I'm so excited to be here in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Young Living global convention. It's only the third day, and I've learned so much already. I'm sitting in my hotel room right now eating lunch and I'm trying to process everything I heard this morning. I have so much to share on energy, how to be successful, helping autism, mental illnesses, and the health of our children. But the thing that has me experiencing "leaky eye syndrome" (as Dr. Gary Young puts it), is when they had a "Freedom Panel" on the main stage. The freedom panel was a group of five people the talked about trauma and it's two different stages: Big "T" Traumas, such as war, natural disaster, major injuries or accidents, abuse or assault, major medical challenges, or a death of a loved one. And Little "T" Traumas, such as a loss of the job, a loss of a significant relationship, or a chronic lack of support.
Kimberly Mahr is a Licensed Clinical Therapist specializing in Complex Trauma and EMDR. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from many different treatment approaches. To date, EMDR therapy has helped millions of people of all ages relieve many types of psychological stress.
Kimberly talked about the limbic system in our brain and how it is involved in our emotions, motivation, memory, and learning. Did you also know that the sense of smell is the *only* sense connected to the limbic system in our brain? And that when we smell something it connects immediately. Kimberly talked about some essential oils that she diffuses in the room with her clients during sessions. She diffuses frankincense for it emotionally protective quality. She diffuses Ylang Ylang, which helps people who have experienced trauma to open up their memories and explore their feelings. And lastly, she also diffuses lavender. Lavender is known for its highly calming effect on everyone, from infants to adults.
Back to the Freedom Panel. The first person to share a testimony was Sargent Major Jess Johnson. He was in the army for years as a medic and experienced helping other people who had lost limbs in battle and other serious injuries. Sgt. Johnson said his main physical issue was sleep. He was simply unable to sleep. His second problem was the emotion anger, which for him he said one way it came out was in road rage. Sgt. Johnson said he applies frankincense under his tongue every day and in the past few weeks, his wife pointed out that he has only had to check his anger three times a week. This is a huge improvement for Sgt. Johnson.
Dr. Tom Reed spoke next. - Dr. Reed said he has seen PTSD in his brother when he came home from Vietnam. He has also seen in his office, when someone came home from Iraq. But the most profound and heart wrenching case of PTSD Dr. Reid has heard occurred and a six-year-old boy. He read us the story from a piece of paper, written from Katie's (the mother) perspective.
"We were getting ready to adopt Zac, age 2, and Ella, an infant. Both Zac and Ella suffered from drug abuse inutero, and satanic and black magic abuse. Zac is now 6, Ella, 5. Zac would have vivid memories that tormented him day & night. Hugs were physically scary and painful for him. He hadn't slept a full night in 4yrs. He took multiple psychiatric medications and Ella had to be removed from the house during his rages because he would become so violent. He would throw things, break things, threatened to kill himself or me; he even broke my leg during one rage.
By divine province, I was late to church and ended up sitting next to someone at who offered to teach me about EO. She taught me about the oils of Scripture and frankincense. I tried frankincense on Zac's feet at night. For the first time in four years, he slept through the entire night, not waking up once and woke up an entirely different child. He went to school and his teacher noticed a difference. After school we went to walk and he held my hand for the first time. He asked for my forgiveness for the first time. I know diffuse release and forgiveness on a daily basis. When he starts to struggle, he asks for the oils."
It's about healing. God is our healer. And he's healing this little boy.
Licensed Professional Counselor Ryan Watson shared his journey of how he got involved with neurofeedback. He asked questions like: Does it change the brain? What parts does it change for those locked in PTSD? He showed us a picture of thermal readings of someones brain. This person was in a psychiatric unit locked in fight mode from PTSD. He wasn't communicating or talking with anyone. He then showed us another thermal reading which was taken only minutes after the first one. In the time between the two pictures were taken, Dr. Watson used three different essential oils on this person: Idaho Blue Spruce, which decreases cortisol levels; Sacred Frankincense, which brings brain inflammation down and helped pull him out of fight mode; and Copaiba applied right above the ears, which is also an anti-inflammatory. This man's brain calmed down in ways he never imagined possible. He actually talked with Dr. Watson afterwards and said, "I feel like I can live my life again."
In closing...Dr. Gary Young was asked what the top oils to deal with emotional distress would be. His response was that we are all individuals and all have different chemistry; and our needs change all the time. So there are different single oils and different blends based on the current need one has and will appeal to people differently. He suggested picking an oil that's right for you and use it when you've been triggered to bring you back down. Dr. Young went on to say that each one of us has our own "closet" of trauma and are affected differently. The first formula he made for dealing with PTSD was Trauma Life. The first people to try it were very defensive, cold, and unresponsive. After 24hrs, the had a conversation and said they slept for 5hrs. Even reiterated the importance of solving sleep issue first. Next, rage was the biggest issue. They used Forgiveness essential oil for 24 hrs. Then, these people reported that they slept 8 hours and didn't feel rage which normally consumed them. These people experienced freedom for the first time since experiencing trauma. They experienced freedom from pain, the deep hurt, the scars inside. They let the anger and hate move out of of their DNA so they could move on with their lives.
I'm pretty sure I cried during this entire freedom panel. What really affected me was how all of these people give credit to God. They know God is the true healer; the giver of life. And we find these essential oils in God's creation. God doesn't want us to live in bondage or to be trapped by our fears and our memories God wants us to live in freedom so we can ultimately live for him and know his love.
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