Aromatherapy has its basis in essential oils and as such, it goes without saying that your knowledge of the art must also go hand in hand with your knowledge of essential oils. Aromatherapy essential oils are highly concentrated substances derived from plants. The "essences" of plants, they are extracted from the leaves, flowers, twigs, barks, rind of fruit, and roots of plants usually through the process of distillation. Aromatherapy essential oils are used to promote healing of the body and the mind.
The Basics
Each of the aromatherapy essential oils can be used either as a standalone or as a blend of several other types of oils. Combinations of aromatherapy essential oils usually create an effect which might be more desirable compared to lone oils. Before you start using aromatherapy essential oils though, there are some important things you need to learn and understand.
Although distillation is the commonest method used to extract essential oils, there are actually quite a lot of other methods in practice. Extracting aromatherapy essential oils can be very time consuming and even expensive. It also requires a high degree of expertise so that the oils do not end up spoiled or ruined, making them virtually useless since they won’t be able to offer anymore of those wonderful therapeutic benefits they are purported to have. And what’s more, given that it takes in excess of 220 pounds of rose petals to produce only 4 to 5 teaspoonsful of aromatherapy essential oil, it is definitely a tiring, tedious process best left to professionals.
The fact that a large quantity of plant materials are required just to produce a tiny vial of aromatherapy essential oil, pure essential oils are naturally expensive. But that’s what makes them highly effective. Remember that aromatherapy essential oils are highly concentrated. That means only few drops at a time and you can have the desired effect.
Of course, there are synthetic oils available as well but they are not nearly as effective as pure essential oils.
How it Works
The primary target of aromatherapy essential oils is our sense of smell or the "olfaction." When aromatherapy essential oils are inhaled, the scent stimulates the cells in our olfactory nerves, creating an impulse which is transmitted to the emotional center of the brain. This emotional center of the brain, called the "limbic system," is linked to specific areas of the brain such as memory, breathing, and blood circulation. It is also connected to the endocrine glands which regulate hormone levels in the body.
