 Hi, my name is Jackie Y. Rock and we are here today with our guest Lauren and Lauren is from Aromad Aromad She's going to tell us Where this name came from her store is right down the road from us at Orca Media on State Street and Lauren, welcome. Hi. Thank you for having me. My pleasure joining us. This show is Designed to talk about how individuals can be more proactive in their their well-being and Not just relying on the go-to-the-doctor Once a year or get your check up Maybe be directed to some specialists, but to be more like how can I really? Take care of my self be in charge of my wellness and when I walked into your store And I I saw what you were doing. I thought you'd be perfect to come on and talk to us. So the name Thank you. How did that come out? Thank you Well, I was trying to find a name that would represent Aromatic medicine, which is basically what I do is I use a concentrated plant oils as medicine and so I Came up with first. It was aroma medicine and then we we made it smaller. It's aromid aromid aromatherapy and It kind of says it all so and we came up with an amazing logo and so it it's stuck And so there you have it aromid aromatherapy. So you Were working as a nurse in another life. How long were you doing that? Oh, I was a psychiatric nurse on and off for 12 or 13 years Okay, I was a charge nurse at the Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury. I was there until the flood Of course destroyed the hospital and I was eventually laid off there But I I was a charge nurse for the area of the hospital called a what we called a treatment mall It was an area of the hospital where patients who were deemed stable enough would come over and do psychosocial Rehab work and we would have parties there and music and it was it was it was a wonderful thing for the patients that a very normalizing activity for them to be able to have a place to go and activities to do and Of course and that was actually where I was first introduced to aromatherapy We were exploring bringing essential oil therapies into the state hospital and then the flood came and I kind of forgot about it for a little while Until I was rehired at Central Vermont Medical Center where I had worked years ago and they were putting together a sensory program and we didn't we had wonderful things like a Meditation music therapy journaling yoga those types of things that engage different senses But we didn't have anything for olfaction and that's when I began to think about the aromatherapy again and I brought essential oils in I started with frankincense lavender and orange and Started making nasal inhalers for the patients to help them manage their symptoms and It was met with great enthusiasm and success so those three particular oils. What do they would symptoms do they help manage I? was really focused on Helping people with anxiety That's that's a big issue for many many people not just people suffering from psychiatric illnesses But people in general people are pretty high anxiety right now and all of those oils are Good for that lavender in particular. There's I mean anecdotally and historically. We've known that lavender is great for anxiety It helps promote sleep Very calming to the nervous system and now science is caught up with all of this anecdotal information and it's you know Essential oils. It's all about chemistry. Yeah, there are certain chemical constituents in essential oils that target certain body systems and Lavender for an example targets the nervous system. So when breathing it You get a relaxation response that actually slows your heart rate slows your breathing down quiets the mind and helps you feel less stressed and So lavender is probably the most famous essential oil, but there are there are dozens of Amazing choices. You mentioned frankincense. Mm-hmm. Yes. What is that one for? frankincense a Lot of these oils including the lavender have multiple uses okay in the context of psychiatry It was good as an anxiolytic, you know, and anti-anxiety. Okay. I know Sorry Yeah, it's this is good for decreasing anxiety There are other ways you can use frankincense frankincense is a resin oil and In order to get a frankincense resin oil, you actually have to wound a tree a frankincense tree And what happens is there's like a sap that comes out of the tree in order to heal the wound that has been inflicted on upon the tree and what Gatherers do is they wait until that dries off and then they they harvest that Resin that dried sap and then that is then hydra distilled and it makes an amazing essential oil and interestingly it's an that resin is there to heal the wound on the tree and Interestingly the oil is extremely healing to wounds of the skin and of the soul It's it's remarkable in skin care for aging skin for slow healing wounds It's great for meditation. They're really kind of slows down breathing frankincense is an aroma that's been used widely in spiritual and religious services Since the beginning of time really that's what I remember thinking of it is from Christmas plays exactly like that frankincense. Yeah. Yeah, I was raised Catholic so that the first time I smelled frankincense essential oil. I was immediately at st. Monica's You know it's so yeah, there are a lot of associations with aromas and triggering of memories so with aromas We know we can go into your store and we can purchase it But is it being used in the medical community? Yes, more and more in fact When I as an example just at Central Vermont Medical Center on the psychiatric unit where I introduced essential oils I haven't worked there for a year and a half and that program has continued because it's been so Popular with the patients and what's nice about it is it gives it gives patients alternatives to The pharmaceuticals, you know when if you're feeling anxious before we brought aromatherapy in We had other options, but mostly it was the medications It's like you'd offer them at a van or clonopin these highly addictive benzodiazepines, which there's a time and place for those during really acute phases, but We we our goal was to get patients to be more self-reliant less dependent on some of these types of meds and To use other skills and so the aromatherapy was a great option. So instead of asking me for an at a van They would reach into their pocket and get out their frankincense inhaler or their or their lavender inhaler And it was just more empowering So they even they recognize what the symptom is and that they can take care of themself Exactly the pill that's awesome. Now. What about this just came to mind People who have been on medication for a long period of time and if they want to be using aromatherapy to Decrease or entirely do away with medication. Is there a way to do that? That's safe I know there's a lot of side effects with coming out of there are they I would never want anybody to do that without being Under the care of their physician Right and in you know with the physician being aware of what they're wanting to do I think that it's possible to substitute certain medications by weaning off slowly While introducing things like herbs or essential oils to kind of fill that gap Do you do herbs at your store? Or is it only oils? Primarily oils. I do use some herbal infused oils as carriers with essential oils 99 of the time you want to dilute them. They're extremely concentrated very strong And it's appropriate to dilute them typically. Yeah, see I don't do that sometimes And I just put the lavender on my pillowcase and I think that's probably not that's okay. That's okay Okay, when I'm thinking undiluted it's primarily Concerns about people putting undiluted oils on the skin. Okay, you can actually over a period of time You can become sensitized to that oil and it's kind of sad. I have a friend Ann who Used to use lavender as her personal aroma and she would put the lavender essential oil on her skin like behind here back of her neck And she really developed an allergic response to it and she can't use lavender anymore And that's kind of sad Well, tell me some success stories of people who have used so many I mean and I wanted to say a little bit more too about Using essential oils in clinical settings and it's really nurses Who are clinically trained in aromatherapy that are really pushing aromatherapy forward into hospital settings We're seeing essential oils being used in nursing homes in fact I have a consult with a nursing home up in Essex next week to try to figure out how to use essential oils to Help the elders with their appetite, you know to get maybe lightly sending a dining space with A citrus can actually get the digestive juices flowing and increase appetite and food intake You know, that's just an example or lavender at night to decrease Nighttime agitation or insomnia. There's nursing homes are great places for essential oils and You know after you know cancer treatment nausea Kimo induced nausea and vomiting has been very well addressed with ginger Just inhaling ginger or inhaling sweet marjoram through an inhaler to help decrease pain So when you say an inhaler, what did that look like? They're like little tubes that have cotton rods that you soak with the essential oils And then you just close them up Unscrew them and put them to your nose And inhale them when you need them and they're used a lot and in hospital settings And I I think we're going to see it more and more and more Because We were where we are seeing it. We're seeing high levels. Oh, that's my phone. Sorry High levels of patient satisfaction With no side effects and that's unheard of So That's that's one of the beautiful things about amazing side effects. No negative side effects when I'm watching television and I I generally record everything that I watch so I don't have to watch commercials because all of our commercials now are about um pharmaceuticals and what it's going to help you with but then it seems as if the side effects are more Dangerous than what the original intent of the medication was to heal So this has no side effects Not if they're used properly and not if they're yeah Do you feel like they're you're a threat to the pharma? Cytical industry do they have essential oils breathing down their back? I like to think i'm a threat, but no, I don't think so I think There are always going to be people out there. They're they're just going to want their pharmaceuticals and Although I I think that number of people is decreasing I'm finding more and more people that I would have considered more mainstream Which I certainly was eight or nine years ago before I I would have reached for the pill before I would have reached for the herb So what changed it for you? Having that experience with the oils in the clinical setting it really It woke me up In a way that was pretty pretty astounding I mean it to the point where I Dedicated yours and a lot of resources To become trained to be able to be a practitioner to be able to bring this form of plant medicine to other people And it was a huge life change for me to retire from nursing and I never Nine years ago if you told me I was going to do this I would have told you you were delusional And then I had a pill for you for that too Well, it's funny because I think um like I I grew up on the east coast, but I moved to Los Angeles and was there for many years and a lot of The things that I would come back and talk about people like oh, yeah, that's just that California who we really crap and Yeah, I could see that people might think that with this as well Especially for someone like yourself who was so enmeshed in the medical System, but yet you got that great experience of seeing such positive results. Did was there anybody who was? reluctant To try this it was very interesting In the hospital setting the psychiatrists were all about it I expected that they I'd get some resistance some pushback from the psychiatrist And it was just the opposite. I I did have some Nurses that had some resistance. Okay But were they older or younger? Older. Okay. Yeah Set in their ways, but There was oh my gosh. I'm so sorry the resistance didn't last very long Okay, because they saw the experience. Yeah, I mean they they saw that it was working and the the patients were We're having really significant positive benefits So it's how do you argue against that and then also when I'm encountering people who are resistant? I just I just talk science You know, I mean like I said going back. This is chemistry. Right. It's all about certain chemical constituents working in physiologically and Psychologically on your body and it's it's um And there's you can go to someplace like pub med where they gather all of this information all these different studies so if you want to go and Look at different studies that have been done on say essential oils you can plug that in at pub med And you'll see thousands upon thousands of studies That have been done that actually support the efficacy of these essential plant oils So you talked about you've made this huge change Where did you go to get educated and make this transition and how long did it take and I got um educated my my I've Had several teachers, but my initial teacher was a woman named Andrea bougie who um She owns a School called aroma head institute And I was part of the last group that she taught in person She's only doing online right now Uh, so I feel really fortunate that I because I'm not an online learner I had this opportunity to go to ifica new york and study with 24 other amazing Women for five weeks And so I got my certification In in one summer and then since then I've I've studied with uh more along the clinical vein with top aromatherapist from around the planet Mark webb rean and harris lewis Robert tissera and Those are not probably not names that would mean much to you or your viewers, but people in my field. They're the cream of the crop so it's Is it safe to say it's an ongoing educational variety of experience for you or it's you've got your base and now There are no more herbs. There's no more oils. This is what you work with There's always something to learn and I've I mean I've done things I'll go and do an aromatherapy Um workshop and just talk about the respiratory system for a week. Wow or the gastrointestinal system I've done You know just pain pain man pain is huge and pain can very very Effectively be managed with essential plant oils or you know immune system support While women's health issues um Skin care skin issues like eczema psoriasis all of these things can be Remedyed with the appropriate use of Specific essential oils that are target those certain body systems. So do you do workshops? I do I do a lot of teaching. I'd like to do more Do you do them here? I I do I do some at my store smaller workshops And then I often will do workshops up but the vermont center for integrative verbalism They have a nice classroom there It's a great space wonderful and I I yeah, I do it when I can it's it's time consuming I'd like to do more but at this point a lot of my energy is going into New product creation I've recently discovered cbd. Have you heard of cbd? No, tell me about it cbd is called cannabidiol. It's cannabidiol is from the hemp plant, which is like a cousin of the marijuana plant Um, but it's legal And it's there's no thc. So you don't have the psychoactive downside of thc So you don't get high and it like I said, it's legal and it's an amazing plant medicine Um, I sort of bought some cbd By accident and I was like oh what I'm I wasn't sure what to do with it And I started using it in this pain blend that I uh had some amazing essential oils in there But I wanted to see if the cbd would make Potentiate the benefits of the essential oils and it did in a very dramatic way And it's now my like my best seller. I just can't keep it on the shelf So for someone like me who occasionally gets headaches that can be debilitating Is this something that I would want to try? Absolutely. Okay Yeah, and some some practitioners will use just cbd the cannabidiol oil on its own I in my practice, I've found that the combination of the cbd Along with the essential oils has been Quite remarkable to the point where I'm I'm working on a whole line of cbd essential oil roll-ons and Saves that'll be coming on to the market probably within the next two or three weeks and I plan on just Spreading them out far and wide and getting them out in other retail settings. And I'm that confident that wonderful Yeah, I get positive feedback every single day. Oh, that's got to be so fulfilling. Yeah, I mean, you're really helping people So do you miss being a nurse in any way? Not really because it's It's very interesting so much of what I was doing as a psychiatric nurse has carried over into What I do in retail interestingly enough, you know, people come into the store and A lot of them they just need a little extra support and guidance And as to what to do to help with their circumstances and And we're we're there to help them with that That's so wonderful. Now the people that you have working there besides yourself. Are they Practitioners are they apprentices? I have I have two people working for me one in particular Her name is don rose who I met her actually as a cut She was a customer customer of mine in my previous site and this was a woman who's had a lot of strongly intuitive She had a strongly intuitive nature about the oils and I was always amazed by Her insights around the oils and she didn't really have any education around them. She just sort of You ever meet somebody they just know stuff. Yeah, it's part of them Whereas I have to read books and you know, I have to drive it into my brain to have it really be to internalize it She just had it. She just had it down. So when it came time for me to hire someone I asked her to come work for me and and she's amazing and she's kind of like a sponge She hears how I interact with people and she integrates that into how her knowledge base and so She's been great And then I have another young woman Emily who we're training who just brings a beautiful energy to the store. So I've been really blessed to have these people Who are just right come to me right at the right time and and help me so I can I can do some more of the creative work that I'm so Desperate to do it sounds like there's so much that's happening that the growth is It almost feel like it could be overwhelming. Are you ready for the success of of Taking this this wonderful art form and and helping healing people's lives in a way that's not Causing any kind of negative side effects negative side effects for me I I'm pulling the pieces together. I'm I'm I'm I have a support group around me now So I feel like I am feeling supported that way and I do basic things that I need to be doing is I'm getting good sleep. Good, you know, I'm I'm eating healthy food You're taking care of you while you're taking care of the community Yeah, and and when I start to feel overwhelmed. I just I'll just bring out that frankincense and take some deep breaths and just regroup and I use the oils. I practice what I preach. Awesome. Yeah, well, thank you so much for joining us today And thank you for tuning in and watching you and your health Thanks to the wonderful staff here at orca media for helping make this dream a reality to get this information out there that there is Ways for you as an individual to be really proactive about your wellness and I'll look forward to seeing you on the next episode in the weeks to come. Thank you