Hi everyone! I just returned from the most incredible experience in Oregon. I attended an essential oil retreat from Thursday until Monday, and I am still swimming in the bliss of the oils. The retreat was held on land that Lucid University just acquired, close to Ashland. Lucid University described the weekend as follows:
Join Dr. Nick for an interactive learning experience taking place at the wild historic Trillium farm found in Southern Oregon at the height of summer's explosive boom. Get fully immersed with a beginner's course of essential oils, take plant walks through the wild hills and learn about some secret alchemical techniques in Essential Oil Wizardry's processes. Create your own customized blend and share your personalized blend with the group. Dive deep into the world of plant species and different extraction techniques - learn and apply the use of therapeutic essential oils into your day-to-day life. Enjoy some time with Ecstatic Dance playing games of scent, learn about essential oils and energy healing with Carter Lipnick, explore an impressive set of rare/exotic essential oils/absolutes/CO2 extracts and celebrate plants in a sacred plant ceremony.
How cool does that sound? I couldn't miss this opportunity to dive into alternative plant medicine. To be honest, I wasn't fully sure why I was going until the first night that we gathered in a circle and Dr. Nick said, "The essential oil is the soul of a plant". At that moment I thought to myself, "Ohhh, I understand why I'm here now - to have a deeper connection with the plants that I am growing and hope to one day provide to the community for their healing properties."
We spent the 5 days immersed in learning, playing, creating, and sitting in ceremony with these plant medicines. I want to share some of what I learned with you, and I hope that you may find this information valuable :-)
Day 1
Morning Essential Oil Drop-in
- We started the morning off by rubbing three drops of peppermint oil on the back of our necks, which regulates body temperature
- We then took 3 drops of Dr. Nick's blend "InVigor", and rubbed the drops in between our hands. We then took three deep breaths with our hands cupped in front of our noses, and then rubbed the oil into our scalp. InVigor is a blend of the essential oils of sweet basil, caraway, cardamom, frankincense carteri, peppermint, rosemary cineole, rosemary verbenone, and silver fir. This blend enhances memory, focus, and concentration.
- Lastly, we took 3 drops of Dr. Nick's blend "Root" and rubbed the oil into the bottom of our feet. We rubbed the oil into the bottom of our feet because this area of our body has large enough pores for the aromatic molecules of essential oils to penetrate into our bloodstream and be carried to all of our organs. This process takes around 5-15 minutes. Root is a blend of the essential oils of himalayan cder, davana, myrrh, red spikenard, and vetiver. It is meant to align with the root chakra and is great for dropping into the body and cultivating connection to the earth.
Extraction Basics
- Essential oils are molecules inside plants that act as messengers to animals and other plants. Ex) smell of garlic to dear - "stay away from me", smell of rose to bees - "make love to me"
- The most common extraction method is the steam distilation method
a) Take a vat and collect plant materials
b) Heat water from underneath
c) The steam passes up through the plant material and evaporates the volatile molecules (contains oil)
d) This then goes to a condendsor to cool the water
e) This is then carried to a collection flask where the water and oil are collected
d) The water portion is on the bottom (hydrosol) and the oil portion is on the top - Another extraction method is cold pressed extraction
a) High mechanical pressure is used to press the oils out of the skins of plants
b) It doesn't use any heat, so the essential oil from this method is different from the essential oil of other methods
c) For example, Dr. Nick passed around steam distilled bergamot and cold pressed bergamot. The steam distilled was lighter and etheral. The cold pressed aws more full spectrum, rooted, and grounded. This is because some molecules are lost in the steam distilled method (they break down in heat) that aren't lost in the cold pressed method.
- Another extraction method is CO2 extraction
a) It uses CO2 gas as a solvant
b) Many claim that essential oils from CO2 extraction are 2 to 3 times more therapeutic than the steam distilled extraction because it is a very clean process that is done at room temperature
c) At the end of the process, the CO2 turns back into a gas, which leaves the extract completely solvant free
d) From the non-polar activity of CO2 running through the plant material, you get a different spectrum of the plant's molecules - Lower temperatures and lower pressures are best for extraction. Higher temperatures and pressures can damage the aromatic plant molecules
- Dr. Nick passed around a steam distilled cardamom and a CO2 extracted cardamom. The steam distilled was lighter, went to the head, spicier, and was more like cooking cardamom. The CO2 extraction smelled sweeter, full, rich, robust flavor, and I couldn't really grasp the whole smell right away because there were multiple layers and multiple notes, versus the smell of the steam distilled cardamom which hits all at once.
- Another extraction method is solvant extraction, otherwise known as "absolutes"
a) Pharmaceutical hexane is used in absolutes
b) The plant material is stired into the hexane, which draws out the molecules
c) Then, the hexane is evaporated, which leaves a wax that carries the aromatic molecules of the plant
d) Then, you extract the aromatic molecules out of the lipids by adding ethenol alcohol
e) Lastly, you evaporate the alcohol from the molecules, which leaves you with the absolute - Do not injest absolutes because trace solvants may still be in them
- The absolute method is most common way delicate flowers are extracted because the other methods will destroy the molecules
- How do you know which extraction method is best for a certain use?
a) If using the oil for perfumery, you want a full bodied smell, so go for an absolute over a CO2
b) If you want a lighter smell, go for a steam distilled
c) From a healing/theraputic point, there is no reason to use an absolute
d) For theraputics, use a CO2 extract because it is a more rich constituent profile of the plant
e) However, these all change per plant, so there is no right answer!
Fun Plant Profile
Cardamom is great for mental focus and clarity. Adding a drop of cardamom essential oil to coffee negates the jittery and crash side effects. The essential oil of cardamom contains a molecule, D-Limonene, which has anit-tumor properties. It also aids with digestion if rubbed into the stomach. The essential oil can be a skin irritant, so Dr. Nick advised adding the essential oil to a carrier oil (like seasame seed oil, coconut oil, ect) at a 1:20 ratio.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using this product.
If you're interested in exploring some of Dr. Nick's wonderful oils, you can find them at essentialoilwizardry.com :-) I'll be covering methods of using essential oils in my next post!