Episode 49: Energy, Exercise, and Hinoki

Transcript

doTERRA: Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA. We're excited to have you join us today as we talk to Chris Cook, a member of our product marketing team here at doTERRA. We're going to be discussing two of the biggest topics that come up around this time of year, energy and sleep. Also, we'll take a deep dive into a very special essential oil. You won't want to miss it.

Chris thank you so much for sitting down with us today we are so excited to have you here. Our whole product marketing team just has such a wealth of knowledge that we love drawing from and getting a special insight with.

So, the first topic we want to talk about is one that is really big this time of year and it's exercise. A lot of people are making their New Year's goals, trying to be more active which is so amazing. And we want to make sure that they know how these essential oils can help them.

So, the first question I have is, how can essential oils help with my exercise routine?

Chris: I think essential oils are such an amazing thing to incorporate into any exercise lifestyle whether we're starting at the New Year or just picking up halfway through; for many different reasons. So essential oils are going to help us reinvigorate our attitude for fitness, sometimes adding a little bit of Grapefruit might really just spark that light inside of you to get you really pumped for your exercise routine.

And then they're also really great for helping with recovery too. So, there's really a multitude of uses that we can really do. Something that I love to do is I'll usually take some Peppermint and Grapefruit and I'll just put a few drops in my hand before I go for a run or something and just kind of breathe into my hand like it would like an inhaler and that really just gets my mind focused, and my heart rate up, and I just feel really energized for whatever I'm about to do. So, it's an amazing thing to start incorporating into your fitness routine too.

doTERRA: And that definitely sounds like something that I would benefit from, I know for me and probably for a lot of people getting started with your workout is the hardest part. So, having that Grapefruit and that Peppermint give you that little jolt of energy and get you started, that sounds amazing. So now we move to after a workout. What can I use for my muscles that might need a little bit of soothing after I've had a hard workout?

Chris: My favorite thing by far is using the Deep Blue Rub. I think that it has such amazing properties to help my body really recover from any type of exertion that I'm doing. Especially it penetrates really deeply into that muscle tissue and it leaves you feeling really refreshed and I see myself recovering a lot quicker. One thing that I like to do with that too is add a few drops of Copaiba oil right on to that, kind of blend it in my hands and put it anywhere that I'm really sore from the workout before and has a really great effect.

doTERRA: That sounds incredible. So, a little bit more with maybe the post workout after workout. We want to make sure that we are keeping our body in great condition that we don't have anything that prevents us from staying on our workout routine and hitting our goals. So, what can I do to help make sure that I'm promoting a healthy inflammatory response in my body?

Chris: One thing that I think really helps for that additional step in post-recovery from your workout is to really use Copaiba oil as something that's going to help our bodies response system to exercising and create a really healthy inflammatory response. Add a few drops to your shake or a glass of water at the end of your workout and you're going to start seeing those benefits really coming into play.

doTERRA: That is all such incredible information I hope that it can help everyone listening stay on track with their workout routine, start their workout routine, and feel really great about it.

The next topic is another one that's really big this time of year, we're coming off of the holidays where it's a lot of stress we're really busy and something that becomes a huge priority is sleep. So, we don't want to be putting synthetic chemicals or anything toxic into our body while we're trying to promote good sleep, so how can we get a better night's sleep naturally?

Chris: You know sleep is one of those things that I've constantly been working on in my life and I've really found it to be very helpful to set the mood for restfulness at the end of the day. And what I like to do is I'm a big fan of using Roman Chamomile, and Serenity, and Bergamot in a diffuser and that really helps my mind slow down become more focused on restfulness and I find that my rejuvenation is exceedingly better when I'm doing with those things to be a little bit more mindful and adding those essential oils known for the restfulness properties to be diffused in my room at night.

doTERRA: That sounds amazing and that and the combo of those scent sounds wonderful It sounds like such a peaceful environment to just be able to put everything aside and really let your mind relax and be at peace. So, what can I do if I'm looking for something kind of a supplement or something to do internally to help my body relax and find that good night's rest?

Chris: One thing that we can take as a supplement that really helps with that restfulness and a better night's sleep is the Serenity soft gels. I use them as part of my nightly routine and I find that they really work.

doTERRA: So, another aspect of sleep is for our kids. Kids don't always want to go to sleep. They often put up a big fight about it. So, what can we do to help our children have better sleep naturally?

Chris: You know that's a question that we at doTERRA really wanted to answer and so we all came together and we came up with this really amazing product called Calmer. And it's designed for children to kind of take a little bit more interest in their restfulness and their sleep. And so, this is a really great essential oil blend, just in a roller bottle, that you can safely use on your children. And it really helps to have those same benefits of restfulness, helps them kind of calm down a little bit at the end of the night. And just kind of roll on the bottom of their feet and you'll start seeing those results.

doTERRA: That sounds so amazing. So earlier you talked about the scents of Bergamot and Roman Chamomile and how you like to use those to create that environment for yourself and make sure that you're ready to have the rest that you need. One way that is really incredible to use those and incorporate them as part of your nightly routine is making them into a lotion bar. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Chris: Yeah absolutely. A lotion bar is a really cool way to incorporate essential oils into our night routine but also the act of pampering yourself before bedtime really kind of gets your mind in focus and ready for that next natural process of your day which is you know getting ready for bed. And so, we've got a really great recipe that we can share about Bergamot and Roman Chamomile lotion bars, you can just use them as part of your nightly routine after a shower or a bath or whatever. But it's just a cup of beeswax, one cup of coconut oil, a cup of shea butter which is an amazing product it's really great for your skin.

And then 10 to 15 drops of Bergamot and 10 to 15 drops of Roman Chamomile. So, what you gonna do is you're just going to combine it and melt it in a double boiler or you can do it in the microwave too. That way you're just not really, you're not going to burn the products that you're working with. So, make sure that you're doing a double boiler or a microwave. Mix a beeswax coconut oil and Shea butter all together in this bowl. And as you mix the other ingredients in all together so it's nice and smooth that's when you're gonna start incorporating your essential oils so as you're mixing add the drops in so that they get all evenly dispersed throughout your mixture and then you can pour or spoon this into any mold that you want.

So, there's a lot of really great soap molds that you can buy on Amazon or any other local craft stores have a lot of those molds. Or even if you have just something laying around a home that you want to use it's a really easy thing to do and then you can just let them chill and cool to become firm and then you can start incorporating them into your nightly routine.

doTERRA: That sounds like an incredible way to pamper yourself it's so simple and something that's very, very easy to work into a nightly routine it will only take a couple of minutes to just rub that lotion bar on and really benefit from those incredible relaxing natures of Bergamot and the Roman Chamomile essential oils. Chris, so you talked about putting the Peppermint and Grapefruit together and your hands and just kind of inhaling that as a quick boost of energy to help get your workout started. Could you tell us about a diffuser blend that maybe you can have in the room if you're doing a workout inside or something like that.

Chris: Absolutely. So, one of the one of my favorite workout diffuser blends that I like to incorporate I like to do a little bit of exercise before I start my day and before I even go to the gym. So, if he's at my bedroom or in the kitchen so it's three drops of Tangerine two drops of Eucalyptus and two drops of Peppermint oil. I just put them in my diffuser and I just find that it really invigorates me for my waking up and exercise.

Well that sounds incredible. Thank you so much for sharing that. Chris, thank you so much for joining us today. I have loved learning from all of the knowledge that you have and I feel like I am better prepared to work on my exercise and my sleep and really be able to benefit from the natural solutions these essential oils provide. So, thank you so so much. We hope to have you on again soon.

Chris: Thank you so much.

Hinoki Essential Oil

doTERRA: I am so excited to talk to you today about a very, very special oil. It's called Hinoki. In preparation for this I did a lot of research about the hinoki tree and its history and I want to share a little bit of that with you guys. 

Origin of the Hinoki Tree

Hinoki or Japanese Cypress has been grown treasured and considered very sacred in Japan for centuries. It's known for its very high-quality timber and has been used as a building material for temples, shrines, traditional Noh theaters, and even ritual baths. Now, during the feudal era in Japan it is said that five beautiful and majestic trees were planted and selected as the most valuable trees. They were known as the five trees of Kiso and one of these trees was hinoki. So hinoki only grows within this area of the world and is very, very sensitive to any impurities that might be around it.

These trees suffer if they're trying to grow in polluted environments so they grow mostly in areas where the air and the water around them is pure. A lot of people believe that this purity is reflected in the wood's appearance. It's a very light-colored wood has a compact straight grain and a very natural clear resin permeates the pores throughout creating of natural protection for the wood

Hinoki Wood in Construction 

One of the reasons that this hinoki wood has been so prized as a building material for sacred buildings is its durability. As the lumber from this tree has been observed throughout history, it's been shown that the durability of hinoki actually continues to increase for about 200 years, even after it's been cut. In fact, the oldest wooden structure in the world is in Japan and was built using this wood about thirteen hundred years ago and 65% of that original wood still remains today. Not only that, but people say that you can still smell the scent of the 1300-year-old hinoki wood to this day. That scent is one of the things that it's most famous for. So, it's incredible that it still remains 1300 years later.

Religious Importance

Now, I mentioned earlier that one of the ways that this wood was used is in building temples and shrines for the Shinto religion. Now trees in the Shinto religion are considered sacred and according to an ancient Shinto belief a god descended to a high pine on an elegant mountain to exist in a large or old tree. And throughout the history of the Shinto beliefs these trees have continued to be seen as sacred. And sacred places in Shinto have been marked by shrines for many years.

So traditionally, and to this day, hinoki has been used to construct shrines and temples because of its importance to the religion. Hinoki wood has also been used in Shinto ceremonies and purification rituals and one of the excellent examples of this is the Sanbo which is a ceremonial stand used to bear food offerings in Shinto temples. The stands of course are very sacred in the religion and are usually made of unpainted hinoki wood.

Scent of Hinoki Essential Oil

As I mentioned earlier hinoki has a beautiful scent and it has been highly prized in Japan for this scent. So, when hinoki wood is cut or scrubbed it emanates a very pleasing lemon smell. And has also been utilized in traditional Japanese stick incense for it's very light and earthy aroma. So, the Japanese have utilized the hinoki wood to help them feel relaxed, release stress, reduce tiredness, and to stimulate the brain. With this incredible history in Japan and how much it has been revered and how sacred it is seen to so many people. We at doTERRA are so excited to be able to produce a Hinoki oil.

Sourcing of Hinoki Essential Oil

doTERRA: We want to take a deeper look at the sourcing story behind this oil. So, we are so excited to have Bishnu Adhikari, who is our director of Co-impact Sourcing here at doTERRA, with us to talk about the sourcing of this beautiful Hinoki essential oil. Bishnu thank you so much for joining us today.

Bishnu: This is a privilege to be in the group and be able to share some story from sourcing Hinoki beautiful oil.

doTERRA: Can you tell us a little bit about where we get the hinoki wood to make this oil?

Bishnu: Hinoki is a lemon scented oil, comes from a discarded part of the trees. when hinoki trees grow like 35 meters tall and one meter in diameter. These trees are really good for construction wood and furniture making. Whereas when these lumber mills and factories produce a necessary size of timber there are discarded parts.

doTERRA: So, we're able to take those discarded parts that the lumber industry would normally just throw away and make this beautiful oil? oil? That's just so incredible to me. Now where exactly in Japan do we get our energy from?

Bishnu: At present we source from Japan the area called Shimanto. It's kind of an outskirt you can call it village but it's a pretty developed Japanese village. It's a very slow growing tree but at the same time it is part of the forest it is considered an invasive species. For a number of reasons: it creates a canopy on the top because of its leaves and branches. When those leaves are fallen on the ground they cover the entire ground so suffocating other species, especially the native species, to grow.

doTERRA: Could you tell us a little bit about what you think the most important aspects of this sourcing story are?

Bishnu: I would like to emphasize in three components why it is so important for doTERRA to continue to source this oil. Why it is important for users in this part of the world to be using this beautiful oil. First, it has a very strong environmental component by using this we will reduce the pressure of public landfills because we are going to be using those discarded pieces of timber.

Second, we will be promoting the regrowth of a native species in those areas where these trees ultimately monopolize the entire forest. Now, it's open for different species to grow for different biodiversity in that area. Second thing it's a government program. The government has established this for the purpose of keeping younger people employed in the outskirt areas.

So, that also provides a sustainable supply chain there. The trees are in numerous numbers first and the government license the harvesting groups to harvest those trees in a sustainable fashion. So, the oil that we produce comes from a very long-lasting sustainable source. Third, the trees itself and the beauty of keeping the historical use and meaning of these particular plant species because we are part of the supply chain now it will extend to the rest of the world. It won't limit to only the Japanese people but to the rest of the world.

doTERRA: Bishnu, thank you so much for joining us today. You've given us such wonderful information and we truly appreciate all the work that you and your team does to bring us these beautiful essential oils.

Bishnu: Thank you so much.

Using Hinoki Essential Oil

doTERRA: We hope that this Hinoki oil will become sacred and treasured and your house just as it has been treasured by people in Japan for centuries. It's a very calming a very wonderful scent to have around in your home. There are a couple of wonderful ways to utilize this oil in your home to bring that wonderful scent into your environment and really benefit from it.

One of the ways is you can add a few drops to your bath water. You can really make your bath, whether it's nightly or you just do it on special occasions, you can make that bath a really luxurious and aromatic experience and really take in that scent of that Hinoki oil. You can also combine it with a lotion and apply for a comforting massage topically so that can be done in the morning, at night, whenever you're really needing that comfort and that soothing effect of the massage.

There are also a couple of incredible diffuser blends that I would love to recommend to you using this Hinoki oil. The first is one that I like to call Japanese garden. That's two drops of Tangerine two drops of Hinoki and two drops of Siberian Fir. This is a great one to have going throughout the day in your house to create that Zen experience, that calm experience, that peaceful environment in your home. The next one, I like to refer to it as eternal forest. So, it's two drops of Hinoki two drops of Frankincense and two drops of Cedarwood. And that Hinoki mixed with the other woods, the Frankincense and the Cedarwood, creates a wonderful experience and really just brings in that woody aroma, that you're looking for from the outdoors, can help bring it into your house.

We're so excited to bring you this special oil its wonderful benefits combined with its powerful Co-impact story make it one that you will want to have as part of your collection for sure. Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you liked what you heard today subscribe and leave us a review. We love hearing from you. Also, if you want to try any of the products you just learned about go to doterra.com or find a Wellness Advocate near you to place your order, today.