Relax and Unwind this Christmas

Today, I am thrilled to introduce you to Cate Burton, who is totally passionate about pure beeswax candles – the benefits are surprising! These are some of my favourite things of all time, and I’m so happy Cate is sharing them with you.

Someone seems to have turned the amp up. We seem to work longer hours, under more pressure and with email on our phones, it is much harder to escape, relax and unwind. No surprises then the increase in mental illness.

Whether it be a few days or a few weeks, do yourself (and your family) a favour and commit to a little unwinding this Christmas season. Uncoil that tightly wound spring that is your psyche.

I profess I am pushing my own barrow here. A little over a decade ago, I was working under high pressure in the corporate sector and clearly my spirit had enough. Panic attacks were my constant companion. Seemingly unable to meditate without my mind creating lists of things I “shoulda, woulda, coulda or gunna” do, I took up a few hobbies – candle-making, carpentry and painting. Each of them very engaging, but candle making became my passion. Beeswax candle-making to be specific.

So, why beeswax candles? I’ll be brief.

• Paraffin (around 95% of candles sold) is a petro-chemical by product. Burning a paraffin candle is like running your car exhaust in your lounge room.
• Soy/soya wax & Palm wax are oils when harvested which are then chemically bleached (to remove colour and aroma) and then hydrogenated (with nickel – a heavy metal) to turn the oil into a wax. There is no such thing as ‘natural soy wax or palm wax’ they are bleached, hydrogenated oils – 100% of the time. They are also generally fragranced because the wax still has a slight aroma – which has you combusting an oil too. That’s not to say anything of the fact that 96% of soybeans grown on the Monsanto genetically modified, round up read soybeans… or about the rainforest destruction in South America (for soya plantations) or Philippines/Borneo/Indonesia (for palm plantations). Marketing these candles as ‘natural’ is one of the biggest con jobs inflicted upon unwitting shoppers
• Beeswax on the other hand is created by bees to store honey in the hive. It is 100% natural and better still, by buying beeswax candles you are supporting Australia’s regional communities (assuming that the candles are made with 100% pure Australian beeswax) and you’re also supporting the food you eat around 1/3 of which relies on honeybees for pollination.

That’s the abridged version. There is actually quite a lot more too it, but the deeper you dig, the more you’ll be convinced not to light anything in your living space other than a pure beeswax candle.

So why not engage in a little creativity this Christmas? Working with your hands is a great way of switching off your mind. Get yourself a Roll Your Own Taper pack or a DIY tealight candle-making kit and make a little light to light up your own life, and even the lives of your friends. While there is a lot to know about cleaning beeswax and picking the right wick (there are over 1000 different pure cotton wicks alone), when you buy a kit from Queen B, we’ve done all that work for you. Our kits contain the same wax and wick that we use.

If that’s a little hard to fathom, let an expert do it for you. Find a retailer stocking pure beeswax candles (or, if you can’t, why not suggest it to your local retailer).

Finally, a little medical fact for you… generally speaking, when you turn down the lights, your adrenal glands stop producing cortisol, and your pineal gland starts producing melatonin which signals to your body that it is time to sleep. So, either put dimmer switches on your lights, buy some low light lamps, or light up some beeswax candles in the evening and, all other things being equal (eg not consuming too much alcohol… or tea… or coffee… or soft drinks etc) you should sleep better.

Here’s 9 good reasons to give 100% pure beeswax candles as gifts to all your friends this Christmas:

1. Friends are a source of light in our lives, give them a little ‘sweetness and light’ in return
2. You’ll be supporting small business (which employ 50% of private sector employees and are the backbone of the Australian economy… although the mining companies with their huge machinery and million dollar salaried executives may claim otherwise)
3. You’ll be supporting Australia’s regional communities… they’re the lifeblood of Australian culture.
4. Beeswax candles have a lovely, natural honey aroma
5. Beeswax candles are said to be a natural ioniser when burning (ie they help to eliminate dust and other allergens from the air in the vicinity of the burning candle)
6. Well made beeswax candles don’t smoke or soot up your living space
7. Bees pollinate 1 in every 3 mouthfuls of food you eat… no bees, a lot less fresh fruit and vegetables
8. Everyone uses candles… whether it be for romance, health, well being or simply because of electrical outages
9. Because if you make your own, you’ll keep the kids amused, relax despite yourself and save money all at the same time!

About our Guest Contributor

Cate Burton is QueenB. She delights in taking care of lighting, ambience and purifying the air you breathe while you take care of you.

Queen B only uses 100% pure Australian beeswax in their candles – because it is Australian and of the highest quality in the world! You can discover the lusciousness of QueenB for yourself at QueenB.com.au and at Cate’s blog.