25 Thoughtful and Unusual Valentine's Day Gifts

Looking for unique and beautiful Valentine’s Day gifts?

BEAUTY PRODUCTS:

What could be a more sustainable and intimate choice than REAL ROSES in Dr. Hauschka products on BewellwithAIM! 

Dr. Rudolph Hauschka founded Hauschka Skin Care as a means to support the healing of humankind and the planet. In 1929, he achieved success in creating a water-based extract of rose petals that remained stable without the use of alcohol or preservatives. That very extract (or "mother substance") remained stable for more than 30 years.

Hauschka nourished a small collection of beautiful botanicals built around water extracts of damask and Bulgarian roses. Because the rose essence sustained within has such a high level of purity and quality, it confers a healing benefit making these beauty products as much therapeutic as cosmetic.

Rose petals contain polyphenols, organic compounds that contain a high amount of pigment or color. These act as antioxidants that work to protect your body from cell damage. They act as a natural sunscreen, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging. As an antiseptic and antimicrobial, rose topically can help fight acne, soothe dermatitis, and is helpful with eczema and psoriasis. The smell of roses helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and calm the senses.

If you go to BewellwithAIM.com, put in the password AIM, it will unlock the site.

You can do a search for “Hauschka Rose” and all 16 products will come up.

We love the Rose Nurturing Body Oil. There are times when your skin and mind long for harmonizing, strengthening care. Help your loved one promote a sense of balance and well-being with this delicate, nourishing body oil. Extracts of damask roses soothe, calm, and protect sensitive skin. Jojoba oil as a carrier comes from the beans of a desert shrub. It is bright and golden in color with a mild odor, it conserves moisture for silky, supple skin. 

Another favorite is the Rose Nurturing Cream. Featuring the enveloping fragrance of roses, this iconic body cream helps offer warmth and protection to skin and senses. Quickly absorbed, this rich, luxurious body moisturizer supports the skin’s natural barrier function for intensive care and protection. The base is organic shea butter, cocoa butter, and almond and jojoba oils, the suspension is a water extract of damask roses. 

We happen to have a limited supply of rose products in the office. 

Rose Day Cream Dr. Hauschka $45.99 (*limited sale, $39.99)

Rose Nurturing Body Oil Dr. Hauschka $29.99 (*limited sale, $19.99)

Nurturing Body Cream Dr. Hauschka $36.99 (*limited sale, $29.99)

*Call us at (248) 798-2942 or send us an email at Dr.Roy@aimnatural.com to order discounted products from our in-office collection. These are available for shipping or curbside pick up. These are first come and first serve but no worries, you can still access these under retail value, for the month of February only on BewellwithAIM.com

CRYSTALS:

We have a limited supply of real rose quartz hearts in the office.

Rose Quartz, with its gentle pink essence, is a stone with an affinity for the heart and for the breast. It carries a soft energy of compassion and peace, tenderness and healing, nourishment and comfort. Many ancient cultures use rose quartz to activate the heart energy.

In India, rose quartz speaks directly to the Heart Chakra, dissolving emotional wounds, fears, and resentments, and circulates a Divine loving energy throughout the entire aura. Reawakening the heart to its own innate love, it provides a deep sense of personal fulfillment and contentment, allowing one the capacity to truly give and receive love from others.

In ancient Western cultures, Celtic, Norse, and others, Rose Quartz was used as a love token even as early as 600 B.C. It was effective in attracting new love, romance, and intimacy, or in developing a closer bond with family or friends. In ritual, it was used to support connection within groups and communities and carries a high spiritual attunement to the Earth, Universe, and the Divine.

Prized in the ancient African world for its powers of physical beautification, facial masks of Rose Quartz have been recovered from Egyptian tombs, thought by the Egyptians to clear the complexion and prevent wrinkles. Rose Quartz was considered a personal totem in Africa. It inspired the love of beauty, in oneself and others, in nature, and especially that which stimulates the imagination…art, music, and the written word.

In ancient Eastern cultures, particularly in Tibet and China, it was one of the major carving stones. The Chinese used quartz in various types of pastes, powders, and solutions for topical application for soothing and cleaning the skin.

We obtained these small rose quartz hearts from a highly reputable small craftsman. They fit nicely into an undergarment or bra where they warm against the skin and help to integrate healing energy into your life post-radiation, pre or post-surgery, or in survivorship. They are a wonderful gift for you to purchase for yourself or for your loved ones.

Dr. Roy wears one close to her heart daily in practice and often recommends them to patients to use in their undergarments after their daily radiation.

These are $8 each and can be purchased here.

TEAS:

We also have a limited supply of PUKKA teas in the office. Taken orally, the same rose polyphenols that support the skin topically, have been shown to reduce the risk of:

• Heart disease

• Diabetes

• Obesity

• Cognitive diseases

PUKKA is now available over the counter so we no longer have access to it wholesale. We LOVED PUKKA because of the company’s focus on organic farming, fair trade, and conservation through commerce. Every Pukka plastic-free tea bag comes in its own recyclable envelope to retain the essential oils in their ethically sourced 100% organically grown herbs. Each bag has two cloth chambers, allowing these incredible herbs to flow and release the full potency in your cup. 

We have limited availability at the reduced cost of $9/box of:

After Dinner:

Roasted chicory root (24%), aniseed, fennel seed (20%), licorice root, cardamom seed (8%), orange peel, ginger root. After your valentine’s dinner is a non-caffeinated “coffee-like” drink that is made with organic aniseed, cardamom, chicory, fennel, ginger, and licorice. It’s a wonderfully sumptuous tea for soothing digestion after your meal.

Beyond the chatter, steam rises, and mugs are stirred. First, the luxurious taste of roasted chicory. Next, the calm of cardamom mingling with aniseed, followed by sweet fennel and licorice. One slow sip follows another. These herbs are all heart and immune supportive. 

Relax:

Sweet fennel seed (24%), chamomile flower (18%), licorice root, oat flowering tops, cardamom pod, ginger root, marshmallow root (10%). Made with organic chamomile flower to help you to unwind and fennel seed and ginger to ease digestion. This tea is meant for relaxation, it’s lovely right before bed or an intimate moment, especially for patients who struggle with anticipatory anxiety before sex, or anxious rumination before bed. It’s excellent before difficult conversations and the fennel and ginger are heart and immune supportive. 

Love:

Chamomile flower (25%), limeflower, elderflower, marigold petal, licorice root, rose flower (5%) lavender flower (5%). Made with rose hips, organic chamomile, elderflower, lavender, licorice, limeflower, and marigold. This tea is excellent for patients with a risk of cardiotoxicity but also a delicious gift for Valentine’s Day. Herbs may feel like gentle warriors, but brewed correctly and taken consistently, they can be life-changing. Rose is excellent for vessel damage and heart health and lavender and chamomile are wonderful for hypertension.

Three Mint:

Peppermint leaf (34%), spearmint leaf (34%) fieldmint leaf (32%). This tea is a blend of three types of mint for a vibrant cool and supreme sweetness. Like a natural bubblegum, this tea is a cooling digestive that also supports the respiratory system and immune health. 

Three Fennel:

Sweet fennel seed (50%), wild fennel (bitter fennel) seed (45%), fennel leaf (5%). Fennel was highly valued in the ancient world by Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Chinese, and Indians for its value as a carminative, expectorant, and as a talisman used in various rituals. Due to fennel's gentle nature, it is used to support digestion in infants and children and can be given to nursing mothers. It prevents heartburn and is an underrated immune supportive. Like the Three Mint and After Dinner, it’s lovely digestive after a rich meal. 

Cinnamon:

Vietnamese cinnamon bark (60%), Indonesian cinnamon bark (16%), licorice, Indian cinnamon bark (10%). This is Dr. Roy’s favorite. The taste is sweet and spicy. Cinnamon is heart supportive. To extract the organic compounds that are medicinal, a tea needs to be steeped for quite some time. At least 5-10 minutes for flavor and overnight for therapeutic healing. This tea just gets better with steeping time.

Revitalize:

Cinnamon bark (25%), orange peel, elderflower, cardamom seed (10%), licorice root, ginger root (7%), green tea, spearmint leaf, clove bud, black peppercorn. This is Dr. March’s favorite. It is a “mother tea” that blends many of the herbs in the teas above. An alternative to coffee, this tea wakes you up, supports your immune system, acts as a heart and vessel supportive. 

These special teas are first come, first serve. We only have a few boxes of each. Call us at (248) 798-2942 or send us an email at Dr.Roy@aimnatural.com to order these discounted teas from our in-office collection. These are available for shipping or curbside pick up.

Given the gentle, yet powerful nature of herbs and our particular skills in medicinal herbs, Associates of Integrative Medicine has brought in a full dispensary of herbs and will be designing individual blends for each of our patients using 100% organically grown, ethically sourced, high-quality plants. 

Our goal is to design and hand-deliver to you, your own custom compounded tea, tailored to your specific health goals for costs ranging from $10-$15/three cups a day for one month! 

Whole Plants as Powerful Healers

By Sheba S. Roy, ND FABNO

WARNING: May contain triggers for those who have been a victim of personal violence

We are in the process of building an herbal dispensary. Our plan is to offer whole, organic, locally sourced, carefully curated herbs, in clinic. Dr. March and I are skilled in putting these herbs together into personalized blends tailored to each patient’s unique needs.

When I was a young adult, I experienced a traumatic incident at my first doctor’s visit without my parents. This resulted in high levels of stress which changed the way my immune system responded to the world around me. Unknown to me and to my doctors, my body stopped making a type of immune compound that was necessary to protect my gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) tract.

Like our patients who may be immunocompromised, I fell victim to all kinds of illnesses. Managed by well-meaning, excellent medical doctors with a 10-year cycle of antimicrobials, I experienced crippling side effects and that caused more damage to my fragile system for which I required more and more medication.

Private pain became my constant companion and my ability to form intimate relationships was impaired. I had always been on a conventional medical tract and worked hard to succeed despite my disability.

As God would have it, I met a naturopathic doctor who figured out what the medical doctors had missed. She listened differently to my history of trauma; her training as an ND mandated that she consider how our state of mind impacts our physical body and she tested my immunoglobulins. 

Sure enough, I wasn’t making an immunoglobulin integral to mucosal health. In addition to support for PTSD, she designed an herbal tea for me and had me drink 3 cups a day for 365 days. My body responded to these herbs. The integrity of my GI and GU tract were restored and my immune system came to life. I never experienced this illness again. The freedom from pain and the experience of true cure was transformative for me.

It is this level of liberation that I aim toward for all of our patients.

The interplay between plants and human health has been documented for at least 5000 years. Herbs delivered as a tea can be a powerful, healing force because they have an entourage effect. They gently shift a person’s health over months and years with little to no side effects.

Both pharmaceutical drugs and supplements are most commonly sourced from natural substances. 25% of all drugs in use today are derived from rainforest plants. Consider that some of the most common drugs we use in cancer care: aspirin, opioids, chemotherapeutics: Taxanes, Vincristines, Vinblastines, and the Irino-and Topo-tecans come from Willow Bark, Poppies, Pacific Yew tree, the Madagascar Periwinkle and the Chinese Happy Tree, respectively.

Many people feel that the most important difference between drugs and supplements is the way that they are regulated. That is an important difference but not a relevant issue for our patients as we are careful to direct you to supplements that are safe, well sourced and not contaminated.

The most important difference for us is that drugs are derived from a single constituent or portion of a plant. That compound is then usually synthesized or mimicked in a lab setting.

For example, the plant, Cannabis Sativa, has gotten a lot of recognition lately.

Cannabis has two main strains or daughters. One is THC (Tetra-hydro-cannabinol) and the other is CBD (cannabidiol).

The THC strain is what we refer to as the marijuana drug.

CBD, on the other hand has no psychoactive or hallucinogenic effects and has become popular as an anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) and analgesic (pain reliever).

CBD, because it is a whole plant, has an entourage effect. There are at least 100 chemical parts (cannabinoids) that act together to balance each other out, enhance each other’s effects, and help each other’s effects to shine. The plant itself is a tiny ecosystem in and of itself. Like a fine wine, the whole plant has textures, tastes, flavors, personality. So when we ingest whole plants we experience slow, gradual impacts that are long lasting and gentle.

Marinol is a pharmaceutical drug where scientists mimic a cannabinoid found in THC in a lab, suspend it in sesame oil and deliver it by capsule. Marinol, looks like THC and acts like THC. It helps with appetite, sleep and weight gain and is commonly prescribed in cancer care. The problem is because it’s a single agent, divorced from all of it’s other parts, it has a sledgehammer-like high, people feel heavy headed on it and wake groggy. Without it’s sister parts, it’s impact, like most drugs, is immediate, effective, short acting and does have side effects.

CBD is excellent as a therapeutic for anxiety but there are many other herbs in our arsenal. One to highlight is Chamomile. In the daisy family, it’s one of oldest herbs known to mankind. Interestingly, it was revered by ancient black and white peoples alike. There are papyri demonstrating that ancient African peoples believed the herb to be sacred. Among Saxon peoples it was used for religious ceremonies as the “Mother of all Herbs”. We know that spiritual healers, regardless of origin believed it powerful in purification and protection.

Medicinally, Chamomile, as a whole plant, has the best data in:
—Initiating Sleep
—Aiding in Digestion
—Helping with Anxiety
—Treating inflammation

In general, using chamomile as a tea, at bedtime, after dinner, and for at least 3 months, we can see powerful shifts: a sense of peace; an inner stillness, and an ability to stay present that may not have existed before.

You can experiment with Chamomile by purchasing the tincture through BewellwithAIM.com from Herb Pharm or Wise Woman Herbals.

Things came full circle and I recently testified in a large trial about that assault. I was one of 18,000 women in a class action suit brought against the institution that protected that predator for 20 years. Afterwards, I went for the longest walk, talked to Dr. March, took an Epsom salt bath with Lavender flowers, covered myself from head to toe in an oil mixture of castor, almond oil and lavender essential oil, and had a cup of very strong Chamomile tea.

I slept a dreamless, restful night.

Recipe for chamomile tea:

Equal parts:
—Chamomile
¼ part:
—Fennel
—Lavender
—Licorice Root (exclude if you have hypertension)

2 tsp of manuka honey
¼ tsp of vanilla extract

Can be made in a large mason jar and refrigerated for a week.
Do not steep herbs for longer than an hour or it can cause nausea.

References:
PMID: 21132119
PMID: 27790360
http://abc.herbalgram.org