Jain Spirit 2003 12 No 17

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 51

Work, Rest and Play
organic
OIRE
Mail order businesses were also by this time facing stiff Organic Blue is an impressively comprehensive range competition from other forms of shopping, notably the Internet. of products covering the whole gamut of aromatherapy, "It was very rewarding and we enjoyed it," Ashwin recalls, but body care and nutritional products. In promoting the brand, the profit margins really weren't wide enough." Profit is as the Mehtas become more explicit about their Jain heritage. essential for an ethical business as for any other. Indeed, there Organic Blue, as the publicity material states, "is inspired is a sense in which it is more important, because the whole by its creators' Jain philosophy, an ancient Indian belief point of an ethical business is to show that profit need not be a system stating that we have an ecological responsibility to dirty word.
our planet and if we look after it, it in turn will look after The brothers realised that in order to expand they had to us." This year, Organic Blue was nominated for the best devise their own products and use modern marketing new non-food organic product by Natural Products and techniques within the limited resources available to the family Organic Products, the main UK magazine for the industry, business. They began in 1999, with the Earth Friendly Baby Organic Blue products are not tested on animals and the (EFB) range of natural toiletries, aimed at expectant mothers, range has been certified by the Vegetarian Society and the new mothers and infants. These products include the Organic Vegan Society, both of which the Mehtas support. This is Hibiscus Bubble Bath and the Organic Baby Skin Massage Oil, why Ashwin describes Organic Blue as an example of both made from certified organic oils including sunflower, ahimsa in action. Ahimsa is about 'non-harming' and this chamomile and mandarin - a gentle and natural blend. At the includes a positive recognition that all life is interconnected. end of 2001, Earth Friendly Baby won the silver award from It encompasses positive actions, such as improving human Mother and Baby magazine as the most eco-friendly baby and animal health or enabling communities to develop toiletry range. It has since improved its best selling Chamomile along sustainable lines. HealthQuest therefore works Shampoo & Body Wash to use even milder cleansing alongside suppliers with small-scale farmers in Sri Lanka, ingredients, and entirely eliminated preservative ingredients
Healthquest Products from the creams in the range.
Organic Blue, fronted by the beautiful Komal, is the Mehtas' latest venture. The products are highly distinctive,
BLUE packaged in a rich blue, which is soothing even to look at. Blue also corresponds to the throat chakra in Ayurveda, the yogic science of health from India, in which Jains share. The chakras are fields of subtle energy that correspond to various key points
organic
BLUE in the human body, as well as a natural element. Not surprisingly, the throat chakra is associated with communication, but also with clarity, truth and lightness of spirit. The
MUS natural element with which it corresponds is ether. Organic Blue products aim to create in the individual consumer a sense of purity and balance, so that they are less stressed, healthier and tread more lightly, with a spring in their step. I have already experienced after many long country hikes the benefits helping them preserve and extend environmentally friendly of the Bath and Massage Oil: Muscle Rub, replete with methods whilst remaining self-sufficient. There is an eucalyptus and ginger.
excellent website - www.organicblue.com - that covers all The purpose of Organic Blue is to cross cultural frontiers aspects of the brand. It is well worth a visit, especially for and provide, in Ashwin's words, a synthesis of East and West. its weekly Inspirational Thoughts drawn from the literary This applies very much in the area of philosophy: the holistic and spiritual traditions of the world. One of them, from Eastern approach to health combined with the Western Goethe, seems to me to sum up the spirit of HealthQuest: marketing tools and a sense that the consumer must come first. "Whatever you can do or dream, begin it. Boldness has It is true also in the blend of Western and Ayurvedic herbs, the genius, magic and power." use of the latter being unique in British Bodycare products. Is HealthQuest a 'Jain business? Are Organic Blue Among the food supplements, for instance, 'Woman' contains Jain products? Typically, the answer to both these Siberian Ginseng, familiar to Westerners as an anti-stress agent. questions has to be yes and no. The business and the Again unusual in this market but fortunate for me, there is a product both transcend Jainism, but they also embody Jain parallel 'Man' product containing the Ayurvedic ingredients of principles applied to the commercial world. 2 Cinnamon Bark (to aid circulation) and Gotu Kola to help fight off fatigue. It is an attractive product, and for me at least, has Aidan Rankin is on the staff of Jain Spirit as News and proved immensely useful as a restorer of physical and mental | Website Editor: strength.
organic BLUE
TOOD SUPPLEMENT
URPLE
WOMAN
MAN
GREAT EASE
RENGISIS
PHOTO COURTESY OF HEALTHQUEST LTD.
December 2003 - February 2004 • Jain Spirit
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