen learned they could enhance longevity through internal transformation, meditation, breathing, exercise and diet.

What is probably their greatest insight is that self-knowledge, a positive attitude and spiritual practice—the embodiment of conscious living—do more to ward off sickness and disease, paving the way for a long and healthy life, than any other practice or belief.

In 400 BCE, the mythical Yellow Emporer of the Neijing Suwen asked his most trusted health advisor, Chi P’o, how to achieve a long and healthy life. Chi P’o simply answers:

“Observe your environment, don’t get chilled or hot, balance the emotions, remain calm, and know yourself.”

The text known as the Ling Shu (meaning Spiritual Axis) and part of the Neijing Suwen, helps describe the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of Chinese medicine. The following quote from Chapter 8 perhaps says it all when it comes to how to live well and long.

“The patient is the product and author of life’s standards and of the control of the breaths and the meridians. The stability and firmness of life’s lines, the permanent rooting in the spirits, are nothing more than a perpetual changing—a permanent process of adaptation.”

We are each responsible for our lives. We are our life’s author. And they are the lifestyle choices we make moment to moment that support us to adapt to life’s challenges and create a consciously lived life not just health but vitality.

The loss of control over the breaths or meridians equates to the loss of control of the stress hormone cortisol, and to the loss of control of our physiology and homeostasis.

If we do not or cannot take care of ourselves we lose the ability to adapt and then we lose our rooting in the properties stored in each of the five elements (the Neijing Suwen calls them “spirits”) that provide us the power to adapt.

As an example and to achieve a better understanding of one of the five elements, Metal, we invite you to read our blog, “The Metal Type Personality According to Chinese Medicine.”

…

Endnotes:

Moss, Charles A. Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance. North Atlantic Books, 2010. 

Larre, Claude, and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée. Rooted in Spirit: The Heart of Chinese Medicine. Station Hill Press, 1995. 

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.

---

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

#####

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.

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.

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%

…

* 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).

#####

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

#####

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