Nature inside us

I have a thing against fabric softener. The smell alone is a big clue about its toxicity, yet everyone insists on using it. The best way to have soft fabric is to buy cotton. The second way is through use. If that doesn’t satisfy, search the Net for natural substitutes like vinegar or baking soda. Your clothes and sheets become soft naturally, without compromising your health.

A friend and I got into a text discussion about beach resorts recently because I was looking for a place to take my kids that did not require a plane. We were talking about a relatively new resort in Laiya, Batangas. She said she had heard it was nice, but not exactly five-star. I told her I wasn’t looking for five-star, as they are mostly overrated. I just wanted to find places that were comfortable, healthy and awash with soul. She said, "Wait a minute. Isn’t a beach a beach? Nature is soul, right?"

Yes, nature is perfect; it is the resort developers and owners who go and ruin everything by dousing their establishments with fabric softener, bleach and other toxic chemicals they think are keeping their resorts nicely germ-free. What is their definition of clean doing to the people who stay in it? Anything that harms the body is not clean. Washing your house in bleach is not a good idea. If you think sanitizing your house is keeping you healthy, you are dead wrong. I would rather settle for garden-variety bacteria any day.

I spent a quiet weekend in Tagaytay a few months ago. I found a quaint little place that was a bit overpriced but nice. The food was excellent, the room was pretty and comfortable, but everything was ruined by the overwhelming scent of fabric softener on the sheets. Ugh! My little boy and I had runny noses all night long, thanks to that over-the-top sweet floral scent that screamed TOXIC. I read on the Net that the scent of that stuff is overpowering because they use it to mask the smell of all the chemicals in it. If you think fabric softeners and dryer sheets make your clothes feel and smell nice (not!), take a look at some of the ingredients and hazards they bring:

Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer;

Benzyl alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant;

Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Hazardous Waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders;

Limonene: Known carcinogen;

A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema, and central nervous system damage;

Ethyl acetate: A narcotic on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list;

Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders;

Chloroform: Neurotoxic, anesthetic and carcinogenic;

Linalool: A narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders;

Pentane: A chemical known to be harmful if inhaled.

So, the Tagaytay place was pleasant, there was nature all around, but since the room was full of chemicals (on top of the fabric softener on the sheets, they sprayed the naturally sweet air with one of those horrible, ozone depleting fresheners before they let us in), I cannot say I felt nurtured. My senses were not treated kindly.

Two weekends later, I returned to a different place in Tagaytay and had the same experience: fabric softener-scented everything with more than a hint of bleach (go ahead and Google that, too) on the sheets and towels. I was so disappointed because this hideaway was so quaint and pretty. Again there was nature and beauty all around, but the people who were running the place did not know how to let it all the way in. There were little all-natural soaps and shampoos but the scent of fabric softener and bleach pretty much negated whatever healing powers the little toiletries had.

So, I learned my lesson. When I finally went to Batangas with the children, I asked the resort to please leave the fabric softener out. They did. Yay! But they forgot to include the towels. Oh well. It was an improvement, even if it is nearly impossible to dry yourself with anything that is coated with chemicals. Have you noticed that? I was also disappointed that the juices they served were from concentrate and some of the soups were obviously from mixes. We’re living in a world where even the places of rest take dangerous shortcuts.

All this is to say that nature is not just outside. What we put into our bodies must also be the most natural we can find. We cannot take in the full beauty of the sunset and the breathtaking view if we have to go to bed with chemicals at night. All these resorts in the middle of nature would do well to look after the health of the people who come from faraway places to heal. The scent of rain and wet grass is far better than the horrible smell of fabric softener or anything artificial – scents and flavoring, especially. The ocean infused air at the beach is a better salve than any perfume that comes out of a can.

Unfortunately, our senses are so blocked by the overload that most people cannot even tell that something is wrong anymore. They just wonder why they are so tired, irritable, nauseated or suffer from frequent headaches and allergies. Well, it might be that they cleaned with bleach in a small air-conditioned room and inhaled it all day. It could be that they sleep on beds soaked in the strongest detergents (try Victoria or go back to Perla white) and fabric softeners. Or worse, that they wear clothes all day and night laced with such poisons, including that expensive perfume they put too much of.

Why is it so difficult to make the connection between the many ailments we suffer from today and the products we ingest that pass off as food, cleansers and medicine? Even our meat is laden with antibiotics and hormones. The chemical makeup of detergents mimics hormones. Are you still wondering why breast cancer is practically an epidemic?

The incidence of disease and chronic ailments has gone up, up, up. There are so many young people with cancer. We spray toxic insecticides like crazy or shower our children with Deet to keep dengue away, without realizing that we may be trading something at least curable, for something lethal. I am willing to bet that dengue has something to do with the mosquitoes mutating, thanks to the toxic chemicals we insist on unleashing upon our already polluted air.

When my youngest was a baby, we had a visitor from abroad. Each time she tried to hold my son, he bawled like mad. I had a feeling it was the perfume; it was the kind that lingered in the hallway long after she had gone. One day, she came to my son unscented. He finally settled, quite contentedly, in her human-smelling arms. I keep my children perfume-free and very rarely wear it myself. I love the way they smell after a nap or even when they’ve been out in the sun and are caked in sweat and dust. No one can bottle that.

Nature isn’t just outside of us. Our lives are about coming into wholeness. Let the perfection of nature be our guide. Our bodies have to come into balance again so that the rest of us – our souls and spirits – can function harmoniously. We need to make an effort to live naturally and say no to the things that continue to deplete our health.

If you are interested in deepening your knowledge on health, please come to "How We Can Use Complementary Therapies and Remedies to Heal Ourselves" by Jake Tan, on Oct. 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at ISIP, 6241 Palma corner Mañalac Sts., Poblacion, Makati (near Ateneo Law School, Rockwell). Fee is P500. Call Raquel at 895-8421 and 0906-4353184.

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Thank you for your letters. I can be reached at magisip@yahoo.com. No attachments or junk please. Log on to www.truthforce.info for true and good news.