A healer in every home
“The child breathes the atmosphere emanating from his parents; that of the ideas that rule their own lives.” Charlotte Mason
Women are the gatekeepers of the home. We advocate for our family’s physical and mental health. So much of the work we do can’t be quantified or measured. Our work is often invisible and can leave us feeling tapped out. When we are feeling nourished physically, mentally and spiritually we can then serve out into the world with a full cup.
Aromatherapy and botanical medicine were some of the first forms of medicines ever used for health and healing and women were some of the first to integrate them into their communities.
Lavender, thyme, oregano, frankincense, lemon balm (Melissa), sandalwood, chamomile, marjoram, lemon, turmeric, eucalyptus…the list is long and each plant, flower, and resin have therapeutic properties that are proven to support us on a physical, emotional, environmental, and spiritual level.
Pure essential oils should be staples in our homes and our first aid kits. They can deepen your spiritual practice and connection with your self and those around you.
Shift to love
Shift to calm
Shift to ease
Shift to protection
We can energetically shift the temperature of the home. Studies show that we regulate our children’s nervous systems until about the age of seven. Essential oils help us and our children dissolve reactivity. This isn’t woo woo, it’s scientifically proven.
I love to share practices and self-care rituals that will amplify your health and wellbeing. I can help you create a toolkit for a calmer nervous system, stronger immune system, that will leave you with more evenness each day.
The world is more toxic than ever, the world needs well and whole human beings more than ever.
From a little corner of your home, you can make your environment a sacred one for your children, partner, grandparents, or pet. In all things big and small, we create the sanctuary of home.
My Story
My mission in creating Early Riser was to bring us back to remembering how fleeting this time is as parents, as humans here with healthy bodies and to use this time well.
While I was writing Early Riser and raising my little girls, I was also sitting ring side to my dear friends with cancer. For two of them, Kate and Jesse, I got the call and went to their side the day they were diagnosed and said good bye the day they took their last breath. I saw their different treatments, their days of hope and their days of resignation as well. Each was diagnosed in their thirties and had young children. My mom also died from a degenerative disease during that time.
Times of grief can bring you to your knees. You make a decision - to show up or to numb out. I chose to show up as a steady presence even when I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to be a moment of touch and connection when I felt I couldn’t offer much else.
It’s hard to define what kind of seeds this plants in our hearts. We become a different person - we ask different questions.
How can I best tend my family?
What am I here to do?
Who helps me uphold the highest vision I have for myself?
In 2019, just as I was sending Early Riser Companion to print, I was recruited to be the Global Creative Director for Ergobaby, a baby wearing company. Whether you have a Baby Bjorn, Artipoppe or Solly Baby Wrap, babywearing changes lives. It was wonderful working with so many new families all over the world. What began as a 3 month assignment turned into a whirlwind 4 years. Yet during the pandemic I felt a desire to connect to nature and reimagine a different way of life for our family outside of the antiquated man made structure of the 40 hour week.
Marysia Miernowska says it best:
“Nature teaches us the opportune times to cultivate growth in our life, to slow down, to retreat, to reset and to go into dreaming. Our modern culture, however, pushes us onto a more linear path. We are encouraged to move our life force to a rigorous pace, with the same performance and expectations, from 9 to 5 or beyond every day, regardless of the season of the year or our lives…No wonder so many people burn out, become depressed, lose motivation and joy and get sick. We are not taught how to ride the regenerative currents of Nature.”
In 2020, the call to make a big move hit my husband and I like a fever and, before we knew it, our house was on the market and I was telling my work that I was moving to a remote island in the Pacific Northwest. Many thought we were crazy yet I knew that this leap of faith would lead me closer to creating a life that was earth paced.
I wanted to step out of the churn of corporate America and chose to partner with a company that exists to empower families and change lives all over the world. This is where doTERRA comes in.
My sister first introduced me to their essential oils in 2009 when I was a brand new mama and in so many ways she helped shape a lot my parenting path - she had her babies years before I did and I watched her opt for home births after she had two of her babies in the hospital. She always shared these oils with me and I have seen the holistic choices she made throughout the lives of my nieces and nephews who are now grown and thriving with babies of their own.
I used essential oils prior to that as part of my yoga and meditation practice and found aromatherapy to be an extremely important part of my unmedicated birth. I remember my doula saying after the fact that I used entire bottles of peppermint and lavender! I have been using these oils for 14 years and have found such beautiful ways to weave them into my every day. My greatest wish is that every family has them in their homes and can use them for greater health and connection with one another.