Lauren Hayes Gilbert - Simply Clean. Using Essential Oils To Clean Your Home Naturally

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For Maria, who helped me remember the magic. And forWillem, who inspired me to use it.

Holistic Living

When I talk with clients about living a HolisticLifestyle, one of the first questions that usually comes up is,what does that really mean?.

For many, the term holistic conjures upimages of someone dressed in earth-tones, sitting on a yoga mat andsipping a raw-food smoothie. Some have the reaction of, I couldnever do that (or I don't want to do that. That's notme.) and are quickly turned off or intimidated. Let me tell youwhat the term means to me.

The word holistic is defined as a beliefthat the individual parts of something are interconnected andexplicable only by looking at the whole. It's a belief that to livea happy and healthy life we need to pay attention to all areas,including our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health; ourrelationships; the food we eat; the spaces we live in; thecommunities we are a part of and how we impact the greater worldaround us.

Making the choice to live a more holisticlifestyle doesn't mean any one thing in particular. It's acombination of many things, the expression of which can be asunique and varied as each of us are. And it certainly doesn't meanyou have to change who you are or give up your personal beliefs forsomeone else's. What the choice does ask you to look at ishow you are: how you are living your life, the quality yougive it and its impact on the world around you. It's about creatingmore balance with yourself and the environment. It'sunderstanding and respecting that all things are interconnected,and taking responsibility for your actions and choices because youknow that they have consequences in your own life as well as withall living things.

Ultimately though, I have found that thechoice to live a more holistic life has been aboutempowerment. Educating and empowering myself to make betterchoices that are healthier for me, my family and the planet haschanged not only how I see the world, but how I see myself.

I grew up probably like many of you, buyingproducts off the shelves, seeing a doctor for medicine when I gotsick, eating the foods I saw advertised on TV and in the grocerystores and trusting that there were certain systems and authoritiesthat made sure that all these things were safe and healthy forme.

It wasn't until my late twenties when I hada complete health collapse and was unable to heal through theconventional methods that I began to do my own research into thetruth. In 2009 I was living my life not unlike many other people. Ihad a full-time job with a publishing company, ate a reasonablyhealthy diet (or so I thought) and exercised a couple of times aweek by going for walks or swimming at the local pool.

My health collapse came on quite suddenlyand it was a very confusing and frightening thing to experience. Iwent from working all day and still having the energy to cook andbe active in the evenings, to falling asleep at my desk at 3pm andbarely able to drive home. It quickly progressed to sleeping assoon as I got home and then entire weekends. Soon after that, thejoints all over my body became swollen and I was in terrible painthat never relented. My digestive tract became sluggish and upset.All the food I ate seemed to make me feel ill. My hair started tofall out from lack of nutrients and I developed insomnia at nightfrom the constant pain I was in. It wasn't long before I had to cutback my hours at my job and eventually leave completely. I wasdiagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) by my doctor and puton steroids and painkillers to manage the symptoms which didn'treally work. I gained fifty pounds within six months, was stillunable to return to work or have a social life and after a year Igenerally felt that at age twenty-eight my life was over.

I asked myself over and over again, whyhad this happened to me? What could possibly have caused it? Athome and sleeping for entire days at a time, it was a huge effortfor me to even lift up my laptop in bed and read, but I felt that Ihad to find some answers. I started to do research on CFS and lookfor explanations as to why it had happened to me, since my doctorsand specialists couldn't seem to give me any. Instead of simplylooking for cures for my symptoms, I began to learn about treatingthe body and illness as a whole (wholeistically) and how toexamine all areas of my life: diet, exercise, mental and emotionalhealth, my relationships, spiritual health and environmentalfactors. I started to understand that my health crash had been aresult of a build-up of over twenty years worth of repressedemotions about my self-worth, food choices that were not right formy body type, lack of proper exercise and nutrition as well asenvironmental factors and exposure to toxins.

I made a new plan of treatment for myselfwhich involved seeing a naturopath, an energetics healer, acounsellor, a personal trainer, and having my friend who was anurse and skilled in diet and nutrition examine my diet. I stoppedtaking the steroids and painkillers and learned meditationtechniques to deal with moving through my pain instead of maskingit. I started to take homeopathic remedies and supplements and gaveup sugar, caffeine, all processed foods, dairy products andalcohol. My new diet included lots of fresh whole foods, olive andflax oils, fish, grains and daily juices from fruits andvegetables. With my personal trainer, I practiced Pilates tostrengthen my body at the core, improve circulation and give focusto the parts of me other than the ones that were in pain. Duringweekly energetic healing treatments, I talked with my healer aboutmy feelings of worthlessness, released a lot of emotional pain andworked with her to restructure my energetic body to support methrough the changes. In counselling I worked with my therapist tounderstand how events in my past had turned into behaviour patternsand beliefs of the present and took steps to redefine the person Isaw myself as. I also removed all chemical cleaning products andanything with an artificial fragrance from my home and purchased awater filter system.

It took me about fourteen months to go frommy rock-bottom level of health to being able to work, live, driveand thrive again and at levels I had never previouslyexperienced. I made getting better through a holistic approach myjob and it was my complete and total focus. I decided that myhealth and a joyful life were things that I deserved and so gave itmy all.

After regaining my health I decided topursue a new career path. Despite ten successful years in thepublishing industry, I realised that it was not an emotionallyfulfilling career for me. I wanted to make my experiences ofhealing count for more than just myself. I wanted to teach as manypeople as possible what I had learned and make my life's purpose toinspire and be inspired by the healing paths and lifetransformations that I now knew were possible.