Chinese 5 elements for oil blends

Aromatic Massage Oil Blends for the Chinese 5 Elements
The Five Element Theory utilized in Chinese Medicine stems from ancient Chinese philosophy. The five elements are symbolic for the different phases, or primal forces within the universe, nature, and our bodies. Each element is also attributed to a certain personality archetype. Knowing which element(s) predominates our personalities can help further insight into our lives and relationships.

The massage blends below were formulated with TCM 5 Element Theory in mind.  As you may know essential oils have a direct effect on the limbic system thereby altering the emotional and mental qualities of the body mind. In TCM it is believed that emotions relate to different organs in the body and through herbs, oils, color and scents (in addition to acupuncture and other bodywork modalities) we are able to help rebalance.

Prepare the blends below and either choose your scent intuitively (works very well) or take the 5 elements questionnaire online listed at the end of this article.

Enjoy!!


Wood: Yin Meridian Liver and Yang Meridian Gall Bladder. Color geen, a sour taste and a feelings of anger or rage.

1.5 tbsp olive oil
5 drops Lemongrass essential oil
10 drops Ginseng essential oil

Fire: Yin Meridian Heart, Yang Meridian Small Intestines. Color red, a bitter taste and feelings of happiness joy or shock.

1.5 tbsp olive oil
5 drops Rose essential oil
10 drops Cinnamon essential oil

Earth: Yin Meridian Spleen, Yang Meridian Stomach. Color yellow, sweet taste and worry or thoughtful feelings.

1.5 tbsp olive oil
10 drops lemon essential oil
5 drops fennel essential oil

Metal: Yin Meridian Lung, Yang Meridian Large Intestines. Color white, spicy taste, and feeling of sorrow.

1.5 tbsp olive oil
5 drops peppermint
10 drops eucalyptus

Water: Yin Meridian Kidneys, Yang Meridian Bladder. Color black, salty taste and feeling of fear.

1.5 tbsp olive oil
5 drops Jasmine essential oil
10 drops chamomile essential oil

Let them drink juice?

Two bills proposing a ban on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in food packaging were introduced in France last year by the French Socialist party at the National Assembly. Slated to be approved by the end of this month, following an examination by the French senate, the bills would require that manufacturers operating in France alter their packaging at a high cost.

The pending legislation has American companies worried, given that the ban would also affect exports of food products to France, such as beer and juice. And since the French are the second largest purchasers of Florida juices, the BPA proscription would have an adverse impact on the sale of plastic containers of such products. Unlike large food producers such as Coca Cola, smaller companies may not have the financial resources to reformulate their plastic packages.

“This is an excellent example of how stubborn adherence to the precautionary principle harms consumers and the economy,” says ACSH’s Dr. Gilbert Ross. “BPA's safety has been confirmed by a multitude of objective evaluations; yet the fear promoted by activist groups has led to needless regulatory actions, such as this misguided French ban.”

Not to mention the fact that the majority of French consumers will be quite unhappy once they learn that they will be deprived of many of the products they love, adds ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “It’s only a very small, vocal group of people who are against BPA and are forcing such legislation through. Most folks don’t realize the harmful effects of such a ban — this measure helps no one, but will hurt many.”
 
When, and if, the proposed bills pass, France will require that all food packaging be BPA-free by January 1, 2014. “But if BPA is so dangerous,” Dr. Whelan half-jokingly asks, “then why are government officials in France willing to wait so long to phase it out?”

Aromatherapy and Massage

Aromatherapy, a process utilizing the purest essence of a plant, is a 4,000-year-old technique that has enhanced the health of everyone from modern-day pop divas to the scholars of ancient Greece. The art of massage has its own deeply rich roots, with even Plato and Socrates touting the value of hands-on bodywork for good health.

Separately, these two therapeutic traditions hold individual prowess in the realm of personal health and well-being. Together, however, they become a formidable health alliance that can address not only a person's physical health, but the health of the mind and spirit as well.


A Natural Complement
Our senses were designed to work best in conjunction with one another. Our sense of taste would not be as acute without our nose lending its support to the process. Our auditory senses might seem hollow if we weren't gifted with sight as well. Indeed, there exists a quiet partnership between all our five senses that's built on synergy.

Balancing oils
Bay Laurel
Cedarwood
Geranium
Myrrh

Clarifying oils
Cypress
Juniper
Lemon
Peppermint

Comforting oils
Bergamot
Frankincense
Melissa
Rose

Energizing oils
Eucalyptus
Grapefruit
Lemongrass
Rosemary

Focusing oils
Angelica
Basil, sweet
Jasmine Samboc
Lime

Sedating oils
Chamomile
Clary Sage
Marjoram
Patchouli

Uplifting oils
Lavender
Orange/Mandarin
Pine
Tea Tree
And so it is with touch and smell. This is why aromatherapy is such a natural complement to massage and why more and more therapists are pairing the two as they see how the partnership nurtures body, mind, and spirit.

Let's see how it works. Essential oils are extracted from herbs, flowers, and plants with the intent to improve a person's health and well-being. Addressing everything from arthritis to whooping cough, effects of the approximate 3,000 oils found globally can range from sedative to stimulating and antibacterial to antispasmodic. The benefits derived from aromatherapy during a massage come in part from the contact the essential oil has on our skin, but even more so how it affects us when it's inhaled and absorbed through the soft-tissue linings of our nose and mouth.

The scientific explanation suggests that the essential oil's molecules, when inhaled, lock onto receptor cells at the back of the nose, sending an electrochemical message to the brain's limbic system. This message appears to trigger memory and emotional responses, causing messages to be sent to other parts of the brain and body. "In this way," says aromatherapist Danila Mansfield, "the production of euphoric, relaxing, sedative, or stimulating neurochemicals is stimulated."

Judith Fitzsimmons and Paula Bousquet, authors of , say the use of essential oils creates a multiAromatherapy Through the Seasonsfaceted effect: "The real beauty of aromatherapy is that it works on a cellular and physical level and also in the emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and aesthetic areas of your life."

It's really quite amazing when you think about it. Imagine an area the size of a small apricot pit, a 1-inch square area, filled with millions of sensory neurons that can capture, process, and store 10,000 odors. This is our olfactory system at work, and part of its job is to create a personal history for us based on scent, says clinical aromatherapist va-Marie Lind-Shiveley. "None of our other senses so well establishes a memory database." She says our response to scent is both physiological and psychosomatic. "Within an instant of smelling an aroma, we can be sent back to the first moment we were introduced to it."

By enabling us to recognize, revisit, and/or reclaim these various emotions and memories, aroma-therapy allows another avenue of access for healing during a bodywork session. It creates a path through which the somatic experience can find its full strength.

When the powerful effects of aromatherapy are combined with massage, it can take us to another level, says aromatherapy educators Shirley and Len Price. "When, during a massage, the touch of the therapist is combined with the mental and physical effects of the essential oils, the client is helped to achieve a temporary separation from worldly worries, somewhat akin to a meditative state." Helping clients reach this level of relaxation is a primary goal of massage therapists and aromatherapists alike, so it makes sense that a partnership could beautifully exist.


A Scent Journey
Scent is not simplistic," Lind-Shiveley says. "It is voluminous." She illustrates this point with a quote from Helen Keller: "Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived. The odors of fruits waft me to my Southern home, to my childhood frolics in the peach orchard. Other odors, instantaneous and fleeting, cause my heart to dilate joyously or contract with remembered grief."

If you decide to do some personal exploration into the world of scent therapy, proceed with due caution in both the quality of the oils you buy and how you dose and administer them. There is a dichotic nature inherent in aromatherapy. It is gentle, yet powerful, subtle, yet intense. There are essential oils strong enough to cause miscarriage, but there also are many oils safe enough to use on infants. The key is knowing how to utilize nature's gifts to provide the best, most effective therapeutic collaboration possible.

Grapefruit Juice and Medicine May Not Mix

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Too High or Too Low Drug Levels How Grapefruit Juice Affects Some Medications Tips for Consumers

Grapefruit juice can be part of a healthful diet—most of the time. It has vitamin C and potassium—substances your body needs to work properly.

But it isn’t good for you when it affects the way your medicines work.

Ovarian cancer risk from endometriosis

Women who have a history of endometriosis may be at risk of certain types of ovarian cancer, suggests a new study in The Lancet Oncology. Endometriosis occurs when cells from the lining of the uterus grow in other parts of the body — a relatively common condition that occurs in about 10 percent of women during their childbearing years. It can lead to pain, difficulties conceiving, and irregular bleeding.

Led by Dr. Celeste Leigh Pearce at the University of Southern California, researchers used data from over 23,000 women, obtained from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. They found that women who had endometriosis were three times more likely to develop clear-cell ovarian cancer and had double the risk of endometrioid tumors. “Our data, taken with the other published data on the link between ovarian cancer and endometriosis, strongly suggests a causal relationship,” says Dr. Pearce.

Ovarian cancer was diagnosed in an estimated 22,000 women in the U.S. in 2011 and causes about 15,000 deaths each year, although clear-cell ovarian cancer accounts for just under 5 percent of all ovarian cancer cases. While the large majority of women with endometriosis will never develop ovarian cancer, the study authors note that this is still a link that doctors and patients should be aware of.

“Since endometriosis is not uncommon, this study suggests that women and their doctors need to be aware that the condition seems to confer a higher risk,” notes ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. “Women with endometriosis would be good candidates for screening for ovarian cancer.”

Why Do People Use Tobacco? Looking for Answers

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What They’ll Be StudyingA Unique Collaboration

Much is known about the use of tobacco products, especially their effects on the health of those who smoke cigarettes. What’s known includes two grim facts: Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable, premature death in the United States. And thousands of kids start smoking every day in the United States, many starting a lifetime of addiction.

But what federal regulators and researchers know less about is exactly why people start using a specific tobacco product such as cigarettes, cigars, pipes and/or chewing tobacco. They also want to know why and when people stop smoking or using other tobacco products, and why they start up again.

To find some of the missing pieces of that puzzle, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have launched a major, nationwide study of more than 40,000 smokers and non-smokers, including about 7,000 youths age 12 to 18.

The $118.3 million “Population Assessment on Tobacco Health Study (PATH)” will recruit these participants from across the country and study them over the course of five years.

“The launch of this study signals a major milestone in addressing one of the most significant public health burdens of the 21st century,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “The results will strengthen FDA’s ability to fulfill our mission to make tobacco-related disease and death part of America’s past and will further guide us in targeting the most effective actions to decrease the huge toll of tobacco use on our nation’s health.”

Scientific experts at NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse and FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) will coordinate the effort. CTP is the FDA center that regulates the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products to protect public health and to reduce tobacco use by minors.

What They’ll Be Studying

The study participants will be interviewed annually by researchers from Westat, a company in Rockville, Md. that specializes in health surveys and public health research. These investigators will examine such issues as

susceptibility to tobacco use;frequency of use patterns;characteristics of smoking cessation and relapse;effects of regulatory changes on the perception of risk and other tobacco-related attitudes;differences in attitudes, behaviors and key health outcomes in racial-ethnic, gender, and age subgroups.

“Data we obtain from the PATH study will provide us with important information that will inform our future regulatory options to protect the public health, including setting tobacco product standards and communicating the risks of tobacco use,” says Cathy Backinger, Ph.D., M.P.H., deputy director for research in CTP’s Office of Science at FDA.

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A Unique Collaboration

Researchers will visit homes nationwide in all nine census regions. The resulting data will help inform FDA’s future regulatory actions and assess the impact of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which granted FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products. CTP oversees its implementation.

This study is the first large-scale collaboration of the two federal agencies since the landmark legislation became law.

According to CTP, approximately 20 percent of U.S. high school students currently smoke.  Additionally, data shows an increase in use of other tobacco products such as hookah (water pipes used to smoke tobacco), small cigars, and smokeless tobacco among teens. And the smoking rate among adults has been stalled since 2004, the center reports. 

The Tobacco Control Act provided FDA with broad new authority to reduce initiation of tobacco use among young Americans. FDA’s  activities include banning the manufacturing and sale of fruit or candy flavored cigarettes, restricting the use of “light,” “low,” or “mild,” or other similar descriptors in the labeling and advertising of tobacco products, and developing new graphic health warnings for cigarette packages and advertisements as well as requiring health warnings on smokeless tobacco.

FDA has also been working with state and territorial authorities to require proof of age in the sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.  As part of its ongoing effort to reduce tobacco use among children, FDA has issued more than 1,750 warning letters to retailers, the majority of which are for violations related to selling cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to kids under the age of 18.  If the violations persist, the retailers will be fined.

This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.

Feb. 23, 2012

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-For More Information

Retailers That Don't Sell Tobacco to Kids Help Build Stronger Communities Break the Chain of Tobacco Addiction- -Related Consumer Updates

Why is the Great American Smokeout Important? FDA Unveils New Cigarette Health Warnings-

This website has been translated to Spanish from English, and is updated often. It is possible that some links will connect you to content only available in English or some of the words on the page will appear in English until translation has been completed (usually within 24 hours). We appreciate your patience with the translation process. In the case of any discrepancy in meaning, the English version is considered official. Thank you for visiting esp.fda.gov/tabaco.

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Using Massage Therapy , Keep your doctor informed

Do not use massage therapy to replace your regular medical care or as a reason to postpone seeing a health care provider about a medical problem.


If you have a medical condition and are unsure whether massage therapy would be appropriate for you, discuss your concerns with your health care provider. Your health care provider may also be able to help you select a massage therapist. You might also look for published research articles on massage therapy for your condition.


Before deciding to begin massage therapy, ask about the therapist's training, experience, and credentials. Also ask about the number of treatments that might be needed, the cost, and insurance coverage.


If a massage therapist suggests using other CAM practices (for example, herbs or other supplements, or a special diet), discuss it first with your regular health care provider.


Tell all your health care providers about any complementary and alternative practices you use. Give them a full picture of what you do to manage your health. This will ensure coordinated and safe c