There are days when the universe gives you inconvenient, apparently "random" experiences. You're doing one thing, totally engrossed, and then "wham" - like a hefty sideslap to the head, something totally OTHER takes over.
And so it was.
It was late evening. Earlier in the day, I had taken delivery of a large consignment of solar-powered-air-dried organic neem leaves. From our Karen refugee partners along the Thai-Burmese border. I had earmarked them for our new Pure Thai Naturals range of spa products, which include a Face Scrub, Body Scrub and Thai Herbal Facial Clay containing pure organic neem leaves, ginger and lime. (Available soon! - FOLLOW me here on steemit to stay updated.) As the leaves were delivered and I chatted with my colleague, he asked if we could possibly ramp up the use of the organic neem leaves as there are literally tens of thousands of landless, displaced and refugee people along the border with no means of income to support their families. And declining support from the UN food aid program.
And so, over an early evening glass of wine I pondered. The "how" was obvious and already in my longer range plan, but I decided that I COULD shift priorities around right now. If I simply changed the nature of the neem component in my current and already best-selling 100% Natural Insect Repellent, I could buy leaves NOW to support the displaced Karen people and improve the quality of my product at the same time.
Excited and eager to get some neem extract test batches started, I skipped dinner and spent some hours grinding neem leaves. Impatient and a little sleepy, at one point I opened my small domestic grinder a little too quickly and a huge cloud of powdered neem dust flew out and a LOT of it went up my nose and down my throat. Oh. My. Buddha. Like fine pepper or excellent cocaine, if indeed one could ever publicly admit to experiencing that intense sensation in one's earlier life. :)
I sneezed violently for about an hour. I coughed and my eyes watered. I berated myself on one level for being stupid enough not to have been wearing the air filtering mask I have handy for grinding time (hampers the wineglass though!) and yet on the other hand I KNEW this was a powerful herb and there was nothing harmful or bad about it entering my respiratory system. Just incredibly uncomfortable. And so I sneezed and sneezed and finally it started to abate, I put my labeled glass extraction test jars into their week's isolation-observation cupboard and headed off to bed.
And then the fun started.
I couldn't sleep. Despite it being cool outside and having all the shutters in our old Thai teak house wide open, I started sweating. I mentally blamed the rock hard Thai mattress which seems to have some kind of easy-to-clean but unbreathable cover, and spent a fitful night. Got up at 5am and was standing making my moringa tea in the very cool morning, and was surprised to feel rivulets of sweat dripping down my belly, the small of my back and (would you believe!) even my ankles. I didn't FEEL feverish but took my temperature, just to be sure. Perfectly normal. 36.7C. The sweating continued to such a degree that I had to get a towel to sit on.
It wasn't till about 2 hours later, literally bathed in sweat that the "Aha!" moment arrived. An extreme detox reaction from ingesting the neem the night before.
I have been so focused on the clinical study results for neem leaves as a therapeutic skin agent and a natural pesticide-insect-repellent that I hadn't even really THOUGHT about it's use for detox, although I 'knew' that.
It took only a few moments online to confirm my idea of neem being a seriously powerful detox agent. Among other things. The sweating lasted another 5-6 hours, along with streaming sinuses. And then suddenly, I felt CLEAR. Awake, alive and with an even more sensitive sense of smell than ever before. Walking through our old teak house smelling the damp wood after rain and the scent of the puddles. Literally.
And so sometimes the body flips into detox unexpectedly, thoroughly, opportunistically. The universe tosses something useful our way and our innate-healthy-higher-self knows what it needs and grabs it with both etheric hands.
Organic Neem Leaf Tea IS something I plan to package and sell, but it's not exactly a taste champion, being incredibly bitter. That said, the healing properties are HUGE and well-studied. You can read more about that here: https://drhealthbenefits.com/herbal/leaves/benefits-of-neem-leaves and here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4791507/
Probably no one is ever going to deliberately snort up a line of powdered neem. Haha... I DON'T recommend it!! But after my "accidental detox" experience this week, I am even more excited about the power of this humble herb, it's amazing healing properties and the new neem products Pure Thai Naturals has in process. And when people ask me, "Does it really work?" I will KNOW with every fiber of my being that is does. Albeit a little more slowly when used on the skin or consumed as a tea.
Meanwhile, my neem extraction experiments continue and will, as of next week, replace the commercial neem product which currently forms the base of my 100% Natural Insect Repellent. It feels GOOD knowing my product will shift up several notches on the "pristine, organic" scale and is made from such a clean, socially-responsible source.
I still have the bitter taste of neem in the back of my throat, but am feeling light, clear and thoroughly detoxed! Enjoying the natural world. Laughing at myself. BlissednBlessed.
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