The thing that we all dislike doing more than anything else is preparing a new Price List: it is a real bind!  Given my own way, I would have changed only the date on the existing one and carried on as usual. However a recent sequence of events forced me to have a rethink.

My aunt, almost 90, has been forced by a succession of bruising falls to seek temporary solace in a nursing home.  Much as she may dislike it she realises that, if she is to mend, she must take things a little easier.  Nevertheless this enforced sojourn seems to have done little to stop her trying to hurry the healing process along a bit. Send me some arnica, quick! It was Friday evening but, fortunately, I had an unopened 100ml bottle lying around at home and so decided that first thing Saturday morning I would pop into the village post office to buy a Jiffy bag and mail it off.

That’ll be 99p. for the Jiffy bag and 80p. postage.  What?!  I discovered later that even W.H. Smith demands 78p. for a Jiffy bag. Although we buy a lot of Jiffy bags I was sure that we didn’t get them for nothing. On Monday morning I ripped open our current Price List.  Good heavens, 100ml of Sunflower for £1.60! That’s only 10p. more than we were charging in Summer 1998! Think about it, I certainly did! Packaging costs, like tax, tend to creep up by stealth, and Royal Mail and Parcelforce seem to be trying constantly to balance their books. I reached for my pencil and calculator.

With few exceptions, vegetable oils would have to go up steeply. In fact, as if to ram home the point, a customer kindly phoned to enquire...Why is your Evening Primrose oil so cheap? Another supplier is charging six times more!  Gulp!  

Nonetheless, our 10ml prices also looked a little out of kilter. It’s the single 10ml purchase which is the “killer”, and the price should reflect more fairly the considerable cost of getting it to market.  Furthermore the cost of some oils, Sandalwood in particular, has charged out of sight over the past couple of years.  Reluctantly I marked them up.

However, to soften the blow a little, I have contrived to make it cheaper if you buy some oils in larger quantities and I have absolutely slashed the prices of some absolutes.  It can’t all be bad!

Alistair Cooke signs off.
For me, and many others I suspect, Alistair Cooke was an institution.  For an awe-inspiring, uninterrupted 58 years, the 95-year-old journalist interpreted the United States and its citizens to the British through his broadcast Letters from America. As Nick Clarke, his biographer, said the other evening: “In the early years his Letter from America was one of the major sources of information about the US for the British - apart, that is from the movies. One of the things he wanted to do was correct the impression that everyone in America was a cowboy.”

Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy....I loved cowboys!  As soon as I was old enough to be let out on my own, I would spend many holiday afternoons in the gloom of the local cinema watching my Wild West heroes on the silver screen.  For six old pence, it was terrific value: Pearl & Dean’s stylish adverts, cartoons, ‘B’ movie, and main feature. The ‘B’ movie was invariably a Western and so I would often leave, completely sated, before the main film.  

Therefore, when I was introduced first to Mr. Cooke’s speech radio programme I was not too impressed, particularly as he went to some effort to explain that the Americans, however weird and wonderful they might appear, were basically just like us.  John Wayne?!  To be honest, I was quite disillusioned.  However as the years rolled by I warmed considerably to his transmissions, learning much about our transatlantic cousins. Besides, did you know that Charlie Chaplin offered him the chance to become a film star but instead he returned to the UK and joined the BBC as a film critic before finally leaving and becoming a US citizen?

Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America probably had a great influence on me, because 35 years ago I had no sooner landed in Bangkok than I started my own Letter from Thailand, which I would record faithfully every Saturday morning in the broom cupboard beneath the stairs of our house. A decade later I was doing the same from Spain, and imagine my utter frustration when I was unable to get any information about the Spanish putsch because of a national news blackout. In Vanuatu, whilst vast sheets of galvanized roofing material swept past our second-floor windows, I recollect that Jan, Justin and I, oblivious to the danger, sat huddled around the radio listening to the weather forecasts as I recorded every detail of the incoming cyclone for my Letter from the Pacific. Alistair Cooke has given us a unique legacy, and I wish him very well in his “retirement”.
A testing thyme!

A couple of weeks ago, after several months of trying to source some, I was sent at last from Croatia a sample of organic Thyme CT. Geraniol (Thymus vulgaris L.).  Rather excited, I posted it off quickly to Bill for analysis. A few days later he phoned.....How much geraniol would you expect in it?  About 30% I replied, based upon a reference analysis of French cultivated Thymus vulgaris CT. geraniol which I had seen in the sadly missed Les Cahiers de l’Aromatherapie. You’ld be wrong. It’s only got 2.17%, but a whopping 33.81% p-cymene!
      
I cannot say that I was entirely surprised, because the essential oil chemistry of the genus Thymus is a nightmare. In thyme plants the essential oil yield and chemical composition vary considerably due to different factors.  Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors have to be taken into consideration. As intrinsic factors there are genetic and sexual variations as well as seasonal and ontogenetic variations.  Extrinsic factors are described by ecological and environmental aspects such as altitude, soil, climate, light, etc. There are no sytematic investigations of all these circumstances influencing the oil composition for the genus Thymus.  Therefore only results gathered from individual analyses can provide a clue. It must be remembered that there are a few early reports dealing with oil variations which erroneously interpret them as being caused by extrinsic factors. Nowadays they are more correctly described as being a result of chemical polymorphism, which is widespread in the genus.

Nevertheless, I thought it not a bad idea to find out first whether the botanical source of this oil was a Thyme or a Mother-of-thyme. The Thymus genus consists of two main types, as far as the plant’s bearing is concerned.....

Mother-of-thymes are plants whose lightly rooted and grass-like stems lie on the ground (its French name “Serpolet” comes from the Latin word serpere: to creep); they have flowering erect branches.

Thymes are small bushes with one mainly deeply-rooted stem.  Thick and twisted, this stem acts as a small trunk from which many flowered erect stems branch out.

In the field, this fundamental distinction helps to avoid confusion between Thyme and Mother-of-thyme species. Besides, the distribution area of these types of species is conditioned by this natural and different appearance: species of Mother-of-thyme have a broad distribution area, being found in Europe far to the North (Norway, Finland...) and in the South (former Yugoslavia, France...), whereas Thymes such as Thymus vulgaris L. are spread around the Mediterranean perimeter (France, Spain, Italy...).    

Based upon its geographic origin, and the chemical composition of the essential oil, I think the plant source is a Mother-of-thyme species.

Thymus serpyllum L., called Mother-of-thyme, is a specific species of the Thymus genus.  There are numerous species and sub-species of Mother-of-thyme, the composition of which varies greatly from one to another.  Few studies have been made on Mother-of-thyme, compared to Thymus vulgaris. 

This ubiquitous plant grows just as well in warm as in cold areas, probably producing different biochemical specificities, given the extreme variations of grounds and climates where it can be found. However, the phenol specificities (thymol and carvacrol) are the most currently reported, but much remains to be analysed before being able to define precisely the biochemical composition of this species. Many Mother-of-thyme essential oils currently marketed are often only rough mixtures derived from combining other phenol Thymus species with thymol and carvacrol.  It is difficult, then, to find producers of this essential oil, without it being diluted or mixed.     

In 1990, researchers reported on the composition of the essential oils of some Thymus and Thymbra species [Kustrak, D., Martinis, Z., Kuftinec, J. and Blazevic, N. Flavour Frag. J., 5, 227-231] and the composition of a sample of oil from Croatian Thymus longicaulis Presl C., which is from the Serpyllum subsection Pseudomarginati, contained a hefty 40.1% thymol,  p-cymene 26.3%, carvacrol, a-terpineol, g-terpinene.  Could this be the source of my sample, because Bill’s analysis reveals also thymol (28.75%), carvacrol (3.43%), a-terpineol (2.55%), and g-terpinene (0.76%). Just a thought, but it was the only analysis of an oil from Croatia which I could find with a similarly high level of p-cymene.  On the other hand, I could be wildly wrong.

However, in L’Aromatherapie exactement, authors Pierre Franchomme and Daniel Penoel mention that Thymus vulgaris L. paracymeniferum is a fine analgesic and anti-infective, and is good also for rheumatism and arthritis. Although I would doubt that my own “whatever it is” is a true substitute for Thymus vulgaris L. CT. p-cymene, because the thymol content is far too high, it might be worth trying for similar purposes.

‘M’-powered!
When I received first Jane Buckle’s Second Edition of Clinical Aromatherapy, I was most  intrigued by her numerous references to the ‘m’ technique. What is it?  I gave her a call....

The ‘m’technique is a registered method of touch that is suitable for the very fragile or when massage is inappropriate either because the receiver is too fragile, or because the giver is not trained in massage. The ‘m’technique is a series of stroking movements performed in a set sequence. Each movement, identified with a mnemonic (a name designed to enable you to remember it) is repeated a set number of times.  Because the technique is structured in terms of strokes, sequence, number and pressure, the technique is completely reproducible and therefore useful in research.

The ‘m’ is so gentle that a physician has called it ‘physical hypnotherapy’.

The ‘m’ first arrived in the United States in 1994 when Jane Buckle, who had gained the first ever M.A. in Clinical Aromatherapy from Middlesex University, began teaching in Florida and Georgia. The ‘m’technique was registered by the Patent and Trademark Office of the United States Department of Commerce, who approved it in March 1998.  Since 1994 it has been taught in universities, nursing colleges and massage schools across America.

Students have even created a new verb and talk about ‘m’ing their patients!

Currently over a thousand people have learned the ‘m’ technique and the word is spreading. The ‘m’was devised as a simple, easy to learn method of touch (one weekend) that would allow a patient to feel relaxed as quickly as possible.

Created initially for nurses not wanting to train in massage but wanting to touch, the ‘m’technique is currently being used by many other licensed health professionals and by those caring for sick or fragile people.

The ‘m’technique is quite different from massage as it follows a set structure that never changes. Each movement and sequence is done in a distinctive pattern that is not modified.  Each stroke within each movement is repeated three times, so a group of practitioners carrying out the technique would all be doing exactly the same stroke at exactly the same time.
The rationale for this set form of repetition is simple - to build up confidence and remove anxiety in the receiver. The first time a patient experiences a stroke, he or she will pay attention. The second time they feel the same stroke, the receiver will recognize it. The third time the receiver knows what is going to happen and begins to relax. By repeating each stroke a set number of times, the receiver knows what is going to happen and is lulled into a deep state of relaxation in a very short period of time.

The ‘m’ technique uses a set pressure. If pressure was measured (0-10) when zero is no pressure, and ten is crushing pressure, the ‘m’technique pressure should always be three.  Conventional massage alters the pressure depending on the situation.

Many massage therapists are learning this technique to use in practice alongside conventional massage therapy.

Jane Buckle comments that teaching the ‘m’ technique is one of the most satisfying aspects of her career. Her technique has enabled thousands of people, who might otherwise not touch a sick person, to give comfort at a very deep level. The technique is of particular use in hospice work.  The technique has been taught in Japan, Korea and Australia.

The ‘m’is simple enough for a child of five to do and can be shared with family members. It is empowering for the giver and beneficial for the receiver.  A hand or foot ‘m’ takes only five minutes and has far reaching effects.

Fortuitously, Jane’s daughter lives quite close and so I asked her if she would do a weekend’s course when she visited next from the United States.

She agreed!  Saturday/Sunday, 31st July/1st August, 2004.  As we have none of our own, you will have to bring your own massage couch.  You will have to make your own plans for overnight accommodation (if need be), but I am sure that we can provide a few suggestions. Because couches require space, the number of places on the course will be limited to 20.

Alternatively, Jane will be teaching the same course at the Life-Force Centre, 21 Oxford Road, Colchester, Essex, the previous weekend, 24th/25th July. If Colchester suits you better than Churchill, contact Susan Ager, 15 Chelmer Road, Witham, Essex, CM8 2EY (Telephone 01376 512470) for further details.

The cost?  £200 inclusive of VAT, daily sustenance, and free video about the ‘m’ technique.

The ‘m’ technique is at the heart of holistic nursing.

A date for your diary!
Buoyed by last year’s successful London Randonnée I thought that we might venture a little further afield this year. Manchester and Edinburgh were tempting but, mindful of the great support which we receive from the area, East Anglia topped my list.  But where? 

Twenty-five years ago, although we were abroad much of the time, our home in England was a tiny, thatched cottage in Sawtry, a few miles from Huntingdon. Whilst there, we took every opportunity to explore the area.  I liked particularly St. Ives.

The town traces its origins to a village called Slepe which was situated on the north bank of the River Great Ouse and meant ‘slippery landing place’ or ‘slip of land’.  It was a manor of Ramsey Abbey in 969AD and eventually became a priory of the abbey, dedicated to a Persian bishop called St. Ivo who preached in Slepe in the 7th century and whose remains were found nearby. The town has been known as St. Ives since then.

A 20 minute drive from Cambridge, it seemed a likely venue.  Without more ado, Jan rang the elegant Slepe Hall Hotel.  They could fit us in, but only on Sunday, 20th June, 2004.
With time pressing, we grabbed the day.  Now all I have to do is find some speakers!

In any event we shall be there to offer our customary blend of discussion, debate, olfactory experience, stimulating thought, and hospitality.  I do hope that you will join us.

Make a note in your diary now!

Questioning ylang-ylang.
Recently talking to a friend about ylang-ylang she told me that she had just bought some but it was called ‘Cananga’ and it was the second level of distillation of the oil and although not the same as ylang-ylang the therapeutic qualities were the same.

Checking the A-Z of Patricia Davis, this is precisely what she says! However, Daniele Ryman’s Aromatherapy says “pure ylang-ylang has been replaced by an oil from another variety of Cananga, C. odorata var. macrophylla, which grows abundantly in Java. This gives an oil of inferior quality.....this oil, called ‘cananga’ is very much cheaper to buy than the expensive and subtly scented ylang-ylang.”  Can you please tell me which of these stories I can believe? And if the therapeutic qualities are the same? asked Annie van Vessem.

They are probably both correct, as far as they go. Two types of oil are produced from the flowers of Cananga odorata: cananga oil from forma macrophylla and ylang-ylang from forma genuina. Cananga oil is the total amount of oil recovered by water distilling whole flowers; ylang-ylang oil is obtained by selective steam distilling flowers or reprocessing cananga oil, sold by grade.  Some would say, therefore, that cananga is truly a ‘complete’ oil whereas ylang-ylang is made into several distillates.

Cananga oil has a heavier odour, more harsh than ylang-ylang, but sweet, fresh-floral, with a characteristic woody-leathery note. The usual designation is Javanese Cananga Oil which indicates the main source not the actual origin, does not imply a standard quality, and is a trade name.  The main use of cananga is in soaps where its tenacity is of value.  Cananga oil is often adulterated or blended with other synthetic materials mainly to modify its odour, but this is easily detected. Lower boiling point fractions from ylang-ylang, for example ylang III, are sold as cananga oil, but they are neither a substitute nor alternative, since cananga is a complete oil.

Ylang-ylang is normally available in four grades: extra, first, second and third.  Some will maintain that the first and second grades have little appeal in perfumery and are not well defined, but both are widely used in aromatherapy. Extra has a very powerful, sweet, floral     odour and is used extensively in high-quality perfumes where its powerful odour enables inclusion in very small amounts. Ylang-ylang III has a tenacious odour and is widely used in less expensive soaps, toiletries and fragrances.

Therapeutic qualities? Annie asks an interesting question because, upon closer examination, it would seem that most references attribute therapeutic benefits to ylang-ylang “Extra”only. The further distillates seem to be rather dismissed (as in perfumery).  Cananga, however, seems to be credited with many of the benefits of “Extra”. This makes sense, because the chemical composition of Cananga is more akin to “Extra” (alcohols and esters), whereas the further distillates of ylang-ylang comprise increasingly (during the fractionation process) sesquiterpenes.

Therefore they are both correct in their way but, to my nose, ylang-ylang is the superior oil and that is why I have never stocked cananga.  And yet....

In January this year, the bimonthly KWEZI (considered the reference paper for the Comoros Islands, from which the majority of ylang-ylang is exported) published an article dedicated to ylang-ylang essential oil.

The article refers, among other topics, to a shipment of adulterated ylang-ylang which was rejected eventually by the end-user. Obviously this must have caused some concern, because I would have expected someone in the supply chain to have spotted the fraud before it got that far.  The adulteration was characterized by a very large percentage of anti-freeze!

Ethylene glycol, 1,2-dihydroxyethane, is a colourless and odourless liquid which, even when mixed in ylang-ylang (not to mention wine!) in large percentages, remains undetectable to sight and smell. This adulteration of the higher grades of ylang-ylang comes after palm oil had already been detected in ylang III.

Five years ago there was the odd case of adulteration, which was identified quickly, but now it seems that adulteration at source is more widespread. Unscrupulous distillers, unconcerned brokers and indiscreet traders are fuelling an increase in adulterated oils, which undoubtedly will find their way into perfumes, soaps, toiletries and aromatherapy, thus casting discredit upon this fine essential oil. Unless quickly eliminated, such practice will herald the end of the ylang-ylang trade, already weakened in a fragile economy.

MLD may help.
Manual Lymphatic Drainage Massage (MLDM) performed by a skilled practitioner can help improve the discomfort of Restless Legs Syndrome, Morphea and pelvic congestion, writes Sue Hansard. Several others have made similar comments.

This form of massage is gentle and rhythmic. The therapist uses techniques which stimulate the groups of lymph nodes [a mass of lymphoid tissue resembling a gland] which drain a particular part of the body as well as working directly over superficial lymphatic vessels to improve drainage of lymph fluid away from congested areas, or areas of fluid retention. Thus, by improving lymphatic circulation, it will enhance also venous circulation and ease Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS).

By the way, whilst on the subject of RLS, Emma Raven-Holt got me thinking....Both of my parents and all of their offspring suffer from RLS, and we are convinced the weather has a lot to do with it. I only seem to suffer from it if rain is coming in, or in fact if it is raining, and my father seems to get it anytime he stays near water, especially by the coast....it would be interesting to hear if anyone else agrees with this theory. Well?

Pelvic problems can be helped also by MLDM, encouraging movement of fluid towards the deeper lymphatic vessels and nodes as well as stimulating improved drainage along superficial routes    
 
For Morphea, very specific techniques can improve drainage around scar tissue. Myofacial release techniques can disrupt the scleroderma, which in turn will assist lymph drainage to and from affected areas thus alleviating congestion caused by fibrosis and improving nutrient supply to the tissues, which will improve the elasticity of the skin.

MLDM does not use any essential oils and creams because the therapist needs to stretch gently the skin in a particular direction, but Sue advises that creams [but not oils I think, if my research is correct] can be applied after treatment to enhance further lymph drainage and skin condition. The effects of MLDM within the lymph system carry on working for several hours after treatment.

Sue, an RGN and Lymphatic Drainage Therapist, suggests that you look for therapists who have advanced qualifications in MLD from any of the internationally accepted training schools - Vodder, Foeldi, Casley-Smith, Le Duc. 

MLDUK [www.mlduk.org.uk] publishes a register of qualified MLD practitioners within the UK and a journal and leaflets giving more information about MLD.

MLD UK is an association of manual lymphatic drainage practitioners, which works to promote the development of MLD within the UK: aiming to ensure that a high standard of MLD is practised by encouraging the fullest possible levels of training and practice for MLD therapists; and also aiming to raise the awareness of healthcare professionals and the general public about MLD and its therapeutic applications.

The organisation encourages research into the effects of MLD and is developing a database of information and research.  Lynora Kennedy, the organisation’s secretary, is very helpful, most knowledgeable, witty and charming.  Whoever told me to phone her [01592 748008] wasn’t wrong!

Letter from Sarasota.
I noticed your piece on Addiction/Cravings in the March Newsletter, which mentions the use of Clary Sage and Ylang Ylang as helpful with alleviating withdrawal symptoms. As you remark, most information on treating alcohol and substance abuse with essential oils is anecdotal, so here is another piece of anecdotal information that you may care to share with your readers, e-mailed Peter O’Rourke from Florida.

The following information is supplied for educational purposes; it does not purport to be a medical diagnosis, and therapies described herein are not intended to replace any current medication that the patient may be taking for the condition.

I have used a blend of Clary Sage (8 drops), Sweet Marjoram (7 drops), Ylang-Ylang (4 drops), Sweet Fennel (3 drops), and Spikenard (2 drops) to assist persons suffering from alcohol and nicotine withdrawal. I suggest using the blend neat, as an inhalation whenever the need arises, and as a massage blend in 20ml Fractionated Coconut or Grapeseed Oil before going to bed (applied to the soles of the feet, the neck and temples).  Fractionated coconut and Grapeseed oils are very rapidly absorbed by the skin, and penetrate deeply, helping the essential oils to be carried more efficiently into the system.  Alternatively, one or two drops of the neat blend can be applied to the pad of a Band-Aid, and worn as ‘patches’ throughout the night.

As the blend contains Clary Sage it is important to inform prospective users that they must not consume alcohol when using this blend - Clary Sage and alcohol combined can promote nightmares.  John Gerard, in his herbal, is even more specific....Clary Sage when mixed with Wine causeth madnesse!

Finally......
I’ve run out of space, and so the rest of Peter’s letter will have to wait until next month.


charles@essentiallyoils.com
 

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