A caressing gift of wellness
By Lia Bernardo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:29:00 12/02/2008
Filed Under: Lifestyle & Leisure, Health
I RECENTLY had this newfound passion for aromatherapy. In my research, I’ve found that essential oils are a great drug-free way to heal certain ailments, like common headache, or simply to encourage creativity while working.
This led me to a meeting with Dr. Mike Turvill and his lovely wife, Cathy. They explained to me that medical researchers estimate that up to 90% of illness is induced by stress. More importantly they pointed out that stress can be managed and better yet, the effects of stress can be reversible. The many roads to wellness lead to this and aromatherapy is one of them.
Key to the understanding of aromatherapy, however, is that the quality of essential oils used is the most crucial factor in choosing your aromatherapy products. Most only contain fragrance oils, which do not have the therapeutic effects of pure essential oils. The problem with pure essentials oils is they are very difficult to find and quite expensive.
High grade oil
To my delight, Cathy introduced me to “Amu’in.” My first question was, “Is this really aromatherapy, what type of oils do you use?” I was very pleased to hear that they use high grade pure essential oils. Not only that, but they also support an NGO in Negros that has taught villagers how to manufacture lemongrass oil.
The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation (Adfi) is led by Auke Idzenga, an international awardee for sustainable and environmental concerns. Awarded by Al Gore himself, Idzenga and Adfi have taught the villagers to plant lemongrass using organic farming methods. They have set up a distiller and began making pure essential lemongrass oil.
A percentage of the sales of Amu’in products are donated to Adfi and they source their lemongrass oils from this village. The rest of their oils are sourced from Australia and the United States.
Philippine-made
According to Dr. Turvill, Amu’in, which is a Tagalog word meaning “to caress or to tame,” was born from the desire to bring into modern-day healing the centuries-old knowledge of the use of plant essences for therapy, restoration and disease prevention.
Amu’in comes in four variants: “Hulay” (to relax); “Alaga” (to care); “Sinta” (romance) and “Sigla” (energy). The products are 100-percent Philippine made and are packaged using cosmetic bags and toiletry stand using the indigenous traditional Ilocano “Bangar Abel.”
Again, the manufacturers are doing this to promote this beautiful Philippine tradition and to support the dying art of traditional weaving.
Amu’in products are so new that they are not yet available in retail stores. For more information, visit www.amuinwellness.com or call 838-2167.
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