Aluminate Life: Liz Lehman's Journey from Anesthesiology to Crafting Wellness Candles

When Liz Lehman stepped away from the demanding world of anesthesiology, she embraced a journey that many of us only dream of - transforming a passion into a purpose-driven business. Tune into our latest episode to hear how Liz's personal health battle led her to found Aluminate Life, a company infusing the art of candle making with wellness and healing.

Liz shares intimate details of her own transformation and the pivotal moment that inspired her to create essential oil candles designed to nurture the body and soul. Listen as Liz advocates for a lifestyle that values regeneration and well-being, revealing how a simple flame can light the path to a more intentional life.

Our conversation also shines a light on the mystical synergy between crystals and aromatherapy, a combination that might just be the missing piece in your wellness puzzle. Discover how the energies of tiger eye, citrine, and clear quartz crystals are meticulously paired with essential oil blends to unlock creativity, strength, and healing.

Aluminate Life also take pride in their partnership with Girls on the Run, emphasizing the importance of instilling these values in the next generation. By the end of this episode, not only will you be motivated to infuse these practices into your daily routine, but you'll also know where to find these transformative essential oil & gem infused candles that are just a click away.

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@AluminateLifeRX

I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Connected Body Podcast.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Connected Body Podcast. Today I am super excited to have a special, special guest. Her name is Liz Lehman and she is a doctor, a candle maker and also the founder of Illuminate Life. So, liz, welcome to the Connected Body Podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:24

Thank you so much for having me, Laura. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 0:28

I'm so happy because I'm so passionate about essential oils, candles, crystals, and when I found you on the internet, I was like, oh my gosh, I've got to reach out and reach out. I did, and here we are, and it was meant to be. It was meant to be. So you have an amazing story, so why don't you share how you went from doctor candle maker?

Speaker 2: 0:54

So, yeah, so for over 20 years I was an anesthesiologist and in that space, anesthesia is very much based in like there's a disease or problem, there's a drug you inject. It's like problem medicine problem medicine which is important in the operating room, but throughout the course of that and taking care of people, we could fix them in the operating room and then they go right back out into their lives and continue to do the same thing. That landed them in a disease state in the first place. So I was questioning really every concept they teach you in medical school and and thinking like there's got to be a better way to do things and and at the same time, not being fully fulfilled with my job and then looking for other things. That brought me joy at the time was a lot of physical movement. So running. I got into the yoga space, but doing a lot of yoga and ignoring what I preach now, ignoring all the signs, ignoring my body and what my body was telling me like slow it down, slow it down To the point where I kept going. I tore my hamstring badly. So it was, I know now a sign the universe saying Liz, you need to sit down and stop doing what you're doing and be still.

Speaker 2: 2:27

But in that space of being forced to be still, I was sitting on a frozen water bottle and on the computer probably shoe shopping or something but a blog popped up right, a blog popped up on making candles. And I swear I had never read a blog before because you know being super type A person who has time for such nonsense. But I thought, well, I can't do anything for the next four months. What is this all about? I never even considered that you could make a candle. So I clicked on that blog, read it and Amazoned a candle making kit that day.

Speaker 2: 3:04

I gotta love Amazon, right, you gotta love it Immediate. Read it and Amazoned a candle making kit that day. I gotta love Amazon, Right, you gotta love it Immediate gratification. But in that space of doing the research and how to make a candle, I was first appalled at how bad so many candles on the marketplace were that I'd been burning around my family and also, being a doctor, I wanted to make a better product and a product that healed you and made you feel more complete and kind of a more holistic way of living and being and, you know, meditating and just slowing everything down, all the things that I had not been doing. I wanted to create for someone, and so that little kitchen experiment turned into a business.

Speaker 1: 3:49

Oh, that is beautiful, right? The universe was like sending you these signs, and sometimes they have to send us a few signs.

Speaker 2: 3:57

Oh, yes, they did. I still was doing, I was not practicing what I was preaching. So I was waking up at three in the morning to make candles before going to work in anesthesia. You know, I still didn't quite get it and eventually the other sign came, which was I started developing arthritis in my hands, which I, of course, blew off, did not listen to that sign until a day came where I physically could not put a patient to sleep. Patient did fine, someone else was there to help out. So I was like all right, I need to have the surgery that had been recommended on my hand now.

Speaker 2: 4:44

But that was really the last day I ever practiced anesthesia because the surgery did not go well and subsequently I had three surgeries on my hand to try to fix what happened on the first surgery. So again, the universe sat me down forcefully saying you are not meant to be doing this anymore and we're going to have to basically take a hand away to show you how to pivot your life. So yeah, that happened when I was 50. So you can reinvent everything you're doing. Hopefully you don't have to go through three surgeries to do it. But yeah, listen to the signs. I'm much more aware now than I was.

Speaker 1: 5:34

I love that and I think, in the space that we're both in, people are starting to be more aware and listening and taking a moment instead of going, going, going. You know it's so important.

Speaker 2: 5:46

So important it is. There's a real art and for me I had to learn it and I think a lot of people do just the art of kind of slowing down and going for a walk without it being like a power walk to burn calories while you're listening to a podcast on how to live your life better, Like just be outside and soak in the nature. That's where the benefit is, you know.

Speaker 1: 6:11

Yeah, yeah. That's where the body can start to slow down and just regenerate. So that's beautiful. I love that. I know you dabbled a little, if I remember correctly, when you were younger or your mom was in candle making.

Speaker 2: 6:27

Well, she always burned candles. She was always lighting candles and I was drawn to them. You know, even as a child, like I don't know, I wanted to put my fingers in the wax and I would make little like wax. I called them little wax couplets, little molds on my fingers in there, and she used to have the pillar candles. So I would like pull the wax back and mold it. And she reminded me I totally forgot this. But she was like do you remember? I told you again and again like, stop playing in my candles, you're ruining my candles. Did you know what you said? I said no, I don't remember that. She said that. I answered that I couldn't help it, that I just needed to be by the candles.

Speaker 1: 7:15

Intuitively yeah, your body knew.

Speaker 2: 7:19

My body knew at some deep cellular, inner being level. That's what I was supposed to be doing. Just took me 50 years to get there.

Speaker 1: 7:29

Okay, well, you're here. We're so happy that you did so. Thank you, let's touch a little. We touched a little bit, but really the difference in a toxic candle and your candles illuminate light.

Speaker 2: 7:43

Sure. So you know there's a lot of different waxes out there. I use a coconut wax as a small amount of soy, but coconut wax is a natural product. Some waxes have paraffin in it, which is a cheap petroleum derivative, and they can smoke and soot more. It's not a natural product, you know. And beeswax is a natural product, but that wax really is not good for beehives and pollination and you can run into environmental issues there. For me, I think that coconut wax is A both natural, but it also gives a superior scent throw when the candle's being burned. And because it burns at a slower temperature, your candle's going to last you longer, right? Yeah, you know not, and I wanted to put essential oils in the candles instead of synthetic fragrances. I did find that not every essential oil is burn compatible. Um, when you know, in the kitchen experiment phase the wax caught on fire a lot of trial and error or trial and lessons.

Speaker 2: 9:04

Really there are no mistakes really in life. So yeah, we do sacrifice some essential oil for a natural fragrance. And something else I learned not every essential oil is sustainably harvested. So there's a lot of things to consider when you're putting a product together to kind of make it be clean, burning and give you those essential oil benefits. And there's a lot of check boxes and we don't always see, we don't know how many chemicals and things are in our product that's right and that's huge.

Speaker 1: 9:48

And I think that's the beautiful thing about what you're doing is you're bringing that awareness to people, because they don't go to a store. They like this. You know, bourbon scented candles, smoke bubble but they have no idea what it's made out of or what they're breathing into their lungs and what it's doing the chemicals in their body, right?

Speaker 2: 10:08

and so I work very closely with a fragrance company. Now who they? They actually educated me too on some of the I even don't like the term, but I'll say it a safe synthetic, but they're like because they've manufactured it to remove some of the toxic things so that it does burn cleaner, so that you don't have the smoking and putting any bad chemicals into your air. So it's a partnership between us as well that I hope to deliver to anybody who lights a candle.

Speaker 1: 10:43

All right. Well, let's talk candles now. So I'm having a retreat this Saturday and Liz from Illuminate Life has been so generous and donated. I want to show everybody these beautiful I Desire candles for our ladies. You can see it here. It says I Desire comes with a beautiful pen and you write your desire on there. And it's not smell-o-vision but, oh my, you can see the crystals in there.

Speaker 2: 11:17

So tell us about this yeah, so in all of our products they all have crystals in them as well. You know, and as a child I was one of those little rock collecting kids and doing like the family trips and where they always had those bins with all the gemstones when you stopped at the travel closets. You know, if you're old enough to recall those family road trips, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, and I would always beg my mom, you know, can I get another? They had the velvet pouches, yeah, christmas, and and she's like you have so many, stop. Um, I had kind of forgotten a little bit about in my science brain and like rocks and crystals and crystal healing and how they make you feel, until I did my yoga teacher training and the very first time, a girl, a woman next to me, we were in Downward Dog and all of these crystals come pouring out of her sports bra in the very first Downward Dog, all over the mat, all over the room, and I thought, oh my gosh, what did I just sign up for?

Speaker 2: 12:24

These people are crazy over the mat all over the room and I thought, oh my gosh, what did I just sign up for these people? Um, and it you know. Again I was still in that science mentality. And now every product has those crystals and we intentionally choose the essential oils and the products to pair with the healing benefits of the crystals, kind of maximize, maximize healing. So the desire candle that you showed was my improvement on a new year's resolution, because I really feel resolutions are like what you've been doing wrong, not how you want to intend to live your life. So that candle is an opportunity for you to create a ceremony or a practice, something that brings you joy that you want more of in your life. You write it down, it becomes an affirmation, a mantra, just like a more clear, defined way of living better.

Speaker 1: 13:24

I love that. I love that. Oh, we are going to show using these and manifesting, and speaking about manifesting came with the manifest candle Perfect timing.

Speaker 2: 13:36

Right, right. So and that one has tiger eye crystal, it has citrine in it and some clear quartz. Clear quartz is the crystal, that sort of the master healer. It amplifies the power of other crystals. Clear, that's clear quartz. Tiger Eye is like amazing for creativity, strength, for fortitude, for really powerfully calling in what you want more of. And citrine is like abundance and joy and it's just a happy crystal. So I'm like that's what you need when you're like wanting to make something happen something.

Speaker 1: 14:19

Oh my gosh, I love it, I love it, we have. They even have matches in here. How cute is that? They come with their own little matches and a little explanation down here of everything. So you've like thought of everything. This is why, oh, I love it all, I love it all and wait, wait, there's more. I also have this one, which is cheer. I'm going to show everyone. I'm going to put it down here because I really want people to see how beautiful and these make great gifts for people. Oh my gosh, like a housewarming gift or a birthday gift, this one has the candle and it has the reed diffuser.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Yeah, how beautiful is that, and I set it up over here that was one of our holiday scents.

Speaker 2: 15:11

Oh, beautiful, thank you, and I'm excited because we're launching actually manifest in that candle. These are set which, again, perfect for you know, somebody who for for you, you know personally, but a great gift for someone who is kind of transforming their life. So I think it's yeah, I'm excited about that. That's the fun part. Show power.

Speaker 1: 15:40

Yeah, yeah, all right, I know you also on your website, illuminatelifecom, and we'll put all the links down below the show notes. But you have eBooks people can sign up for. Tell us about those, yeah, so.

Speaker 2: 15:56

I want people to learn, I want knowledge to be out there and I want it to be accessible and free, and you know I'm always on the path of learning. I want everybody else to start like walking on that path as well and picking and choosing what direction. Obviously they're going to go on, but we have some affirmation eBooks on our website, as well as guides for, you know, crystals, links to some of our blogs with essential oil information. Just trying to distill everything down to make make it easy. Make it easy to incorporate these little ways to live better and feel better about yourself. I love it and what it's all about right.

Speaker 1: 16:41

I love it. The woman who said she never wanted to, didn't read a blog, now has a blog, I know right, isn't that crazy?

Speaker 2: 16:50

It's just yeah. And the woman who was like I don't have time to meditate, who does that?

Speaker 1: 17:10

Like I can't make it through the day without like taking even five minutes in the morning just to clear my mind and, you know, reestablish a mindset that I want to carry me through the day. So, yeah, change is possible and reinventing yourself at any age. I've spoken about that a lot in my life too. All right, we have collections. So I know you have different collections. You have. She's got everything, guys. She's got roller balls with the essential oil gems in them. They're absolutely beautiful. Thanks.

Speaker 2: 17:34

Yeah, those are really fun of our. We have some wholesale accounts, so our products are available in a lot of spas and wellness spaces, which you know I think really is where our product is targeted. You know it's for about feeling better in your mind, your body. So, yeah, the rollerballs are great with traveling and when we went through that whole COVID thing, you know you had to wear the mask. I would like put calm, calm all over, but it's an easy way for you when you're on the go to just have a moment of resetting.

Speaker 1: 18:14

Yeah, I love that. I love that. They're so beautiful. I know also that you've partnered with I believe it's Girls on the Run.

Speaker 2: 18:22

Yeah, tell us about that it's one of our partners we give back to, so a portion of all of our website sales is going to this organization. They're international but based in the USS and what they do is they establish programs for girls starting in, like elementary school, where they encourage and set physical activity goals, like through running, through races, through team building, that really build self-confidence. You know a lot of our kids now. They're not as active as they were and a lot of schools have cut recess and playtime out of their day. So these are programs where they will take kids who would rather be playing a video game and give them the tools to know that they can succeed. You're going to run around the lap three times times and they're like, oh, I can't possibly. And they encourage them to do it and then see that, like anything is really possible. It just kind of helps them. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1: 19:29

That's wrong women. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so important I can't believe that they would take away recess oh my gosh, I feel like they get hearts and all of that yes it's a problem. Yeah, all right, so share with us where we can find you on the internet so people can come and see beautiful.

Speaker 2: 19:51

Oh, thank you, Sure. So illuminatelifecom is our website. It's A-L-U-M-I-N-A-T-E-L-I-F-E. One word On Instagram, which we also put a lot of great free, educational content out on that it's illuminatelifeRx. And also on Facebook, illuminuminate Life RX, because you know it's a prescription but a prescription. The abbreviation is RX, but for living better.

Speaker 1: 20:21

No medication involved. I love that Well, thank you. Thank you so much for being on the Connected Body Podcast, Liz.

Speaker 2: 20:29

Thank you. I love everything you're doing, laura, to connect mind and body, so keep doing what you're doing because it's so important and great right.

Speaker 1: 20:38

Each, each of us make a ripple effect in the world. That's the beauty of it. All. Right, everyone. We'll see you on the next episode of the connected body podcast. Bye.