So I went back to visit my parents this summer and became inspired by my mother to keep a cleaner house and prepare more homemade food.  One of the things she likes to do is keep a jar of browned flour on hand so that whenever she wants to make gravy, it can be made instantly.

I used to do this, too, but have gotten out of the habit.  Tasting her gravy, though, made me remember how much better it is than gravy mixes, so I set out to brown a big batch of flour.  I found the perfect container – a newly emptied plastic honey bottle with handle and a big mouth.

This was going to be the best gravy ever.  I poured the flour into the container so that it fit perfectly, then sifted the flour into a bowl and resifted it to make sure it was nice and smooth.  No lumps for this gravy.

I poured the entire batch – all 48oz into a big pan and started stirring.  And stirring.  And stirring.

If you’ve ever browned flour, you know that it takes forever.  It stays white for a long time, then suddenly goes from white to burnt if you aren’t paying close attention.  I was paying close attention.  But it was the middle of summer.  There was no air conditioning and I was in front of the hot gas stove.  So I turned on the ceiling fan to cool down a bit while I continued to stir the flour.

Now remember, I was paying close attention to the color of the flour.  It was so hot, but I was determined that not one speck would burn.  It wasn’t until my mortified SandalwoodMan walked into the kitchen with his shirt covering his mouth that I looked up and saw the world around me.

The entire kitchen had been transformed into a dust ball.  Literally, it looked like the kitchen was filled with smoke, except that every nugget of smoky air was actually a fine dust particle of gravy flour.

Even the kitchens in LA are smoggy!

I had been breathing this in for a good half an hour.  My throat had been scratchy for awhile, but I didn’t want to risk wasting all the time I’d put into this perfect batch of gravy flour, so I’d been ignoring the feeling.

Fast forward a few days and I was coughing up junk.  My chest, lungs, and throat hurt from coughing up so much phlegm. All that fine dust I had been breathing seemed to just lodge itself into my alveoli, causing a form of dust pneumonia.

I’d been taking fenugreek and thyme to dissolve the phlegm, but this felt deeper than a regular bronchial infection.  I was having difficulty breathing and couldn’t take in more than a shallow breath.  Even though I was no longer in a dusty area, I still felt like I was breathing dust.

That’s when I remembered that essential oils can be used to draw out toxins in the lungs.  I remembered how Jim Lynn layered oils on his wife’s back and how her tumor disappeared after that.  So, enlisting the help of SandalwoodMan, I set out to pull the dust out of my body.

He rubbed the 3-4 drops of each of the following oils into my back, taking care to rub them into my spine and behind my lungs:

• Melrose
• Cypress
• Lavender
• Thieves
• Peppermint

I told him to use the peppermint oil last as a finisher to enhance the other oils.  He then laid a hot, wet towel on my back, covered that with a warm, dry towel, layered on a heated sock that had been filled with beans, and finally covered it all with a big, hot towel to help seal in the heat.

Then came the hard part – waiting for 2 hours.  I think I lasted about an hour and a half before I had to get up to use the bathroom.  At that point, I felt a little better, but was disappointed because the little white towel that had been touching my back was still white.  I had heard stories from others how the towel became dingy and sometimes black from the junk that was removed.  Not for me, though.

I filled a cool mist humidifier with water and about 15 drops of cypress oil to breathe while I slept.

It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized the benefit.  I slept soundly, was able to breathe all night without issue.  I could take normal sized breaths and feel the air enter my lungs without any pain or scratchiness.  I could talk without having a coughing fit.  Even better, my voice didn’t sound like I’d spent the last 30 years chain smoking.

It worked so well that we did it again the next night.  I also started taking the oils internally to help dissolve the phlegm.  In a capsule, I put:

• 3 drops Ledum
• 3 drops Marjoram
• 3 drops Cypress
• 1 drop   Lavender

This combination cleared the mucus quickly and lasted @ 3-4 hours before I would make up a new capsule.

Now – here’s what happened that I didn’t expect.  My period started – well, that part I was expecting – but usually I have horrible cramps and feel so lethargic that all I want to do is lie down.  But this time, I hardly felt any cramping at all.  The first day, which is usually the worst day, came and went with no cramping whatsoever.  The second day, I felt a little bit, but maybe only about 25% of what I normally feel. I didn’t feel lethargic at all.  The pain that I feel on a monthly basis was now more of an awareness that part of my body just wasn’t as comfortable as usual. 

I’m not sure if it was the back massage or all the oils that I’d been taking internally that made my cramps disappear.  My suspicion is that it is the cypress oil that I was taking internally.

Either way, this I can live with!