Our friend Trudy was the first person we know to get the new “Legacy Edition” Essential Oils Desk Reference. She pre-ordered it when it was still in production, and when it finally arrived on her doorstep she was beside herself with excitement.She came into the Co-Op where I work in the Wellness department and her enthusiasm was obvious. Her eyes were twinkling when she took hold of my arm and looked me straight in the eye. Then she told me, in no uncertain terms (if you know Trudy, you know there are no uncertain terms! - wink-) that she simply had to show it to me. So, we made an appointment.
Trudy is going through an exciting phase. She’s learning to combine her passion for toxin-free living with her special talent of teaching people how to live frugally. And one of her tools in that marriage of ideals is Young Living Essential Oils. She laughs as she tells me how some people say, “You show people how to live frugally, with some of the most expensive essential oils?”, to which her favorite response is, “Well, yeah. They’re the ones that work!”. Trudy has worked with the oils for years now, and she has a special knack for using them sparingly yet effectively for all kinds of household applications. She likes to show people what a tiny bit of Young Living oil can do!
So- when the doorbell rang on the appointed day, I was at least as excited as Trudy had been. She brought her daughter, as they were going to a reflexology class together after our little show-and-tell session. We all bustled in to the table where we hold our intro gatherings, and Trudy set the book down.
The first thing to strike you about this new EDR is that it’s in a 3-ring binder format. This strikes me as a stroke of genius. Young Living is always releasing new oils, especially since we’ve gone into Ecuador and Gary’s begun identifying and distilling new species. The binder format makes it possible to simply add new information as it becomes available.
I turned open the cover and saw the dedication: “To all those who seek yesterday’s wisdom and today’s discovery. After all, it is their hearts and minds that turn to the knowledge within these pages”.
I suddenly had the experience of having come on a very long journey: I had a flash, back to the days that some would call “the early days”.
I’ve been using Young Living since around 1997, when information about the oils came by fax from whomever in your group was fortunate enough to go to a session where Gary was speaking. I remember once going to hear him speak in New Jersey, and afterwards getting invited to a “Q&A for leaders”. Someone had rented a room, and about 60 of us crammed in there, sitting thigh-to-thigh on the floor and furniture, gathered around Gary as he spoke with us about how essential oils affect the amygdala (an almond-shaped area of the brain, just behind the middle of the eyebrows), which is associated with the limbic (or emotional) center of our mental system, by way of explaining how authentic oils influence our emotional wellness. People shared notes afterward, and I remember getting a sheet from someone that said something like, “Gary says there’s an almond in your brain and it makes you feel the smell”.
Right at this moment, Trudy turned to the page in the EDR where the Limbic System is discussed: what do you know? Pictures, diagrams, language that’s detailed while remaining accessible. I suddenly became very, very happy.
Trudy was insistent that I flip through the book on my own, patiently resisting the urge to show me all of her favorite parts. The pictures, for starters, are absolutely stunning. You get to see Gary’s first distiller, ancient frankincense burners, livers in a variety of conditions, breathtaking shots from each of the farms, and my favorite- seasonal harvests and distillations. The pictures put you right there in the scene; you can almost smell the balsam and feel the chill (and the very hard work) of the winter harvest! It gave me a sense of gratitude for all the dedication and effort that goes into these oils.
The binder is organized by sections, which are denoted by colored tabs with easy color reference on the edge of the pages. It still includes the extensive descriptions of each of the single oils and blends, a gorgeous chapter on NingXia wolfberries (and recipes from the NingXia Bar at Convention!), plus a beautifully illustrated section on application techniques, which included hand reflexology charts the size of real hands (in fact, we were able to remove these from the binder and put them in plastic protector sheets for Trudy to take to her reflexology class, so she could use them without risking damage to her book- clever, clever binder design!).
Also still included is the Personal Usage Guide, which now includes a “Quick Reference” section. This is always the part of my EDR that gets the most use, when I’m wondering what oils I may want to try in a particular situation. I find that when I bring out the EDR in an Introductory gathering, people like to look up their own list of concerns and see what products are suggested there.
I also tried the old, “flip through and see what catches your eye” approach. This is how I found very concise discussions of topics such as our “Seed to Seal” trademark, and easy-to-decipher graphics that discuss things like the chakra system, and different “grades” of essential oils (this discussion uses a new “pyramid of purity” graphic which I like a lot), along with a section called “Letting Go With Essential Oils”, which gives simple steps toward releasing emotional baggage that holds us back.
I have to admit it: I’ve seen dozens (maybe hundreds) of books on essential oils and their use. I thought it would be hard to impress me. But the truth is, I’m smitten. Trudy is my new hero for bringing the Legacy Edition’s fabulousness to my attention with her special brand of insistence and enthusiasm.
And you’d better believe it, mine is on the way. I got the bundle pack, which includes a special online edition, which is apparently even accessible by iPhone. I’ll keep you posted as I unlock that particular wonder!
Until we are set up to sell them to you, we suggest buying right from the publisher at www.lifesciencepublishers.com
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