What is Aromatherapy?

Aromatherapy is the use of pure essential oils (EOs) extracted from different plants and their various parts, including flower petals, seeds, berries, fruit peels, buds, resins, bark, wood, grasses, twigs, stems, leaves, and roots. Essential oils are fragrant, highly concentrated essences of plants --considered to embody the "soul" or "life-force" of the plant. They may be concentrated in a specific part of a plant or present in several areas throughout the plant. A good example of the latter is the orange tree which produces different oils from its flower blossoms, leaves, twigs, and the fruit's peel. Other essential oils such as peppermint, are extracted from the whole plant and oils like jasmine and rose are extracted strictly from the flower petals.

These potent, sometimes volatile essences, hidden in tiny glands within the plant, contain many beneficial properties and are used in aromatherapy to increase health and well-being. True aromatherapy never uses synthetic chemicals or additives like those found in most commercial fragrances or so-called "aromatherapy" air fresheners and similar products. Essential oils should not be confused with fragrance oils which are usually synthetically produced chemicals mixed together to evoke a certain scent (including the scent of certain essential oils). Often times, as is the case with many expensive perfumes, synthetic chemicals are also combined with essential oils. It is not uncommon for commercially produced perfumes and colognes to have as many as 500 different ingredients --the majority of which are synthetic.

While both essential oils and synthetic scents can have an emotional or psychological impact on humans and animals, some of the chemicals used in producing fragrances can be irritating and potentially harmful. They do not promote healing or health. If you've ever experienced a mild headache after smelling a commercial fragrance or scents, then you probably had an adverse reaction to some of the synthetics contained in the blend.

How do Essential Oils Work?

Like the use of dried or fresh herbs in herbalism, aromatherapy draws on the healing powers of the plant world, but instead of using the whole or part of a plant, it uses only the plant's essential oil. Essential oils are approximately 75-100 times more concentrated than dried herbs, which is why only very small amounts are typically needed to be effective.

In aromatherapy, inhalation, topical application, massage, and baths are the principal methods used to introduce essential oils into the body. Through these methods essential oils work to improve health on many different levels including physical, emotional, energetic, cellular, and spiritual.

On the physical level, they can be antiseptic and immune system stimulants. On the emotional level, they can stimulate memories (conscious and subconscious), basic drives, and hormones. On an "energetic" level, they have a vibrational frequency that can be used to move subtle energies within the body.

On a cellular level, they are good for healing wounds, repairing scars, stimulating tissue growth and regulating the skin. And on a "spiritual" level, essential oils have been used in every major culture and society for thousands of years in ritual, prayer, purification, magic, celebration, and meditation.

Needless to say, the quality of an essential oil is paramount to its efficacy in aromatherapy applications. The quality of an essential oil depends on many factors: where the plant source is grown, altitude, climate, condition of the soil, time of day plant material is harvested, and length of the extraction process. The highest-grade and most effective oils are produced from plants that are organically farmed or wild crafted and cultivated without the use of chemical pesticides, herbicides, or other industrial substances.

Essential oils are extracted in different ways, including steam distillation (the most commonly used method), cold or expeller pressed (most often used for citrus oils and nut oils), solvent extracted (used for extracting oils like jasmine and rose whose flower petals are hard to distill), and super-critical carbon dioxide extraction (a newer process referred to as CO2).