BoomerGirl Diary

It only seems natural that Terre Wood surrounds herself, at home and at work, with beauty and inspiration.

For Wood, living amid beauty is part of fulfilling her calling as a holistic healer.

It took four years to transform her house into the “temple” where Wood now lives, works, teaches, creates, dreams, paints, reveals. Filled with her artistic touches and signature scents, complemented by vivid colors, lush fabrics and rich details, the home is an extension of her creativity, as the remodel was done by her design.

“This is such a labor of love,” she says. “It comes from the deepest part of my artist soul.”

Nearly three years ago, Wood finally was able to move into the refurbished home, which originally was built in 1869, and her new workspace in the purple-frame conservatory on its south side.

“Part of the design of the house is for me to be able to teach classes and do my retreats and things here in this home,” she says. “That’s what it’s built for; we really don’t need a house this large. It’s really about my work, as well.”

By intertwining her work and home, Wood has created a lifestyle designed to help others along their “personal journey” to better health.

“To me, healing energy doesn’t have to be confined to one form,” she says. “The healing arts in my opinion are moving into new forms, especially given the nature of what’s happening in the world today. I believe that everything is evolving, not just what’s happening on the planet and what we can see with Mother Nature. Everything is changing. So that’s how I live. I really live this way every day.”

Ahead of the curve

It was at an early age that Wood first became fascinated with Mother Nature and her creations.

“My mom said she couldn’t keep me out of the neighbor’s garden,” says Wood, now 48, who grew up in Kansas City, Mo.

She started working in the holistic field about 25 years ago, and nine years later began to practice aromatherapy. At that time, it was a relatively unknown field. She took courses with instructors from England and France who offered some of the first educational programs in traditional aromatherapy. Although Wood has more than 500 hours of training, she says her clients have been her most valuable teachers.

“The most valuable experiences have been when combining the scientific knowledge, working one-on-one with clients and applying the techniques for spiritual healing,” she says. “There are things that you can’t learn from a book.”

She started her aromatherapy business, Hummingbird Song, with a “little shop” at 43rd and Main streets in Kansas City, Mo. A few years later, she began commuting to downtown Lawrence after relocating her practice and later opened a holistic center.

“I really liked the town,” she says. “I thought at that particular time, people would be more receptive to aromatherapy. And now ...”

The business of aromatherapy has gone mainstream: Wood has clients from across the United States, even Canada. Many learn about her business through word-of-mouth; others she meets during her travels for work.

“You can go buy an aromatherapy product at the health-food store,” she says. “But people who are coming to me, they want something that is more personal, something that they feel is a different kind of a quality for inspiring the spirit of healing.”

Through her home-based business — Olde World Rose Aromatique — Wood offers her own line of all-organic essential oils, which come from sources throughout the world. She uses her hundreds of oils to blend products called synergistic aromatic blends; many of those are therapeutic blends, and blends to uplift and inspire. Wood also creates tinctures, which are made from herbs or plants — fresh or dried — and can be taken internally. Other products include all-natural perfumes and natural cleaning solutions.

“Very few hands touch what I create — maybe three people, from the farmer to me,” she says. “This ensures superior quality.”

A consultation with Wood costs between $150 and $300, which can include aromatic blends and energy treatments.

“I really do like to work from a spiritual perspective with plant medicine ... instead of just purely on the physical level,” she says. “Even the scientific world is now starting to support spiritual healing, like with the power of prayer and how that can affect a situation. That’s not new in the holistic community.”

For instance, Wood says someone suffering from a headache probably is dealing with more than just physical pain — there’s a deeper cause.

“A lot of the formulas that I’ve created work with the emotional aspect as well; the meditative, spiritual aspect of how do we make ourselves feel centered. That’s becoming more and more accepted,” she says. “We don’t have the answers that we want, so we have to draw our inner strength from within.”

Leading the journey

Wood’s clients appreciate her universal healing philosophy, which goes beyond the physical.

“The way that she approaches the oils is unique,” says Alison Dishinger, who uses Wood’s oils for her massage practice and for herself. “She approaches it from mind, body and spirit; she doesn’t just approach it from body. She’s able to translate really complicated information — both spiritual and physical. She just lets you experience it.”

Dishinger started using Wood’s products about 12 years ago, after hearing about them from a friend. In 1997 she started working for Wood, at Hummingbird Song.

“She was my first aromatherapy teacher,” says Dishinger. “My first experience with one of her blends was sitting with a group of people who work with her. She let us experience where it took us – on a journey. We were able to experience it for ourselves. That’s really what she encourages. She’s like a master of it.”

Dishinger uses several of Wood’s oils with her clients, allowing them to choose “whatever smells good to them.” Recent selections include Fall Initiation, Body Balance (one of Dishinger’s favorites and “a really gentle blend that is really supportive”) and Sinus Formula, which is “absolutely amazing.”

Scent can be quite powerful, Wood says, because smells stimulate the middle part of the brain, where the memory is.

“Through the sense of smell you can find security, confidence and feelings of well-being,” Wood says. “Your head is not confused; your heart is not confused.”

Helping her clients gain clarity and self-awareness is thrilling for Wood.

“You ask people what they’re passionate about and who might they be at the core of their soul and they might not know at all what that looks and feels like.’” she says. “Natural fragrance from the earth can inspire this awareness. It can be a communication from Mother Nature.”

A colorful life

In addition to scent, Wood inspires her clients visually with color therapy through her artwork and energetically with shamanic healing and reiki, a relaxation technique.

During her healing sessions, Wood employs her colorful paintings displayed in the conservatory and elsewhere in her home. Many feature words and symbols, such as moons, spirals, cats and poppies.

“Traditionally my work represents things that I see in my dreams,” she says. “Then I’m trying to convey that onto canvas, through color.”

Perhaps Wood’s most visible use of color is on her home’s purple conservatory, which was built in England and reconstructed in Lawrence.

“That’s one thing that I really couldn’t find here in the United States,” she says. “I wanted an authentic ‘plant world,’ a conservatory, so we took the leap and brought it over with the people to build it. It was designed and built in England and then they took it apart, and it came over on a boat and they put it back together again.”

Local artisans were used for much of the restoration and construction project on the home, which Wood says was “an old soul that needed new life.”

“I would say, ‘My vision is this,’ and if they didn’t know if they could do it, then I would just encourage them to find out,” she says. “It was rewarding and worth the challenge.”

Recycled materials, including old wood for the floors, were used when possible to add to the home’s old-world feel.

“Somebody came into the house, and they said to me they thought this would be a house that Harry Potter would live in when he grew up,” she says.

By creating that sense of magic in her home, Wood hopes to lead others along a path to healing and self-discovery.

“What I feel the most passionate about now is helping people to feel more in touch with who they are, because I don’t believe healing can happen until we know that,” she says.