Yep, it’s that time of year.

If the holidays are your favorite time of all times, I could not be happier for you, you lucky duck, you! (Now off you go… toodleloo!)
But if this is a hard time for you, stick around, because you, my friend, are in very good company.

The Holidays? Oh my. You love your people and you love those pretty white lights (in moderation and minus the blinking) but, the madness of malls? The pressure & expectations? Those endless jingles jangling? Oof! It’s enough to make the Buddha want to pop a Valium!

It may also be a lonesome time, wanting to feel at home and secure, yet feeling far away and disconnected… Maybe feeling like an outsider, wanting to belong but on your own terms, without giving up who you are… You, doing your best, showing up again and again, doing your darndest to leave things better. You, getting up and pulling on your socks and caring so very much about the way things are that sometimes, well… sometimes it all just feels like too much.

Ah, I adore you for that. It means you are alive. It means you have a heart. And, right now it means that I have something for you!

Remember back in the day when people would send care packages? A box or an envelope, wee or big, would arrive by good old-fashioned post with your very own name on it… Remember? Well, THAT, my friend, is what I have:

A Holiday Care Package. For you!
To get through THIS kuh-rayzee time of year.

Part of your care package will come by good old-fashioned post and the other part will come by good old-fashioned e-mail.

EasePlease Potion: Handmade (by me!) with the purest of essential oils in an organic jojoba base (nothing fake or synthetic, ever!) EasePlease is all about getting untangled, unknotted, unstuck… it’s particularly good for knots and tight places in your body or mind. A wonderful and discreet travel companion, EasePlease comes in a 5 ml. roll on bottle. (Your potion will come to you by old-school post-mail.)

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Notes of Relief: There are very few things I love doing more than writing letters to people I care about a lot… I will send you notes of relief, notes of care, notes of ease… reminders to help you come back to yourself, to the world around you, to your senses, to your sense of humor… missives to get you through the holidays without losing it…

And what if you do lose it?

Ah, no worries. It happens. And it could. And if it does, your care package will help you come back to yourself… to find the ground, to find your breath, to find the spaciousness and grace around you… (Your Notes of Relief will come to you by good old-fashioned e-mail!)

Heidi, when will I get my potion?

Your potion will be mailed within two business days of my receipt of your payment. Yes, I am happy to ship internationally, too. (You do not need to have your potion in hand to start enjoying the Care Package).

When will I start getting my Notes of Relief?

Your notes will begin arriving, by email, on Thursday, December 8, and they will continue until the first couple days of the new year. You can expect to receive 2 – 3 notes a week.

Do I have to have a PayPal account in order to pay and sign up?

No, you don’t. You can pay by credit or debit card. When you are finished adding items to your shopping cart, go ahead and click on the button to Pay… You will be taken to a PayPal page… Toward the bottom of the right side it says “Don’t have a PayPal account? Pay with your credit or debit card…” Click there and proceed!

Heidi, I love your writing and I participated in A Month of Living Curiously a couple years ago and really enjoyed it, but I’ve never tried one of your potions… I’m not sure…

Ah, that’s OK. Certainly you could just sign up for the written part of the Care Package and that would be great on its own. But if you want to give the potions a try, EasePlease is a favorite for many people and a great one to start with. It was the very first potion I ever made! It’s got ease-inducing essential oils including peppermint, eucalyptus, grapefruit, and rosemary. Basically I’m saying, whatever you decide is good. And if you want a little nudge one way or the other, I say, get they whole package ;)

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Is this your first time on my website? Don’t know too much about me? Here’s what previous subscribers of my programs and potion fans have to say…

About Heidi’s programs…

“Thank you so much for unleashing this life-enhancing curiousity-bomb on the planet. It was an inspired act of creativity. And I’m so fortunate and glad to have been able to be part of it. In particular I want to thank you for prompting me to return to writing.” -Tom Larkin, Ireland

“I absolutely loved your A Month Of Living Curiously – from the conception to the title on through to the whole experience. (I have actually not read the last day yet, as I am savoring it for a time I can settle in with it.) You have a grace and loveliness in your writing that is delightfully infectious and opening. And it’s a combination of a million things that all work perfectly together. As I said to you outside Whole Foods — ‘brilliant!!!’ “ -Anne Starr, Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

“Heidi has created a remarkable experience of A Month of Living Curiously: part novel, part self-help book, part close friend, part revelation… I can’t describe it. I just know that for the month I did it, I got an email almost every day from Heidi, and that email helped me pause, slow down, and become aware. That email helped me start with a block–what she calls “that thing you want to change”–and from there, change my life.” -Ann Weiser Cornell, Oakland, California

“I must tell you that your letters were just wonderful and I was curious of every day to read a new one. Although I often didn’t have time to pause enough with your words, something in my life changed: it is above all something about my attitude that permitted me, for example, to be creative in a time where I had felt blocked to do anything.” -Béatrice Bibbia in Switzerland

“I love your writing style–you remind me of Anne Lamott–love your ability to see life with eyes open and humor! -Curious friend in Lexington, Virginia

“I love getting these treasures!” -Curious friend in Berkeley, California, United States

“Your missive today made me think about your style of writing: personal, light, witty, and insightful. I’m not ready to anoint you quite yet, but your writing has definite flavourings of Anne Lamott.” -PC Billon, Montréal, Canada

“I really like your ‘wonderland character’-ish way of inviting curiosity. It’s a little bit like a conversation with the Cheshire cat or the caterpillar on the mushroom. I enjoy that quality! It gives me courage to develop the same qualities in my own conversation when I want to invite imaginative explorations.”  -A.P.M.Walker, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

“I love your sense of humour, your timing, your sense of story, your ability to create suspense, mystery, and your playfulness in A Month of Living Curiously. What a great combo! And all the while tickling the reader to delve into their own story, to look at things differently and, of course, be curious.” -Judy Archer, Ontario, Canada    

About potions, and EasePlease in particular…

“EasePlease is my new boyfriend. I’ve used it so much to relieve pain and stress that now all I have to do is smell it and I start to relax. :)” –Jenny Ryan, Cranky Fibro Girl

“I’ve been keeping EasePlease on my bedside table. I have a tendency to wake in the middle of the night with the mind running the hamster wheel of doom. A little bit of Ease, Please! sedates the hamster and helps with the going-back-to-sleep. (And I might add that I’ve had some great healing dreams. Related?)” –Emily Tipping

“I absolutely LOVE the Aardvark products! It truly is my treat to myself each day. I smell a few of the jars and decide which one my mind/body are up for – it’s like I’m at the beginning of one of your massage sessions! Thank you for creating such a wonderful product.” –Erika Ficken

“I got the potions!!! LOVE THEM. I got them out of my mailbox when I was on my way to pick up my sister at work. I couldn’t wait until I got home so I opened the box in the car and was smelling them at stop lights. People looked at me like I was crazy but I didn’t care. They smell so good! I love them all. I can’t wait to use them all at different times and in different moods. Thanks so much! xoxoxo” –Jessica Droeger

“Getting your creams was like getting a delicious present. Thank you! [Mwah!] Seriously, if it weren’t raining buckets, I’d get in the car right now and take these little packages of goodness over to my mom and say, ‘you’ve got to try these!’ (except I’m also tempted to hoard them for myself!” –Cairene MacDonald, Third Hand Works

“The potions are amazing. Amazing! In fact, I’m going to have to order more soon cuz my husband ended up using up two of my faves. And I don’t begrudge him that, because hi, his hands needed it (and I think maybe the little bit of magic was helpful, too), but darnit they were my favorite ones: Losing It” and “Second Wind”… But now Cha-Cha-Chai is becoming my new favorite…it’s got a lot of get-up-and-go to it!” –Emily

“Your creams are so special and wonderful, I just love them. I can tell they are made with love. And exactly the kind of soothing essences I want to use on my skin and in my space.” –Julie Stuart, Making Ideas Visible

If you’ve never tried potions…

The potion in your care package will come in a 5 ml. roll on bottle of EasePlease. (Potions also are available in an organic cream base made of shea butter and jojoba oil).

• Unlike commercially manufactured scents, a potion’s scent will not enter a room before you do. Nor will it linger for weeks after you’ve left. Essential oils are fresh. Think fresh like a fresh piece of fruit. It won’t last forever, but it’s so much yummier and better for you than those bags of fruit-flavored puffy whatever-those-are.
• A potion’s scent is subtle. As the essential oils meet your skin, its scent unfolds and becomes your own.
• Potions are made from organic, wild-crafted or farm select essential oils. In a few cases the essential oils are conventionally farmed, but all are pure: no synthetic additives, fillers or chemical imitations of scents. (This is very good news for many people who are allergic to commercial perfumes, because unlike those, Aardvark potions are very unlikely to make you sneeze.)
• Shelf life of a roll-on pulse point potion is about 18 months. (No preservatives. No parabens.) Aardvark potions are fresh stuff! Use them, don’t save them. The potion will not “go bad” after 18 months, but the essential oils will lose their potency.

Care Package: EasePlease Potion & Notes of Relief — $40
(Potion by post & Notes by email)
Free U.S. shipping: Choose “Holiday” in the Shipping field before checkout.
International shipping: $10 (will be added in the shopping cart)

OR
Care Package: Notes of Relief — $24
(Only by email)