The Science of Aromatherapy

WHAT IS AROMATHERAPY

 Aromatherapy is the art of using naturally extracted essences of aromatic plants to promote the health and well-being of your body, mind and emotions. These essences, called essential oils, contain the vital life force of fragrant botanical plants. They can restore, balance and bring harmony to your body and mind, while adding depth, dimension and definition to your life.

WHAT ARE ESSENTIAL OILS?

• Pure Essential oils are aromatic, concentrated liquids, steam distilled or cold pressed from plants, shrubs, trees, roots, bushes and seeds, and as such are the most powerful part of the plant.
• They are subtle, volatile but non-greasy liquids and vary in colour and viscosity.
• Essential oils are not simple substances, but are multi-dimensional, highly concentrated mosaics of hundreds or even thousands of different chemical constituents in plants that provide a defence mechanism against disease and a means of healing after damage.
• Essential oils are not water soluble and evaporate at room temperature and need to be stored in dark bottles away from direct heat.
• Essential oils and plant extracts have been woven into history since time immemorial.

These wonders of nature can be utilised for the human body and mind, simply and effectively and

• have been used medicinally
• have provided exquisite fragrances to balance mood, lift spirits, dispel negative emotions and create a romantic atmosphere
• can stimulate regeneration of tissue
• even act to oxygenate and carry nutrients into the cells.
• can help ease a wide assortment of ailments; easing aches, pains, and injuries, while relieving the discomforts of many health problems.
• Science has shown that essential oils are anti-microbial, and that they assist the body to balance and heal itself.
• Pure Essential Oils can also act on the central nervous system, relieving depression and anxiety, reducing stress, relaxing, uplifting, sedating or stimulating, restoring both physical and emotional wellbeing.
• The appropriate oils can have powerful results, both on the body and the spirit. "Fragrance Oils", "Perfumes" and other artificially made substitutes for Pure Essential Oils can not produce these amazing results.
• Our mind, body and emotions strive to be in a state of health and balance. However, in today's modern world there is a multitude of factors constantly throwing us off balance, creating stress and illness. Essential Oils help us to restore the balance, allowing us to heal ourselves, improve our general health and well being, and live more vital lives.

The Action of Essential Oils:

Essential oils have wonderful therapeutic properties that work in three ways -

• Firstly via our sense of smell. When we smell the essential oils, responses are triggered in our brain that can effect hormones, moods and emotions. In this way aromatherapy can assist in relieving stress, insomnia, mood swings and fatigue.
• Secondly, the vapours of the essential oils we breathe pass into our blood stream via the lungs, affecting underlying tissues and organs in a therapeutic way.
• Thirdly, when essential oils are massaged onto the skin, blended in a safe dilution with a plant carrier oil, the oils rapidly absorb through the skin into the blood stream and lymphatic system, affecting underlying tissues and organs, and help to relieve symptoms such as headaches and muscle aches and pains, promoting general well being.

Studies reveal that inhaling the delightful scents of essential oils can help heal an out of balance world and encourage a positive state of mind. Through the limbic system (smell brain)which contains the olfactory bulb, essential oils can help strengthen the immune system and stimulate the release of chemicals like endorphins for pain relief or serotonin for stress and insomnia.

These highly concentrated extracts invoke beneficial responses from the body and mind, depending on their specific properties, in both animals and human beings. They have been known to soothe, revitalize and heal the skin and have also been noted for their anti-inflammatory, ant-bacterial and anti-viral properties. From Bergamot's uplifting and calming effects, to the stimulation of Peppermint, our range of individual essential oils and unique blends will reveal their potential, subtlety and efficiency.

NATURAL THEREPEUTIC GRADE 1 ESSENTIAL OILS VS

SYNTHETIC FRAGRANT OILS.

Pure essential oils are more than just a fragrant substance and cannot be copied in a laboratory. Although our noses may not be able to identify immediately the difference between a real essence and its synthetic counterpart, our brains can and so can every cell in our body. The message of the pure essence is conveyed to the brain via the olfactory system and a response is registered within moments either calming or energising the nervous system. While aroma chemicals can fool our noses for a brief time, they will not have a long-term effect on our state of being or on our behaviour.