How Essential Oils Became the Cure for Our Age of Anxiety
Essential oils, once a niche interest, have emerged as a soothing balm for the anxious times we live in. Discover the journey of these aromatic elixirs, their therapeutic potential, and why they've become a beacon of hope in our age of anxiety.
Twenty years ago, Carla Cohen fell mysteriously ill.
She couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong; it felt as though some conspiracy between her mind and her body were eroding her capacity to work.
- She studied with multiple healers and shamans; she read books with titles like “The Body Toxic” and pursued a massage-therapy license.
- As part of her training, she took a class on a massage technique called “raindrop therapy,” which incorporates essential oils-aromatic compounds made from plant material.
- From the very first moment with those oils, she noticed something was firing that hadn’t been firing
- Today, Cohen puts frankincense oil on her scalp every morning; when she feels a cold coming on, she downs an immune-system-boosting oil blend that includes clove, eucalyptus, and rosemary.
- On days when she has to negotiate a contract, she uses nutmeg and spearmint to sharpen her focus.
Multilevel-marketing companies such as Amway and Mary Kay have long sold people the idea of building a business by working their social connections
In recent years, a number of multilevel marketing companies that target millennials have cropped up, selling everything from leggings (LuLaRoe) to jewelry (Stella & Dot).
- Though the medium may have changed, the sell remains the same-becoming a distributor is a path to independence, flexibility, and “abundance,” the industry’s favorite euphemism for money.
Young founded Young Living Essential Oils in 2000
After meeting a French lavender distiller and grower at a Whole Life expo in California, Young became fascinated with the medicinal properties of essential oils
- He bought a hundred and sixty acres of farmland in Idaho and planted peppermint, tansy, and lavender
- In 2000, Young opened the Young Life Research Clinic, in Springville, Utah, which administered essential oils and other alternative therapies to patients with heart disease, depression, and cancer, among other conditions
- The clinic employed a pediatrician named Sherman Johnson, who had recently had his medical license reinstated
- As Young Living grew, reining in Young’s spending became an issue
- David Stirling attempted to shift Young Living’s focus away from Young to the oils, but he met with resistance from Young and also from many distributors, who felt a deep loyalty to Gary and Mary
Essential Oils
Essential oils are touted as something between a perfume and a potion, a substance that can keep you smelling nice while also providing physical and psychological benefits
- They are often stocked on the same shelves as herbal remedies as an alternative to synthetic-smelling products like Febreze
- The pop star Kesha tweeted that she starts off every day by sniffing essential oils: “They make me feel so peaceful.”
- Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan, unsurprisingly, but so are RuPaul, Alanis Morissette, and a trainer for the New York Knicks
Essential Oils Made Simple
David Stewart, an aromatherapist affiliated with Young Living, writes that essential oils have a divine intelligence and discernment that allows them to heal without harming, to provide our cells with exactly what we need and nothing we don’t.
- The molecules of a therapeutic grade essential oil form a harmonious, coherent, functional family designed and intended to serve us and heal us according to the highest will of their creator.
Multilevel Marketing
Distributors buy products at wholesale prices and sell them at a retail markup
- Recruit other distributors into your “downline” and get a commission on their sales
- Divide sales force into a complex hierarchy stratified partly by sales volume, ranging from Distributor to Royal Crown Diamond
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