ALL ABOUT AROMATHERAPHY

Aromatherapy is a way to improve the quality of life on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. Aromatherapy is already a part of our lives, although we may not have associated the name with the experience. Everyone has emotional responses, both pleasant and unpleasant, to certain scents. The idea behind aromatherapy is, first, to find the scents, unique for each individual, that evoke positive sensory feelings and emotions; and then to introduce those scents into our everyday life to enhance well-being. Natural scents keep us connected to the earth, sparking memories and emotions.

Aromatherapy History

Aromatic medicine, the ancient beginnings of the art of aromatherapy, was recorded in both Egypt and India more than 4,000 years ago. The Egyptians used aromatic plants to create massage oils, medicines, embalming preparations, skin care products, fragrant perfumes and cosmetics. Plant aromatics were also utilized in India as part of the ancient medical practice known as Ayurveda. Many of these practices are still in existence today.
At the beginning of this century, particularly in France and England, a movement by noted doctors and scholars in the naturopathic and medical communities prompted a reawakening to the benefits of natural medicine and aromatherapy. Today in England and the United States, aromatherapy is a commonly accepted alternative medicine. In France, it is common to find doctors who practice aromatherapy, pharmacies that sell essential oils and health insurance companies that reimburse for treatments using these approaches.

The Practice of Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy uses pure essential oils, extracted from many parts of the plant (flower, leaf, resin, bark, root, twig, seed, berry, rind and rhizome) to relax, balance and rejuvenate body, mind and spirit. Aromatherapy is both an art and a science. Aroma therapists, armed with a technical understanding of an oil's constituents, artfully blend essential oils to produce new aromas.
The results of aromatherapy are very individual. While there is general agreement about the actions of certain oils, aromatherapy texts vary in their descriptions of the properties and characteristics of an essential oil. No two persons are affected by the same essential oil in exactly the same way. Even the same person can be affected differently by the same oil depending on surroundings, time of day or mood.

The Nose Knows

We perceive odors through thousands of olfactory nerves in our nostrils, which contain bundles of highly sensitive nerve cells. Unlike other nerve cells, these cells regenerate every 30 to 40 days. Specific aromatic molecules of essential oils react with specific nerve receptors, which in turn trigger electrochemical impulses that are conducted directly into the brain.
Aromas are transmitted to the limbic system, a part of the brain which perceives and responds to memory, pleasure and emotions. Odor triggers the limbic system to release brain-affecting chemicals known as neurochemicals. Enkephalin reduces pain and creates a feeling of well-being. Endorphins also reduce pain and induce sexual feelings. Serotonin helps relax and calm. Because the olfactory nerves are a direct extension of the brain's limbic system, recognition of smell is relayed immediately, whereas recognition of taste, sound and touch is not as immediate.

The olfactory system of the human brain has a lock and key mechanism for remembering scents. This creates an individual perception of aroma, different preferences for scents and specific memory responses. The lock is the actual smell memory; the key is the scent which opens the mind to the memory. In aromatherapy, the brain responds to the aroma of an essential oil by retrieving a past memory associated with the aroma. If the aroma is unfamiliar, the brain creates a new memory response. The memory responses can be relaxing, balancing, energizing, uplifting, etc. The sense of smell has the longest recall of all senses, so we tend to retain memories associated with aromas for quite some time.

What are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are the highly concentrated, volatile, aromatic essences of plants. Scientists agree that essential oils may perform more than one function in living plants. In some cases they seem to be a part of the plant's immune system. In other cases they may simply be end-products of metabolism. Essential oils contain hundreds of organic constituents, including hormones, vitamins and other natural elements that work on many levels. They are 75 to 100 times more concentrated than the oils in dried herbs.

All the countries of the world provide essential oils, making aromatherapy a truly global therapy. The purest essential oils come from carefully cultivated and wild grown plants from climatic and geographic regions throughout the world. Information on specific essential oils

Essential Oil Safety Tips

Essential oils are very concentrated, so it's important to handle them with care. Please read these cautions carefully.

1- Always read and follow all label warnings and cautions.

2- Keep oils tightly closed and out of the reach of children.

3- Never ingest essential oils.

4- Don't use undiluted oils on your skin. (Dilute with vegetable oils.)

5- Skin test oils before using. Dilute a small amount and apply to the skin on your inner arm.

Do not use if redness or irritation occurs.

6- Keep oils away from eyes and mucous membranes.

7- If redness, burning, itching, or irritation occur, stop using oil immediately.

8- Avoid use of these oils during pregnancy: bitter almond, basil, clary sage, clove bud,

hyssop, sweet fennel, juniper berry, marjoram, myrrh, peppermint, rose, rosemary, sage,

thyme and wintergreen.

9- These oils can be especially irritating to the skin: allspice, bitter almond, basil, cinnamon

leaf, cinnamon bark, clove bud, sweet fennel, fir needle, lemon, lemongrass, melissa,

peppermint, tea tree, wintergreen.

10- Angelica and all citrus oils make the skin more sensitive to ultraviolet light. Do not go out

into the sun with these oils on your skin.

11- Sweet fennel, hyssop, sage, and rosemary should not be used by anyone with epilepsy.

12- People with high blood pressure should avoid hyssop, rosemary, sage, and thyme.