Doug Corrigan: Good day to you and welcome to this edition of our educational series on Young Living products. We’re excited to discuss today two great Young Living products. The first is a very popular essential oil blend that every home can use; it’s called Clarity.
As the name describes, Clarity is perfect for helping you to become more aware, more alert, and cut through the mental confusion that we sometimes experience in our daily life. Have you ever felt like that cloud is in your mind and just reduces your ability to think clearly, to prioritize your tasks, and maybe even to speak clearly? I know sometimes even when I’m doing these audio presentations I get a little bit tongue-tied! Maybe sometimes you forget where you’ve placed an important document, lost your keys, or you had something clever to say, only for it to escape your mind. It can be a very frustrating feeling! Fortunately, essential oils provide profound and immediate mind-enhancing effects by directly impacting the limbic system. A great oil to dispel this mental cloud and help you recall that clever thought, or possibly recall where those misplaced items are, is our Clarity essential oil blend.
Clarity is really an invigorating blend of 11 (of course) pure therapeutic-grade oils; those are the only kind that Young Living deals with. The oils included in Clarity blend are: Basil, Cardamom, Rosemary, Peppermint, Geranium, Lemon, Palmarosa, Ylang Ylang, Bergamot, Roman Chamomile, and Jasmine. Hopefully in that list you recognize a couple of those; I know that many in that list are the oils that I use on a daily basis and have really come to love and appreciate. You can see, if you know anything about some of those different essential oils, why Clarity helps to promote a clear mind and really just amplify mental alertness. It contains stimulating oils like Peppermint and Rosemary; these of course have been used for years and are very closely identified with regard to mental sharpness. But Clarity also encourages emotional balance because it’s not always just that revving action that’s important for you to focus and bring perspective; also it’s important to sometimes dismiss other competitive emotions and help you to focus in on the things that are going to help you be most productive and effective in that moment, and that can help you to think clearly as well. Clarity also increases energy and wakefulness so if you ever feel a little tired or drowsy and you need some extra alertness to help you get through your daily tasks, just add a couple of drops to the palm of your hand and inhale deeply, or it can be readily diffused. Each oil in this blend was carefully selected for its ability to promote clearness in thought and to enhance attentiveness.
Now let’s discuss a little bit about the individual components so that you might get a better idea of how these things all come together and work synergistically. Sometimes by discussing these individual components we might give one a false feeling that Clarity might be limited to just the effects of these individual oils but remember, many times by blending multiple oils you also get the enhanced effectiveness of all these different phytonutrients coming together; then you can oftentimes experience all kinds of dynamic results that you would not get just by using that oil as a single, or using that oil alone.
First, Basil. Basil is uplifting and it’s refreshing. That aroma immediately restores mental alertness and can relieve mental fatigue. It’s considered an aromatic nerve tonic and it’s reported to improve circulation, which may be one of the reasons it so effectively enhances mental awareness – you have to get that blood flow, that circulation going to the brain and to the extremities, and Basil is tremendous for this. There are of course other oils that help Clarity do this as well. In today’s fast-paced world mental fatigue is very common, and having an ally to keep your mind alert is really a necessity; nice to have a secret weapon like Clarity blend.
Cardamom, another oil here, has an uplifting, refreshing, invigorating aroma and may be beneficial for clearing confusion. It promotes a calm mind, which helps to enhance judgment and helps you make sense of cluttered thoughts. Now this is a great oil to have around whenever you need to make an important decision.
By opening the conscious mind, another oil in Clarity, Rosemary, can help you be more aware of sensations, perceptions, memories, and feelings. Of course those who have studied herbalism will know that Rosemary has a long history of use in improving mental sharpness, improving memory, and just generally reducing mental fatigue so Rosemary is really a perfect oil to have in Clarity. An interesting study in connection with Rosemary – and if you were like me, math was maybe a difficult subject for you in school, memorizing difficult rules and complex formulas may have been a lot easier if we had had Rosemary back then. Maybe some of us still struggle with math! In February 2012, in an issue of Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, scientists found that when healthy volunteers inhaled eucalyptol, which is a primary compound found in Rosemary (and of course other essential oils), they performed significantly better on mental arithmetic tasks. Of course my kids have the benefit of having these essential oils and using them when they’re studying; when we have study time at home or homework time or even scripture study time, we’re often enhancing that environment with essential oils. Clarity is one that we use a lot, or a lot of times we’ll use different oils that we find in Clarity like Rosemary and members of the mint family, Peppermint being one of them. If you had had this Clarity as a secret weapon, perhaps you may have received that scholarship to Harvard or Stanford or something! It might just have been the thing that put you over the top but never mind that now, you can still put these great oils to use as you start to age and go through that even tougher time in life when maybe our mental capacity is diminished. A number of other studies have found that eucalyptol increases the sensation of airflow in the nasal passages, which is critical to improving mental capacity because that increases the oxygenation of the entire body, not to mention the brain. Try holding your breath for a few minutes and see if that lack of oxygen affects your ability to think clearly. I jest; of course that affects your ability to think clearly and ultimately to live but just think if the oxygen flow to your brain is enhanced and increased, you will think better and you will reason better and all those mental capacities will be improved.
Now the purifying and stimulating fragrance of Peppermint essential oil is another great way to open those airways and enhance the circulation to the brain, thereby really ‘waking up’ the mind and improving focus and mental performance. A 2012 study from the Journal of Ergonomics – and of course this is just one of many studies we could quote in regard to Peppermint – this study found that intermittent inhalation of Peppermint oil improved attention and diminished the deterioration of cognitive motor performance during a condition of mental fatigue. Peppermint also enhances memory and alertness and this is according to a 2008 study in the International Journal of Neuroscience. So based on these studies, and of course based on your own personal experience, almost anyone who has been involved with essential oils has benefitted from the mind-enhancing effects of Peppermint. When you reach that point in your day when your brain is saturated and sluggish, the Peppermint oil in Clarity can provide a much-needed lift and I will say you improve your chances of getting that lift dramatically by not just using Peppermint oil as a single oil, although it’s tremendous in that regard, but why not use it as part of a blend like Clarity, and you have improved your chances dramatically by blending it with all these other great mind-enhancing oils.
With an invigorating, enhancing and warming aroma, Lemon is another perfect addition to Clarity. This promotes clarity of thought and purpose. Its scent is so well recognized it can even make your mouth water as the scent evokes memories of refreshing, thirst-quenching lemonade, and oftentimes a nice clean house; all kinds of good associations with regard to Lemon oil. A study found in Nutritional Neuroscience in 2009 reports that Lemon – just the aroma of Lemon – improves memory. Improved memory is a repeated theme among the oils included in Clarity. If you’re concerned – and we all should be concerned about that hard drive that sits there in between our ears – if you’re concerned about diminished memory capacity, particularly as you age, Clarity may become one of your most valued oils. Any of us who have watched a loved one suffer with mild memory loss associated with aging, can appreciate the benefit of a remedy that promotes an accurate and keen memory. The mind can be compared, really as I just said, to a computer hard drive. Just think about it; if your hard drive malfunctions you are unable to access some or all of your data. The same thing can happen to your mind; if dysfunction occurs and synapses don’t connect properly, memories and their associated emotions can be lost, sometimes permanently.
In the February 2010 edition of Phytotaxa scientists reported that Bergamot is a neuroprotective, meaning it can help protect against and repair damage to the brain. That’s remarkable! It’s also uplifting and relaxing. Bergamot is good for building confidence and enhancing your mood. Again, this is fabulous news for those who want to preserve their mind and want added protection against neurodegenerative diseases.
Palmarosa can be stimulating and soothing to the body and mind. How many of you have made a decision when you were upset and then regretted it later? Or made a decision when you didn’t have all your priorities or perspectives? This is why an oil like Palmarosa in conjunction with Clarity can calm and soothe the mind. It’s so important to make sure we aren’t going to regret the decisions we make while our emotions are running high.
Now Geranium, Jasmine, Roman Chamomile, and Ylang Ylang all possess wonderfully uplifting floral fragrances. These 4 oils add to the clarifying properties of this blend. Geranium promotes stability and balance; Jasmine stimulates the mind and improves concentration; Roman Chamomile clears mental blocks; and another flowery fragrance, Ylang Ylang, brings about a sense of calm and relaxation, not to mention it always has that evocative kind of mind-enhancing effect that Ylang Ylang brings.
With the synergy created among these 11 oils, virtually everyone can benefit from using it – that includes test-takers, exhausted soccer moms or moms of any ilk, business executives, or anyone else who wants to enhance their ability to make clear and unobstructed or unclouded decisions. Just like your body needs exercise to maintain physical health, your mind needs mental exercises to stay sharp. The old axiom ‘use it or lose it’ has been well-proven in clinical research when it comes to your mind. You can inhale or diffuse some Clarity and put your mind to work on something challenging! Oftentimes I think we avoid using our minds because we are just too wrung out mentally or just beat down; that cloud just kind of clogs up our thinking, our reasoning. Clarity is a great way to refresh the mind and then take on something great; take on that new task that you’ve been putting off, take on that work project with renewed gusto. Imagine the potential of this oil with schoolchildren! What teacher wouldn’t want more attentive and alert students who are ready to learn? I know being an educator and a teacher, there is nothing worse than when you’re just missing folks. Why not put this to the test and get some people involved with Clarity; I’m confident you’ll see improved results. Best of all, the oil is simple to use and is very affordable. You just inhale it directly, diffuse it, or add 1-2 drops diluted with equal parts V-6 oil on the edge of your ears, wrists, neck, forehead, temples, or rub it into your feet.
There are a couple of interesting testimonials of people who have written in and talked about Clarity. A distributor who comes from New Jersey says “I’ve been using Brain Power and Clarity on my 7-year-old daughter for the past year now and the quality of her work has improved dramatically. Keeping her focused in school and keeping her self-esteem up, these oils we found to be very helpful. Her concentration skills are so much better. It pays off when she sees test grades are skyrocketing. What a great feeling it is to know she’s not daydreaming and taking it all in.” Any parent would just be thrilled to see those children in a school setting, and it’s competitive out there. I have 6 children of my own and I know how competitive it is; I mean they have a lot of stuff going on at school and then they come home and there’s more schoolwork to do. We often implement Clarity and other essential oils, Brain Power has been used, of course Peppermint as I mentioned, and we have seen that help and really wake them up and give them more attention to the details. I love to put a little V-6 oil and mix that in with Clarity; it helps to slow down the evaporation. So there’s really nothing as immediate for stimulating the mind and overcoming mental fatigue as the rapid aromatic effects of essential oils. In that regard, Clarity should come to the top of your list. I’m sure we’ll get many more testimonials coming in like this distributor from New Jersey talking about the great effects and how Clarity becomes someone’s secret weapon to mental capacity and mental improvement. I look forward to hearing more about that.
Now the next product that we’re going to talk about today is in connection with Clarity because the mind is critically important for reducing fatigue. In fact, just reading a compilation of studies, a paper that Harvard put together in regard to fatigue and talking about the main strategies that one can take to overcome it, they were very pointed in saying that the mistake most people make with regard to fatigue in general is that they try to approach it by giving the body different fuels or boosting that with stimulants and different things like that, when in fact most fatigue can be overcome by more improved support of the mind, by de-stressing, relaxing, by giving the mind the things it needs to work and sharpen itself. So in that regard, that should come as tremendous news to you essential oil people out there because nothing can activate and reactivate and improve and enhance the mind as quickly and dramatically as essential oils. So another great strategy here is that in addition to essential oils is to supply the body with key nutrients, not these crazy stimulants like we were just talking about. Some of the more important nutrients for improving mental alertness are the B vitamins. They are essential for overall good health and play a key role in the production of energy. A great way to make sure you’re getting all the vital B vitamins you need is Young Living’s product Super B. Super B is a comprehensive vitamin complex that contains all 8 essential and energy-boosting B vitamins. The complete B-vitamin profile in Super B not only assists in maintaining healthy energy levels, it also supports the nervous system, it aids in maintaining normal cardiovascular function, and assists with mood support in addition to helping with internal enzyme reactions. In Super B the B vitamins are combined with 3 key minerals, magnesium, zinc, and selenium. That makes the Super B formula a great catalyst to vital chemical and metabolic reactions, which facilitates additional B vitamin absorption and enhanced B vitamin absorption.
Because B vitamins are codependent – which means that one B vitamin requires another to function optimally – a supplement that combines multiple B vitamins like Super B is highly recommended for multi-function support in the body. All 8 B vitamins are vital for human metabolism, growth, reproduction, general health, appetite, and the normal functioning of the digestive tract. Super B is gentle on the stomach and one of the keys here is that it contains a non-flushing form of niacin. Those of you who have maybe taken a form that flushes can know just how dramatic that can be, and how nice it is to have something that doesn’t flush.
These B vitamins are involved in a wide range of processes and body functions that are so critical to overall good health. We’re going to go through just a few of these but I think you will agree that it is indeed a weighty and important list. This includes processes like cellular differentiation, nerve transmission, production of neurotransmitters. In addition, these B vitamins can help cells burn fats and glucose; that of course produces energy. It improves the wellness of the nerve cells and it helps to balance the heart rate and muscular contractions. Digestion, brain function, formation of red blood cells, healthy liver function, energy production, metabolism, healthy skin and hair and nails, muscle tone, it enhances the immune and nervous system functions, promotes cell growth and division, and DNA synthesis. Of course the list goes on, but these invaluable organic molecules act as catalysts for so many bodily processes. A catalyst is a substance that initiates and often accelerates a chemical reaction. Without these catalysts normal bodily processes become inefficient or don’t happen at all, and that creates an environment that’s a lot more hospitable for disease and imbalance.
As mentioned, there are 8 total B vitamins and I’ll just list them quickly: Thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), vitamin B6, folate or folic acid, vitamin B12, biotin, and pantothenic acid (which is oftentimes listed as vitamin B5). B vitamins are largely obtained from protein sources like fish, poultry, eggs, meat, dairy products, and are also found in grains, seeds, and some vegetables. Most of them are essential, meaning the body needs to gain these or adequate amounts of these vitamins from foods or the environment. Deficiencies of the B vitamins can result in diseases such as beriberi, pernicious anemia, and pellagra. Deficiencies can be a consequence of omitting certain foods from the diet, or excess alcohol consumption. Now although dramatic deficiency diseases like the ones we just mentioned are rare in the United States, deficiencies of key B vitamins are thought to be widespread, particularly B12 deficiencies. Moreover, many physiological and psychological problems result from less than optimal levels of B vitamins long before a deficiency disease presents itself. Symptoms of low levels of B vitamins include: Weakness and discomfort in the limbs, emotional disturbances and emotional imbalance (really even emotional sensitivity), photosensitivity, mental confusion, insomnia, skin disorders, and elevated levels of homocysteine, which is an early indicator of and precursor to cardiovascular disease.
There are many things that we could discuss about B vitamins; just a couple of specific things that are really critical to understand, one of them that I find fascinating is vitamin B5, known as pantothenic acid, which is so critical for energy metabolism and of course it normalizes blood sugar levels and aids in the production of antibodies. Pyridoxine HCL or vitamin B6 is involved in the metabolism of protein, carbohydrates, and fats, and help maintain cholesterol levels already in a normal range. Vitamin B12, as we were just talking about, helps your body’s proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and aids the formation of blood cells, prevents pernicious anemia, very supportive for the blood but also very critical for the nervous system overall. Somebody who has trouble with mood or even irritability can be aided dramatically by just simple vitamin B12 supplementation. Folic acid is maybe the best-known B vitamin, of course for pregnant women it is critical for preventing birth defects and helping the fetus to develop properly; this also acts as a catalyst for vitamins A, D, E, and K; it forms red blood cells (so many of these B vitamins are really blood-building), is necessary for DNA synthesis and repair … you can see how all these B vitamins are so critical for the very base level and functions of the body.
Hopefully we’ve given you a little more information than you had before and a little bit more insight than you had before, and hopefully a lot more awareness in regard to the fact that you need to get more of these in your diet. The B vitamins are so important that the federal government requires certain foods like breads, pastas, and cereals to be fortified with them, and some individuals, especially those who eat no animal products, may find it difficult to obtain optimal levels of B vitamins from food. In fact as we age our ability to absorb these vital nutrients diminishes and that makes a comprehensive B vitamin complex even more important. Unless you are eating a super-balanced diet, very nutritious foods, then Super B would be a great option. It’s especially important for those people who are on prescription drugs as many prescription drugs waste additional B vitamins, and of course if somebody is involved in a lot of exercise as endurance or more intense athletics additional B vitamins would be very critical for energy production and metabolism. Now the benefits of Super B are very extensive for your physical health and overall wellbeing; in addition to that it comes in a very affordable and convenient once-daily tablet, you just need to take one of these a day. Almost anybody can manage that! So pretty much anyone who desires more energy, more stamina, wants better heart health, a better mood, just improved cellular function as we talked about at the very base cellular level, could benefit from Super B and I think you’ll see the results quickly. It’s not something that you’re going to have to take for 120 days and wonder if you’re getting results.
Here’s a testimonial that we received, and we get all kinds of things that come across our desk but this one really left an impression on me. A distributor out of Minnesota says “This past summer I decided to try Young Living’s Super B supplement because I heard the B vitamins can help with chronic fatigue. Immediately after taking it I felt a rush of strength, which I hadn’t felt in 20+ years. I’m no longer tired and not as weak, dragging myself around and being negative. Young Living has changed my life and I’m sure, saved it. Before taking Super B I was very negative, antisocial, semi-violent, and cynical. I was moody and had very dark thoughts most of the time. Now I’m always upbeat, positive, and even a little outgoing. When I forget to take a Super B I feel almost immediately weaker and more depressed. My co-workers noticed the change right away and asked me about it. I told them about Young Living products and how they changed my life for the better.” That testimonial, again as I said, left a big impression on me because it hit at the heart of how powerful Super B can be. If you are deficient in some of these critical B vitamins you are not going to feel your best, you are most likely going to feel as this person described and it’s such a shame because it can be so easily remedied with a simple once-daily supplement. So Super B is powerful and has the opportunity of just in a simple, simple way improving your health so dramatically as with this gentleman from Minnesota. Thank you Dave for sharing that with us; now hopefully the thousands of people who are listening to this will get excited from your great example of health and wellness and take a step forward.
Well that wraps up this educational session about two extraordinary Young Living products, Super B and Clarity essential oil blend. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about these products and more importantly, we hope that you’ve discovered some ideas that are not only relevant to you but that you can go out and apply immediately. As a reminder, the uses we’ve discussed are just a few of the highlights of these incredible products that have been discovered through study and application. We look forward to learning from all of you as you use these products out there on the front lines, and until next time we wish you abundant health and wish you Godspeed in your quest for health and happiness.