CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- More than two years ago, work-from-home mom Janet Timbol-Muñoz has had it going back and forth to medical clinics on a regular basis, due to her family’s sicknesses brought about by unhealthy environment.
“I was alarmed and quite fed up to be going every now and then to our health care provider, almost twice to thrice in about three months, due to some minor colds and cough or skin rashes. As a mom, I feel for my kids who have to endure it and have to sometimes skip school for it,” Muñoz said.
But on October 2017, Muñoz finally found a solution to her dilemma after discovering and thereon practicing the use of essential oils, which brings in natural health and wellness benefits.
“It was actually an accident,” Muñoz recalled. “I bought it as my husband’s birthday gift to me and back then, we needed to ship it from the US because Young Living wasn’t available in the country yet.”
From then, Muñoz and her family had been enjoying the benefits of essential oils, and has since become an advocate of it - sharing it to her relatives, close friends and to the community she belongs to.
At present, Muñoz said her group has around 3,000 users-turned-advocates who continually promote the different uses of essential oils - topical application (on skin), diffusion, inhalation or dilution then rubbed on the skin to bring in its aromatic and therapeutic essence, and in some cases, through direct consumption.
For Kapampangans, one of the most used variant of essential oils are those for pain relief, including those for joint inflammation caused by too much work and those that bring out a calming ambience, she said.
“Since Kapampagans are very workaholic, we really long for something that is really relaxing after that tiring day at work and I believe several variants of essential oils such as Panaway, Peppermint, and Copaiba really get the work done,” Muñoz added.
What is essential oil?
Essential oil, as defined by Young Living Essential Oils General Manager Tente Alday, is extracted from various types of plants. Through the extraction process, unique aromatic compound of plants, such as its scent and flavor, are captured to bring out its unique characteristic essence.
“Essential oils have different purposes, some to calm, to perk us up, or stimulate our senses, and even give health benefits. It really depends on how people look at it and use it,” Alday said during the Young Living Essential Oils Caravan held at the Microtel by Wyndham Hotel here on Thursday, June 13.
For Young Living, Alday said their oils are extracted directly from plants grown on their farms located in different parts of the globe, including one in the Bicol Region in the Philippines, to ensure that oils extracted are the purest of their kind.
Essential oil users, Alday furthered, can be as creative as they get in maximizing their chosen products by trying to mix and match the oils they have to suit the benefit and scent they want.
“You can really do want you want. Many of our users here blend their oils to get their desired scent and put the amount they intend. I guess that is the beauty of natural essential oils, there is no such thing as overdose,” he said.
With essential oils gaining popularity in the community nowadays, Kapampangans and Filipinos in general, have found an innovation from the traditional oils and topical mint products used during the earlier years, Alday said.