Aromatherapy Essential Oil
Aromatherapy has its basis in
essential oils and as such, it goes without saying that your
knowledge of the art must also go hand in hand with your knowledge
of essential oils. Aromatherapy essential oils are highly
concentrated substances derived from plants. The “essences” of
plants, they are extracted from the leaves, flowers, twigs, barks,
rind of fruit, and roots of plants usually through the process of
distillation. Aromatherapy essential oils are used to promote
healing of the body and the mind.
The Basics
Each of the aromatherapy essential
oils can be used either as a standalone or as a blend of several
other types of oils. Combinations of aromatherapy essential oils
usually create an effect which might be more desirable compared to
lone oils. Before you start using aromatherapy essential oils
though, there are some important things you need to learn and
understand.
Although distillation is the
commonest method used to extract essential oils, there are actually
quite a lot of other methods in practice. Extracting aromatherapy
essential oils can be very time consuming and even expensive. It
also requires a high degree of expertise so that the oils do not end
up spoiled or ruined, making them virtually useless since they won’t
be able to offer anymore of those wonderful therapeutic benefits
they are purported to have. And what’s more, given that it takes in
excess of 220 pounds of rose petals to produce only 4 to 5
teaspoonsful of aromatherapy essential oil, it is definitely a
tiring, tedious process best left to professionals.
The fact that a large quantity of
plant materials are required just to produce a tiny vial of
aromatherapy essential oil, pure essential oils are naturally
expensive. But that’s what makes them highly effective. Remember
that aromatherapy essential oils are highly concentrated. That means
only few drops at a time and you can have the desired effect.
Of course, there are synthetic oils
available as well but they are not nearly as effective as pure
essential oils.
How it Works
The primary target of aromatherapy
essential oils is our sense of smell or the “olfaction.” When
aromatherapy essential oils are inhaled, the scent stimulates the
cells in our olfactory nerves, creating an impulse which is
transmitted to the emotional center of the brain. This emotional
center of the brain, called the “limbic system,” is linked to
specific areas of the brain such as memory, breathing, and blood
circulation. It is also connected to the endocrine glands which
regulate hormone levels in the body.
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