Aromatherapy: How Nature is Our Own Therapy

Welcome to the Living to 100 Club Podcast.

Here's our host, Dr. Joseph Casciani. Good day to everyone. I'm Joe Casciani, your host for the Living to 100 Club Podcast. Our conversations are all about aging well and doing what it takes mentally and physically to live longer and healthier. Our guests share insights and recommendations about successful aging, stories of perseverance, and inspiration about our future. Today's conversation is all about aromatherapy—what it is and how we can benefit from it. Our guest is Amy Anthony, a certified aromatherapist and educator, herbalist, certified master composter, and artisanal distiller. Amy thrives on connecting with nature and working with plants. She is one of the leading authorities on the best essential oils for supporting wellness and vitality. What are the benefits of aromatherapy? How does our sense of smell play such an important role in our well-being? Stay tuned as we explore how different smells and fragrances enhance our lives and affirm that plants are for everyone. First, a little background on Amy. She is a certified clinical aromatherapist and aromatic gardener who left her career in marketing research to pursue what is closest to her heart— working with plants. Amy is one of New York City's top aromatherapy practitioners and host of the Essential Aromatica podcast. Amy also tends her own aromatic garden on the North Fork of Long Island where she distills her unique products. Amy Anthony is currently the New York State representative for the Alliance of International Aromatherapists and has her private practice called NYC Aromatica, which includes one-on-one customized aromatherapy sessions online class offerings, corporate consulting, and article writing. We'll hear much more about this. Amy, let me welcome you to our program today. Glad to have you with us.

I'm delighted to be here. Thanks for having me.

Great. Yeah, you're welcome. You're most welcome. I always like to open our programs by asking our guests to tell us about the journey, a little bit about the journey that brought you to where you are today.

Thanks for asking. It's always a fascinating question to hear where people got to where they are. Yeah, yeah. And I have an elevator speech for this now because it's really a part of my practice as an aromatherapist. And I grew up gardening and I wanted to be a landscape designer and architect, and that didn't happen. And I ended up, you know, go to school, get the job. I got a degree in marketing, you know, did all that. And I always wanted to work with plants, and I moved to New York City, a place where there's not so many plants. So the plants found me. You know, I always found a way to work with them, or I should say I'd go to gardens like the New York Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. But I was in corporate America and I loved my job. I loved what I did, but I was— I was not happy. And then I quit. I'm lucky I was able to quit. And the plants found me. Aromatherapy found me, and I was obsessed with it. Back then, I couldn't tell you why, back in 2012. And then I took a workshop. I started reading about the oils, and later I realized they found me, and this was my way to connect with nature, to connect with plants, something that is so important to me. Sure.

Yeah. As we already know, plants are for everyone and I wanna emphasize that. And we'll talk much more about how we can connect with nature through aromatherapy. So let's jump right into it. What is aromatherapy and what is an aromatic gardener? Two different subjects, I guess.

Yeah. Yeah. They are to go together and there's, it's actually a big topic. I feel like I can write an essay response to that one question, but I have a nice textbook definition that I've created. I've made my own definition from one that is taught to people. So we can call aromatherapy the holistic and therapeutic application of genuine and authentic essential oils. We are not working with fragrance, we're not working with perfume, we are not working with synthetics. We must work with essential oils and we work with these oils to enhance in individuals' physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. So that's a nice textbook definition. And you heard me stressing genuine and authentic essential oils. And in my definition, I've expanded that to say this is a way for us to connect with nature because I think a lot of our illnesses we have, you know, mind-body is connected, our separation from Earth. And that might sound woo-woo, but we need to literally be grounded and breathe fresh air and see green, right? And also with aromatherapy, because we're working with volatile aromatic chemicals, there's a mind-body connection with that. And when you work with essential oils, you will always see— if you read a book, you'll see there's an emotional and mental component and there's a physical component, which we'll talk about later. I know, like, we could work with inflammation and bruising and arthritis, and we can help work with emotions. And it's, you get both of that with genuine essential oils.

Wow. Well, so it's the bridge or it's the vehicle that connects us to the essence of nature. Yeah. Yeah.

And you know, that's beautifully said. And the essence of yourself.

That's right. Yeah. That's the two sides that are connected. Yeah. And aromatic gardening, that's a spinoff or—

It's, looking back, I gardened, I love plants, I need to be with them. I think we all do. We need to cook with them. If plants weren't here, we wouldn't be alive. They give us our oxygen, they create the atmosphere that we live in. But aromatic gardening is twofold. So I do garden on the North Fork of Long Island and we have a lot of deer. So deer really leave all your aromatic plants alone, um, and other critters do. But part of it is, as an aromatherapist, if you're curious about it or you're a professional or you wanna have these oils in your life, if you look at that little bottle, I think a lot of people forget that comes from plants and that comes from hundreds of pounds of plants to get a little bit of essential oil. So when you can go to the— I'm holding up rosemary. If I can go and buy the rosemary and smell it and crush it, that's a little bit of aromatherapy there. If I understand where it likes to grow and how it grows, it really gives me an appreciation of the quality of rosemary, how rosemary might help benefit me. So to, to, to really immerse myself with learning these plants, it helps me as a person and as, as an educator. Okay.

So the plants are kind of, uh, how to build that bridge, how to build that connection.

And to have an appreciation that it takes a lot of plant material to, and you're taking a plant's life sometimes, and then you have someone harvesting it and distilling it. And it's a reminder to people that you just go into your store and buy a bottle of essential oil and it should be a little pricey. Mm-hmm.

You know? Sure. Sure. Well, that's not unlike, uh, expensive perfume, right? When use roses and the petals from roses. I don't know how many, but dozens and dozens, I'm assuming, for just a fraction of an ounce. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

You are brilliant for saying that because it takes— the statistic is it takes about a ton of rose petals to get a pound of essential oil. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah.

So that justifies the price for rose.

Yeah. It's pretty amazing. So how do you become certified?

Certified or proficient as an aromatherapist?

So I love this question because I wanna talk about proficiency first. And as I've realized, I think, you know, you have or had a practice, right? And yes, it's, you have to practice. We have to do the work. And that's the way we become proficient is by playing around. You make something, you try something out and you get really curious and playful. And we continue to practice and do the work. And it's like that being curious. So regardless of your age, I think one thing is we have to stay curious and playful and be willing to make mistakes, especially as an aromatherapist. My husband's a lawyer and he practices law, right? Yes. It's like the practice. Always a practice. Sure. Yeah. And to become certified, so you can do all the reading you want and you can work with the oils yourself and have that practice. But to have the you know, standards and ethics and a governing body that sets standards, you want to find a school that is associated with or registered with these organizations. And I was lucky enough that I lived— live in New York City, and I was looking to become certified. And there's like schools down south and in California, and there was one 10 minutes from my apartment called the New York Institute of Aromatherapy. I'm like, are you kidding me? So grateful for that. So So when I went there, my two certifications are with the National Association of or for Holistic Aromatherapy, and that's NAHA. And that is a place you can go if you're curious. For your listeners, you can go to NAHA.org and you can start to learn about essential oils and find an aromatherapy practitioner near you. You can also go, as you, Joe, you mentioned, I'm currently the New York State representative for the AIA. The Alliance of International Aromatherapists, that, that's another organization that some schools are registered with. So these people are professionals. They come together and they set the standards. And I want to mention one other one for international listeners. And these, these guys have been around longer. The International Federation of Aromatherapy, that is older and that's based in the UK. And aromatherapy originated in France. And then the British really started to embrace it back in like the 1940s, I'd say '50s and '60s.

Okay. What was the first one, Amy?

The National Association of— for Holistic Aromatherapy.

Holistic Aromatherapy. Okay. Great. Yeah. So there's 3. So, uh, again, the schools that, uh, have the authorities, the experts, the people with the solid experience, they help to set the standards and they put these associations together so people can demonstrate their skills, their proficiency. So although anyone might be able to call themselves aromatherapist, uh, it helps to have that certification, right?

Yes, it does. And it shows that you went through some training, you had to take an exam, you had to do case studies, and that you have experience and you had studied safety data and like this, the safe and practical application of essential oils. Sure. Well, yeah.

Okay, so, um, here's a fun question for you. Um, as I was developing these questions, I thought, well, why is Amy so connected to this? What's, what's the connection you have with nature? I mean, we all do, but yours seems to be very focused, precise, um, um, kind of really super connected.

That's really flattering. Like, I, I just, you know how some people are just drawn, like you're drawn to a profession. And when I read, when I, when this found me, I never thought I could be a teacher. And I'm thankful for my professional experience in market research and working for some big companies. Like, I, I have— I work with Excel spreadsheets. I do all this stuff that, like, I need to be with plants. They're, they're quieting. I spend a lot of time with them. I'm very comfortable being alone. And since I was a kid and I would be outside and I just wander outside and play outside. So it's just this— I need this for whatever reason, you know, and I've— I want to share that. I've said I couldn't dream of being a teacher like I know I'm the conduit, the stuff I know. I get so much joy from this when I help someone one-on-one. It's like I'm helping you connect with the plants. I want to help you. And it's like we have ego, we all do. But it's like you get your ego out of the way and I'm like, I know this stuff. It's exciting, it's great. I want to help you and I want to share this information.

Yeah, kind of what we call the abundance mentality. Oh yeah. Yes. Yeah. We have the information, we want to share it, and it doesn't diminish anything by sharing it. It really enhances it.

Yeah. Yeah. I love— thanks for saying that. And I, I have, um, discussions with my yoga teacher who I've known for many years now. We talk about stuff like that a lot. So it's really nice to have these conversations to always remind us ourselves when sometimes we might be feeling a little greedy.

Sure. Yeah. Get into the mechanics a little too much. Sure. Yeah. So, um, I know we'll talk more about your website, uh, in a little bit, but you, you do conduct these aromatherapy sessions with your clients. Uh, tell us what a session might be like. They're in person, they can be online, or describe that for us.

That's a great question. And, um, I tried doing them remotely and I've decided I don't it doesn't work for me. So you— we talk beforehand. Someone might find me and we talk beforehand because you are coming into my home. And we set aside 90 minutes and we sit together. I have the oils out. I always make a tea, like a fresh herbal tea made of like fresh ginger and maybe fresh lemongrass and maybe rose and cardamom. So I'll ask the person beforehand and I serve you tea and water. And we sit and chat and we talk. I can't diagnose or treat somebody because I, I'm not a doctor, so I'm a certified aromatherapist. So generally we talk about the stress response. If someone needs help sleeping, maybe it is a physical thing because we can work with oils topically and like helping with the respiratory system. So we talk about the need of the individual and then I will create a blend for that person maybe of like 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 essential oils. And I make them a product after the session because we select the oils. And then the fun part is, is like, Joe, if you came to me in person and you're like, I have sinus issues, I'm like, okay, let's talk that through. And I present an oil to you and you hate the way it smells. I'm not going to ask you to work with something you don't want to be around. So that's part of customized aromatherapy, right, of the practitioner working with someone. So I'd make you your blend, and then we decide how it would be delivered to you. So maybe it would be a respiratory salve you put on your chest, or a rollerball, or something like that. And then as an option, I will give you a diffuser session in my— in a smaller room. I have a nebulizing diffuser, which I could go grab to show you, but I will put some of your oils in that as you sit quietly. And I generally have candles lit for 10 minutes. You sit with the diffuser and I give you a foot bath as well. Well, I have a copper tub and you put your feet in and just relax with the candles and then you're done. I send you on your way and then about 5 days later I will hand deliver your product to you. Wow. Wow. Not every aromatherapist will do that. Sounds great.

So do people typically present with some physical complaints, or they just want to maybe learn how to relax, or what's the range of presenting concerns?

So that's a— generally I find people I see, it's more about emotional things. So I can't sleep because I have anxiety, fill in the blank, because I have anxiety, I'm anxious about this. But it's generally working with mood, emotions, and the nervous system. And just to share this as a preference, and I've, I've said, I've said this, like, I can work with physical complaints, but I find I prefer to do that if I know you a little better, you know, if we're more friendly.

It could be a lot of different contributing factors for what's going on. And yeah, it's hard to treat it without knowing the whole picture. Yeah.

Yeah. And that's a— thanks for saying that, because as a holistic aromatherapist, we do— I will ask you, how is your sleep quality? Are you drinking enough water? You know, generally those, like, how are you feeling? So all the factors that might be contributing to pain, stress, we need to talk through that. Like, there's the 'this is good for that' mentality, which we all have. I think, like, I'm in pain, I want it to go away, but it's like, Okay, let's step back and look at all of you and see how I can help. So that's one thing that's taught pretty deeply. That's my lineage that I learned from Jade Schutz and Amy Galper. I want to give a shout out to my teachers.

Well, I could see that's the basis for holistic aromatherapy, right? Yeah. We're looking at the whole picture. Yeah. So can you share what some of the, maybe the common Scents, what are they called, fragrances or scents? But what are some of the common smells that we can look for some solutions for?

So I love this question because it helps me clarify. So when we're an aromatherapist, we're kind of snotty about it. So we're like, we're not working with fragrances or things like that. We often will talk about aromas. And really being clear about essential oils because please, for your listeners, don't go to Target and go to the aisle that has the Glade plugins and think that's aromatherapy. Those are synthetics. And this is a soapbox of mine. They're not healthy for you to breathe that in all the time. And that's the thing too. Aromatherapy should be administered as not— it's not a lifestyle, it's intentional. When do you turn to those things? So this question is cool because I'll answer it by saying it's what plants can I turn to? So as me, as your guide, you might come to me and be like, well, here's a little secret. If you're thinking about your heart chakra, you know, or like emotional emotions of wanting to bond with someone and a little sensuality, you think flowers. So what are some— in self-compassion, what are some essential oils that are from flowers? So ylang-ylang, neroli, rose, jasmine, really beautiful for men and women. Everybody, like we said, plants are for everybody. Like, the flowers will open your heart, give— help you with self-compassion and maybe, um, think outwardly. And again, sex— supporting sexuality. If you think about digestion and you have digestive woes, and even by smelling ginger you can stimulate your digestion and expel gas by smelling. I work with it all the time for myself, like after an Indian meal or something. You can think of the seed oils to smell or maybe work with as a topical application, or coriander, cardamom, black pepper. So those seeds are great for digestion. If you want to think clarifying the breath and the mind, you could start to think about the leaves of things. And it's not all cut and dry, there's crossover, but like all the conifers, I have Scots pine in front of me, Scotch pine, or you could use white pine. The leaves breathe for the trees. So if you turn to many, many leaf oils, eucalyptus, great for respiration, supporting the breath, ideas, clarity, leaves that way. So I think that's the theme is like, who's the plant? What plant part is it from? And this goes back to being the aromatic gardener. Like, who are you? Where do you grow? What do you like? Sure. Okay. Crazy, right? Yeah, a little.

I love it. So oils from flowers have that kind of more soothing Love. Okay. Yeah. Ginger for digestion. Anything besides ginger for digestion?

Yeah, the seed ones. So the coriander, cardamom, black pepper, fennel. Chewing fennel after a meal, you can smell the oil as well. Fennel tea. So this is the thing, too. One thing I encourage— this is why if you have a session with me in person, I make someone a tea. All my students, I have them drinking a tea because a lot of people think, I heard oils are great for pain and inflammation, but you shouldn't use them every day all the time. So have a tea, make a tea from the actual plant. So it's like having that connection, going back to being connected with your food, connected with nature, and really enjoying life in that way.

Yeah. So it can be delivered in different ways, what you're saying, not just the oil. Not just the aroma, but in a tea or exactly something we can rub on. Yeah. Yeah. It's okay. And the mental clarity is more of the leaves from the trees, the conifers, pine tree, eucalyptus, rosemary.

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So some of the oils, if you'd ask for, like, and there's, there's some scientific evidence about this one, but, it the leaf oils are really great. Rosemary for remembrance, right? From Shakespeare. Ophelia, was it? Rosemary is shown to help with mental acuity and clarity. Peppermint is another one. This one's for— so this is when you'd work with someone like me. Uh, Salvia lavandula folia is called Spanish sage, and it's not common. Um, you might have it growing out in California. That's shown to actually help people with enhancing memory and helping, not curing, of course, but helping people working with starting dementia and things like that. So those leaf oils can be very clarifying and uplifting. And there is— we're lucky we're getting more and more evidence because thanks to CBD, there's a lot of research on the terpenes and the terpenoids. And guess what? That's what essential oils are made of. So when you look at the chemical composition of cannabis and of CBD, you'll see components that essential oils also have. So that's— there's more and more research being done because someone wants to finally fund it because people are making money off of CBD. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, we do need those standards. We do need to have some, some evidence. Based research.

We do, and we're finally getting it.

Yeah, that's great. So how do we get them? How do we— where are they? Can we find them in Target? Can we find them in Walmart?

Or— yes, I'm a snob in that way, so I would encourage someone to like go to Naha and start to get curious. Maybe you can buy a cup, a book, and generally in the back of that book you'll see people list some suppliers. So I am— I don't advocate for brands. I don't say one's better than the other because I stay neutral. But there are— I'm just— one comes to mind and I actually don't really go to them for oils for no particular reason, but Plant Therapy is one that's, I think, based in Connecticut. Like, they will source the oils I have in front of me. There's a brand called Prana Rome. They're based in France. There is a brand called Zayat based up in Canada, and they do some of their own distillation as well as buying oils from other places. There's a place called Nature's Gift based in Tennessee where they source oils. The person who owns the company has been in the industry for a long time. So, there's a lot of— there's a place. Let me see another one. You've probably heard many people hear of Young Living and doTERRA. Those are huge multilevel marketing corporations, but you can nose around and find a company if you, if you just look around. But the plant therapy came to mind because that's a— there's a couple other. But I encourage you, if you're really curious, it doesn't hurt to go to Rite Aid or Walmart. But if you smell a peppermint from that you buy from Walmart, it might be rectified. It might be like there you'll find a flatness to it. I can't guarantee that, but I've seen this happen or smelled it. And then you can go to that place I mentioned, Plant Therapy. Let's just say them. And then you smell the two peppermints. You might look at, ooh, where is it from? Is this one from the US? Is this one grown in England? And do a smell comparison. And your nose knows, as my 5th grade teacher used to say, Dr. Schoenbrunn. You can tell, you'll smell a symphony in the, like, the oil that was from a plant that was maybe grown with care and harvested with care. It sounds all kind of woo-woo-y, but it's true. You can smell the difference. Okay.

I know we've received some catalogs that I can't remember the name, but it's Dr. So-and-so, and he sells great products like this, the oils. So how often— let's say we want to use one of these, um, for respiratory congestion— how often would you recommend this if we find the right product? Is this daily, or is this PRN, as needed? What's the thinking?

So, so yes, it depends on how you're presenting. So if you find you have a cold, a seasonal cold, or you're working, you know, you unfortunately have the flu and let's not talk about the dreaded COVID, you know, I'm like, ah, a different conversation.

Yeah, exactly.

You would turn to those leaf oils and you would do like when you're really congested, do a steam inhalation. You know, old school, you would put really hot steaming but not boiling water in a bowl, or maybe you have a small, smallish bathroom where you can make a steam go like in the shower and get really steamy. But you put 2 or 3 drops max of like maybe 1 drop of rosemary and 1 drop of eucalyptus. You can find those. I'm okay if you want to go to Walmart and buy the oils, fine. But, you know, Do that 3 times a day for like 3 minutes with the towel over your head. Okay. Really have that. You can do one of my favorites. But again, so if you have that congestion, like you want to get help yourself, your body with the cold 3 times a day, then you're going to assess and taper off. If you're working with anxiety, you're going to work with that maybe daily. Until maybe you don't need it anymore. And you always have to take a break from the oils. So it's like, take something for 7 days, use it for 7 days, work with it for 7 days, take a break. You're inhaling chemicals, right? One thing I love to do, and I have a senior friend who's an aromatherapist, she's in her mid-60s, she always has a cotton pad. You take a cotton ball, she loves rosemary, put one drop of rosemary on that cotton ball and just smell it. That's one of the best gifts you can give yourself. Sure.

Yeah, I can see that. That's a good delivery agent for product process. So what about these diffusers? The steam, you put a couple drops in the water and you turn the diffuser on?

No. So I'm talking old school where you get a pot of steamy water. I'm sorry, I didn't clarify. And you put like 2, maybe 3 drops of like 1 of eucalyptus, 2 of rosemary, and you put a towel over your head in the steam and you use it that way. I'm going to go like grab a diffuser right here. Okay. This is not as many people— you'll see this on the market. They're called ultrasonic diffusers where it's like a humidifier where you put— this one happens to be from Muji, the Japanese store. You put your water in there and you put a couple drops of essential oil in. That's like a— you could do that daily for a little while for mood. And when you're breathing in those molecules, like maybe a pine or a conifer tree, you get to help your respiration, like daily maintenance.

Yeah, we have one of those and we use it, but not specifically for certain conditions, but just for nice romance mood. Mood.

Yeah, that doesn't hurt. Do it, go for it, have fun. Great.

Yeah, yeah, you're, you're displaying— people can't see, but you're just—

I know, I'm showing— I'm just showing— interesting. I'm showing a nebulizing diffuser where you just put essential oil in and it vaporizes. So this would be nice. This, you know, is specific. You could have this in a room with you with severe congestion, in a small bathroom, turn it on, be in there for 5 minutes breathing in the chemistry to help with your mood, but maybe congestion. Nice. Sure. And I got this one at aromis.co. So A-R-O-M-I-S dot C-O. Just so you know, if you can go online and look at these different nebulizing diffusers.

A-R-O-M-I-S. That's— yeah, yeah, .co. Okay.

And again, I'm not advocating a brand, I'm just letting you know that's where that one's from. Sure.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. So I'm sure there are plenty of products and, um, we'll get to your website in a little bit, but let me ask you, in terms of the audience who might typically be listening to this program, maybe 50+ in years of age, any recommendations just to begin working with oils and for wellness and vitality?

Any general kind of recommendations? I can. So I think we touched on some points I want to highlight. So let's say, like, if you're feeling a little mentally foggy and you're like, I just need to pep up, literally that drop of rosemary on a cotton pad and walk around a citrus oil to brighten your mood. Like, who doesn't love a citrus? I've met so many people and people just love, you know, lemon, lime. Some of those you want to be careful. You don't want to work with them topically because they will cause phototoxicity. Like, um, it will enhance, like, will help. It takes the UV light in and you can get burned if you're not careful.

Photosensitivity, sure.

Yeah, with the citruses. Um, so the cotton pad thing is really nice for any, for mood. So like, if you want to feel a little dreamy and help with sleep, Roman chamomile is really nice for a drop of that to really like helps you become very calm. It helps work with anger and it helps you chill out. Chamomile. It's also very nice for arthritis if you make it in a salve or a balm. Like I was thinking about this and I'm conjuring the woman I spoke of, spoke about before. Her name's Judith. She loves frankincense and Roman chamomile for her arthritis, and she's found it very helpful for her and her hands as, as a balm. So you do not put essential oils straight on yourself. You put, you know, you work with dilution rates and that's where you go to a place like Naha or someone like me to understand how do you dilute this stuff. So you make like an ounce of something and you put maybe 30 drops of an essential oil blend in. Okay.

So it's blended with a cream or a lotion.

Exactly. Yeah. Okay. I could go on and on. So I was like, aches and pains. The thing is, rosemary works really nice for aches and pains as well. So the essential oils do a lot. They cover a lot. So you can probably find like 10 oils that you work with and that's it. You know, like sleep enhancement. Roman chamomile lavender is like a classic duo. Okay.

The difference between kind of inhaling these aromas versus using some topical ointment, it just depends what you're trying to accomplish, I take it, right? Yeah. You want to inhale and breathe some of these. Aromas and sometimes you want to spread it on your skin.

Is there a difference? Yeah, so great question. It's what's your intention? So if I have a respiratory complaint, it's like what delivery method is the best method to do? Is it the steam inhalation? Is it a chest salve? And there's the whole mind-body connection thing for what we were talking about in the beginning. So if I'm working with congestion and working with oils that are, that enhance respiratory health. I'm also working with the mood and the mind and emotions. So it's like you always get those two when you're doing this, but it's like, yeah, what's your intention? And I feel like it might seem like I'm skirting this issue a lot because I am a proponent for olfactory aromatherapy, breathing it in for, for working with it. When I'm just talking to a general audience, because when we start to talk about topical application, as I said, we have to think about who am I working with, what oils and what dilution should they be in in that product. This is why it's cool to go to like there's this brand, Original Swiss Aromatics. I love them. There's a very awesome— he studied chemistry, a PhD guy, Kurt Schnaubelt. He— their company makes blends. You could just go to the website and buy a blend created by a professional aromatherapist.

What was the name of that?

Original Swiss Aromatics. There's some really solid people out there that you could go to, like Nature's Gift. I mentioned they make stuff as well. You could go to their website so you can— it's really cool to do that off-the-shelf stuff for like general complaints. Like maybe there's really great aches and pains cream. Tiger Balm. When you think— see Tiger Balm, kind of like an aromatherapy product.

Right. Yeah. Fascinating.

Fascinating. Yeah. That's why you have someone like me that's like, I geek about— like, this is my life.

Well, you know what it does? It just reaffirms how connected mind-body is to our environment. And the toxins can be destructive. And to reconnect with nature and some of the natural remedies That's the kind of antidote for a lot of the toxins and a lot of the, yeah, conditions that we develop. Sure. So this is a kind of the really fundamental approach without using, you know, pharmacy and drugs and medication. This is really some basics that's not only, um, harmless and benign, but it's it may be more effective than other, other treatment modalities, you know, other treatments.

I don't know. Yeah, it's, that's, that's a really cool thought. And when we work with plants, like, there are some with exception that could be very poisonous, right? But not several plants aren't. So plants just, they're helpers. I've like read books and heard people talk about like plants, if you're willing to sit and listen with them and do like plant communication, which you can really go out there, but they want to help. They're here, they're kind of rooting for us. And I have a great— a person I really, really respect and love is Claire. She owns Phoebe Aromatics with her husband in Sedona, Arizona. And she's shared with me examples where she's like, the plants show up where they're needed. And she said that about— I remember she shared there was a man who was sick in town and she noticed that suddenly plants were growing against his house that would help him with the very condition he had. Like, it gives me goosebumps. Wow. So it's like the plants are there, and we— if we just pay attention, there's something beneficial could be there.

That's great. That's a great point. Yeah, that's great. I love that. Yeah. So, um, what's something you'd like our listeners to take away from our conversation today? We talked about a lot of information, useful, practical ideas. What, what are some things you'd like everyone to take away?

That's a great question. There's so much to share. And I, like, one thing that's important to me is to, like we said, stay curious and stay playful. And the, the plants might help you do that. So I mentioned if you're feeling a little down and need some reassurance, maybe you want to smell rose oil, you know, to, to have some of that And I don't care what gender you are, like flowers are for everybody. You know, plants are for everybody. And cook with the herbs and the real herbs and spices. You know, a lot of us, as we get older, we have to think about our salt intake. Like, think finally the government's getting serious about this, right? And they're looking to finally do labels differently. I was just hearing. Cook with your herbs and spices to make your food really flavorful and fun. Like, I love making a soup and I do a side infusion of my fresh herbs and like, then I— it's like a tea I put into my soup. You just smell that and you're like, it blows your mind. Like, bay laurel steeped for 15 minutes is like pure heaven. So having fun, like making your own herbal tea, just going out and moving. We need to move all the time, right? If you don't use it, you lose it. So if you want to go out, spend time with plants, it's a reason to move. So I'm not even talking about aromatherapy, but it's that connection.

Stay curious, stay playful. Yes, that's good. You have a website, NYC Aromatica. Tell people what they would find. Tell our audience what they would find when they go to your website.

Yeah, thank you. So I love educating and sharing, right? As we talked about the abundance mentality. Thanks for I love that. I geek out on this stuff. So I write, if you wanna know like a plant personality, and I mentioned ylang-ylang before, or ylang-ylang, it's called poor man's jasmine. Yeah. I wrote an article about that. You'll find I have some writing pieces I keep adding to that. I have videos where it's me geeking out over a particular plant. I have online class offerings. So if you're curious and want an Aromatherapy 101 class, I have— it's like a 60-minute video class. You sign up, it's free, or you can pay what you wish. So if you want to learn a little bit more about this, start to know the science and like, what is aromatherapy? I have a free diffusing essential oils class that you sign up and you're curious about this. I, back in the day when we had the school, I co-taught this with another teacher. We were passionate about it. How do you diffuse oils? What's are the tips, what should you watch out for? So that's a free class. Again, you could also pay what you wish. I have a class for detoxing the brain that I did with my friend Carolyn, who's in her 70s and she's an herbalist, and we kind of talk it out over detoxifying. What is that and how aromatherapy can help with that? And that, that, that one costs a little more money. But I have, again, pay what you wish content free. And yeah, the, the writings and videos. So I'm a resource. I choose to not put myself out for free on YouTube because I just want more control over it. Yeah.

No, that's great. Great resources. Great resources. So NYC Aromatica. .com. NYC Aromatica. Great. Great. Well, it looks like we're out of time, Amy, for today. But before I wrap up, I just wanna remind the listeners about visiting my website, livingto100.club. Sign up for my email list and download a free copy of my 9 Tips to Make Living Longer Enjoyable. While you're on the website, be sure to peruse our library of blogs and podcasts. So Amy, thanks so much for being a guest on our show today. For those who might wanna contact you, they can reach out on your website. Yeah. Contact you that way. Great. Joe, this was fantastic.

Thanks so much for having me.

Oh, you're very welcome. I really enjoyed it. I think it was fun and educational at the same time. Great. Thank you. And thanks to everyone for tuning in. Hope to see you next time.

Hey everybody, Jared Sebaste here, host of Retire Repurposed. This podcast is dedicated to help people transition into fulfilling and purposeful retirements. Retirement is a big life change. In fact, the two most dangerous years of a person's life are the year they were born and the year they retire. Few people could just flip the switch from working a career 30 or 40 plus years retiring on Friday without methodical steps to living what we call a repurposed retirement. To listen now, search Retire Repurpose on your favorite podcast platform, Senior Resource, or Life Audio.