What is aromatherapy?
Sure, maybe you have heard of aromatherapy before and are, at least, marginally familiar with the term and the basics of what it means. Aromatherapy has something to do with scents and smells treating illnesses and conditions, right? Now, that does sound a bit unbelievable! How can it possibly do that, simply through the smell of something?
Don’t worry, you are not alone in your cynicism. Others have often questioned the viability of this treatment method. How is it really supposed to work anyway? In order to better understand aromatherapy and how it works – if, in fact, it does work at all – we need to get a better understanding of what aromatherapy truly is.
Aromatherapy is actually a generic term that refers to many different types of traditions that make use of plant matter and essential oils to create a more positive atmosphere in conjunction with benefiting someone's quality of life. All current treatments throughout the Western civilized world that use essential oils and plant matter are considered aromatherapy, rather than “actual” medical treatments.
In general, aromatherapy is a form of therapy that is meant to help someone relax or to reduce stress. Aromatherapy is practiced using essential oils and volatile plant oils to create psychological and physical sensations. It usually requires scented compounds created through volatile plant materials, essential oils, or similar herbal products and it is used as a form of alternative medicine for positively affecting a person's health or mood.
All of these many uses have made aromatherapy a very popular treatment method among alternative medicines. Many people who do not like the sometimes-unpleasant side effects of prescribed medication, particularly for depression, stress, or other similar disorders, have opted to use aromatherapy to help reach the desired state of being. You might think of some of these people as oddballs for choosing to use aromatherapy instead of other synthetic medications, but it has proven to be effective in certain circumstances when used appropriately or with the permission of a physician.Chapter 2: History of aromatherapy
Aromatherapy has been used in one form of another for thousands of years. Throughout time, people have used essential oils and plant matter to try to heal illnesses and cure diseases. For this reason, it is hard to give a specific date or event timeline for the creation and development of aromatherapy. It has adjusted over time to meet the specific needs of each culture as the cultural needs have changed. It has also changed as new plant matter and essential oils have been discovered and utilized.
Due to this ever-changing history, aromatherapy in its current manifestation evolved with the use of distilled plant material in order to create essential oils. This particular form of distillation can be traced back as a 20th-century innovation. As currently defined in the medical field, aromatherapy is a term that was first coined in 1920 by a French chemist Renée Maurice Gattefosse.
This renowned French chemist Renee Maurice Gattefosse had dedicated his life to research and study regarding the healing properties of essential oils. This dedication was spurred by an incident that happened by chance in his laboratory one day. Gattefosse accidentally set his arm on fire and was racing around the inside of his lab, searching for some way to put the flames out. While searching for the nearest vat of liquid to thrust his arm into, French chemist Renée Maurice Gattefosse came across a large open container of lavender oil. Quickly, the chemist put his arm into the lavender oil to extinguish the flames and, to his surprise, he experienced almost instant pain relief.
Gattefosse also noticed through this life changing experience that his burns healed remarkably quickly and left very little scarring. The difference in the healing process between these burns that were slathered in lavender oil and the burns that the chemist had suffered on a regular basis astonished him. One of the most significant breakthroughs that the French chemist Renée Maurice Gattefosse had discovered was that the lavender oil had shortened the overall healing process and healed with very little redness, inflammation, heat rashes, blisters, or scarring.
It was not until World War II that the studies of the French chemist Renée Maurice Gattefosse were continued through the work of Jean Valnet. Jean Valnet had used essential oils and other distilled plant material as a method of treating gangrene in wounded soldiers. While it was not necessarily a cure, there were many cases when Jean Valnet was capable of saving soldiers lives using these essential oils – a very helpful discovery during wartime crises.Chapter 3: Does aromatherapy really work?
This is a very frequent question among most people when they think about aromatherapy. Does aromatherapy really work or is it all just a big sham? It is a common misperception that aromatherapy is new. Aromatherapy has been in existence and recognized as such for at least 80 years. However, the essential nature of aromatherapy has existed for thousands of years.
To start with, do not get fooled by companies who will try to sell their pleasant smelling products as aromatherapy products. Some companies will hype up unfounded claims to be aromatherapy in order to make more sales. In countries such as the United States, aromatherapy is treated like other chemicals and the FCC requires appropriate identification of all ingredients. Make sure that what you were looking at contains all-natural ingredients, not synthetic ones.
So what about major illnesses? Can aromatherapy really help with illnesses or psychological problems? The truth of the matter is that aromatherapy cannot cure stress or cure an illness. Anyone who goes into the use of aromatherapy in order to cure something is going to be disappointed. This simply isn't how aromatherapy works.
However, aromatherapy is geared towards helping you cope with a physical condition, and the symptoms of an illness, and improve your mood, temporarily ease stress, or help with other psychological diseases. This does not mean all of these symptoms or issues will go away. It simply means that aromatherapy can help make these symptoms and issues easier to deal with.
Aromatherapy is unable to cure cancer, AIDS, or other major illnesses. Instead, it can help calm the fear, reduce nausea, and enhance a person's overall mood. It should never be used as a primary treatment method for any major illness. It only acts as a complementary treatment that supports other treatments already ongoing.
It can offer the possibility of taking the place of prescription or over-the-counter chemical drugs in certain areas. For instance, it can offer quite a strong benefit in dealing with indigestion, inflammation, skincare, hygiene, wounds, and mental or emotional issues.
In addition, aromatherapy will not work the same way for each person who tries it. Your sensory memory is going to affect how or when therapy will work for you. Therefore, if you have a bad experience with a particular sense, this will not have the correct impact on you as is desired.
Do some research on the company where you are planning to buy your essential oils or other aromatherapy treatment ingredients. You want to make sure they are using all-natural ingredients and are giving you correct information on how to use the aromatherapy ingredients. For instance, be leery of companies that tell you to use essential oils on your skin. You should only use essential oils on your skin if they are diluted. There are many mislabeled products on the market and a tremendous amount of misinformation about aromatherapy that may also make bogus claims as to the so-called healing properties of aromatherapy oils.Chapter 4: Aromatherapy at home
Aromatherapy can be used as a form of treatment or prevention for some diseases and can be extremely useful for reducing levels of stress. The essential oils that are released through aromatherapy have a significant influence on the aroma center of the brain, specifically in the limbic system. While no specific medical studies have proven aromatherapy to have positive effects on the body currently, many preliminary clinical studies show a synergy between the body’s healing processes and aromatic oils. These aromatic oils are often released as gas or vapor during aromatherapy, as the oils are often burned.
Throughout the English-speaking world, aromatherapy is used on a day-to-day basis, even if you are not aware of it. Many people in the Western civilizations may not necessarily recognize it as aromatherapy, but are likely to see it in their day-to-day lives through perfumes, massage oils, and scented lotions. This is one reason why many practitioners tend to emphasize their use of aromatherapy through massage oils and incense. It is only in America and other English speaking countries that aromatherapy is regarded as such a complementary method.
Have you ever used a perfume to get a desired scent? Have you ever used lotions that, for some reason, just feel so soothing to you? Have you ever burned incense with names such as “Tranquility”, found that the incense was quite soothing, and helped you to relax? Have you ever used bath soap or other bath lotion that was designed to help soothe and calm?
These are all aspects of aromatherapy in its complementary sense. All of these are methods through which people use scents, smells, and other natural aspects to help create a soothing, warm, and welcoming environment.
In France, where it was originally discovered, aromatherapy is a part of their national mainstream medicine. Throughout France, there is an emphasis on the use of the many properties of essential oils such as the antiseptic, antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. They may also find these properties to be in other distilled plant material and use these properties in order to control the spread of infections. This is quite different from the methods familiar to many English-speaking countries. In France and its neighboring countries, it is not uncommon for a patient to be prescribed essential oils that are then administrated by a physician.
Can you imagine what that would be like in the United States? Imagine if you were going to a physician who prescribed you an aromatherapytreatment for your stress, rather than synthetic medication. This would truly be different from what we are accustomed to in Western civilizations. Yet, so many other countries use aromatherapy treatments in order to prevent illnesses and treat existing illnesses or conditions.
Although there has been many breakthroughs throughout the aromatherapy medicine field, present day aromatherapy is a form of a valid science branch that has not been validated in the United States, Russia, Germany, or Japan. It is very common for physicians in these countries to neglect to recognize the usefulness of aromatherapy treatments. Yet, other countries throughout the world are still using aromatherapy in order to treat illnesses and diseases and to prevent further infection of illnesses or diseases. Despite the obvious usefulness of aromatherapy and reducing stress levels, most physicians in Western civilizations do not like to use aromatherapy in treating stress.
Chapter 5: What affects does aromatherapy have on the limbic system?
Perhaps the usefulness of aromatherapy may not be so obvious to you either. It is helpful to understand how aromatherapy actually works in order to understand how it can help. The primary effects of aromatherapy are on the limbic system. The limbic system has been described by the medical community as a set of brain structures that support a variety of functions. The functions that the limbic system of the brain maintains include both the motion and memory brain functions. This system of the brain operates in tandem with the endocrine system and the automatic nervous system. Through the endocrine system, the limbic system can influence the amount of pleasure that is felt. The same part of the brain plays a role in sexual arousal as well as other high endorphin moments.
Because of the large role that a scent can play in bringing a specific memories or emotions, aromatherapy can be a useful tool to utilize or apply therapy to the limbic system of the brain.
There are various aromatherapy scents and related feelings to these scents, the smells are designed to remind the person taking them of a happy time or place that the person has had at some point within their life. That limbic system response is why many aromatherapy products have some success using smells that are season oriented. Many times, the cinnamon candle can remind someone of Christmas or give him or her all of the Christmas season feelings.
Have you ever wondered why a certain sense or smell will remind you of places, people, or things? Have you ever noticed that some smells will make you feel warm and comfortable and remind you of places where you were happy and other smells can have the opposite effect? This is very similar to how aromatherapy works. The scents and smells will evoke certain responses within your body that will produce a desired effect.
Chapter 6: Essential Oils
How to determine what essential oils are best
Many essential oils can be used in aromatherapy. There are at least 90 different essential oils and absolutes and at least 15 carrier oils commonly used in aromatherapy. With so many different oils to choose from, it is no wonder that most people have difficulty understanding what oils may be best for their specific desired affect. It is very important to study the different types of oils to determine which one will be the best one for you to use, should you decide to use aromatherapy.
Undiluted essential oils and similar products suitable for aromatherapy can usually be distinguished from other similar products since, in most cases, the undiluted oils are of a therapeutic grade. This of course is only a good standard to go on if you live in a country that regulates the industry. In the United States, the content of components of oils is standardized to the use of FCC labeling. FCC labeling refers to the food chemical codex and it is a criteria established by the FCC determines the specified amounts of a specific aroma and creating chemical must naturally occur in the oil.
This type of regulation is used to help regulate the industry so that aromatherapy retains at least some sense of standards. Not only does the FCC help to regulate aromatherapy, it also helps to determine what types of oils and essential plant material are best suited for certain therapies. In addition, this regulation determines how much of specific oil should be used for a specific purpose, eliminating the worry of using too much of any particular oil. There is no law however, that prevents a manufacturer from adding a synthetic chemical in order to meet any criteria established by the FCC for any specific oil.
The best method, however, for determining if an essential oil is going to be of much use is simply an educated nose. Many people specifically skilled in aromatherapy can often determine if a scent is synthetic or natural. This skill is something that is believed anyone can obtain, as long as he or she is willing to put in the time and effort. It is important that you should try to avoid adulterated oils and materials for your aromatherapy whenever possible.
No matter what therapy, sense, or smell you end up choosing, it is important that you remain close to your natural preference. In many cases, if you like the way that an oil smells or makes you feel, more than likely you will enjoy using it. If you do not enjoy the smell and enjoying using it as a form of therapy, it will do you no good, regardless of what that specific oil or scent is supposed to do or how it continue reading
Sure, maybe you have heard of aromatherapy before and are, at least, marginally familiar with the term and the basics of what it means. Aromatherapy has something to do with scents and smells treating illnesses and conditions, right? Now, that does sound a bit unbelievable! How can it possibly do that, simply through the smell of something?
Don’t worry, you are not alone in your cynicism. Others have often questioned the viability of this treatment method. How is it really supposed to work anyway? In order to better understand aromatherapy and how it works – if, in fact, it does work at all – we need to get a better understanding of what aromatherapy truly is.
Aromatherapy is actually a generic term that refers to many different types of traditions that make use of plant matter and essential oils to create a more positive atmosphere in conjunction with benefiting someone's quality of life. All current treatments throughout the Western civilized world that use essential oils and plant matter are considered aromatherapy, rather than “actual” medical treatments.
In general, aromatherapy is a form of therapy that is meant to help someone relax or to reduce stress. Aromatherapy is practiced using essential oils and volatile plant oils to create psychological and physical sensations. It usually requires scented compounds created through volatile plant materials, essential oils, or similar herbal products and it is used as a form of alternative medicine for positively affecting a person's health or mood.
All of these many uses have made aromatherapy a very popular treatment method among alternative medicines. Many people who do not like the sometimes-unpleasant side effects of prescribed medication, particularly for depression, stress, or other similar disorders, have opted to use aromatherapy to help reach the desired state of being. You might think of some of these people as oddballs for choosing to use aromatherapy instead of other synthetic medications, but it has proven to be effective in certain circumstances when used appropriately or with the permission of a physician.Chapter 2: History of aromatherapy
Aromatherapy has been used in one form of another for thousands of years. Throughout time, people have used essential oils and plant matter to try to heal illnesses and cure diseases. For this reason, it is hard to give a specific date or event timeline for the creation and development of aromatherapy. It has adjusted over time to meet the specific needs of each culture as the cultural needs have changed. It has also changed as new plant matter and essential oils have been discovered and utilized.
Due to this ever-changing history, aromatherapy in its current manifestation evolved with the use of distilled plant material in order to create essential oils. This particular form of distillation can be traced back as a 20th-century innovation. As currently defined in the medical field, aromatherapy is a term that was first coined in 1920 by a French chemist Renée Maurice Gattefosse.
This renowned French chemist Renee Maurice Gattefosse had dedicated his life to research and study regarding the healing properties of essential oils. This dedication was spurred by an incident that happened by chance in his laboratory one day. Gattefosse accidentally set his arm on fire and was racing around the inside of his lab, searching for some way to put the flames out. While searching for the nearest vat of liquid to thrust his arm into, French chemist Renée Maurice Gattefosse came across a large open container of lavender oil. Quickly, the chemist put his arm into the lavender oil to extinguish the flames and, to his surprise, he experienced almost instant pain relief.
Gattefosse also noticed through this life changing experience that his burns healed remarkably quickly and left very little scarring. The difference in the healing process between these burns that were slathered in lavender oil and the burns that the chemist had suffered on a regular basis astonished him. One of the most significant breakthroughs that the French chemist Renée Maurice Gattefosse had discovered was that the lavender oil had shortened the overall healing process and healed with very little redness, inflammation, heat rashes, blisters, or scarring.
It was not until World War II that the studies of the French chemist Renée Maurice Gattefosse were continued through the work of Jean Valnet. Jean Valnet had used essential oils and other distilled plant material as a method of treating gangrene in wounded soldiers. While it was not necessarily a cure, there were many cases when Jean Valnet was capable of saving soldiers lives using these essential oils – a very helpful discovery during wartime crises.Chapter 3: Does aromatherapy really work?
This is a very frequent question among most people when they think about aromatherapy. Does aromatherapy really work or is it all just a big sham? It is a common misperception that aromatherapy is new. Aromatherapy has been in existence and recognized as such for at least 80 years. However, the essential nature of aromatherapy has existed for thousands of years.
To start with, do not get fooled by companies who will try to sell their pleasant smelling products as aromatherapy products. Some companies will hype up unfounded claims to be aromatherapy in order to make more sales. In countries such as the United States, aromatherapy is treated like other chemicals and the FCC requires appropriate identification of all ingredients. Make sure that what you were looking at contains all-natural ingredients, not synthetic ones.
So what about major illnesses? Can aromatherapy really help with illnesses or psychological problems? The truth of the matter is that aromatherapy cannot cure stress or cure an illness. Anyone who goes into the use of aromatherapy in order to cure something is going to be disappointed. This simply isn't how aromatherapy works.
However, aromatherapy is geared towards helping you cope with a physical condition, and the symptoms of an illness, and improve your mood, temporarily ease stress, or help with other psychological diseases. This does not mean all of these symptoms or issues will go away. It simply means that aromatherapy can help make these symptoms and issues easier to deal with.
Aromatherapy is unable to cure cancer, AIDS, or other major illnesses. Instead, it can help calm the fear, reduce nausea, and enhance a person's overall mood. It should never be used as a primary treatment method for any major illness. It only acts as a complementary treatment that supports other treatments already ongoing.
It can offer the possibility of taking the place of prescription or over-the-counter chemical drugs in certain areas. For instance, it can offer quite a strong benefit in dealing with indigestion, inflammation, skincare, hygiene, wounds, and mental or emotional issues.
In addition, aromatherapy will not work the same way for each person who tries it. Your sensory memory is going to affect how or when therapy will work for you. Therefore, if you have a bad experience with a particular sense, this will not have the correct impact on you as is desired.
Do some research on the company where you are planning to buy your essential oils or other aromatherapy treatment ingredients. You want to make sure they are using all-natural ingredients and are giving you correct information on how to use the aromatherapy ingredients. For instance, be leery of companies that tell you to use essential oils on your skin. You should only use essential oils on your skin if they are diluted. There are many mislabeled products on the market and a tremendous amount of misinformation about aromatherapy that may also make bogus claims as to the so-called healing properties of aromatherapy oils.Chapter 4: Aromatherapy at home
Aromatherapy can be used as a form of treatment or prevention for some diseases and can be extremely useful for reducing levels of stress. The essential oils that are released through aromatherapy have a significant influence on the aroma center of the brain, specifically in the limbic system. While no specific medical studies have proven aromatherapy to have positive effects on the body currently, many preliminary clinical studies show a synergy between the body’s healing processes and aromatic oils. These aromatic oils are often released as gas or vapor during aromatherapy, as the oils are often burned.
Throughout the English-speaking world, aromatherapy is used on a day-to-day basis, even if you are not aware of it. Many people in the Western civilizations may not necessarily recognize it as aromatherapy, but are likely to see it in their day-to-day lives through perfumes, massage oils, and scented lotions. This is one reason why many practitioners tend to emphasize their use of aromatherapy through massage oils and incense. It is only in America and other English speaking countries that aromatherapy is regarded as such a complementary method.
Have you ever used a perfume to get a desired scent? Have you ever used lotions that, for some reason, just feel so soothing to you? Have you ever burned incense with names such as “Tranquility”, found that the incense was quite soothing, and helped you to relax? Have you ever used bath soap or other bath lotion that was designed to help soothe and calm?
These are all aspects of aromatherapy in its complementary sense. All of these are methods through which people use scents, smells, and other natural aspects to help create a soothing, warm, and welcoming environment.
In France, where it was originally discovered, aromatherapy is a part of their national mainstream medicine. Throughout France, there is an emphasis on the use of the many properties of essential oils such as the antiseptic, antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. They may also find these properties to be in other distilled plant material and use these properties in order to control the spread of infections. This is quite different from the methods familiar to many English-speaking countries. In France and its neighboring countries, it is not uncommon for a patient to be prescribed essential oils that are then administrated by a physician.
Can you imagine what that would be like in the United States? Imagine if you were going to a physician who prescribed you an aromatherapytreatment for your stress, rather than synthetic medication. This would truly be different from what we are accustomed to in Western civilizations. Yet, so many other countries use aromatherapy treatments in order to prevent illnesses and treat existing illnesses or conditions.
Although there has been many breakthroughs throughout the aromatherapy medicine field, present day aromatherapy is a form of a valid science branch that has not been validated in the United States, Russia, Germany, or Japan. It is very common for physicians in these countries to neglect to recognize the usefulness of aromatherapy treatments. Yet, other countries throughout the world are still using aromatherapy in order to treat illnesses and diseases and to prevent further infection of illnesses or diseases. Despite the obvious usefulness of aromatherapy and reducing stress levels, most physicians in Western civilizations do not like to use aromatherapy in treating stress.
Chapter 5: What affects does aromatherapy have on the limbic system?
Perhaps the usefulness of aromatherapy may not be so obvious to you either. It is helpful to understand how aromatherapy actually works in order to understand how it can help. The primary effects of aromatherapy are on the limbic system. The limbic system has been described by the medical community as a set of brain structures that support a variety of functions. The functions that the limbic system of the brain maintains include both the motion and memory brain functions. This system of the brain operates in tandem with the endocrine system and the automatic nervous system. Through the endocrine system, the limbic system can influence the amount of pleasure that is felt. The same part of the brain plays a role in sexual arousal as well as other high endorphin moments.
Because of the large role that a scent can play in bringing a specific memories or emotions, aromatherapy can be a useful tool to utilize or apply therapy to the limbic system of the brain.
There are various aromatherapy scents and related feelings to these scents, the smells are designed to remind the person taking them of a happy time or place that the person has had at some point within their life. That limbic system response is why many aromatherapy products have some success using smells that are season oriented. Many times, the cinnamon candle can remind someone of Christmas or give him or her all of the Christmas season feelings.
Have you ever wondered why a certain sense or smell will remind you of places, people, or things? Have you ever noticed that some smells will make you feel warm and comfortable and remind you of places where you were happy and other smells can have the opposite effect? This is very similar to how aromatherapy works. The scents and smells will evoke certain responses within your body that will produce a desired effect.
Chapter 6: Essential Oils
How to determine what essential oils are best
Many essential oils can be used in aromatherapy. There are at least 90 different essential oils and absolutes and at least 15 carrier oils commonly used in aromatherapy. With so many different oils to choose from, it is no wonder that most people have difficulty understanding what oils may be best for their specific desired affect. It is very important to study the different types of oils to determine which one will be the best one for you to use, should you decide to use aromatherapy.
Undiluted essential oils and similar products suitable for aromatherapy can usually be distinguished from other similar products since, in most cases, the undiluted oils are of a therapeutic grade. This of course is only a good standard to go on if you live in a country that regulates the industry. In the United States, the content of components of oils is standardized to the use of FCC labeling. FCC labeling refers to the food chemical codex and it is a criteria established by the FCC determines the specified amounts of a specific aroma and creating chemical must naturally occur in the oil.
This type of regulation is used to help regulate the industry so that aromatherapy retains at least some sense of standards. Not only does the FCC help to regulate aromatherapy, it also helps to determine what types of oils and essential plant material are best suited for certain therapies. In addition, this regulation determines how much of specific oil should be used for a specific purpose, eliminating the worry of using too much of any particular oil. There is no law however, that prevents a manufacturer from adding a synthetic chemical in order to meet any criteria established by the FCC for any specific oil.
The best method, however, for determining if an essential oil is going to be of much use is simply an educated nose. Many people specifically skilled in aromatherapy can often determine if a scent is synthetic or natural. This skill is something that is believed anyone can obtain, as long as he or she is willing to put in the time and effort. It is important that you should try to avoid adulterated oils and materials for your aromatherapy whenever possible.
No matter what therapy, sense, or smell you end up choosing, it is important that you remain close to your natural preference. In many cases, if you like the way that an oil smells or makes you feel, more than likely you will enjoy using it. If you do not enjoy the smell and enjoying using it as a form of therapy, it will do you no good, regardless of what that specific oil or scent is supposed to do or how it continue reading
