The story behind Inara Organics
The birth of a mother
As a former nurse, I’ve had the honour of assisting and helping doctors bring a new life into this world. The thing is, with the birth of every baby, a new mom is born as well. I’ll never forget the moment when my daughter Hanan Inara was born almost 7 years ago, the day she gave me the privilege of being her mother. I remember feeling a whole host of emotions – disbelief, confusion, elation, fear, pain - you name it. You know how everyone is always asking you how it feels becoming a mother? Well, there’s no one word that I can use to really capture how it feels, and till this day after being blessed with my son Raees too, I still can’t name it. What I do know is that there’s nothing more that I love than being their mother and I will do everything in my power to love them and do right by them.
My first scare
The truth is, Inara Organics probably wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my kids. When Hanan was born, I made the difficult decision to resign from my job as a nurse to take care of her. It wasn’t easy at the start (it still isn’t!) but I’ve learnt so much from being Hanan’s mom. When she was about 3 months old, Hanan fell ill with a major bout of bronchitis. Imagine my alarm at having to witness her pain and discomfort. She had a very chesty cough and difficulty breathing. This was compounded by her inability to cough out the phlegm in her lungs since she was still so young.
It was such a tough period for me being a first-time mother. Fortunately, I learnt a thing or two from my training as a nurse and the first thing was to keep calm. YES moms, keep calm. I know it’s hard and your first instinct is to panic as was mine, but you’ll never be able to help your baby if you yourself are in a state of panic. Despite being trained in the medical field, I was committed to using more natural and holistic means to care for my daughter as I truly believe in the healing power of nature. With my knowledge of essential oils and natural remedies passed down from my mother and grandmother, so began our journey into natural healing.
For the first three days, I diffused a few drops of various essential oils known for their benefits to the respiratory system. I also applied them topically on Hanan’s chest and soles of her feet after properly diluting them. Her phlegm started to break but I realized that she was still struggling to cough it out, after which I performed postural drainage on her while using chest percussions. Sounds like a mouthful doesn’t it but don’t worry! We will definitely dedicate a whole post in the future on how to properly execute this amazing therapy. After 8 hours of doing this same routine every 2 hours, her coughing intensified and she finally expelled the phlegm out from her lungs! A happy baby is an even happier mommy!
The birth of Inara Organics
Now of course, the whole process wasn’t as straightforward as it sounds. I had already been guiding mothers on how to safely and correctly use essential oils on babies and pregnant ladies – this gave me the confidence to experiment with different combinations that would best help Hanan. Once I formulated an appropriate base for the blend of essential oils that would allow for easy application, I was able to share my creations with my fellow mothers and friends. It was incredibly heartening to see how it helped them just as much as it helped Hanan and me. With time, the word spread and I received many requests for Hanan’s special blend, which you probably would have guessed by now – Chest Rub! It holds a very special place in my heart as it was the very first product I created.
As more and more requests came pouring in, I began brewing batches of Chest Rub and started adding other blends based on the different issues faced by my kids and the people around me. My daily work routine included, labelling, brewing and pouring while baby-wearing Hanan. Some of my first few customers who happened to live close by might even probably remember Hanan and I delivering the balms on my trusty bicycle!
And that folks, is how Inara Organics was brought to life. It’s been a few years now and so much has changed. We now have a team of like-minded and dedicated individuals who strive to make natural healing accessible to all. Inara Organics has grown and evolved, I along with it. While we have come so far from our humble beginnings in my little kitchen, we know that there is still so much more that we can do, for ourselves, for our families and for all of you too. With that I’d like to end this post by thanking all the people who have played a part in Inara Organics – my family, friends, staff, suppliers, couriers and of course all my wonderful customers out there!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little story about how we’ve come about. Till next time, signing off!
With lots of love,
Nina Chua