While in Merida I decided to look for some activities outside of the regular sightseeing options. I checked airbnb experiences for options. They are my go-to website for activities. You can also check tripadvisor, google, booking.com for other options as well.
The class was very informative and fun. The instructor was vey knowledgable plant medicine. I would recomment the class for anyone interest in herbs, holistic medicine, plants, or oils.
The day before the class the instructor asked me to choose between two types of herbs. I chose Chinese Tea for my oil. Once I arrived the instructor showed me around his gardens. He had a garden in the front of the building and a garden in the back. The herbs we used to make the essential oil came from his garden. He explained the different properties of each type of plants, flowers and herbs he had.
We also saw a blue bumble bee. Which can only be found in certain parts of the world.
After touring the garden we came inside and started the prep work for making the oil. As you can see below everything we needed was already on the table.
The first thing we did was grind the leaves into small crumbly pieces.
Next, he placed the pieces into the distiller. Since the equipment is made of glass and very expensive he placed the pieces inside himself.
He then connected everything needed to the distiller to start the alchemy process. I will say this process took a while to complete.
The water in the bottom of the glass container started turning brown from the steam of the leaves above it. The yellow and cords on the right side of the machine are connected to a cold bottle of water. The cold water helps the water and oil separate as it runs into the bottle.
The separated water is called hydrosol. It has a lot of the same properties as the essential oil but it’s not as potent. At the end of the process I left with a nice size bottle of hydrosol and a smaller bottle of chinese tea essential oil. Chinese tea leaves produce a smaller amount of essential oil compared to other herbs. The instructor did tell me this ahead of time before I chose this herb.
The Chinese tea smells very good and has a lot of healing properties.
Flowing With My Spirit 