doTERRA’s Secret Ingredient
I had a breakthrough. About my favorite but very controversial essential oils company.
Why are they so special.
I have been asking myself why I got so attached to doTERRA essential oils. Originally I thought that is because of their quality, purity and chemistry wise they are irreproachable. And maybe I never had worked with really good oils before. Then because it is an network marketing company we get to know more what is going on behind the scenes, go to conventions, see and even meet and personally talk to the owners, which gives us a the opportunity to really feel what they really are about. And I like what I have seen so far so that is a bonus to appreciate the company as much as its products. But not every user is going to be interested in what is going on behind the scenes, and actually a percentage of them is actually put off by their distribution model, but yet keep using the oils. Some who have never bothered investigating what the company’s values are, are often quick to judge them and I have heard things such as “the oils are amazing, it is a pity the company is so bad”. So even a negative perception of the company does not seem to deter nay-sayers from buying, using and loving the oils. I always found that quite interesting. Because, surely there must be other essential oils of great quality out there (maybe not in Ireland, but in France definitely) produced by passionate local producers. I am convinced there are other great oils out there, even if not as extensively tested as doTERRA’s. But I had had in the back of my head that wondering about what makes doTERRA users so attached to these oils, me included, as if they had a personality of their own.
I had a breakthrough.
At one of the “post-convention” tours, a yearly event recapping all the new advancements the company has made the previous year, they were showing their very last sourcing videos about the production of Spikenard in Nepal and PetitGrain in Paraguay. That was when I finally put the dots together, thanks to a conversation I had had with my doctor the previous week.
To understand my thought process I need to backtrack a little: about 2 months before my doc appointment, I had done a 3 days fast, following which I have completely changed my diet, going from strictly fruits to adding vegetables and grains. Couple of weeks went by then I found myself at my Uncle’s surprise birthday party, in front of a well garnished food buffet, and for the first time since I’d changed my eating habits, I attempted a tiny piece of meat and fish again. Here is what happened:
I knew of the term “living foods” that we often see in health and nutrition articles and books, and could understand it cognitively, but had never had an experience of it. Until then. Eating that bit of animal meat, for the first time in my life, I actually had the feeling of having ingested death. I can not even call it “eating”, it was like having just swallowed something lifeless, something inert and dull, that does absolutely nothing for my body but sitting there. I had been only eating “living food” for a few weeks and suddenly eating “dead food” made me abruptly aware of the difference. That was a very revealing, shocking in a way, experience.
As I was sharing this with my doctor (a very special, open minded, holistic but genuine medical doctor) she totally agreed but had something more to add. She said that not only the “living” or “dead” aspect is important but even more the INTENTION behind the food that is eaten. She went on to explain that she occasionally buys sausages from a local producer who is very proud of her farm and animals. She had been invited to visit the farm, where everything was done with love and passion from raising the animals to prepping the food, and that it was making the products so delicious and digestible. When on the other hand, she also had the opposite experience with her sister in law who manages to mess up a tomato salad, where it feels the fruit has been totally “butchered”, as she is such in a hurry and dislikes cooking so much. My doctor believes the intention we put in the food changes its whole destiny.
Then as I was watching these videos on screen and remembering this conversation, it hit me and I could not believe I had not understood this earlier.
It is not the quality as such that makes these oils so special.
It is the intention that is put into producing them. And the intention is: changing the world, for the better. To empower poor families in third worlds countries, to get girls to go to school in countries they usually are not allowed to, to provide clean water where there is none, to rebuild houses after natural disaster hits… the list goes on.
I had not connected the dots before. I knew doTERRA were doing all of these things through their sourcing policy and charitable foundation, and I loved them even more for doing so, but I had not connected it to the actual effects the oils have on me, and others. I thought the oils were so fascinating because they were as pure as can be and yielded at the peak of their chemical make up. The humanitarian efforts were just a bonus. But it is not “just a bonus”, it is in my opinion the actual secret ingredient that make them powerful beyond their purely chemical capabilities.
The driving force behind the whole process of producing these oils is nothing but Love. The quest to making a difference in each and every step. In the families that produce them, the families that use them, the families who get out of debt from selling them. The care to not leaving anyone behind. That is what makes doTERRA oils different, it is not their quality, which could be equalled, I am sure, but it is the love and intention of each person involved, from the farmer who plants the seed, the harvesters, the distillers, all brought together towards the common good of the whole community. It is the vision and the scope of this vision that goes way beyond the company and the product themselves, and I do not say this lightly but after a couple of years now witnessing what this company does, and the heart they put into it: it is nearly less about selling essential oils than it is about changing the world in the process of doing it. That, in my opinion, is what secretly made me and million of others, fall in Love with their oils.
I had a breakthrough.
At one of the “post-convention” tours, a yearly event recapping all the new advancements the company has made the previous year, they were showing their very last sourcing videos about the production of Spikenard in Nepal and PetitGrain in Paraguay. That was when I finally put the dots together, thanks to a conversation I had had with my doctor the previous week.
To understand my thought process I need to backtrack a little: about 2 months before my doc appointment, I had done a 3 days fast, following which I have completely changed my diet, going from strictly fruits to adding vegetables and grains. Couple of weeks went by then I found myself at my Uncle’s surprise birthday party, in front of a well garnished food buffet, and for the first time since I’d changed my eating habits, I attempted a tiny piece of meat and fish again. Here is what happened:
I knew of the term “living foods” that we often see in health and nutrition articles and books, and could understand it cognitively, but had never had an experience of it. Until then. Eating that bit of animal meat, for the first time in my life, I actually had the feeling of having ingested death. I can not even call it “eating”, it was like having just swallowed something lifeless, something inert and dull, that does absolutely nothing for my body but sitting there. I had been only eating “living food” for a few weeks and suddenly eating “dead food” made me abruptly aware of the difference. That was a very revealing, shocking in a way, experience.
As I was sharing this with my doctor (a very special, open minded, holistic but genuine medical doctor) she totally agreed but had something more to add. She said that not only the “living” or “dead” aspect is important but even more the INTENTION behind the food that is eaten. She went on to explain that she occasionally buys sausages from a local producer who is very proud of her farm and animals. She had been invited to visit the farm, where everything was done with love and passion from raising the animals to prepping the food, and that it was making the products so delicious and digestible. When on the other hand, she also had the opposite experience with her sister in law who manages to mess up a tomato salad, where it feels the fruit has been totally “butchered”, as she is such in a hurry and dislikes cooking so much. My doctor believes the intention we put in the food changes its whole destiny.
Then as I was watching these videos on screen and remembering this conversation, it hit me and I could not believe I had not understood this earlier.
It is not the quality as such that makes these oils so special.
It is the intention that is put into producing them. And the intention is: changing the world, for the better. To empower poor families in third worlds countries, to get girls to go to school in countries they usually are not allowed to, to provide clean water where there is none, to rebuild houses after natural disaster hits… the list goes on.
I had not connected the dots before. I knew doTERRA were doing all of these things through their sourcing policy and charitable foundation, and I loved them even more for doing so, but I had not connected it to the actual effects the oils have on me, and others. I thought the oils were so fascinating because they were as pure as can be and yielded at the peak of their chemical make up. The humanitarian efforts were just a bonus. But it is not “just a bonus”, it is in my opinion the actual secret ingredient that make them powerful beyond their purely chemical capabilities.
The driving force behind the whole process of producing these oils is nothing but Love. The quest to making a difference in each and every step. In the families that produce them, the families that use them, the families who get out of debt from selling them. The care to not leaving anyone behind. That is what makes doTERRA oils different, it is not their quality, which could be equalled, I am sure, but it is the love and intention of each person involved, from the farmer who plants the seed, the harvesters, the distillers, all brought together towards the common good of the whole community. It is the vision and the scope of this vision that goes way beyond the company and the product themselves, and I do not say this lightly but after a couple of years now witnessing what this company does, and the heart they put into it: it is nearly less about selling essential oils than it is about changing the world in the process of doing it. That, in my opinion, is what secretly made me and million of others, fall in Love with their oils.
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