Archive for June, 2010

Boswellia sacra

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

I hope my readers can understand the joy that filled my heart at convention as I saw a dream come true. For 15 long years, I have traveled to the Middle East in search of the most precious frankincense essential oil of all: Omani hojari. At the 2010 Young Living Grand Convention it was my great honor to place this treasured oil in distributors’ hands.

Omani hojari is beloved of Omani royalty and the royal family of Saudi Arabia. It grows in the Dhofar region of Oman. In meetings with trade officials in the Ministry of Agriculture in Salalah, Oman, I learned that the only species of frankincense that grows in the kingdom of Oman is Boswellia sacra. This species has a higher content of the constituent alpha pinene than frankincense oil from Boswellia carteri, even though both varieties carry frankincense’s therapeutic power.

Because Young Living has established two distilleries in Oman and fulfilled all Omani government requirements, for the first time in modern history frankincense is being exported from Oman. REAL Omani hojari!

At the Young Living Product Expo at the Young Living convention, distributors swarmed the single oil booths and were thrilled with the new frankincense oil from Oman: Sacred Frankincense. Young Living staff who shared samples of the oil reported that our distributors were surprised by the lighter, sweeter scent of Boswellia sacra and many actually experienced its uplifting, spiritual effect. I am gratified to know that prayer and meditation for thousands of Young Living distributors will now be enhanced thanks to the use of Sacred Frankincense.

My heartfelt thanks to the Young Living distributors who so warmly embraced this new Young Living essential oil!

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Thank You from Everyone at Young Living Essential Oils

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to say “THANK YOU” to everyone who came to 2010 International Grand Convention and everyone who supported us from afar. Convention was a huge success. I have heard so many wonderful and complimentary comments from distributors. Please know how much I appreciate all of you. Whether you were with Mary and I at convention, or at home, we wouldn’t have had a convention without each and everyone of our valued distributors and customers. Thank you for being part of the Young Living family.

Warm Regards,
Gary Young

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Dangers of the Frankincense Trail

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Gary Young, president of Young Living Essential Oils, on the Frankincense trail

For thousands of years, frankincense was transported across the most desolate wilderness on earth: the Empty Quarter. This vast desert covers some 250,000 square miles and spans part of Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

I grew up in an Idaho wilderness area, packing horses and mules and traveling across treacherous terrain. So it wasn’t so difficult for me to understand life on a camel caravan, as rugged men left their homes and loved ones to take their precious cargo of frankincense and myrrh north to market.

To travel with a caravan was a dangerous and sometimes deadly occupation. The desert itself could be a vicious opponent with violent sandstorms that could change the landscape, covering precious waterholes, creating huge new dunes and possibly burying a caravan. There were poisonous snakes and scorpions as well. But the most dangerous adversary of all came on two legs: robbers, thieves, and marauders determined to steal the resins worth more than gold.

I have walked and driven over the majority of the frankincense trails that brought the prized resins from southern Arabia to the ports of Gaza, Alexandria, and Damascus. I have such an appreciation for the rugged men who risked their lives to bring such a treasure to the world. That same spirit of adventure has inspired me to bring the very best frankincense and myrrh to today’s seeker of physical and emotional wellness.

I can’t wait to join you all next week at International Grand Convention where audiences will get to see the marvels of the Frankincense Trail on the big screen with the premiere of my frankincense documentary, The One Gift.

—Essentially Yours,

D. Gary Young

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Harvesting Frankincense

Friday, June 4th, 2010

As we get ready for 2010 International Grand Convention and the premiere of my Frankincense Trail documentary, The One Gift, I want to share some of my experiences harvesting frankincense resin in the Middle East.

Gary Young, president of Young Living Essential Oils, in Oman

The process of collecting frankincense happens two times a year—once in the spring (March to May) and then in the fall (September to October). To harvest the resin, you have to take a little axe and chop the hardened resin crystals off the branches—but there’s a process that comes in the week before that. To begin the process, you cut the bark of the frankincense tree and then it allows the liquid resin to ooze out onto the external part. Then, when it hits the oxygen, it starts to crystallize and harden. Naturally, the longer it is left on the tree, the longer it is present in the oxygen and the harder it gets. It takes about a week before you can actually come back and cut it off as a hardened resin crystal. So this is a week to two-week process from when you go in and you cut the tree to when you come back and collect the crystal resin. Then the crystal resin goes into the distillery where it is crushed into powder, put into an oil bath, and steam distilled to extract the oil from the crystal resin.

This process produces different types of frankincense resins. The one that is very white is called Hojari. Now, when I was collecting frankincense years ago and they said “Hojari,” I thought they were being very friendly and saying, “How, Gary?” And I said, “With an axe.” But this was Hojari. There are actually five grades of frankincense resin. The first grade is brownish resin. It has a lot of bark particles in it, and that’s very commonly used because there’s more of it available. But the Hojari is what was selected just for the kings and queens because it was the purest of the frankincense.

I can’t wait to join you all June 16–19 in Salt Lake City where I can share more of my experiences from the Frankincense Trail. This is one Young Living convention you don’t want to miss!

Essentially Yours,

D. Gary Young

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