Sunday, June 12, 2011

Merci beaucoup!

Thank you to the BOIRON family!  
The trip to visit your home facility in Lyon, France was amazing!  We have learned so much and will pass on the knowledge we have learned . We really feel connected to the energy of beautiful LYON.   Merci beaucoup!












Boiron training day 2 at a Local French Pharmacie

Our understanding of Homeopathy was furthered by the a trip to a local Pharmacie.  The Boiron educators Christoph and Shane both did an excellent job at showing us how Homeopathy in France is much different than the US.  In France homeopathy is covered by insurance , so if you are prescribed it from a physician it will be a covered expense (just like a pharmaceutical ).  And homeopathy is only sold at pharmacies, unlike in the US where it is considered an over the counter.  So, in our Whole Body departments at Whole Foods we are practically pharmacists when we guide customers in making a homeopathic remedy decisions!

 A typical Boiron Homeopathic set in France, consists of many drawers & drawers of specific remedy dilutions.  Many more than we would ever have in our store sets!

3, 4, 5, 7, 9 & 15 are all commonly presribed dilutions of Homeopathy in France.


Here is a little video of Shane & Christoph sharing with us a explanation from the Pharmacist about how many doctors in the area send patients to her one pharmacie in Lyon.  We thought that , if we only had more natropathic doctors near our stores sending patients, or customers, our way just how great that would be!

Boiron Tour, Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon & Messimy

The Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon Boiron facility was just beautiful!


 We spent the morning being trained by the wonderful Celine about the history of Homeopathy and Boiron.
 And enjoyed a wonderful lunch with our trainers and Terry Boiron!

We toured the entire facility .  We saw everything from homeopathy being made , to the raw material (the calendula and other plants smelled fantastic), to the production run of the new packaging of Sinusalia!  It was the cleanest, most professional and organized factories I have ever seen.  Homeopathy is treated just like a pharmaceutical in it's production, so only the highest of standards are accepted.

We really enjoyed getting to peak at the Oscillococcinum boxes in every language!

 And the many dilutions of Arnica Montana.
The Old Homeopathy making Machines were cool too.



After Sainte- Foy , We headed over to Messimy to spend a few hours in the the afternoon .  Messimy is where the tablets are all produced.  We were all very impressed with the high level of care that goes into the production of Boiron's Homeopathy.  They had these amazing air stabilizing monitors in each room of the factory, that regulate the temperature and humidity , to ensure that everything is at perfect levels to produce a very high quality product.


Even though our training day was shortened, we all left feeling very well informed and so amazed by the experience we all just had!   That evening we all enjoyed a walk around Lyon  and a fantastic meal together.  It was a great end to a great day!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Reflecting on our trip....

After visiting the Boiron labs, we all parted ways and got the chance to enjoy holidays in France & other amazing places in Europe.   So, now that we have all returned back home ( and back to Internet access ) We can share with you all,  the experiences of our BOIRON trip!

Our trip started out being cut short by one day because of another Icelandic volcano, However the Boiron staff did an amazing job accommodating us all & maximizing our trainings into a day and a half.  We were especially lucky to have such a great leader , Shane McCamey, that was always giving us mini trainings and making sure that we were well taken care of!

Boiron is located in Lyon, France, about a 2 hour train ride from Paris.  It is a wonderful city in France and a great place to visit.  The climate is like Southern California , as it was hot & dry.  We stayed 2 nights in the center of the city and got to enjoy a little taste of Lyon life.  ( Or a lot of taste, depending on what you ordered at dinner!  Lyon cuisine is like country style home cooking and the portions are huge!)

Our trainings consisted of visiting two Boiron facilities,  Ste Foy Les Lyon and Messimy, and a visit to a local pharmacie.  We were all so amazed by both of the manufacturing facilities.  And the training staff were equally amazing, Thank you to Celine, Chloe and Bernie!   We even got to have lunch with Terry Boiron!

I will follow this post with some photos & a little more of the details of our trainings.  Au revoir!