Update on Business Plan

I've been on vacation the last week or so, and took time off to relax from writing the business plan.  This growing of a business is going much more slowly than I thought it would, but I'm trying to take baby steps and grow along with it.  I want to create a business that is compatible with a holistic healthy lifestyle, and I'm  not going to do that by diving in obsessively.  So the business will be slow-growing, and my energy for it will grow slowly along with it.

The exciting news about the dough is that I had verification from Jim Crabtree that the formulas for each chakra really do activate the chakras they're intended to activate.  Jim was trained at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and is the founder of the Corestar Energy Healing School in Kansas City.  He'll be writing up his impressions of the aromatherapy dough in a later guest post.  Full disclosure:  Jim is my father and the person from whom I learned the most about the human energy body and chakra healing.  He has conducted over 9,000 energy healings and is the author of Seven Windows to Wholeness, so I'm excited that he could verify the aromatherapy dough's efficacy.

We have 8 houseguests this coming week in an already-crowded household of 6, so I'm not able to use the kitchen to make much dough.  I am going to make a batch of serenity dough for myself today though.  I think I'll need it. 

Add Aromatherapy Dough to Acupressure to Counteract Addiction

This video is of a self-administered acupressure exercise to counteract addiction.  Add The Comfort Kit's Vitality Dough - a small ball in the palm of each hand, and you are adding dimension and potency to this meditation.  Go ahead! Give it a try:

Comment with how this exercise works for you. 

Empowerment Meditation - 4 minutes

Next time you are facing a meeting with your boss, a tough negotiation, a confrontation, a first date, a job interview or even just an ugly Monday morning, try this:

1.  Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart.


2.  Work with the Empowerment dough for a minute or so with both hands, just exploring how your own power manipulates the physical environment.  Bring the dough close to you and observe the color and smell and how they make you feel.

3.  Now roll the dough into a ball, and cup it in your left hand (in some traditions, the "receiving" hand).  Leave your hand open, palm upward. Bring your hand with the aromatherapy dough up to the level of your heart to the middle of the breastbone.

4.  Now form the Ahamkara Mudra with your right hand.  The Ahamkara Mudra is a hand position that looks like this:

Note that the thumb is touching the outside of the index finger at the first joint.
(Click here for an introduction to mudras. )

5.  Bring your right hand, maintaining Ahamkara, to a spot about an inch from your body, and two inches above the navel.  You can hold your hand palm up as long as you are maintaining the position.

6.  Spend 1-2 minutes in this position, breathing deeply and being aware that you have some power in this moment to affect the environment around you.  Experiment with saying or thinking an affirmation like:  "I value myself and add value to others." "I love and approve of myself."  "I deserve good things."  See what works for you.


7. When you are ready, relax your hands and begin working with the dough again, noticing how much power you have over the moment you're in.  End the meditation by putting the Empowerment dough back in its tin and go forth knowing that you are equal to what meets you today.

Mission Statement Updated

Our mission is to promote mental, physical, and spiritual health through the development and use of innovative products. We also believe that healing happens in a planetary and community context, so our mission includes seeking out organic and free trade products where possible, and donating products to under-served populations.

Mission Statement

I'm working on getting a mission statement in place today, something I've resisted in the past because they seem so...abstract.  Of course I want to o promote mental, physical and spiritual health.  I want to provide innovative products (invent stuff for comfort kits) and teaching people how to use them.  

Mostly I want to promote the use of comfort kits. To help people with invisible disabilities, and to connect and make a meaningful difference to people with chronic illness whether mental or physical.  I have a special place in my heart for people who have mental health challenges, as well as for those who have lupus, or MS, or fibromyalgia, or Lyme's disease.  I want to help people who have disabilities, and I want to help people who are stressed-out ("to the max" as we used to say in the 80's).  I want stay-at-home Moms to have something that they can use to relax for a few seconds in a locked bathroom when they have a screaming kid on the other side of the door.  I can see myself growing in my own energy level to the point where I could do something significant for the mental health community in the Seattle area...thus the idea for donating 10% of the aromatherapy dough to mental health institutions and art therapists in this area.  Treatment centers might be a good place to donate as well -- people need to learn how to play all over again, how to take care of themselves in recovery.


I want to help people in recovery who are discouraged and on the verge of relapse decide that they can make it one more day.  I want to help people remember their best and highest selves, by actually providing tools and information that help them interrupt unhealthy thinking/feeling habits.  I'm only beginning to imagine the way in which this company and this particular product can make a difference in my corner of the world...Seattle, the Pacific Northwest, the U.S.


So how to get all that in a mission statement is the challenge before me today.  If anyone has any thoughts, please feel free to comment!

A happy beta tester!

I really liked your aromatherapy dough (: As soon as I smelt all the lavender, I felt waaay less stressed, and I like that I can work it with my hands. Very cool stuff!

--Natalie, 15

Product Label

I'm looking at product label and packaging options.  Trying to go for inexpensive, but without sacrificing professionalism.  I mean, I could just label everything with masking tape and Sharpies, but that would lack something, wouldn't it?  So here's the proof of the label I'm considering.  Will be using metal tins, round, about 4 oz.  The label would be on the lid:

Let me know in comments if you have any suggestions.

Cooling Off

Today I took a few samples of the aromatherapy dough to Joe and Evenstar's tea party.  Curtis discovered a new use for the dough:  chill it and then put it on the pulse points to cool off on a hot day. 

Business Plan - Cost of Goods

This afternoon after consulting with my friend Joshua, I spent a few hours getting a business plan together.  It still needs some work (good thing the SBA describes this plan as a "living document"!), but I'm pretty happy with the work I'm doing on it.  My big push was to get an accurate cost of all ingredients I'd need to make 10 sets of the aromatherapy dough -- I'm happy with the math, but not so much with the costs of ingredients.  A lot of stuff is needed for start-up, especially since I'm committed to ultimately using an with a long shelf-life that is good for the skin (like Vitamin E) and want to use organic essential oils.  Oils are expensive, but I've got the cost of essential oils down to 91 cents per 8 ounces of dough -- if only I could bring the other expenses down!  Working on it.  Because right now the dough costs a projected amount of $7 per cup, and that's before labor.  Still -- it's nice to be moving forward and I'm excited.

Production Value

I'm still working on refining the ingredients of the dough -- looking for the highest quality and purest source essential oils, and experimenting with ways of stabilizing the dough.  Most of the dough I've made has been wonderful and I love the elasticity and smoothness of it, but I'm running into a problem with oxidization of the oils in the dough, so I need to find a way to stabilize the product, which, since I'm not a chemist, will require some futzing about with stuff I haven't worked with before.  It might also mean switching to a really high quality mineral oil, like Vitamin E...I'm trying to keep the ingredients of the dough (and therefore the price) low enough to be accessible. 

Still looking at making initial sales in September, but may have a special "beta testing" price for the initial aromatherapy dough.

Regarding the Vitality dough, I tried clove bud, which is great for opening the first chakra and smells nicely spicy, but it can be caustic if it's in too great a concentration, and can cause a reaction in sensitive skin.  So I'm looking at switching back to ylang ylang, which is more sensual/floral but still therapeutic for increasing one's commitment to life, resolving security issues, grounding and sexuality.  That or sandalwood.  I'd like to try both.

So that's where I am on this journey.  Still experimenting.

:)

Virginia, aka "Comfort Kit"

What is Aromatherapy Dough?

Aromatherapy dough is play dough for grownups!  It can be used in meditation, to change a mood, for art therapy, physical therapy, as an educational manipulative -- or just for fun!

• VITALITY - red (testing clove bud oil, ylang ylang, and sandalwood)
• GOOD CHEER! - orange (orange)
• EMPOWERMENT - yellow (lemon eucalyptus, testing lemon verbena)
• BALANCE - green (clary sage)
• CREATIVITY - sky blue (peppermint - also great for concentration and enhancing mental performance!)
• MEDITATION - indigo (myrrh)
• SERENITY - purple (lavender)

For the initial run, the dough will come in 2 oz size for therapeutic value.  Later, I may look at packaging Aromatherapy Dough in larger sizes for people who'd like to expand their use of the dough or who are daily users.

Order information forthcoming.  I'm hoping to be in production by the end of September.  In the meantime, if you have question or suggestions, or want to add your name to a contact list for being notified when the aromatherapy dough is up for sales, please email me: aromatherapydough@gmail.com.

Ingredients

The dough base of Comfort Kit Aromatherapy Dough is made from nontoxic ingredients:  flour, salt, cream of tartar and vegetable oil.  Currently, the dough is colored with food coloring (currently McCormick and Betty Crocker food colors), and scented with Aura Cacia oils, which are independently sourced and monitored for health and safety.  More information on the sourcing and sustainability of those oils on Aura Cacia's website.  Please be aware that some people can be sensitive to specific plant oils and order accordingly. 

I value organic, sustainable, free-trade products and am always seeking out new sources for these ingredients. Please email your referrals:

aromatherapydough@gmail.com.  Thanks!

Anxiety-Provoking Appointments

Today Kevin and I took the kids to the UW/Children's Hospital Pediatric Cental Clinic.  They were nervous, particularly Sar, who has what amounts to a phobia of going to the dentist.  I gave Penny the Serenity dough (lavender) and Sar the Good Cheer dough (orange - it's his favorite). Penny ditched the dough pretty quickly, but Elessar held onto his for the entire two hours.  Success. We got through the appointments with some minor trembling, but no tears or cussing.  I think that may be first.