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Written by Lisa Saunders
I have two professions: I am a REIKI Practitioner and a ‘Chandler’ (I do love this title as it reminds me of the olden days and also the TV show ‘Friends’). What I really do is combine my knowledge and experience of energy work, essential oils and crystals into candle making (Chandlering) to essentially create products with a purpose.
Whether you think of that purpose as a ritual or just a vibe, either way the products are created with specific intention and a carefully selected blend of oils and crystals.
I spend a lot of time researching the best oils, crystals and affirmations that work best together, not just as a scent but also for the outcome I am intending. I take all of this and create Candles & wax melts. It’s not just about creating products that look and smell good, they also need to feel good. I see it as the Holistic approach. Combining home fragrance and wellbeing into one.
My business name is Love Heal Repeat. I wanted something which captured the essence of what I intend for my work to do, whether it’s a REIKI treatment or through the products I make. Although this is the main focus of my day to day work, I do all of the behind the scenes stuff too from label design, branding, website building & SEO & marketing.
At the end of 2016 I was in a fairly dark place in my life. I was divorced with two young children, who I was supporting by working as a cleaner and helping my father out in his second-hand shop. Times were tough and I was suffering from depression. I felt that I was constantly juggling childcare, work and finances and barely keeping my head above water.
Needless to say self-care, creativity and my spiritual, emotional and physical wellbeing was nowhere near a priority and my life was chaotic.
January 2017 was a turning point for me, I had a lightbulb moment where I realised that patterns were repeating in my life and all the bad stuff that was happening was because I was letting it. I knew then that I had the ability to change this but I didn’t yet have the tools. This is where my journey with crystals and essential oils began, and later on energy work.
The next big turning point was reconnecting with my childhood sweetheart who moved in with me and the children in 2017. This was the major catalyst for my business. For the first time in my adult life I didn’t carry the burden of providing for my family, having to do jobs that I didn’t enjoy. I was able to consider what I wanted to do rather than what I had to do. This was a weird concept for me and one that took some time to adjust to.
First I expanded my cleaning business and at one point I had a team working with me. It was practical and I did it well but it still wasn’t ‘me’.
During 2017 – 2018 I had continued to explore the world of energy, crystals & essential oils and along with meditation, mindfulness and rituals.
I had made real progress in improving many areas of my life. I would regularly Google or spend time researching, using my expanding collection of books, for ‘the best crystals to use for prosperity’ , ‘what essential oils help with self esteem’ or ‘list of affirmations for body confidence’. From this I would have lists of oils crystals, affirmations etc but little time to be sourcing all of these things and this is where the idea was born for my Candles & Wax melts.
I thought to myself it would be so much easier if there was a candle that incorporated everything, where someone had already done the research and all I had to do was set aside 10 – 20 minutes to do some meditation and say some affirmations.
From here I started researching making candles and specifically using essential oils as a fragrance rather than synthetic fragrance oils. The point for me was that the candles were natural & fulfilled a purpose, on top of this I just absolutely love the indulgent aroma of a spa. It’s like it automatically transports you to a place of relaxation & self-care.
During this time I also discovered the benefits of REIKI – which is a Japanese form of energy healing. After having a few treatments and experiencing the benefits first hand I booked myself onto the training in the first level but it wasn’t long before I had completed level 2 and became a practitioner.
It seemed like an obvious next step to incorporate the REIKI energy into my products too. More than anything this is about me knowing that for every single item that I make it has been filled with loving intentions and the best energy possible.
After months of research, creating blends, sourcing supplies etc I finally launched my first candles in October 2019, the following January to March I was selling at local shopping events and craft fairs.
Then lockdown hit…
As a new brand I wasn’t sure how this would impact my business and with home schooling and everyone being home all of the time it was difficult to find the time and the space to make products, but the demand was definitely there. There seems to have been a huge shift towards self-care and wellbeing over the last 18 months and by the end of 2020 I was struggling to keep up with orders.
I was working from my kitchen at this time and had limitations to how many candles and wax melts I could make at one time. Like many other businesses I had also really started looking at the sustainability of my products & supplies.
At this time I was using Soy wax but I had started reading about the negative impact of the production of soy beans and I made the decision to look into more sustainable wax.
Whilst doing this I also decided to do a complete overhaul of my products to ensure that they were as eco-conscious and sustainable as possible. At the beginning of this year I announced to my customers that I would be closing down temporarily to update my products.
What actually happened was that I spent 8 months completely rebranding my products, changing the wax, containers and building a website and converting part of our garage into my own candle making workspace.
Obviously I’ve learnt so much over the years about how to make candles, candle safety, testing, using essential oils, building a website, SEO, marketing etc but I think the biggest takeaway for me is learning that the creative process of a product-based business is not a straight line.
Although there are specific boxes that need ticking, especially in relation to product testing and safety, I’ve found that I get the best results when I go with the flow.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the ‘doing’ in having to be productive and get things done, and of course this is a necessary part of running any business, but it’s also absolutely necessary for me to allow myself time to just ‘be’ as this is where my creativity comes in to play.
For me, the focus is about what energy or purpose I want to achieve and the inspiration for this comes from various sources. It may be as simple as something I’m interested in, such as working with Moon Cycles.
I try to spend time at each New Moon to write down my goals and intentions for the months ahead so I created the New Moon candle. (link https://lovehealrepeat.co.uk/product/new-moon-crystal-ritual-candle/ )
Another source of inspiration is the general mood of those around me. ‘Uplifting’ was created at a time when it felt like we had been in and out of lockdowns forever and I just felt like we all needed a ‘pick me up’. (link https://lovehealrepeat.co.uk/product/uplift-aromatherapy-wellbeing-candle/ )
‘Goddess’ was created because I felt that there was such a shift happening where people were starting to move away from the need to be productive all the time, allowing themselves to be in flow and in tune with our natural cycles. (link https://lovehealrepeat.co.uk/product/goddess-crystal-ritual-candle/ )
Website https://lovehealrepeat.co.uk/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lovehealrepeatuk/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lovehealrepeat/
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