Lotus Body

My New Project!

2010-01-22T19:26:00.003-05:00

I wanted to let everyone know about my latest project, The MOD Kitchen! As many of you know, I am a chef as well as a healer but have not been a working chef for many years. My love of food has been reignited with my organic rebirth and I am now writing a healing and food blog! I am also in the process of starting an organic catering company in Sw Michigan. I will keep you posted with all of the details as they unfold. Check out the new blog and become a follower so that you don't miss out on any of the cool and delicious recipes posted!
http://www.themodkitchen.com
Peace and Light,
Maria

Skin Evolution

2009-01-31T14:35:00.000-05:00

I have been talking for years about how our skin, as our largest organ, gets abused and often overlooked when it comes to healing. Most of the time we don’t even notice it unless it itches or has a rash and then we usually just slather on some ointment to suppress whatever is trying to express itself to get our attention. Our skin is very forgiving, it doesn’t even protest when we smother it with chemicals and toxins day after day. Our skin still works to protect us to the best of its ability even amidst the abuse. You say,” but I am using this “organic” lotion, isn’t that OK?” A close look at the ingredient label will tell us whether the product you have been using is nourishing your skin or sending it into defensive maneuvers.
The first thing you need to know is that all lotions are emulsions between oil and water. The water component of the emulsion must be preserved otherwise it will grow mold in 3 days, and to date the safest preservative is sodium borate (borax) and even it’s safety is questionable (skin deep rates it a 4-6) soduim borate ,plus it will only preserve at best for 6 months. Another option is grapefruit seed extract (GSE). In double blind tests, they found that the main preserving agent in grapefruit seed extract is the triclosan or parabens used to preserve the GSE itself grapefruit seed extract It does not have any preservation qualities of it’s own.
Rosemary oleoresin is an oil soluble anti-oxidant that cannot preserve the water component. Tetrasodium EDTA is used as a “gentle” preservative but hey guess what EDTA is??? From Wiki: “EDTA is mostly synthesized from 1,2-diaminoethane (ethylenediamine), formaldehyde (methanal), water and sodium cyanide.[2] This yields the tetra sodium salt, which can be converted into the acidic forms by acidification.” Yum. Petroleum, formaldehyde AND cyanide. Yowza. That sounds gentle.
Remember also, that 70% of what we put on our skin is absorbed into our bloodstream without the benefit of filtration from the liver and kidneys. Anyone want to mainline some formaldehyde?

If you would not eat it you should not put it on your skin, period.

At this point in time, there is no 100% safe preservative for the water component in a lotion. So why take the risk? The main complaint that I always hear from people regarding natural moisturizers and body butters is that they are oily and don’t absorb well. Well, that is a really good point. No one wants to feel greasy all day long so what is the solution? Heal your skin. Damaged skin cannot absorb like healthy skin. Skin that has become dependant on chemical absorption enhancers in lotions cannot function optimally, it has forgotten how. Luckily, the wisdom in our bodies cannot be suppressed for long. Within a week of applying a 100% food-grade moisturizer to your skin you will notice the difference. Your skin will begin to drink it in instead of it just sitting on top. You will also learn that because it is such a nutrient rich product that you don’t need to apply as much to get the desired effect, dewy soft moisturized skin. Feed your skin and heal your body at the same time. It's a good place to start!

New Name Same Great Product!

2009-01-23T21:23:00.001-05:00

After much deliberation, we have decided to change the name of our outdoor protection oil from Skeeter Skatter to Mother Nature's Magick Oil. The name change is happening for a variety of reasons but the most important was that there were so many other companies already using the name Skeeter Skatter that it just made sense to try something different! Still the same great formula, with medicinal-grade essential oils, especially catnip, to help protect you while outside enjoying the Great Mother and all of her splendid gifts!

What it is all about….

2008-09-28T19:47:00.002-04:00

Last month a customer called me to complain that the Rosy Bottoms Baby Powder that a friend had given her did not “flow freely from the shaker like it should” and felt that I needed to send her a new one as this one was defective. I asked if she had tried to use the larger pour spout and pour the powder into her hand and then apply it to her baby? She replied, “No, I haven’t. But that’s not really convenient and isn’t that what it’s all about?” My first thought was “No, that’s NOT what is it all about…” but then I checked myself and agreed to send her a new one with my apologies.

I have been thinking about that conversation ever since because, convenience isn’t what it is about at all, not even a little bit. In fact, I can think of about 10 things it is more about than convenience.
1. Not wanting to put toxic chemicals on your baby.

2. Not wanting to slather cancer causing petrochemicals all over your baby and family

3. Not wanting to support all of the mega companies like proctor and gamble and unilever that only have their bottom line at heart not your well being.

4. Not wanting to support companies like Monsanto that are bent on destroying our food supply and poisoning the planet with their chemicals.

5. Wanting to support small companies that care about you and the planet

6. Wanting to support small companies run by Mom’s like yourself

7. Valuing your health over saving a dollar.

8. Understanding that 70% of what you put on your skin is absorbed into your bloodstream as if you’ve eaten it and realizing that it better be good!

9. Realizing that if you can’t pronounce half of the ingredients on a product label then it isn’t something that should be considered skin food.

10. Realizing that the old adage “garbage in. garbage out” applies to your skin/body as well.

Not to mention, is anything that can be called “convenient” ever considered healthy? I immediately think of “convenience store” or “convenience food” and I see 7-11 stores. Is there anything healthy to eat at a 7-11? Let’s see, you have chips and other snacks, soda pop, candy, slurpees, hot dogs, tobacco products… convenient yes, good for you, no. Fast food is convenient…but not good for you. I think you get my point.

We have been conned into thinking that everything has to be cheap, simple and easy otherwise why bother. We have gotten so lazy that we cannot even properly take care of our own bodies. It is not about convenience, it is about doing the right thing even if it takes a little longer, requires an extra step and a few extra dollars.

It’s about valuing yourself, at the very least, as much as the money in your pocket.

Be well.

Boo Boo & Tattoo Sticks

2007-11-19T23:37:00.001-05:00

Tattoo Stick
.5oz $8.00

Boo Boo Stick
.5oz $6.00

Heal your skin with first aid complements of Mother Nature! Replace 3 products with 1! Antibiotic ointments, hydrocortisone & topical analgesics!

Why smear toxins into your open wounds?

Organic herbs (self heal, calendula, comfrey leaf & root, chickweed and nettles) infused in organic olive oil and cold pressed grapeseed oils, with organic hemp oil, beeswax, medicinal grade essential oils of lavender, tea tree, german chamomile and everlasting, Bach Rescue Remedy, FES self heal and preserved with vitamin E. For the Tattoo Stick, there is also rosa rubignosa(rose hip seed oil).

Call 866-(568-8726) or email maria@lotusbody.com for more information!

Body Butter

2007-11-19T23:18:00.000-05:00

Lotus Body Butter
8 oz jar $30.00
2 oz jar $15.00

Experience true luxury, without all the toxic chemicals.
Organic herbs(self heal, calendula, comfrey leaf & root, chickweed, oatstraw, nettles and green and white tea) are infused in organic olive oil and cold pressed grapeseed oil and blended with organic hemp oil, beeswax, organic extra virgin coconut oil, rose hip seed oil, medicinal grade essential oils of lavender, sweet orange, bergamot, german chamomile, rosemary verbenon, everlasting, palmarosa, carrot seed and ylang ylang. Energetically enhanced with Bach Rescue Remedy and FES Self Heal. Gently preserved with vitamin E.

Call 866-568-8726 or e mail maria@lotusbody for more information and have healthier, dewy skin in days!

New Products!

2007-11-19T23:03:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone!

We are in the middle of a site redesign, but I wanted you to be able to see all of our new products! I am going to post the pictures here along with prices for you to check out!

I also wanted to remind everyone that our Holiday Open House is coming up. Saturday, December 8 from 11 am until 6 pm at Marning Glory Market, 3260 Niles Rd in Saint Joseph, MI.
Essential Collection $150.00
Medicinal grade essential oil blends in Mother Nature's First Aid kit. 4-5ml bottles 1-4ml Packaged in a handmade crate made with reclaimed cedar slats.
Headache Oil
Antiseptic Oil
Sleep Oil
Fungus Amongus Oil
Immunity Oil

Experience the difference of genuine and authentic essential oils! Call 866-(568-8726) or email maria@lotusbody.com for more details!

Honoring the Wholeness in Life

2007-10-25T23:50:00.000-04:00

It never ceases to amaze me how generous people can be! This is one of our more beautiful qualities as humans, our capacity for compassion and kindness. This, unfortunately, is not evident to most Americans who watch the news and read the paper everyday, the daily fear report.

It’s sad, really, when you think about it.

The news really teaches us to fear one another and to feel alone and unsupported when in reality nothing could be further from the truth. I have learned this first hand in the past few weeks in planning my event to benefit survivors of domestic abuse and animals. I am having a bake sale and a raffle and have been asking local area businesses to donate items to raffle. The response has been terrific! People are coming out of nowhere wanting to support the cause! It should be a grand event! Thank you to everyone who is participating!

If you are in the area, come out and buy some muffins and a raffle ticket…you could win a great prize and at the same time feel great about serving a good cause. If you come out, please also bring your gently used clothing, toys and cell phones to donate to the shelters.

Bake Sale and Raffle
November 3 2007
11am to 6pm
Morning Glory Market
3260 Niles Rd
Saint Joseph, MI

This is a benefit for the Safe Shelter for women and children survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault and for Animal Aid, a local no kill shelter that rescues, houses and re-homes countless animals yearly.

Please bring your gently used clothing and toys for the shelter and old cell phones, projectkopeg has offered recycle these phones and send us a check for the shelter!

We will also have lots of yummy homemade baked goods for sale; I am even resurrecting some of my old dog treat recipes from my years as DharmaDog! We will also be selling catnip mice and squeaky fuzzy dog bones!

Hope to see you there!

Save the Date!

2007-09-27T23:27:00.001-04:00

I know that it is early, but the date is set for our annual Holiday Open House! This year, our Party will be held at Morning Glory Market on Saturday, December 8 from 11am until 6pm. Mark it on your calendar so you don't forget! As always, there will be food and beverages as well as everything on your shopping list and more! Stay tuned for more details!
Peace and Light,
Maria

The Art of Listening

2007-09-16T23:41:00.000-04:00

The Art of Listening
This is the essence of biodynamic craniosacral work. Every body has a story to tell, many stories in fact. Every experience you have had in your lifetime is stored in every cell of your body, the body remembers it all. If the experience was traumatic or overwhelming then it is held with a greater intensity, one that can and often does manifest physically. With enough insults to the system, we quickly become run down, depleted and energetically and emotionally wrought. I liken this to a circus performer who is spinning plates on sticks. The more you are holding in your system, the more plates you are trying to keep in the air. Can you feel the energy expenditure going out in order to secure each plate? This is what your body does each day that you carry traumatic experience with you. You have to ask yourself then, how much is left for living your life?
BCST works with your system on 3 levels, body (physical), mind (emotions) and soul (spiritual) to resolve these traumas, build resource and stimulate the Health that is ever present within your system. As you resolve the issues that are being held, a plate comes down and the energy it took to maintain it comes back to you and any pain associated with it can begin to heal and resolve. The 3 levels are interconnected, if you always focus on one without acknowledging and integrating the others then the patterns you are seeking to heal cannot fully resolve. That is why many physical modalities become habitual, because without integration there is no healing. The physical piece cannot resolve if the emotional and spiritual core is not acknowledged, honored and addressed. I will go so far to say that there is no physical pain that does not have at its core an emotional and spiritual component. Often times this piece just needs to be heard to be released. Being Heard. Isn’t that what we all crave and long for? For someone to just listen to our story with a compassionate heart and an open mind and really hear us. That is a powerful gift. That is the essence of BCST. The session is not about me deciding what is best for you or feeling a pattern and changing it, it is about listening to the wisdom in your body and honoring what you need in that moment. It is about creating the safety and space to work with these rough edges without fear or overwhelm. It is about showing you the power you have within you to heal yourself. This is your divine gift. Do you want it?
Peace and Light,
Maria

The Future

2007-08-03T00:50:00.001-04:00

LotusBody.com is going to be undergoing some reconstruction in the coming weeks, the store will remain open in it’s present form until the reconstruction is complete and I will announce the grand re-opening! Some items to look forward to are a podcast/videocast, monthly sales and promotions, all of our new products fully featured and all of your wonderful testimonials! Stay tuned for our first videocast where I will eat some of my Body Butter spread on toast!

Sins of Omission

2007-08-03T00:46:00.000-04:00

I am often asked how Lotus Body products differ from all of the other products out there labeled natural and or organic. This can be a complicated question to answer because there is a lot of deception in the marketplace because the competition is heavy. The deception begins with the FDA, who does not police the health and beauty product market at all. This means that people can say whatever they want on their labels with impunity. There are varying degrees of deception.

The first is the lie of omission. They just don’t tell you what they preserve with so it appears that they don’t use any toxic preservatives. But you have to remember that oil and water don’t mix and that water unpreserved will grow mold in 2 to 3 days. Vitamin E, essential oils and rosemary oleoresin are oil-based so they can only preserve the oil portion of the emulsion. You have to also preserve the water portion (water content can be aloe vera, flower waters, milks…) this can only be done with a formaldehyde or phenol based preservative. Grapefruit seed extract will buy you some time but not a lot and they are finding that it is not the grapefruit seed that is actually responsible for the preservation but the parabens that they use to preserve the grapefruit seed extract! So if you are reading a label and there is no listed preservative, assume there is something scary lurking within.

The second lie is “paraben-free” on the label. Parabens are a formaldehyde-based preservative that have been used for years in body care products as well as food. They are also known as methyl-, propyl-, ethyl- and butyl-paraben and have become a big deal lately because they have been found in cancerous breast tumors. People are recognizing that parabens are not a good thing and the big companies are exploiting that for their own gain. Sure there may be no “parabens” in their products but what did they replace it with? If it needed a paraben before and there is nothing listed as a preservative now…what do you think is going on? I will discuss preservatives in depth in a later article.

The third area of deception is in essential oils. As many of you know this is a huge area of contention for me as an aromatherapist who is trained in the use of genuine and authentic medicinal-grade essential oils. All essential oils are NOT created equal, especially in America. I say that because once again this is an unregulated area and there is such an enormous lack of understanding of the healing effects of essential oils in this country that it is almost impossible to tell what is real and what is not. Any company can call any oil a natural or real essential oil even if it is made in a lab and is synthetic. Yes, this is true. I will say that 99.9% of all of the rose and jasmine and neroli and Melissa oils on the market today are synthetic. That is why so many people feel nauseas after smelling rose oil, it is not real. And to make it worse, all synthetic fragrances are formaldehyde based! Now, isn’t that nice. Honestly, if you see any of those oils for sale for less that $100.00 for 5 mls, it is a fake, period.

So, back to the original question, what makes Lotus Body products different from everything else out there? Honesty, integrity and a pit bull attitude regarding labeling. I will never use a synthetic essential oil, I will never use a toxic preservative and I will always tell you exactly what is in my products and to prove to you how pure they are, I will eat them in front of you! How many other companies out there will do that for you?

Peace.

Maria

I Take It Personally

2007-07-19T23:52:00.000-04:00

It was Easter 2000 when Bob and I were driving to his parents for brunch when we saw a scared little pit bull sitting on the median in the highway. She pulled us to her and we instinctively stopped to see if we could help. She was scared but very sweet, we picked her up and put her in the car and proceeded to brunch. We named her Sunday and she was a loyal and devoted little lover of a dog. It was evident that her history was not pleasant. She had scars and cuts on her face and head and an indent on her back that was the size of a pipe. We knew that she had been used either as a fighting dog or a bait dog. We don't know if she had been dumped on the highway or if she had escaped. Either way, she was ours. We worked with her for 6 months, training, healing, loving. As time passed, the scars that she bore, both physical and emotional began to take their toll on her. She became increasingly aggressive toward anyone who came into our home and toward our cat and our other beloved dog, Jack. When she lunged at a newborn infant, we knew that the most loving(albeit heartbreaking) choice was to let her go back to spirit. Sunday died in my arms in 2001.

When I see the faces of the dogs rescued from Michael Vick's property, I see my Sunday and I take it personally. If you have ever loved a dog or any animal, you should, too.

This type of behavior is reprehensible and is indicative of a deeper disease in our society that needs to be dealt with.
The NFL and Hollywood are dealing with this issue at best by ignoring it, at worst, glorifying it by allowing it to permeate films, media and music.

We support with our dollars every time we buy music, go to a movie or buy products that are endorsed by such athletes, musicians and actors who endorse and participate in dog fighting. Our ignorance does not release us from responsibility.

We need to become aware of the money trail and shut it down.

Here is a list of Vick's corporate sponsors:

Nike: http://niketown.nike.com/niketown/info/privacy.jsp?item=privacy

EA Sports: http://www.info.ea.com/company/company_prlist.php

Hasbro: http://hasbro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/hasbro.cfg/php/enduser/

Rawlings: http://www.rawlings.com/

Kraft: http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?m=contact_us/cu_form1

Coca-Cola and Powerade (owned by CocaCola): http://www.coca-cola.com/template1/index.jsp?locale=en_US(click on contact us)

Contact the Atlanta Falcons and let them know that you will be turning them off if Vick is allowed to play.

http://www.atlantafalcons.com/About/Contact_Us.asp

Contact the NFL and tell Commissioner Roger Goodell that not only should Vick be suspended but that when he is found guilty, banned from professional football for life. Both PETA and the Humane Society have active petitions.

Please join me in protecting dogs and all animals from abuse and neglect.

Our collective love can transform this barbaric and tragic situation and provide a safer world for all of us to coexist. For all of the "Sunday's" in this world.

Peace and Light,
Maria

Support Hemp in the US!

2007-07-02T23:56:00.001-04:00

Hello again

It was just brought to my attention again, the annoying and obnoxious habit of our wonderful government to suppress and make illegal that which will heal our world the most.

This time it is Hemp. It is illegal to grow hemp in the go ole US of A because, well they want you to believe that it is because of it's cousin mary jane but it is really because it would put the tree killers and the monsanto sanctioned chemical laden cotton growers out of business. Not to mention the fact that if we all consumed a bit of hemp a day, we would all be a lot healthier.

Ruth at Ruth's Hemp Foods has created a Hemp Bar to support the cause of 2 farmers in North Dakota who have filed a lawsuit against the DEA so they can legally grow hemp in the US. 100% of the profits from the sales of this bar are going to the cause until Oct. 4 and then 20% thereafter for the life of the bar. This is a cause worth supporting! Check it out at http://www.ruthshempfoods.com/votehemp

You can get more information about the cause at http://www.votehemp.com

Lotus Body has been proudly using organic hemp oil in our lip balms and sore muscle salve from the beginning and will be joining the crusade in the near future...stay tuned for details!

Peace, Light and Hemp!
Maria

The Toothpaste is a HIT!

2007-06-27T22:07:00.000-04:00

After a 6 month labor of love, the toothpaste you have been waiting for is here!

Lotus Body Botanicals has teamed with Dr. Tereau Pearson of Holistic Dental and Wellness Center to create the ultimate toothpaste. Simple, clean and vibrationally powerful, this toothpaste will rock your world!

There is nothing like it on the market today because we are the only company that cares enough to use genuine and authentic medicinal-grade essential oils to heal you body, mouth and soul.

Not only for your mouth...

The benefits that I have received from using the clove toothpaste for just 2 weeks are amazing. A healing detoxification began at around 10 days and continues even into the second week. I didn't even think that I had anything going on...

The base is clean...

Baking soda to cleanse and deodorize
Xylitol to fight cavities and sweeten
Vegetable glycerine to sweeten and bring it all together

The flavors are vibrationally potent...

Peppermint
Peppermint Ginger
Clove
Lavender Tea Tree and Sandalwood
Cinnamon Myrrh
Juicy Orange

Custom Blends...

With a consultation, Dr. Pearson can design a personalized blend just for you and your specific needs!

Unique, Pure and Vibrant.

Check it out today! Call for more information. 1-866-lotusbody.

Peace and Light,
Maria

New and Improved!

2007-02-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

Greetings!

We are proud and excited to announce that we have changed our formulation for our Rashy Rump Butter! This change has occurred for 2 reasons:

1. The Shea Butter that we have been using just didn't have a long enough shelf life for this product. It was going rancid in 6 to 8 months. This was not long enough and we will not preserve with anything harsher than vitamin E so the Shea had to go!

2. We found something better. We loved the moisturizing qualities of the shea butter, it made the skin nice and soft but what we found offers that and more! Extra Virgin Coconut Oil!

Not only does it have a very extended shelf life, but it is a fully saturated oil that makes it a solid at room temperature. This makes it a perfect consistency for a salve/butter. It is highly moisturizing, loaded with antioxidants and it has lauric acid which is an antiseptic.

This is a perfect fit for rashy bottoms.

We will have a full profile of the healing benefits of Extra Virgin Coconut Oil in the March newsletter, sign up now if you aren't already on board!

Check out the new and improved Rashy Rump Butter, your child's butt will thank you.

Peace and Light,
Maria

Exciting News for Lotus Body!

2007-02-10T14:45:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone

We hope that this winter is treating everyone well and that you are all keeping warm and dry! We are currently buried under 3 plus feet of snow here in SW Michigan, oh how I wish that I would have bought those snow shoes!

We have some exciting news we would like to share with you. We have just received 3 new endorsements!

1. We have joined and been approved for membership in Coop America! This has always been a dream of mine and now we are a part of this amazing group of forward thinking green businesses! Yeah! I wanted this so much that the membership fee was my Christmas present!

2. We have gotten the PETA seal of approval for all of our products being cruelty-free! This is kinda funny to me because you have to pick a date that you certify that you have done no animal testing of any kind...As if I ever did ANY animal testing at all!

3. We have joined and been approved for the Green Products Alliance. This another cool organization of like minded businesses that care about and steward the Earth.

We are really proud to be a part of all 3 of these important and forward thinking organizations. Check back soon so see our seals displayed proudly at the web store!

Peace and Light,
Maria, Bob and Sofia

Holiday Open House

2006-11-27T12:45:00.000-05:00

We would like to extend an invitation to everyone in the area to come to our Holiday Open House!

Saturday December 9th from Noon until 6 pm

There will be food and beverages as well as thoughtful and heartfelt handmade gifts for the entire family.

So come over, have some great food and enjoy a calm and peaceful holiday shopping experience!

We look forward to meeting you!

1817 Brown School Rd
Saint Joseph, MI

269-932-4551

Peace and Light,

Maria, Bob and Sofia

Thanksgiving Vacation

2006-11-20T10:55:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I will be out of town until November 25th. I can still be reached at my toll free number 866-lotusbody (568-8726) and I will still be checking my e mail. Please leave a message and we will get back to you!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Peace and Light,

Maria, Bob and Sofia

Love the Skin You're In!

2006-11-04T10:07:00.000-05:00

Most of us are pretty conscious when it comes to what foods we choose to put into our mouths. We like to think that we usually make the best choice with the occasional not so healthy snack. But how much thought do any of us give to what we take into our bodies via our skin? The skin is our largest organ and it is responsible for many functions.

1. Protection of underlying organs and tissues from mechanical damage.
2. Excretion of excess salts, water and urea from the body.
3. Temperature regulation.
4. Maintenance of body shape. The elasticity of skin restores the shape when joints are used during movement.
5. Protection against excessive loss of water from the body by evaporation.
6. Protection against entry of harmful organisms.
7. Storage of nutrients.
8. Detection of stimuli such as temperature, pain and touch and the relay of this information to the nervous system. And last but most important:
9. Absorption.

In fact, we absorb 70% of what our skin comes into contact with both indirectly through the environment and directly through application to the skin of various lotions, cosmetics and medications. 70%! That is a lot especially when you consider the pathway. When we eat and drink, the foods we take in have to go through the gastrointestinal tract before entering our bloodstream to reach the entire body. What this means is that your food is in contact with digestive enzymes, stomach acids and other substances that break down and help to digest and process it. If there are any toxic or un-needed elements they are often whisked away to the liver and kidneys for processing and excretion.

This doesn’t mean that there are no ill effects from eating things that are not good for us; it just means that our foods get broken down and partially processed. In contrast, when we put a substance on our skin, it gets absorbed and into the bloodstream without the benefit of processing and filtering.

This is how trans-dermal patches work for nicotine, pain killers like morphine and hormones for HRT. The fat-soluble medications are absorbed through the fat layer and into the bloodstream to the entire body, instantly. Then there are the medicated creams and lotions on the market for sore muscles and arthritis. These ingredients, salicylates/aspirins and hot pepper (capsaicin) preparations are water-soluble so they need help getting through the fatty tissue to get into the bloodstream. That is where the other various ingredients come into play, the ones that we usually cannot pronounce. The most popular transport agent is propylene glycol. It is responsible for vasodilation (opening up your blood vessels) and dilating your pores so that the medicine can get through.

There are a few problems with this method that you need to be aware of.

1. Propylene glycol is a petroleum by product.
2. It is an ingredient in anti-freeze and other industrial agents.
3. The FDA considers it so toxic that it requires its workers to wear full body protection when cleaning up a spill, yet it is the most common ingredient in all cosmetics.
4. When the propylene glycol opens the door for the medicine, everything else follows.

What that means is that all of the delightful formaldehyde based preservatives, petroleum, synthetic fragrances and Goddess knows what else, are escorted right into your bloodstream for quick distribution.

Isn’t that nice? And we haven’t even talked about cosmetics yet!

Read the ingredient label on any random body product and then ask yourself,

“Would I feed this to my child?” “Would I eat this myself?” Yes, with your mouth.

If you cringe, then maybe you need to rethink what you are slathering on your children and your own body everyday because that is exactly what you are doing. You are eating all the formaldehyde, all of the petroleum, all of the propylene glycol, all of the dyes and synthetic fragrances, all of the ingredients that you cannot pronounce, all of it. YUCK!

And I am sorry to say that many of the products labeled as “organic” are not much better. Remember, if the scent of a product lasts on your skin for more than 20 minutes, it is synthetic. It is not real. The exception to this is resinous oils like frankincense and patchouli etc.
In light of this information we are considering starting a new slogan, Lotus Body Botanicals, Good Enough to Eat! Check out our entire line of edible skin care/healing products, (except of course the Honey Bubbles)!

Peace and Light,
Maria

Don't Blame the Spinach!

2006-11-04T10:05:00.000-05:00

What a Preedickamink
By Doug Hornig "That's what Popeye would surely say: "What a preedickamink!"

All those years of pouring spinach down his gullet in order to build a strong body, and now he'd be hard pressed to find a supply.

The culprit is, of course, that old devil, the Escherichia coli bacterium. It seems like every time there's a nationwide brouhaha over contaminated food, E. coli is at the center of it, and that's certainly the case here. Since August 25, when the first case of illness was reported, anti-spinach fever--promoted by the government and fed by the sensation-seeking media--has risen to a near hysterical pitch.

By mid-September, the FDA had cleared the supermarkets of all bagged fresh spinach after some 150 infections and one death that could be attributed to the "outbreak" of E. coli-related illness.

Dire warnings were issued, among others from Robert Brackett--director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition--who stressed the importance of stopping the bacterium at its source. "If you wash it, it is not going to get rid of it," he said.

Placing his job at the very pinnacle of stewardship of the public safety (though struggling with his syntax), Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, the FDA's acting commissioner proclaimed that, "We need to strive to do even better so even one life is not lost."

With many frightened citizens vowing never to touch spinach again, there has even been talk in Washington about a permanent ban on all bagged, fresh-picked, triple-washed greens.

Our regular readers will be aware, however, that we are eternally skeptical when the government says it is doing something for our own good, and so we decided to take a closer look at the spinach fear that has suddenly gripped the land. Was it justified, or was it an overreaction engineered, once again, by those zealous guardians of our welfare down in D.C.?

Well, you be the judge.

There are several important aspects of the story to keep in mind. First of all, hundreds of strains of E. coli bacteria already reside in your gut. In fact, you wouldn't have intestinal health without them. They're the good guys.

Unfortunately, they have a handful of cousins that can cause foodborne illnesses, and one--O157:H7--that is particularly toxic, and is responsible for most of the serious medical conditions associated with the bacterium.

Even if you do ingest the nasty O157:H7, however, you won't automatically get sick. As our old friend, nutritional consultant Jon Barron put it, "those with healthy populations of beneficial bacteria in their intestinal tracts are virtually immune to problems. There is simply no room for ingested E. coli to take root, colonize, and multiply--not to mention the fact that the beneficial bacteria gobble up any stray E. coli they encounter. In other words, the outbreak has less to do with contaminated food than it does with the epidemic of compromised immune systems and intestinal tracts."

This is why, even when we ingest O157:H7-contaminated food, the resultant illness will probably be self-limiting. The vast majority of those exposed are either unaffected, or have minor problems that clear up in one to three days. Only in about 5% of all cases is there severe poisoning.

Thus, if you don't take care of yourself, you're more likely to fall ill and run a greater risk of complications. Not a great surprise. And equally unsurprising is the behavior of government, which has been handed a golden opportunity to educate people about the importance of gastrointestinal health. Instead, our bureaucrats choose to disrupt the food business, bankrupting farmers along the way, all in a futile attempt to eliminate O157:H7 from the retail world.

Naturally, we are not advocating that contaminated food shouldn't be pulled from stores. It should. We're just adding some perspective to the Great Spinach Flap of '06. Here's some more: each year, E. coli poisoning causes 73,000 cases of serious illness and about 60 deaths. Yes, the proverbial bolt of lightning is more likely to take your life than this tiny animalcule; and yes, 150 cases/1 death is a tiny percentage of the whole.

There's also another thing worth considering, the question of who benefits. From the Union of Concerned Scientists' Food and Environment website we learn that, "Most infections of E. coli O157:H7 come from eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef. Meat becomes contaminated in the slaughterhouse, and the bacteria are easily spread when meat is ground in the processing plant. Studies have shown that about half the cattle in feedlots carry this pathogen during summer months." Worse yet, because of the willy-nilly use of antibiotics among modern herds, the strain borne by beef cattle is increasingly antibiotic-resistant.

Now the target of the spinach purge has been organically raised produce, at a time when it is claiming a bourgeoning segment of the market. Conventional growers, as well as the powerful beef industry, have plenty of friends in Washington. Since large agribusinesses have a vested interest in maintaining their own market share, while meat processors would rather we knew as little as possible about where our hamburger comes from, having organic vegetables transformed into a villain is welcome news to both."

Michigan's Raw Milk Fiasco!

2006-11-04T10:03:00.000-05:00

October 30, 2006
Quick! Confiscate the Butter!
State sting asserts Michigan milk laws, chills farmers
By Patty Cantrell
Great Lakes Bulletin News Service

MLUI
Growing onsumer demand for fresh, unprocessed milk from happy cows runs up against regulations designed for big business and long distance.
For three years now, southwest Michigan farmers Richard and Annette Hebron have kept their family operation in business with weekly deliveries of fresh, un-pasteurized milk and other farm products direct to some 150 members of their Family Farms Cooperative in Ann Arbor.

And, for three years, regulators at the Michigan Department of Agriculture left the Hebrons-and a growing number of other small farmers who also produce and sell raw milk-alone. The reason is that, even though Michigan law requires that all milk sold at retail be pasteurized as a precaution against food borne illnesses, the raw milk the Hebrons provide with two other farms in the cooperative is not really sold that way. Customers buy shares in the cows that produce the milk, which qualifies them for an exemption in Michigan's dairy law: People who own cows can drink their own cows' un-pasteurized milk.

This legal truce between the MDA and such "cow-share" arrangements ended abruptly, however, on Friday Oct. 13, when state troopers stopped Richard Hebron on his way to Ann Arbor and produced a search warrant that allowed state agents to seize Mr. Hebron's products, paperwork, and cell phone.

As the alarmed farmer watched the officials confiscate the privately contracted, un-pasteurized milk, buttermilk, yogurt, kefir, and butter, his wife, Annette, was enduring the same thing back home. There, plainclothes agents were packing up other products, taping shut freezers and coolers, and confiscating the family's computer and business records.

Four hours later, in Ann Arbor, police and other MDA Food and Dairy Division officials produced a third warrant and searched the warehouse of a store that the cooperative uses as a distribution point for its products.

What Is Retail?
Katherine Fedder is the MDA official who approved the sting operation, which included months of undercover work by a spy from her agency, who infliltrated the co-op. She said that her department's concern is not about cow shares but about location. Delivering to the warehouse of a specialty wine and food shop in Ann Arbor, she contends, may violate the state's dairy laws because it is a matter of bringing un-pasteurized, unlabeled milk to a licensed retail establishment.

But Mr. Hebron and the store owner say this warehouse space is well away from the store's retail traffic and that, lacking any clarifying language in Michigan law, they thought it was perfectly legal to make the privately owned, un-pasteurized milk products available to co-op members there.

Ms. Fedder takes issue with the negative reaction to the sting by the press and others, which have described it as "Gestapo-like." But if the suddenness and severity of the MDA's Friday-the-13th raids don't qualify for jackboot status, they certainly are a wake-up call to entrepreneurial farms and their direct-market customers.

Local farm-to-table enterprises like Mr. Hebron's are revolutionizing food markets by responding to new consumer demands. They are springing up like wild, untamable mint outside the typical, centralized, national and international channels that most food now travels: Nearly every morsel averages 800 to 1,200 miles before reaching our plates.

"Cow share" arrangements like that of the Family Farms Cooperative are increasing because a growing number of consumers like raw milk's taste, its reported and perceived nutrition and digestibility benefits, and the simple fact that it comes direct from smaller, nearby farms.

But the entrepreneurial spirit re-connecting these local farms and consumers is also challenging the normal regulatory course of business at the MDA, which is charged with enforcing public health rules designed, in this case, to keep the mass-market milk supply safe.

Communication Breakdown?
The ordeal has left the Hebrons and their two partner farm families traumatized, confused, and struggling to stay in business. Two weeks after the search and seizure, the Hebrons had yet to be charged with a crime, were waiting for news, and trying to soldier on without access to seized equipment and records.

A simple warning call from the MDA could have alleviated the agency's concerns, said Mr. Hebron. "They could have come in and talked to us about it and we could have rectified the situation."

The MDA's choice of a sting operation raises an urgent question: How willing is the MDA to explore other ways to protect consumers and regulate farmers who are, in this case, buying and selling milk products that they prefer over what is available in mainstream stores? In other words, are state regulators willing to consider alternatives to regulatory rules written primarily for big business and long distances?

The agency's treatment of the Hebron's also is drawing criticism because it conflicts with the agency's long-espoused commitment to helping farmers understand and comply with regulations. The sting stands in stark contrast to the MDA's kid-glove treatment of some large livestock operations, such as the 2,500-cow dairies that now dominate the mainstream, industrial milk market, which the Hebron's customers are deserting. Despite repeated complaints from neighbors and well-documented evidence of severe water pollution, livestock operations suspected of violating environmental laws generally receive months and even years of warnings before the state takes enforcement action.

In an interview with the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service, the MDA's Ms. Fedder declined to say whether officials attempted to communicate with the Hebrons before the raids. She did confirm, however, that her division assigned an undercover agent to the cooperative last spring. This came after a local health department, apparently in the Hebron's vicinity, reported in April that two children had become ill after allegedly consuming raw milk. Ms. Fedder also confirmed the facts in an Oct. 19 Business Week commentary: The local health department was unable to trace the illness back to raw milk or any other specific food.

Despite the lack of evidence that the Hebron's milk was related to any public health harm, the undercover operation proceeded and evolved months later into the sudden sting operation.

Rights and Responsibilities
Ms. Fedder insisted that the MDA respects private consumer choice and tolerates cow-share arrangements because the law says nothing about them: Her concern is about raw milk showing up in retail stores as demand for it rises.

"That's where we will draw the line," she said. "My biggest concern has always been a mother who goes into the store and grabs something she didn't intend to grab versus a person with a high degree of knowledge of what they're consuming and the choice they're making."

Ms. Fedder points to the majority of public health officials, who advise people not to drink raw milk. Mainstream milk producers also repeat this point in a campaign they have launched to defend the industry's practices and processes-and to discredit and oppose the labeling of raw milk, organic milk, and milk from cows that have not been fed artificial hormones or daily doses of antibiotics.

Yet, ironically, food safety is a major factor in the rise of un-pasteurized milk providers, up from just a few known Michigan providers in 2003 to nearly 30 today, according to realmilk.com, a project of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which promotes the benefits of raw or un-pasteurized dairy products.

Raw milk consumers like the fact that they're working with, and helping keep in business, small farmers who may be needed to keep the milk supply safe and secure in a time when more and more food is coming through increasingly consolidated, sometimes quite vulnerable channels.

A recent New York Times piece by author and researcher Michael Pollan pointed out, for example, that 80 percent of America's beef is now slaughtered by just four companies, 75 percent of precut salads are processed by two companies, and 30 percent of milk by just one. The recent national recall of bagged spinach demonstrates how one small problem along America's mass food production line can cause lots of damage.

Katherine Czapp, a member of the Family Farms Cooperative, believes Michigan regulators need to take such facts into consideration and give consumers and farmers more security and clarity in their efforts to exchange the food products they prefer.

"I think they need to look at places like California, where it is legal to buy raw milk off the shelf, or Pennsylvania," said Ms. Czapp, who is also editor of the Wise Traditions Journal, a publication of the Weston A. Price Foundation. "Let's see what they did there to make that legally possible."

Patty Cantrell directs the Michigan Land Use Institute's entrepreneurial agriculture program. Reach her at patty@mlui.org.

Natural Skin Products

2006-09-06T22:29:00.000-04:00

For all of you who use our products regularly,(thanks) you know how deeply healing they are. But have any of you noticed how your skin has improved as well?

All of our products are aimed at healing a specific issue, but because of the high quality of our carrier oils and base ingredients, the organic herbs and therapeutic grade essential oils, the healing goes much further.

So when you use a product for sore muscles, your skin benefits as well!

How cool is that?!

So our products are not only natural healing products but natural skin products as well!

Thanks for your continued support!

Peace and Light,

Maria

Harvest Time

2006-09-06T22:20:00.000-04:00

Hi All!

Harvest time is upon us and I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that I haven't poated any of our organic vegetable offerings yet this year. There is good reason for this...

Our harvest was not as bountiful as expected. We started with a bum load of soil and weren't able to ammend it as we would have liked to. Plus, the neighboring maple tree has taken over our yard and literally shrouded our garden! We are moving the garden for next year and have converted a few trash cans into composters so we should be ready!

Here's to next years bounty!

Peace.

Testimonials!!

2006-08-12T22:34:00.000-04:00

Hi All

We are in need of testimonials for the web store.

Please drop us an e mail telling us what you like best about our products and we will send you a free lip balm!

Tell us a story about how you use a specific product or a great success story, we would love to hear from you!

We will be looking for your e mails!

Thanks!

Product Profile: Boo Boo Stick

2006-08-12T22:32:00.000-04:00

Wow! It’s an overnight success. People cannot seem to get enough of our most versatile product yet! Throw away your toxic tubes of antibiotic creams, hydrocortisone ointments and topical analgesics. You don’t need to slather already irritated skin with chemicals and know carcinogens in the name of healing! Boo Boo Stick has all you need to heal and protect your skin ailments from cuts and scrapes to burns to bug and plant bites (including poison ivy), rashes and even fresh tattoos! You get all of this without harmful petroleum or formaldehyde-based ingredients. Boo Boo Stick utilizes organic herbs of self heal, calendula, comfrey leaf and root, nettles and chickweed along with medicinal grade essential oils of lavender, tea tree, german chamomile and everlasting. Lavender and Tea Tree oils are known for their antiseptic and skin healing properties but not many people know about the healing properties of german chamomile and everlasting. See my next article for the profiles on these 2 amazing oils. Try it out; Boo Boo Stick is available at our eBay store and by calling us at 1-866-lotusbody.

German Chamomile and Everlasting

2006-08-09T16:00:00.000-04:00

Have a red irritated wound or skin rash? Is your anger out of control? Are you in need of an immunity boost? Think blue, for German Chamomile that is. This plant, kindly known as the “mother herb” is great for all things “inflamed”, be it physical, emotional or spiritual. It has a high level of azulene, which makes it a great anti-inflammatory, including fevers (which is simply systemic inflammation!) It is calming, sedating and is ideal for mature skin, red sensitive skin, acne, eczema and the like. Its fruity ester-like aroma lends itself well to many blends while its cobalt blue color is cooling and soothing. German Chamomile is distinguished from its sister oil Roman Chamomile is several ways. Roman has a higher level of esters giving it a fruitier aroma and making it highly narcotic/sedative. This is a very expensive oil that is used for fragrance as well as for healing emotional issues, immunity boosting and its spasmolytic qualities. It is great for issues that have a strong emotional component to them such as headaches, insomnia, asthma and panic attacks. You may see another oil calling itself a chamomile in the store but it is not. Moroccan Chamomile is actually from the ormensis multicolis plant and not a chamomile at all. Not to demonize this oil, it is very helpful for the gallbladder and bile issues.
Everlasting is also known as Helichrysum Italicum and it has very powerful regenerative effects. Dr. Penoel, a French physician who co-wrote “L’aromatherapie exactment” which is the current textbook of medical aromatherapy with Pierre Franchomme says that Everlasting stimulates production and protection of new cells even in deep bleeding wounds. Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt continues this thought “ Helicrysum oil has superior anti-hematoma (bruise) and skin regenerating activity. It regulates cholesterol and stimulates liver cells. It is a very good mucolytic and is an effective free-radical scavenger, protecting newly formed cells.” It is great for new wounds and old scars. It is also a very grounding oil helping those who have a tendency to be “all up in their heads” feel their feet. This (grounding) is an especially important aspect of healing that is unfortunately often overlooked or deemed frivolous. This oil also has a very powerful analgesic effect making it a great addition for a wound blend for kids because it will not hurt when applied, in fact, along with lavender, it will actually lessen the pain felt from the injury.
Once again, both of these oils are best used in their genuine and authentic form, free of synthetics or other adulterations. The best place to obtain them is from a reputable supplier like Original Swiss Aromatics. http://www.originalswissaromatics.com

Go Organic!

2006-08-09T15:58:00.000-04:00

How many times have you heard or said this yourself, “I’d buy more organic produce/meats/products if they weren’t so expensive!” We are so conditioned to believe that the whole cost of a product is computed into the suggested retail price that we never question the price disparity between 2 products except to think that the company the makes the more expensive one is guilty of price gouging. So, how much do we really know about the true costs of our food? There was an excellent article in last month’s Mother Earth News magazine called the “Ecology of Pizza’ (or Why Organic Food is a Bargain) by Sandra Steingraber, that clearly shows the real cost of factory farming. She points out that the costs that are not factored into the price tag of conventionally grown food are: “fertilizer-contaminated groundwater, insecticide-contaminated fish, herbicide-contaminated rain, dead honeybees, poisoned wildlife, deformed frogs, eroded soil, toxic algae blooms, ozone depletion and antibiotic resistance”. She goes on to say “…farmers don’t pay for the economic consequences of erosion, leaching and drift. Instead the cost of filtering silt and poison out of tap water is passed along to the water utilities, and ultimately to everyone who pays a water bill.” So what this means is that this extra cost is not tacked onto the price of your broccoli and lettuce but on your water bill or somewhere else, it’s harder to make the connection. In the article, Steingraber notes Cornell University professor David Pimentel who states that “U.S. farmers spend about $10 billion on pesticides each year to protect about $40 billion of food crops, and the external costs of pesticide use add up to another $10 billion. He includes the costs for lost work caused by poisonings of farm workers, treatments for pesticide-induced cancers and the maintenance of complex regulatory systems to monitor pesticide residues in everything from applesauce to lake sediments. Pimentel points out that his calculations did not include many public health costs, so the actually figure is higher.”
So, does it still feel cheaper to buy non-organic products? The scariest part of the entire chemical, hormone, antibiotic and GMO’s (genetically –modified organism) is that we really don’t know the full toll that it will take on our bodies and on the planet. We just have vague reassurances from the FDA who are deeply planted into the back pockets of all of the companies that manufacture said products. I don’t want any of that crap in my or my baby’s body, what about you? Take a look at the rest of the article for more details and decide for yourself. Looking for options? Google CSA’s to find a local organic farm to get your food from. Peace!
http://www.motherearthnews.com/release/7744/

Welcome!

2006-08-09T15:57:00.000-04:00

I would like to welcome a new store to the Lotus Body family! Helen’s Health Hut at 615 Pleasant Street in downtown Saint Joseph is our most recent addition. We are thrilled to have Larry aboard! They are carrying Boo Boo Sticks and Skeeter Skatter. Stop in and see all that they have to offer!

We're Back!

2006-08-09T15:55:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!
I want to start by apologizing for the unplanned 2month hiatus from the blog! May and June have been consumed by tending to my large garden and getting ready to participate in Venetian Fest this weekend! There is so much to do, so many bugs to pick off my organically raised plants, so many rabbits to chase from the garden, so much fencing to put up to keep out the rabbits and deer…just when you think that it is all done another critter gets in somewhere!! This newsletter is going to be short and sweet, next month we will be back on line with our normal format, long and wordy (smiles)!

Fluoride Fact Sheet

2006-05-04T21:30:00.000-04:00

Here is a fact sheet complied by David C. Kennedy, D.D.S.

FACT #1 Fluoride is more toxic than lead, and just like lead, even in minute doses, accumulates in and is damaging to brain/mind development of children, i.e. produces abnormal behavior in animals and reduces IQ in humans.

FACT #2 Fluoridation is cancer-causing, cancer promoting, and is linked to increased cancer rates in rats, mice, and humans. Dr. William Marcus, Senior Science Advisor at the Office of Drinking Water stated unequivocally in his May Day Memo that fluoride is a carcinogen. Full text of the memo available 800-728-3833

FACT #3 Numerous studies, including four published in the Journal of the American Medical Association since 1990, have found that hip fracture rates are substantially higher in people residing in fluoridated communities

FACT #4 Dental fluorosis, the first visible sign of fluoride poisoning, affects from 8% to 51% of the children drinking fluoridated water and has substantially increased over the last 40 years. Dental fluorosis is more than cosmetic damage with psychological harm. It is also indicative of neurological impairment (See ref. C 3 Dr. Li)

FACT #5 All of the recent large-scale studies on fluoridation and tooth decay show that fluoridation does not reduce tooth decay. Studies from New Zealand, Canada, Europe, and the US have confirmed no difference in decay rates for permanent teeth of residents of fluoridated vs. non-fluoridated communities.

FACT #6 Fluoride drops and tablets are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as safe or effective. Ingested fluoride has no detectable effect on decay rates. Fluoride tablets and drops have been shown to be ineffective in reducing tooth decay and to cause skin eruptions, gastric distress, headache, and weakness - which disappear when fluoride use is discontinued - as well as dental fluorosis, a permanent disfigurement.

FACT #7 Fluoride causes iodine deficiency, which can result in hypothyroidism and frequently in hyperthyroidism. Fluorides were prescribed to patients suffering from hyperthyroidism as anti-thyroid medication prior to 1950. Fluoride exposure may exacerbate iodine deficiency. During pregnancy, when iodine requirements are at their peak, the fetus is especially vulnerable. Even a slightly under functioning thyroid gland can result in loss of IQ in the newborn. The following warning is required an all fluoridated toothpaste by the FDA since April of 1997 due to the large number of calls to the Poison Control Centers for children who became acutely ill from ingested fluoride. There is approximately 1 milligram of fluoride in a pea-sized drop of toothpaste. "WARNING: Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age. In case of accidental overdose, seek professional assistance or contact a poison control center immediately."

The main problem with fluoride doesn’t lie with any philosophy as to whether it is good or bad or beneficial to teeth etc. The main problem is that it is in everything, not just the water and toothpaste. It is in all processed foods, all food and beverages made with water, it is in plants and animal tissues that drink fluoridated water. So the EPA’s guideline of 1ppm to 4ppm doesn’t take into account how much water people drink or ANY of the other multitudes of sources for fluoride in their diets. We are consuming toxic doses of fluoride everyday, is this the picture of Health that you want for your life? So, what can we do? The fluoridation of the water is a local government issue. Many communities have passed resolutions to stop adding fluoride to the water by starting petitions and getting the issue on the ballot. It is about education and freedom of choice. Learn more at http://www.fluoridealert.org or just google “fluoride”. You will be amazed.

Dangerous Waters

2006-05-04T21:28:00.000-04:00

I have been sitting with this article for the entire month. I don’t even know where to begin…
Here we go. Before about 1945, Fluoride was considered so toxic that it was on the governments’ most toxic list, right between arsenic and lead. You couldn’t buy it anywhere; it was impossible to get your hands on for any price. Then in the 40’s our government decided that it needed to make the atomic bomb; massive quantities of fluorine were necessary to separate and concentrate the uranium isotopes. All of the sudden, we had close to 1 million tons of fluorine with no place or use for it….They then began doing research looking into other possible uses for this substance. They found many.

After World War II, huge quantities of fluorine have been used to produce organofluorine compounds (compounds where fluorine is attached to carbon). These include chlorinated fluorocarbons (CFCs); Teflon® (polytetrafluoroethylene), an extremely stable plastic resistant to the vast majority of chemicals including fluorine gas; and many pharmaceuticals, pesticides and insecticides. Sodium fluoride is used as a rodenticide and insecticide (mainly for roaches and ants), as a disinfectant for fermentation apparatus in breweries and distilleries, in wood preservation, and in rimmed steel manufacture. It is also the form of fluoride that they put in our water.

Now you may say “but my dentist says that it is safe and that it protects my teeth, why should I believe you?” Well, you can believe whomever you want, I just want everyone to start questioning the whole water fluoridation issue and stop accepting it as a good thing based on basically nothing. There is really no evidence to support fluoridation of our water and the studies they do have are short runs with faulty information that has been misinterpreted. I am not saying that your dentist is trying to hurt you, they have all been fed the same faulty information, and it just keeps getting passed down the line like bad DNA.

We all make choices every day regarding our health and we like to feel that we have some amount of control over what we put into our bodies and the bodies of our children. So what choice do we have with fluoride if it is in the water supply? Yeah, we can buy a reverse osmosis filter or buy bottled water, but that has a heavy impact on the environment and that is not even the worst part. Think about everything you eat and drink in a day, how much of it contains water? Let’s see, there is juice/lemonade, soup/stocks. Jams/jellies, sports drinks, tea/coffee, lunch meats, rice and soy milks, soft drinks, anything processed…they all contain water and if the product is cooked, like a soup or broth, then the fluoride in the water used gets concentrated because it does not evaporate. So it is not just an issue with tap water, fluoride is in everything because it is in our water supply! You cannot get away from it. It is even in our fruits and vegetables because they are watered with fluoridated water. And don’t think that organic products are safer; they only use a carbon filter for the water leaving all of the fluoride intact.

Did you know that the employee union at the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has filed a grievance on behalf of the employees to protect them from the toxic effects of the fluoridated water? Here is a quote from the brief: “The implication for the general public of these calculations is clear. Recent, peer-reviewed toxicity data, when applied to EPA's standard method for controlling risks from toxic chemicals, require an immediate halt to the use of the nation's drinking water reservoirs as disposal sites for the toxic waste of the phosphate fertilizer industry (24).
We have also taken a direct step to protect the employees we represent from the risks of drinking fluoridated water. We applied EPA's risk control methodology, the Reference Dose, to the recent neurotoxicity data. The Reference Dose is the daily dose, expressed in milligrams of chemical per kilogram of body weight that a person can receive over the long term with reasonable assurance of safety from adverse effects. Application of this methodology to the Varner et al. (4) data leads to a Reference Dose for fluoride of 0.000007 mg/kg-day. Persons who drink about one quart of fluoridated water from the public drinking water supply of the District of Columbia while at work receive about 0.01mg/kg-day from that source alone. This amount of fluoride is more than 100 times the Reference Dose. On the basis of these results the union filed a grievance, asking that EPA provide un-fluoridated drinking water to its employees.” Interesting, don’t you think? Especially since it is recommended that we drink close to a gallon of water a day. What is worse, is that the data is based on an adult, how many times the reference dose are our small children consuming on a daily basis?

Fluoride is not the beneficial additive that is purported to be. At least in the US we have the warnings on all tubes of toothpaste that have fluoride.
Oh, you did not know that?
Well if you have a tube of toothpaste in your house check it out and you will find the warning. There is enough fluoride in a typical tube of toothpaste to kill two small children if they consumed the entire tube at once. This really isn't rocket science. If it kills you in large doses, doesn't it stand to reason that in smaller doses it probably is not a wise choice?

Hemp Seed Oil

2006-03-25T18:59:00.000-05:00

Hemp Seed Oil is a highly nutritious food, and contains anti-oxidants, protein, carotene, phytosterols, phospholipids, as well as a number of minerals including calcium, magnesium, sulfur, potassium, iron, zinc, and phosphorus. It is a source of complete protein and contains all twenty know amino acids, including the nine essential amino acids. It also contains Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, D, and E. The green color in Hemp Seed Oil is a result of the high level of chlorophyll, which is naturally present in the seeds.

Perhaps the most valued property of Hemp Seed Oil is its percentage of Essential Fatty Acids, which is higher than any other plant in the world. It contains both Omega-6 and Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids, in a proportion of 3:1. This proportion is the recommended balance of Omega-6 to Omega-3 acids, making it a simple perfect way to complete your diet. Essential Fatty Acids are necessary for our health, and are responsible for the luster in our skin, hair, eyes, and transferring oxygen to the every cell in our body, and even the clarity in our thought processes. They also lubricate and clear the arteries, strengthen the immune system, and help prevent viruses and other threats to our immune system. The human body does not produce essential fatty acids. Instead, they must be obtained from food sources.

In cosmetic and body care products, Hemp Seed Oil is anti-inflammatory, anti-ageing, balances dry skin, fights skin inflammations, helps heal skin lesions, has anti-oxidants, and contains moisture balancing properties. The oil is non-greasy, readily absorbs into the pores, is an emollient, and has rejuvenating and moisturizing properties for the skin. The vitamins and minerals present in Hemp Seed Oil are easily absorbed through the skin, resulting in a more vitamin and mineral enriched body care product.

WOW! With all of these amazing properties why aren’t we all eating and applying more hemp seed oil?!? If you are concerned about THC levels, they are non-existent in hemp seed oil, sorry! You can get the benefits of hemp seed oil in two ways, eating it or applying it. If you choose to eat it, 1 tablespoon is all you need but it should be eaten in it’s raw form, not cooked or heated. Try it in a smoothie or in vinaigrette on a salad. For topical application, hemp seed oil can be added to creams, lotions, massage oils as well as shampoos and conditioners, shaving products, lip balms and soaps. In hair care products, hemp seed oil increases elasticity, manageability, and shine.

In addition, recent Canadian research has shown this oil to possibly be effective as a broad-spectrum ultraviolet skin protector. It is the essential fatty acids that work this magic, and once again, we find a natural product that is healing and protective that is not made from petroleum and toxic chemicals! Wow, that Mother Nature is amazing isn’t she?

We love hemp seed oil and use it in all of our salves and lip balms and butters except the baby line. Spread the good news!

Free Shipping!

2006-03-24T08:41:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!

In an effort to spread the healing, we are now offering free shipping! Tell everyone you know.

Peace and Light,

Maria

Lotus Body Newsletter

2006-03-08T12:12:00.000-05:00

Hi All!

Just a note to let all of you know that we are (and have been since November) publishing a monthly e-newsletter! This is something that we have been talking about doing for quite some time and it is finally here!

The sign up for the newsletter can be found on the contact page and on the bottom of the quick links on every page. Just type in your e mail address and chose Lotus Body Botanicals and you're done!

The newsletter is going to be our outlet for telling everyone about new products, the latest holistic news, essential oil and product profiles and sale announcements. Right now, all of our sales are run through our toll free number, not the web store, so the only way to get the deal is by receiving the newsletter!

Give it a try, if you don't like it, unsubscribing is as easy as a click of the mouse!

Peace and Light,

Maria and Bob

Bird Flu?!? Really.

2006-03-08T10:17:00.000-05:00

Here is an article that tells it like it is.

PHOENIX FIVE EARTH CHANGES BULLETIN
BULLETIN ITEM: The Bird Flu Scam - The bottom line

From: Mike Eggleston

Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 11:38:52 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Message about "Bird Flu"

Do not "buy" into the fear mongering of the "bird flu"
ronnie h wrote: "Bird Flu"

Do you know that 'bird flu' was discovered in Vietnam 9 years ago?
Do you know that barely 100 people have died in the whole world in all that
time?
Do you know that it was the Americans who alerted us to the efficacy of the
human antiviral TAMIFLU as a preventative.
Do you know that TAMIFLU barely alleviates some symptoms of the common flu?
Do you know that its efficacy against the common flu is questioned by a
great part of the scientific community?
Do you know that against a SUPPOSED mutant virus such as H5N1, TAMIFLU
barely alleviates the illness?
Do you know that to date Avian Flu affects birds only?
Do you know who markets TAMIFLU?
ROCHE LABORATORIES.
Do you know who bought the patent for TAMIFLU from ROCHE LABORATORIES in
1996?
GILEAD SCIENCES INC.
Do you know who was the then president of GILEAD SCIENCES INC. and remains a
major shareholder?
DONALD RUMSFELD, the present Secretary of Defence of the USA.
Do you know that the base of TAMIFLU is crushed aniseed?
Do you know who controls 90% of the world's production of this tree?
ROCHE.
Do you know that sales of TAMIFLU were over $254 million in 2004 and more
than $1000 million in 2005?
Do you know how many more millions ROCHE can earn in the coming months if
the business of fear continues?
So the summary of the story is as follows:
Bush's friends decide that the medicine TAMIFLU is the solution for a
pandemic that has not yet occurred and that has caused a hundred deaths
worldwide in 9 years.
This medicine doesn't so much as cure the common flu.
In normal conditions the virus does not affect humans.
Rumsfeld sells the patent for TAMIFLU to ROCHE for which they pay him a
fortune.
Roche acquires 90% of the global production of crushed aniseed, the base for
the antivirus.
The governments of the entire world threaten a pandemic and then buy
industrial quantities of the product from Roche.
So we end up paying for medicine while Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush do the
business.
ARE WE CRAZY!!? OR ARE WE IDIOTS!!?
AT LEAST PASS THIS ON SO THAT IT CAN BE KNOWN!!!!!!!

Only the Best! Real Rose Oil

2006-03-08T10:15:00.000-05:00

This month we are talking about the Queen, the “Queen of Aromatics” that is. Rose essential oil is one of the most precious and sacred essential oils. There are many oils out there calling themselves rose so it is most important with this oil that you know your source. Did you know that it takes 30 roses to make 1 drop of rose essential oil? Many people have a negative memory of rose oil mostly because they have had an experience of synthetic rose fragrance oil which is used in 46% of men’s fragrances and 98% of women’s. I always thought of Rose Milk Lotion from the 70’s and would cringe when rose oil was mentioned. I almost always got a headache from it. Little did I know how amazing the real thing was. When Holly Carrol (my aromatherapy teacher) first introduced me to real rose oil I was floored. I could feel it in every cell of my body, melting into my system, calming me and centering me. My heart softened and opened. There was no doubt about it; I had a transformative experience.
There are several types of rose oil. Rosa Centifolia (aka rose de mai, cabbage rose and Moroccan rose) is solvent extracted and is usually used for fragrance. When an oil is solvent extracted that means they use a petro-chemical to separate the essential oil from the plant matter, then attempt to strip the residue of chemical from the essential oil. This is rarely possible; there is always some residue so solvent extracted oils are not used therapeutically. Rosa Damascena is Bulgarian rose, rose alba and is used for Attar of Rose, rose essential oil and triple rosewater. This is the real deal. From a reputable dealer, a 5 ml bottle (which is about 100 drops) will cost in the $150.00 range, which comes to $1.50 a drop! Remember, it takes 30 roses to make 1 drop of oil!
Rose is ruled by Venus (the planet and goddess of love), it resonates with the 1rst (root) chakra and the 4th (heart) chakra and is about spiritual love. To quote Holly “it brings together breast and womb with tits and ass.” I’m sorry, I just love that quote! Rose oil aids in conception, getting the “house” ready for baby. It balances the female hormones, aids with PMS, labor, regulates menstruation and cleanses the womb of impurities. It has even been shown to increase sperm count! Rose is also a very powerful narcotic and very erotic. It has been used to raise self-esteem and self-love, all the heart stuff. This is the ultimate feminine oil.
I could go on and on. Rose also happens to be highly antiseptic, even more so than Lavender! But because rose is so expensive, you are not really going to clean a scraped knee with it!
Rosa Damascena is also one of the safest oils and can be used on babies.
We only use genuine Rosa Damascena in our products. That is guaranteed. So prepare your Heart for Love, Rosa is here.

To Resolve or Not...

2006-01-19T15:01:00.000-05:00

This is the time of year when many people resolve to change something about themselves, to lose weight, to stop smoking…you fill in the blanks. I look at this time of year as ripe for manifestation. Instead of looking at the negative and vowing to change it, why not look at all the good you want to bring into your life and into the world?

Every New Year’s Eve, my husband and I have a ritual of making a manifesting poster that we dedicate to the Universe at Midnight. On it we place pictures and words of things that we want to manifest in the New Year. For me, the first 2 years we made the poster it was covered with pictures of babies! Now we have Sofia. We also placed pictures of a home that we could share together with a lot of natural space for us to grow and enjoy; now we have it.

But we don’t just manifest material things; much of the poster is about personal growth and healing the planet and our relationship with it as humans.

And it works.

It is all about the creative energy of our minds and that what we think about we manifest. So what do you think about all the time? Do you think about exercising a lot? You probably manifest a lot of thinking about ways you could exercise but end up not moving much. Or do you find yourself wanting more money or love or …but find yourself just manifesting more “wanting”.

It is important to be very clear in your thoughts as to what it is you wish to manifest.

Visualize yourself actually doing what it is you want.

Be the change that you want to see in the world and in your life.

Make a poster and put it somewhere you will see it everyday. Focus on the positive, not the negative. If you hear yourself saying, “I am too fat!” That is not creating losing weight. See yourself exercising and see yourself as the beautiful being that you are, then things will begin to shift in the direction that you want. Our minds are powerful creative entities and will deliver whatever we focus on the most; it is like the old saying, “be careful what you wish for”.

The world can only change one person at a time, begin where you are; creating a more peaceful and loving attitude towards ourselves will have a ripple effect out into the world.

If you still want to resolve to stop doing something, resolve to stop watching the nightly news. It does nothing but fill your mind with fear right before bed disrupting sound sleep and shifting your brain chemistry to fight or flight where it is virtually impossible to manifest anything but more fear.

Happy Manifesting!

Health

2006-01-06T16:02:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed that the more you take pharmaceuticals for an issue say pain or allergies, the more of them you have to take in order to have the desired effect? Or the generally held belief that a massage has to be painful to be effective or that essential oils have to burn or sting to be working? Why are we humans so hard on ourselves? With all of this abuse it is a wonder that we do as well as we do, thrive even, or is it? What magic is at work behind the scenes in our bodies that keeps everything just so…?
Health is not a magical occurrence but a dynamic process that is always at work both when we are healthy and when we are ill. I would go so far as to say even more when we are ill. It is our Health that stimulates the immune response that fights infection, it is our Health that makes us sneeze and cough and fills our sinuses with green goo. It is our Health that makes us puke. Our Health is most present when we feel the most abandoned by it. So how can we resource ourselves this winter in the midst of all the sneezing and coughing and threats of bird flu?? There are some simple steps you can take that I am sure you all know, this will be a gentle reminder.
1. Drink plenty of water (reverse osmosis preferred). This will keep your mucous membranes moist and able to act as your first line of defense.
2. Get plenty of rest. Sleep in! It is hibernation season, after all. Be a bear.
3. Eat healthy food in a variety of colors.
4. Do something every day that makes you smile so long that it makes your cheeks ache and laugh so hard that you almost pee your pants.
5. Exercise daily, preferably in the form of play.
6. Wash your hands often.
7. Do something everyday that takes you outside of your comfort level, especially when it comes to reaching out to others. Giving and serving others boosts your immune system.
So go outside and play, enjoy the snow.

Holiday Gift Bazaar

2005-12-13T21:38:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone

Just a quick note in this busy season to let you know that we are having an Open House this weekend for all of your last minute or just starting out ;-) gifts! We like to call it our "Give the Gift of Healing" Bazaar. Join us if you are in town!

December 17, Noon to 4-ish
1817 Brown School Rd
Saint Joseph, Michigan

Call if you need directions! 866-lotusbody

See you on Saturday!

Peace and Light,

Maria and Bob

Comments Anyone???

2005-10-06T22:53:00.000-04:00

We have been blogging for some time now and I know we are being read... But no one is responding to our articles!

We want to hear from you!

Even if you say Right On! or You are a nutcase! We want to have a dialog with our Lotus Body community.

So, Please, post comments to our blogs, we will write back and we will create an excellent resource for everyone!

Thanks and Peace,

Maria and Bob

It Makes Me Wonder...

2005-10-06T22:43:00.000-04:00

I have to share what happened this week, I found it very interesting!

I have talked a lot about the authenticity of essential oils and how important it is to know your source so that you know if you have the real deal or not. There are so many synthetics and clones out there, you just never know.

So...

Bob, my husband got stung about 3 times by a/some bees. He came into the house in quite a bit of pain and I was almost out of my lavender oil so I gave him a bottle of Aura Cacia Lavender oil to put on the stings. Aura Cacia is a pretty big name and Lavender is a pretty inexpensive oil to produce so I figured that it was probably real.

Well, after about 3 applications, Bob was still in a lot of pain and he demanded my last few precious drops of Lavender that I get from Original Swiss Aromatics.

Within seconds, his pain was completely gone and later in the evening you could not even tell that he had been stung 3 times!

I will allow you to make your own conclusions.

Peace and Light,
Maria and Bob

Welcome!

2005-09-17T21:23:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to welcome 2 new stores into the Lotus Body family!

We are proud to welcome our first store in the Saint Joseph area, the beautiful Perennial Accents at 220 State Street, downtown. Their telephone number is 269-983-5791. The girls at Perennial Accents have a great variety of items for your home and garden, we bought Sofia a really cute mini-Adirondack chair with a frog and dragonflys on it this summer, she loves it! Check her out hamming it up for the camera in pajamas that she picked out herself! Stop in the next time you are visiting Saint Joseph, Michigan and support these great women!

Our second new store is in Midland, Michigan, The Yoga Place is at 139 1/2 Main Street. Kim and her partner really love the Headache Sticks so they decided to offer them to their yoga students!

Thanks to everyone for all of the support!

Love and Light,
Maria and Bob

A Time of Need

2005-09-13T23:03:00.000-04:00

We here at Lotus Body have been deeply touched and saddened by the losses suffered by the people of the Gulf coast after hurricane Katrina. We have been looking for a way that we could contribute and the Red Cross was just not an option. Too much mismanagement and misallocation of funds...

We have decided to donate 10% of all of our sales through January to Habitat for Humanity. They are sending hundreds of volunteers to help rebuild the homes lost to the storm, some are making a full year commitment to the project. We think that is brilliant and we want to support them in whatever way we can.

When our friend Shannon goes down this month, she will be delivering a couple of cases of sore muscle salve for the workers, so that they can get some relief from all of their hard work.

Please help us support Habitat in all of their wonderful and compassionate work.

Peace and Light,
Maria and Bob

Summer Colds

2005-08-08T20:44:00.000-04:00

Yuck! There is nothing worse than a summer cold.

But no better way to handle it than essential oils!

My favorite remedy: Put 5 drops each of Eucalyptus Globulus, Eucalyptus Radiatia, Ravensare and Lavender on a tissue, rip it in half, wad it up and stick it up your nose.

I know, not a pretty site but what a great way to deliver those powerful anti-virals right to the source. Your cold will be gone in a day or so.

Back it up with a nice bath in some Lotus Body Breathe salts and some Breathe salve on your chest and nose at night and you will be breathing freely again in no time at all!

Don't forget to drink plenty of water and increase you vitamin C as well!

Enjoy the dog days of summer!

Peace and Light,
Maria and Bob

Real and Authentic

2005-08-04T21:29:00.000-04:00

There has been a lot of buzz around essential oils lately and for good reason. As the immune system of the plant, there is much to learn and respect about these powerful oils.
Did you know that in France, use of aromatherapy is practiced primarily by medical doctors? And that recent research has shown very powerful anti-tumor activity related to essential oil use?

These are just a few reasons to learn more about essential oils.

There is, however, a lot of confusion surrounding the authenticity and use of essential oils. In the US, aromatherapy has been regarded for years as mere perfumery and because of this the authenticity of the oils produced and used here can be called into question. The perfume industry is not interested in the medicinal and healing properties of the oils, just the scent. The other compounds are often misunderstood and/or thought to be dangerous so they are discarded and only the scent molecules remain.

This does a great dis-service to the oil and the plant. Because only in wholeness can healing occur. Nature always strives for balance, in plants this occurs with the variety of volatile compounds that make up essential oils.

What this means for us as consumers and healers is that we need to do our homework and find reputable dealers/producers of real and authentic essential oils. I believe that I have found such a company in Original Swiss Aromatics, http://www.originalswissaromatics.com. It is run by Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt. He has a Ph.d in chemistry and is the scientific director of the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy in California. All of our products use essential oils from Original Swiss and we have always had great success and have been very satisfied with the quality and authenticity of the products.

So the next time you are shopping for essential oils or products that contain essential oils, ask yourself what you know about the company that is making the product and call them to see what they can tell you about where and how the oils were produced, they should be able to tell you this information. If they can't, use your best judgment as to whether to buy or not. Your intuition will guide you.

Aromatherapy products have the ability to heal the body and the spirit so take the time to learn and enjoy this powerful healing gift from Mother Nature!

Enjoy!
Maria and Bob

Country Living

2005-07-22T07:20:00.000-04:00

Just a quick blog to let everyone know that we are finally in our new home and getting settled! Life in the country is great, so peaceful and quiet. There is nothing quite like the smell of the air in the morning.

The Lotus Body gardens are starting to take shape. Our vegetable garden is bountiful and we will be excavating a circular bed soon for our medicinal herb plot. We will be growing all of our herbs used in our products by next summer. I am very excited!

I hope everyone is having a joyful and fun summer, it has been a hot one!

Remember that the best way to overcome fear is by trusting the Universe. And a little Lavender never hurts!

Peace and Light,
Maria and Bob

New Beginnings

2005-05-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Friends

Bob and I wanted to thank you for all of your support and love over the last year of transition. We really appreciate all of you deeply.

Now, we have great news! We found a house! The Lotus Body family is moving to 1.5 acres in beautiful St. Joseph Michigan on Memorial weekend. We are very excited. We finally have our little house in the country and Lotus Body can start it's own organic garden!

We need you to know that we will be incommunicado for a few days. Our computer and phone systems will be turned off on Saturday the 28th and turned back on Tuesday the 31rst. I am sorry if this is a major hassel for any of you! If you really need to get in touch with me for any reason you can use my cell 773-318-8456. Please only use this number this weekend, after that continue to use the toll free number 866-LOTUSBODY.

Thanks again for all of your support! We will talk with you in June!

Peace and Light,
Maria, Bob and Sofia

January update

2005-01-15T13:27:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is mid-January already! Hope everybody had a nice, peaceful holiday season. We sure did! Small town Michigan is nothing if not peaceful. Just a couple of quick updates for now.

Lotus body is now being carried in a number of stores. We have Rashy Rump Butter and Headache Sticks at the GREENTREE CO-OP, a really hip little health food store at 214 N. Franklin in Mt. Pleasant Michigan. Their Phone # is (989)772-3221. Also in Michigan, we have a bunch of products at GYPSIES, a very cool, very unique, mystical book store/coffee shop/antique shop, where you can get a tarot reading, astrological chart reading, or palm reading, buy a book, have coffee, and peruse their massive selection of mint condition, fairly priced, antiques. GYPSIES is located at 510 Third Street, in Bay City Michigan. Their phone number is (989)892-5105. In Chicago, you can find our products at HEALING EARTH RESOURCES. Healing Earth has been THE place to go for all things Natural and Supernatural in Chicago for the last 18 years. They are located at 3111 N. Ashland in Chicago, IL. Phone Number (773)327-8459. You can also find them on the web at . Also in Chicago you can find our Delicious, Extraordinary Lip Balms and Rashy Rump Butter at TRUE NATURE FOODS at 6034 N. Broadway, Phone Number (773)465-6400. Really great folks there as well.

Remember, now that we are in the deepest part of the winter, Mother Earth is resting, deep in meditation/hibernation, and you should be as well. Treat yourself gently in these coming months. Find time to meditate, and sleep late, and fill your belly with delicious winter grub. You deserve it!

Peace on Earth & in your Heart,
all the best,
Love Lotus Body Botanicals

Giving Thanks

2004-11-20T22:36:00.000-05:00

Bob, Sofia and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our wonderful family, friends and client/customers who have been so loving and supportive of us and our new business. We really couldn't do this without all of you!

I would also like to take this opportunity to share my reflections over the past few weeks especially regarding my last post. Have you noticed how fear is so prevalent in our societal structure? Starting at such a young and tender age in school our children learn motivated by the fear of failure. What kind of society are we creating if this is the foundation we give our children?

This reality has always made me sad.

So I was horrified when I re-read my lst post and realized that I, too have fallen victim to using fear as a motivator. I felt like Dick"you're going to die"Cheney. . .

I wish to offer my heartfelt apology to anyone who read my lst post, not because the information was false, but because the delivery does not accurately represent who I am and how I view the world.

I have always felt that the best way to teach is to live by example. To always try our best to model loving and compassionate responses when frustrated and angry and to choose hope over fear at all costs.

Can you think of a better gift to give our children this Holiday season?

Thanks again for your love, understanding and support!

Bob, Sofia and I will be in Chicago visiting friends and family for Thanksgiving but we will be back to work filling your orders on Friday.

Namaste,
Maria, Bob and Sofia

Healthy Choices, Healthy Planet

2004-10-28T17:43:00.000-04:00

Choices, choices, choices. This seems to be the American mantra, now more than ever. Every day, we are faced with making decisions about everything from what we eat, what we wear, what we drive, how we choose to dispose of our trash to how we treat the planet. Our choices say a lot about who we are, actions always speak louder than words. As health conscious people, we read labels, we try to make sure that our produce is organic (or at least extremely well washed), we don't want growth hormones or antibiotics in our milk or meats and we would never put a by-product of making motor oil, kerosene and jet fuel on our bodies. Or would we??

Next time you go to the drug store, randomly pick up any lip balm, deodorant or body lotion and read the ingredients, if you see any of these words; petroleum, petroleum jelly, mineral oil, propylene glycol, silicone, polyethylene glycol(PEG) or Isopropyl Myristate just to name a few that is exactly what you are doing!

The EPA considers propylene glycol so toxic that it requires it's workers to wear protective gloves, clothing and goggles when handling. Because propylene glycol penetrates the skin so quickly, the EPA warns against skin contact to prevent consequences such as brain, liver, and kidney abnormalities. But there isn’t even a warning label on products such as stick deodorants, where the concentration is greater than in most industrial applications.

Did you know that mineral oil clogs our pores which interferes with the skin’s ability to eliminate toxins, and has been shown to cause cancer in lab animals? It also slows down skin function and cell development, resulting in premature aging. So why is Baby Oil 100% mineral oil? How can this possibly be any good for such tender young skin?

And we haven't even talked about how the products are preserved. Do you remember high school or college anatomy class? Yes, our old friend formaldehyde has returned in the form of methylparaben, propylparaben, Quaternium 15, diazolidinyl urea and imidazolidinyl urea.
DOES ALL OF THIS MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN??!

Mine, too. How did all of this garbage get into our skin care products and cosmetics and why are we allowing it to continue?

It all comes back to choices. Big business banks on our apathy and our need for convenience. They think that we are too dumb and lazy to realize that their products are toxic and that if they make them smell pretty that we won't know any better.

How does that make you feel? Me, too.

Lotus Body Botanicals was born from a desire to heal the planet one precious body at a time. Take a look at our new ingredients page and you will not only know what all of the ingredients are but you will be able to pronounce them!

Feel confident about the products you choose for yourself and for the people that you love.

Nothing but the best will do for my husband and little girl.

Join me on my crusade to honor the wholeness in life.

Namaste,
(The Spirit in me recognizes the Spirit in you!)
Maria

Lotus Body News: September '04

2004-07-06T19:13:00.000-04:00

Greetings everyone, from Maria, Sofia, and Bob at Lotus Body Botanicals... "Heal Naturally from within"...

Welcome to our website. We've had a bit of a rocky startup. Business is very different from healing work, but like healing work it has been a wonderful oppurtunity to practice compassion, exercise our sense of humor, and find stillness and grace in a sometimes chaotic world.

Starting sometime in September '04 we will have a fully functioning Web site where you will be able to browse and purchase our wide variety of all natural healing products for the whole family. You may have seen our cute little ad in Mothering Magazine. Like the ad says, here at Lotus Body Botanicals we specialize in "Lovingly handcrafted botanical salves, balms, butters, salts, teas and oils, to calm, soothe, and heal your growing family".

Remember, without your health, nothing else matters. And, contrary to what your doctor might tell you, health is not merely the absence of symptoms. Health is a conscious act of harmonizing mind, body, and spirit, and a restoration of wholeness, contentment, and joy. Being healthy means making good choices.

For now, thanks for stopping by, be sure to bookmark us, and please by all means come back in September.