Aromatherapy

Discovering Essential Oils

WHAT IS AROMATHERAPY?

Aromatherapy is the use of Essential oils, which are the distilled essence of aromatic plants and flowers in a condensed form. Aromatherapy is the ancient art and science of using the healing power of aromatic essential oils, distilled from organic plant sources. Due to the vast number of natural phytochemicals produced by the plants, essential oils have many different effects on the body, mind and spirit. Stress relief and pain relief are the most common applications. Essential oils and their predecessors have been valued for their fragrance and their restorative effects on the body, mind, and spirit for thousands of years. The first coining of aromatherapy as a word was by a French man..

Aromatherapy helps the body heal itself. In Aromatherapy the body absorbs the physical and emotional properties of aromatic plant extracts known as essential oils. These substances can be administered by a number of different means, in a candle diffuser, as part of massage, by direct external application, in baths or showers, as room fragrances, in food and in rare circumstances as internal medication.

Breaking News from CNN
Wednesday, August 20, 2003 Posted: 12:35 PM EDT (1635 GMT)

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- Light and aromatherapy can ease the sleeplessness and agitation common among patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, British researchers reported.

In a four-week study of how aromatherapy can affect elderly dementia patients, roughly one-third suffered fewer bouts of agitation when they were rubbed with a lemon balm compared to one in 10 who showed improvement when rubbed with an odorless sunflower oil.

"Patients exposed to lemon balm also showed significant improvements in the quality of life, including a decrease in social withdrawal and an increase in constructive activities," study leader Clive Ballard of the University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne told the conference.

How to Use Aromatherapy

You can use aromatherapy as a serious healing tool or a pleasant past time. However, essential oils can be dangerous if misused or little more than an expensive room fragrance, Knowledge of essential oil properties is the key. Their are many sources, this site can be the beginning, along with many other valuable sites on the web. This site has a links page with a lot of good resources. But well referenced aromatherapy books that have stood the test of time are often well worth the effort and expense.

Decoders have their place in aromatherapy as a quick and easy reference, good for an introduction to the day to day use of essential oils a quick reminder of their uses. After you have selected an oil and a use for it, how do you use it. It can be as simple as a few drops in a basin of hot steamy water breathing it in with a towel over your head capturing the steam.

Quite effective by the way; or an essential oil or blend, properly diluted, dabbed on pulse points can make a pleasant essential oil perfume with aromatherapy, therapeutic benefits. Not something you will find at your typical cosmetic counter. To the other end of the spectrum of aromatherapy applications, professional grade Nebulizers, or decorative candle diffusers.

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