Thursday, January 22, 2009

My PMS Formula │ 我的PMS配方

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) (historically called PMT or Premenstrual Tension) is a collection of physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms related to a woman's menstrual cycle. While most women of child-bearing age (about 80 percent) have some premenstrual symptoms,[1] women with PMS have symptoms of "sufficient severity to interfere with some aspects of life".[2] Such symptoms are usually predictable and occur regularly during the two weeks prior to menses. The symptoms may vanish after the menstrual flow starts, but may continue even after the flow has begun.
Origin: from Wikipedia


今天要寫這篇我的PMS配方之前,很快的research了一下,發現PMS還真的不只是PMS,在大家叫他PMS之前,其實以前只被認定成一種PMT àTension。稱他為一種Syndrome,也就是醫學科學上無解的症狀,只好歸類為Syndrome,但是也並不能說是一種disease。

有興趣的人可以去Wikipedia看全文(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premenstrual_syndrome)就會發現女性主義者很不爽這個稱謂,認為把一種女性自然生理不適的現象,歸類為疾病(illness),甚至需要被治療,是整體貶低女性社會價值的表徵。

我只能說,女性主義學者們,妳們真的很偉大,無時無刻地在為我們女性的平等價值努力;但是,如果妳真的有過PMS,其實承認PMS的症狀,以及它在妳生活中的影響,好像也沒什麼大不了?既然是女性自然生理的現象,就算需要被控制跟治療,也是再自然不過的吧?

我的角度而言,就是因為認同自己女性的identity,所以我認同她帶給我的好處跟壞處啊,認同接受之後,想辦法去了解跟控制,總比一天到晚不承認:「不!我不是弱者,我不會有什麼經前症候群的問題,我和你們男人一樣,隨時都可以去伊拉克打仗! 」的要好吧?

我和我的PMS掙扎了很多年,也一直想辦法去控制它。很多時候,不了解的人都會說這是庸人自擾,既然是自然的生理現象,並不會影響妳的生活,但是隨著年紀增長,才越來越了解其實那些說法都是折磨自己,因為妳會一直覺得自己好像過度反應,這根本就是妳想像出來的症狀,但是妳卻又不太能控制自己的身體與情緒,到頭來總覺得自己是個怪胎。
開始上芳療課後,我們除了課堂外的client case study,課堂間的in-class case study也非常有趣。我的partner是Cyn,我們互做consultation,一開始的時候我實在覺得她很兇(她大約五十餘歲,白人,以前是bartender,後來轉做massage therapist,笑稱以前調的是evil blending,現在轉調精油,希望調些好的東西來補償她以前調的爛東西..XDDD)

我跟Cyn互相諮詢的症狀正好是同一種類型,我的是PMS與menstrual cramp,她的則是menopause。
以下是我們討論出來的針對我個人的PMS配方,

基底油:Jojoba Oil (如果更講究一點,可以加一半St. Johns Wort Oil/聖約翰浸泡油)
1oz (about 30ml)

精油:
Grapefruit 4d
Lavender 6d
Geranium 6d
Rosewood 6d

我在一月的時候很認真的在經期前兩週每天都按摩在後腰跟整個腹部,若有水腫的現象,則整個下半身都按。
效果超乎我的期待!之前總覺得好像不能夠去征服我的PMS,它要不舒服我也沒辦法。這次卻出乎意料的”順”,沒有感受到太大的不適。或許應該說PMS的存在感變小了,不舒服的天數也明顯地從原本的一個多禮拜,減少到大約兩天。

(我說的都只是PMS,是前期喔,不是生理期)

總之,因為太常接觸精油,有時候雖然知道她的諸多好處,卻因為忙碌於解決別人的問題,忘了自己。這是一個好配方,是我切身經歷過能夠帶給我更多自由的配方。

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The art of blending

While we make our blending, we always have our own unique way to decide what should be put into this blending to achieve our goal. Most people make their decision upon the combination of intuition and rationality while others need a more precise instruction to guide them through.

One of my dearest aromatherapist friends always asked me how I came out with all my recipes. In our training, we did a lot of interactive consultation with people. We had the luck to work and play at the same time surrounded by the great energy of essential oils. As an aromatherapist, we are not in any positions of healing or making health practices for people. We are just highly rely on the power of natural remedies could ease and sooth the burden of pain. And sorrow, sometimes.

There are usually two arena of blending techniques that we use. You can go with either one of them, or choose to go between, like I do. One is based on your intuition of the therapeutic properties of the essential oils; the other is analyze according to different criteria and grouping of the essential oils, such as their chemical families, specific chemical constituents, botanic families, plant parts, even using alternative technique, such as Chakras.

I came across of a Chinese article from a blog (the blogger might also copied this from somewhere else) talked about how to blend. Yes, how to blend. This is really a big issue to discuss, isn’t it?

Yet this article features more on blending according to the aroma which can be a great resource for those who like to be more analytical with some guidelines to follow:

Step 1: Make sure you know the problem in this case and the therapeutic properties/ emotional properties of the essential oils you would like to blend with.

Step 2: Test. When you blend, you have to understand the notes of each oil, whether they are top-noted, middle-noted, or base-noted. The note is determined according to the evaporation rate/time of each oil. Sandalwood being famous for evaporating slow, it’s a base note oil; Lavender evaporates fast, it’s a top note. (Lavender usually is categories as middle-to-top note. Not necessarily a top note. It’s quite subjective. However, almost everyone will agree all the citrus oils are top-noted.)

Step 3: Top-noted oil evaporates fast, so it’s the first aroma coming out in a blend. The aroma only flows about 30 minutes or even less. Therefore, add 5-20% top noted oil in a blending is appropriate. (Well, again, what does flow 30 minutes or less suggest? Still a subjective perception and it’ll differ from one to the other)

Step 4: Middle- noted oils determined the aroma of the synergy in your blend. They are used to balance each other and can last about 3 hours. 50-80% usage is appropriate.

Step 5: Base noted oils are usually quite aromatic and grounding. Adding the base noted oils can help to slow down the evaporation of this blend and make the aroma last longer. 5-20% is suggested.I hope this can be helpful for those of you who struggle to decide the percentage and types of oils to blend from the aromatic perspective. In my opinion, whenever the intentions are pure and great, the oils just smell wonderful and “right”.

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