Feeling under the Welsh winter weather? We get more susceptible to colds and ‘flu during times of stress, poor nutrition and overwork as this creates the right conditions for our immune systems to get depleted and the conniving viruses that have been lurking, jump in to take hold of your immune system. Add to this lack of sleep to aggravate the situation you unfortunately have a concoction for a dose of ‘flu or a bad cold.

‘Flu is a viral infection affecting the upper respiratory tract, causing fever, headache, general aches, pains and nasal congestion. The symptoms often deteriorate at night and worsen if you physically exert yourself. Colds are viruses too, but usually less severe, and it can be possible to plough on with your work, even although you feel grotty.

Essential oils are really effective in helping reduce the length and severity of the viral infection. Tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) is the number one oil. If you feel the beginning of symptoms utilise the antiviral property of tea tree to ward off the lurgies. Dilute 3 drops of tea tree in a squirt of shampoo to add to your bath just before you get in. Soak up the essential oil, helping you move through the illness quickly, sometimes hardly noticeably in hours, without any secondary infections such as bronchitis. Tea tree does not suppress the virus, it simply kick-starts the bodies immune system into a quick reaction against it. If you have sensitive skin also add 3 drops of lavender as it can be irritated by tea tree. 6 drops of Lavender can also be used alone in a bath as a tonic, or else, to help you to sleep.

5 to 10 drops of tea tree in water in an aromatic burner, or safely placed away from children on a wood burner or radiator also cleans the air of viruses stopping other people in the vicinity getting ill too.

One highly effective method of clearing a congested respiratory system is through the age-old method of inhalation. Adding 3 drops of eucalyptus essential oils to very hot water then placing a towel over your head and the bowl, to warm and decongest lungs by gently breathing in the vapours (do not forget to take a tissue in there!). If the person receiving the inhalation is young or vulnerable, putting a few drops on a tissue and placing it near them could be a safer option. A drop or two of lavender rubbed neat around the throat also really reduces coughing and sore throats.

Do not forget to sip the traditional honey and lemon, maybe adding some slices of fresh ginger. A supplement of 2 x 50mg of vitamin C also supports the body’s immune system.

It’s important to withdraw and rest, reducing the contact that the virus has with others. Pushing our energy reserves can cause the illness to boomerang back, and the viruses around at the moment seem to have an aptitude to do just that. Colds also detoxify deeply through the production and release of mucous and sometimes we should trust this process. Snuggle in, tend to your body that works so hard, and enjoy using some wonderful aromatic medicine.

The beginning of the year and I have been sent these wise words, originally from the Dalai Lama. Feel free to pass them on.

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

Follow the three R’s:
. Respect for self,
. Respect for others and
. Responsibility for all your actions.

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

Spend some time alone every day.

Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality. 

Be gentle with the earth.

Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

 Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

My partner and I were on our way to Bellaspetto in Tuscany, Italy where Oliver, a retired English Doctor, had planted about half of the 200 odd trees for his small olive oil business run from the farm. Sadly, Oliver had died several years ago, and as I text my friends and family that I was off to pick his olives, the predict setting on my mobile phone preferred the word Oliver, making me smile. He became very present during the time we were there, pleased that we were involved and keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings.

Around the beginning of November it is olive picking session in Tuscany. The trees in the groves are laden down with green and black olives, which have grown by absorbed the sunshine of the Italian summer and the early autumn rain. The green olives are the unripe fruit and black fully ripened, with the flavours of the green and black varying. For a good quality Tuscan olive oil you need a blend of both, in addition to a mix of four local varieties of olives.

Olive picking is very labour intensive, once the dew has dried in the morning an individual tree has a net laid down for the olives to fall on to. The lower branches are picked from the ground and then ladders brought in for the more difficult to reach. Each tree has its own individuality and sometimes climbing the trees to the topmost, thinnest branches is more efficient, and a fun picking technique. This tree hopping brought to mind, the scene of jumping through the bamboo in the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Crouching Panda, Hidden Olive!). With this repetitive process you can see that the mind can wander into realms of its imagination.

The olives are picked by hand or with a small hand held rake to sweep down the branches, causing the olives to fall onto the net. Sometimes the olives are satisfyingly clustered on the branches and a whole little heap can be pulled off in one sweep, at other times it is painstaking as each olive is individually plucked. Once the whole tree has been picked the net is lifted from one side to roll the olives into a pile, which is then transferred into a crate. The process is then repeated with the next tree.

In the evening our hands and arms were dry, rough and a little scratched and of course the best antidote to the condition proved to be a couple of applications of last years deeply nourishing Bellaspetto olive oil, leaving our hands smooth and plump again; like curing like. This made me realise that olive oil was such an important ingredient in a thick hand cream and that I really wanted to make a big batch once the oil was extracted.

Over a week and a half the trees were slowly picked, with the help of family and local people and large lunches of soup, bread, cheese and salad with evenings of socialising and drinking the ruby red Chianti, the local Tuscan wine. The continued practice of small-scale olive farming still honours the traditions and the people that have lived and worked in that beautiful land. With the empty trees brought the quality of a released burden, the yearly cycle being completed brought a sense of quiet and rest into the misty groves.

The olives are stored in the workshop to wait a time to be crushed in a local cooperative mill. If there are over 100 kilograms of olives the mill processes the oil as an individual batch and you can watch as the olives turn to golden green oil, satisfyingly wholesome, deliciously fresh and spicy ready to use and to store for the coming year.

What a wonderful day despite the rain. Many people turned out, along with the local band, police, coast guards and all the local children’s clubs. For the adults there was Line and Spanish dancing and many healthy food stalls, with not a beer tent or hotdog stall in sight. Wonderful.

I shared a marquee with my daughter’s nutrition stand that was representing Aberystwyth University, which was good as many people came to try the free healthy foods. I had made information posters with photographs and people came to smell the different aromas on smelling strips, which were a great success. While the children went to do competitions on the nutrition stall their parents came to chat with me and were really interest. Although many people had heard of aromatherapy not many knew much about it.

I explaining the oils and their uses and told them about the Holistic Aromatherapy Diploma that is run by our Welsh School of Aromatherapy. Between speaking I also completed three hand massages. Interestingly one receiver of the massage loved the smell of fennel essential oil, and while I massaged her hands with a blend containing fennel she told me that she had been ill the night before with nausea and wind pain. She was amazed when I told her that these conditions are helped by the use of fennel.

To sum up the whole day, it was a very worthwhile experience and I will be there next year, having already having been asked, as our contribution was very much appreciated.

Starting Thursday, October 2nd 12.30-3.30 for 10 weeks 

Lindsay Woodman, Tutor and Principal of the Welsh School of Aromatherapy will be running a beginners Aromatherapy for Home Use Course through Coleg Harlech WEA, which will be accredited as an Open College Network Level 1. It will act as a good, informative and fun introduction for anyone that may be interested in completing the Diploma at a later date, or alternately an enjoyable few hours learning to use the lovely essential oils safely at home.  The class is very ‘hands-on’, covering the uses of essential oils, health and safety and doing simple and non-evasive massage, also making body oils and even your own perfume as well as other activities.

For more information and to book a place phone:

Coleg Harlech Short Course Department on 01766 781 937 or visit their website www.harlech.ac.uk  It is possible that you may be able to do the course for free.   

Saturday 21st June 2008.  12am - 4pm on the Secondary School field in Barmouth.

The Welsh School of Aromatherapy will be represented by Lindsay Woodman, the Principal and a practicing Aromatherapist, also Carol Harvey a student  who is about to graduate and will be working in the Barmouth area as a Holistic Aromatherapist from August 2008.  There will be information about the school and you can talk to our representatives about Aromatherapy Treatment, The Diploma Course and other Aromatherapy Courses in the area. There will be also many other stalls and other activities of interest on a wide range of health topics.   See you there!