The Roots of Aromatherapy

The roots of herbal medicine which includes aromatherapy reach all the way back to the beginning of time. Aromatherapy isn’t something new that just popped onto the scene in the recent past.

Aromatherapy is referred to today as an ‘alternative medicine’ but there was a time that it wasn’t just an alternative; it was the only choice available. The methods and practices have been honed over these many centuries by trail, error and experience. Nobody just made up the uses of the essential oils. The uses are proven and they have been proven over and over again century after century.

Today modern Western medicine practitioners are slowly beginning to see the light, so to speak. They are beginning to recognize the medicinal value of essential oils. As more and more research is accomplished and more and more scientific proof becomes available, aromatherapy is beginning to take its rightful place in the top echelon of the healing arts.

Even international businesses are beginning to recognize the value of aromatherapy as buildings are designed that include ways to deliver aromatherapy to the people who work in them and to the public visitors. It has finally been recognized that essential oils delivered to airport terminals and train station waiting areas and even elevator cabs help to keep waiting passengers calm.

Even modern hospitals are beginning to use aromatherapy to help keep down the spread of germs. Aromatherapy for public use is spreading and it will continue to spread.

Aromatherapy for use in the home is growing by leaps and bounds. As more and more people become aware of the dangerous side effects of synthetically produced medications and other household products, they are turning to natural products. Aromatherapy is nothing if not natural.

Aromatherapy is completely natural and totally non invasive. The therapeutic benefits of essential oil are delivered in only two ways; through the nose and through the skin.

Aromatherapy has the ability to replace sickness with health, eradicate pain, and restore calmness where stress once existed.

The five senses that humans are born with are sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Each of these five senses provides information to our brains that is received, processed and stored for future reference in our memories.

Scientists are learning more and more about how the five senses work as time goes by. But they still don’t know everything that there is to know. Of the five senses that we are born with, the one that is usually least developed is our sense of smell. And this is the sense that scientists seem to really know the least about.

Essential Oils

Plants contain oil. That isn’t new information. You probably already knew that. There are more than five hundred essential oils that have been identified and extracted. Each one of these essential oils is thought to have very specific effects on the human body and/or human emotions.

Essential oil is volatile. It is almost always extracted from the non-seed part of a plant. Essential oils have been used for centuries by many civilizations. The Chinese, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Indians, Arabs, American Indians and others used essential oils as medicine as well as for many other things.

Long before writing had been invented, essential oils were being extracted from plants and flowers. Distillation pots have been found that can be dated to 3500 years in the past. Of course, the earliest method of distillation bore little resemblance to modern methods of distillation.

Aromatherapy was a part of the earliest accounts of herbal medicine. The burning of incense and the anointing of oil were both early forms of what we call aromatherapy today.

Learning to practice herbal medicine (including aromatherapy) was a process that lasted many years in all of the ancient civilizations. Apprentices learned from masters, became masters themselves eventually, and passed their knowledge on to other apprentices.

Modern day instruction in aromatherapy does not include the gathering of plants nor instructions in extracting essential oils from plants. This information is not really necessary for an aromatherapist to know. Essential oils are produced by companies today and supplied to aromatherapists ready to be used.

Research

Research into the benefits of aromatherapy is constantly being conducted. Research projects are going on world wide as we speak. There are a multitude of research organizations dedicated to finding out more and more about essential oils and how they can benefit the human race. Even some colleges are now beginning to make grants for the study of aromatherapy and essential oils.

Human physical health problems like high blood pressure, dementia, skin problems, premenstrual syndrome and even cancer can be treated to some degree by the use of aromatherapy. Human emotional problems like depression, anxiety and stress can also by treated effectively with aromatherapy. And research is proving it.

High Blood Pressure, Dermatitis, Arthritis, Anxiety, Insomnia, Dementia, Postpartum Depression, and general Alertness have all been subjects of promising research involving the aromatherapies.

Many of what Western medicine refers to as ‘alternative medicines’ have always treated the body, the mind, the emotions and the soul as one entity. Only recently has Western medicine even begun to acknowledge the mind/body connection.

At last there is some serious research being conducted by renowned scientists and recognized and respected organizations that is proving that the mind/body connection not only exists but that is a vital part of overall health care. Well, we already knew that but it nice to see it becoming part of researched and proven scientific fact.

Aromatherapy for Everybody:

With over 500 essential oils, there are a lot of different applications. Aroma therapy has specific effective uses for men and women, children, teenagers, and from our middle years to our late years. And beyond the humans in our households there are many applications for out pets and animals as well.

To learn more about Aromatherapy be sure to get your copy of the Nose Knows. You will find it an informative introduction to Aromatherapy and its applications.