Yesterday it was my joy to spend a couple hours with two homeschooling Moms who introduced me to doTERRA Essential Oils.  My friend Heidi knew of my love for oils and took the risk to call me up and ask if she could share and spend some time in my home.  I suggested we head over to the park so the children could play while we talked.  With eleven homeschooled little ones ripping around my small house, I did not think we would be able to visit.

So despite the cold we headed over and spent an hour sniffing oil bottles.  I have been a Young Living Essential Oils distributor for the past fifteen years, and have used a variety of brands since I bought my first bottle of Lavender at a health food store when I was a teen back in the 80’s.  I had informed Heidi that I would only give her an hour of my time as I was skeptical that any oil could be better than my beloved Young Living brand.  Frankly, I was more interested in spending time with other Moms who share similar interests than I was in learning about this brand of oils.

But I opened the bottles and started sniffing and used a few drops of Peppermint, Lavender, and the balancing oil blend on my skin.  I immediately knew that these were an excellent addition to my arsenal of natural family living products and was thrilled to learn of the Family Physician Kit of oils that they have put together for parents to use around the home.  I have long believed and taught on this blog that Mothers hold the key to wellness for their children.  And with powerful therapeutic oils on hand to aid in wellness, I understand that any company that takes the time and energy to create quality products deserves to have a chance.

This morning I spent an hour clicking around the web to see what sort of garbage was being said about doTERRA  and Young Living as competitors and was not surprised to see that a variety of blog posts and controversies were blasting around the web for all to see.  As I told my friends yesterday, there is enough room in our world for a couple hundred essential oils companies, and I look forward to the day when that is the case.

If a group of people decide they want to add products to the marketplace and provide some healthy competition for those who are selling similar products, that is what the American Free Enterprise System is all about.

Now does my choice to become a doTERRA distributor mean that I am going to start dumping on my beloved Young Living and never again use their products?  No.  I look on this choice as simply learning more, enjoying more, engaging more, and widening my circle of friends and colleagues.  I intend to make the steps to become a distributor next month for doTERRA.

I have long believed that parents are groomed to ask the wrong questions.

When a child is sick the question should not be, “Pink Antibiotic or White Antibiotic?” It should be Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, or Thyme?

When a child is being born the question should not be, “C Section or Walking Epidural?” It should be What type of birth would be ideal for this baby and this mother?

I organized the second Husband/Wife Homebirth Conference back in 2001 and as we closed down the Conference an interesting thing occurred. As Jeannine and Rico were giving the closing keynote address, a blast of lighting hit right as they said the words “Medical Profession”, and the lights in the room went out.  It took several minutes for the pandemonium that ensued to quiet down and as the final portion of the conference closed down…It left all of us feeling quite jumpy. In the above video I referred to the incident as the conference was ended.  Then I followed by saying that an inclusiveness is what is called for when considering the debates between Allopathic (drugs and surgery birth) and the other forms of childbirth.

I believe this inclusiveness is also important when considering the questions of how best to heal our children when they are ill.

I don’t care if others vaccinate, but millions of dollars have been invested in educating the public that I as a non vaccinating mother am a menace to society and a threat to my children.

I don’t care if doctors and midwives don’t approve of my choice to give birth at home alone, but some of them seem to be extremely upset by the supposed threat that Homebirth, Lotus Birth, and Empowered Natural Mothering is to their profit streams.

I don’t think it is just the money that is tied to birth that upsets the profession, I believe it is also the questioning that takes place when those doctors and midwives who have been carefully indoctrinated in the birthing status quo at school engage in when they are confronted with the reality that a group of parents do not want to purchase what they have to sell.

The doctors and midwives have literally piled up hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt betting on the status quo of a 99% monopoly over birth when they set up Obstetric and Midwifery practices, and the idea that the vast majority of parents could potentially birth children alone is simply noxious to their world view and plans for a prosperous professional life.

And it is this reality of a Birth Monopoly and a fixed income stream from hospital birth that is extremely threatened by anything new or different.

I believe an inclusive approach to healing and wellness is what will save humanity from the foibles and folly of current medical insanity around birth and healing.

As doctors and midwives begin to explore the wonderful world of essential oils for healing and open their hearts to the reality that home birth is a viable and safe option for many families, hopefully they will come to learn that trusting Mothers and consumers to make wise choices for the health of their families will ensure a bright and healthy future for all of us.

Doctors and Midwives may not make the buckets of money currently tied to medical birth and drug and surgery healing, but we will all benefit from a more holistic approach to life and health.

Jenny Hatch

UPDATE: Since the time this post was written in November I have closed down my Young Living business and am working doTERRA, they have a better marketing plan, more generous compensation, and a very dynamic group of leaders.