Earth Day is a celebration of life and health

In honor of Earth Day, a celebration of life and health, ACHS wants to support your choice to live well. Now through April 26, 2009, we are offering 20% off your entire purchase of earth friendly products made through the ACHS Apothecary Shoppe College Store.

When you purchase sustainable products, you protect the environment, but you also take a further step toward protecting your personal health. Help your body to thrive. Purchase organic, spray and synthetic-free products whenever possible.

Stock up on EcoCert organic, sustainably wildcrafted herbs and essential oils, do-it-yourself natural body care kits, health reference texts, flower essences, gardening supplies, and a wide variety of holistic health resources.

CLICK HERE for 20% off your entire purchase of earth friendly gifts.
Offer expires April 26, 2009.

Did you know...
In 1970, 20 million celebrated the first Earth Day. Founded by John Gardener, Founder of Common Cause, Earth Day started as a grassroots celebration of the planet, which continues today.

Reduce stress at home with essential oils

Aromatherapy is a very effective tool for stress management. But, if you’re on the go, it can be a challenge to schedule time for a relaxing aromatherapy bath or to blend your own soothing essential oil scent. Don’t worry. Incorporating essential oils into your busy lifestyle is easier than you may think.

Here are four tips for using essential oils at home. They’re simple. They’re effective. And above all, they’re relatively inexpensive. Use essential oils while:

1. Cleaning.
Place two or three essential oils drops onto your vacuum cleaner’s filter pad, and the inhale the fresh aroma as you do your cleaning. Essential oils known for their energizing properties include: bergamot, eucalyptus, and grapefruit.

2. Room freshener.
To keep the aroma fresh and alive, place a few drops of essential oil directly into a light bulb scent ring. These rings are easy to find at most local grocery or drug stores. Essential oils known for their calming properties include: chamomile, lavender, and neroli.

3. Laundry.
Replace your synthetically fragranced detergent with a fragrance-free, natural variety. Then add a few drops of the essential oil of your choice to the wash cycle. Essential oils known for their stress-relief properties include: anise, jasmine, and sandalwood.

4. Drains.
To clear musty smells from around the home, add a few drops of essential oil to drains, the bottom of trashcans, and the inside of toilet paper rolls. Essential oils known for their antibacterial properties include: cedarwood, peppermint, and tea tree.

To learn more about aromatherapy diffusers, click here. For a selection of certified organic, therapeutic essential oils, click here.

Lemon hand and nail butter keeps the gardener's hands fresh

Lemon hand and nail butter keeps the gardener's hands fresh

Working in the garden often means a lot of digging, soil work, and exposure to water. Taken separately, these garden tasks can be very rewarding. But together, they can wreak havoc on your hands.

It may be the price you pay for a lush garden and fresh fruits and veggies, but overdried or cracked skin can be painful. Keep your hands in mint condition with this recipe for lemon essential oil hand and nail butter.

Lemon Citrus limonum essential oil is a pale-yellow color and has a light, though fresh aroma. As an aromatherapy oil, lemon essential oil, when inhaled, has a soothing effect. When applied topically, such as in the hand and nail butter recipe below, lemon essential oil has anti-inflammatory properties.

To keep your hands healthy, moisturized, and active in the garden, try this all-natural, do-it-yourself lemon hand and nail butter recipe. (This recipe can also be used to soften chapped lips, and rough knees, elbows, and feet.)

For free aromatherapy and natural body care downloads, visit the Apothecary Shoppe.

Ingredients
Beeswax 1-T Cocoa butter 2-T. Sweet almond oil 4-T Lanolin, anhydrous 1-T Lemon essential oil 50- drops

Directions
In a small saucepan over low heat or in a double boiler, warm all ingredients, except the lemon essential oil until the wax and cocoa butter are just melted. Remove from heat and stir a few times to blend. Add essential oil, stir, and pour into container(s). Cover container(s) lightly with a paper towel, and cap when cooled. Leave the butter at room temperature for 12 hours prior to use to allow cocoa butter to set up completely. The finished formula should have a soft paste wax consistency. It requires no refrigeration, but for maximum potency and reshness, use within one year. Store in plastic or glass jars or tins. Yields approximately 1/2-cup.

Problems with air travel use homeopathic Rhus tox

Homeopathy is based on the Law of Similars, or “like cures like.” In other words, homeopathics are minute doses of medicines, which, if given in larger doses, would produce similar symptoms to what the client is already suffering from.

However, in small doses, homeopathics have been shown to cure what they also cause. When homeopathic medicines are tested on healthy humans, symptoms appear. This is known as a “ medicine induced state of disease,” and the symptoms can be related to the symptoms of many natural disease states, whether of an emotional or physiological nature, or a mixture of both.

A homeopathic practitioner, then, is trained to link the natural disease state with homeopathic medicines, and to choose a homeopathic which, in minute doses, will relieve the specific symptoms of their client and bring about a curative effect.

Did you know...homeopathics are:

• Natural and holistic medicines
• Effective in crisis situations (In 1801, Hahnemann, the Father of Homeopathy, used Belladonna to treat and prevent scarlet fever.)
• Fast-acting for trauma situations, both emotional and physical

Homeopathy Travel Tip: The homeopathic Rhus tox has been shown effective for use with air travel, especially when there is nausea.

For more information about at-home use of homeopathy, check out Homeopathic Self-care by naturopathic doctors Robert and Judyth Reichenberg-Ulman.

World Homeopathy Awareness Week, April 10-16, is sponsored by the World Homeopathy Awareness Organization to create an international network of support for homeopathy and homeopathic practitioners. For more information, click here.