Journey to Awareness - Guest Post!

"Everything goes downhill once you turn 40!" I love my mother, but this was her loving advice to me as I approached 40! I was feeling good. Nothing was "slipping".

I decided I was not going down without a fight!

My 40th Birthday requests were a bathroom scale (lost mine years earlier in a divorce) and a yoga mat. All was on track until the yoga class I signed up for was cancelled!

Thanks to the internet and a subscription to Yoga Journal, I discovered enough to begin my fight to "live above the wellness line". Breathing techniques (Pranayama) quickly became the favorite part of my practice (thank you Yoga Journal for assuring me that no matter how small, what I was doing was a "practice"). With no specific class times and no required equipment I could practice pranayama anywhere, at anytime. And I did!

As I became more aware of my breath something else happened that I didn't understand until later. I was becoming more focused and much more aware. I felt taller, trimmer and more sleek. Before I knew it I had actually lost weight and was feeling better and better in my body!

You've got nothing on me 40!!

At the time, I had no idea of our capacity to create our reality.

Into my 40s, feeling good and happy with the journey I was on, my friend, Christopher, started telling me about essential oils. I didn't get it. I believed him, but I just didn't get it! The more I read about these "little drops of God in a bottle", as Wayne Dyer once referred to them, and how they have been used since Biblical times for everything, the more intrigued I became. Young Living, of which Christopher was a rep, sounded like a company I could believe in and so began the next phase of my wellness journey.

One of the first things I learned was how essential oils help break down toxins in our bodies and then go to work helping all of the systems of our bodies work better. “What?!” I thought. “I have toxins in my body? I know that can't be a good thing! New focus, less toxins! If I'm going to be investing in my health, I want these oils working optimally!

At this point, the awareness practice that had grown out of my initial breath practices helped me gain a great deal of traction as I incorporated Young Living Essential Oils into my growing wellness journey.

Before this time I was unaware of the harmful ingredients in the...

food I was eating,
over-the-counter medications I was taking,
personal hygiene products I was using (do you know that most toothpaste contains sodium laurel sulfate - give that a quick google search...then consider how some of the thinnest membranes in your entire body are in your mouth...which means what goes in your mouth is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream), and
skin care products I was applying ("I'm putting it on my body, not in it”. Well, no! Your skin is your largest organ. What you put on your skin gets absorbed into your bloodstream.)

Over these past 11 years I have become an avid label reader and I strongly urge you to become one too! My favorite quote from one of my mentors sums it up, "You are the gatekeeper to your home. Only you control what crosses the threshold of your doorway. You alone are responsible for the health and safety of your family within the 4 walls of your home."

In becoming fully conscious of my environment, the food I eat and the products I use, I have come to realize that health is our true wealth! I have been able to enjoy more focus, flexibility, energy and a continued drive to deepen my awareness in all areas of my life.

For over a decade Kim has helped people globally discover that small changes can have a big impact - one drop at a time. She loves being a part of that “ah-ha moment” when people realize they DO have a choice and they CAN take control of their health!