Aromatherapy: Mother
Nature's Great Gift |
The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, Cleopatra and her scented baths, Hippocrates and the early perfumers all used essential oils, and consequently, the art of aromatherapy. Gypsies even used aromatherapy to ward off the plague. Today essential oils can be found in a myriad of places from cosmetics to massage oils, skin care to bath blends, and perfumes to soaps and toothpaste. It is because essential oils are natural that they can be used to enhance so many different every day items. The beauty of aromatherapy is it makes these every day items extraordinary.
Even though essential oils had been in use for thousands of years, at the beginning of the nineteenth century their use began to taper off. Scientists had discovered how to isolate a scent and make less expensive, synthetic oils for use in perfumes and medicine. Then, in the early 1920's French cosmetic chemist René-Maurice Gattefosse badly burned his arm in a lab explosion. He hastily thrust his arm into the nearest cold liquid, a tub of lavender oil. When his burn healed quickly and left no visible scar he was inspired to study the properties of lavender and other essential oils. He soon coined the term aromatherapy and is credited with reinvigorating the popularity, use and study of essential oils.
Through Gattefosse's
and others continued studies, it was discovered how powerful
essential oils really are. On average essential oils have
one hundred components each, and some contain many more.
These varied components are what make the oils so useful
in healing and perfuming. The oils synthetic counterparts,
with only a few components, just don't have all that nature
has to offer. The multitude of elements in a true essential
oil are all there, working together and counter-balancing
each other's actions.
Aromatherapy can be described as a healer of the body and
the soul. The "life
force" of the plant is said to be in its essence, which becomes the essential
oil. This essence gives the plant its aroma and helps to protect it from parasites
and disease. Essential oils used in aromatherapy offer these same healing qualities
and many more. The oils can be antiviral, antiseptic, sedating, uplifting,
detoxifying, digestive, stimulating, bactericidal, anti-inflammatory, aphrodisiac,
expectorant, and vulnerary just to name a few. This makes aromatherapy helpful
for numerous ailments, cuts, scrapes, insect bites, skin conditions, emotional
woes, and captivating a lover.
