Nature's Medicine - Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy and the medicinal use of essential oils obtained from plant material has been around since the beginning of time. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, chemists used essential oils to establish the molecular structure in nature. Many received Nobel Prizes for their work. Each oil is a vibrational hologram, contributing to the health and well being of each person in its own right. When blended with other oils, new oil is created vibrationally to resonate specifically for that individual
- A holistic approach acknowledges that aromatherapy connects to the phenomena of life much more closely and intimately than conventional medicine
- Essential oils reawaken odor awareness and the connection to individuality and greater independence improves the ability to take responsibility for one’s own health
- Self-confidence and wellbeing are influenced, providing an improved flow of biological information through the psychosomatic network of body and mind
- But let us not throw caution to the wind. These oils are toxic when overused, or used improperly diluted.
- A Little Goes A Long Way
Aromatherapy and the World of Botanicals
Food for the Skin Health for the Body
Aromatherapy and The World of Botanicals is vast. It produces a wide range of products from teas, tinctures, poultices, extracts, and essential oils, hydrosols (aromatic waters), distilled from the plants. The plant kingdom has always been with us, serving our every need. The Ancients knew plants very well and they worked with them in a holistic, shamanic way. In today's world, we have distanced ourselves so far from nature, yet so much of our medicine is derived from the plant world. In our modern handling of the plant material, the components are isolated and reformed at the molecular level, with the volatile components being pulled from their matrix and made into patented products. These are synthetic and unfortunately have side effects, from mild to serious, and even fatal. The current reported annual death from prescribed medications is over 250,000.
We are grateful for much of the research that the early chemists did on essential oil that has helped us determine from a scientific standpoint what the components can do for us. However, through their reductionists systems, we have lost sight of how the total matrix, with its second metabolites and trace minerals, work together to bring balance to the system. As some of the great herbalists of our times have said, each factor is meaningful in the tangled web of interrelationships - but ceases to have any meaning when isolated from the whole.
In the 25 years that I have been practicing and learning, I've seen the simple, yet powerful effect that using the essential oils and plant medicine, properly and on a PRN regular daily basis, is merely a part of our daily practice of bringing balance into our lives. Just as food nourishes our body, so can plant medicine be used as food for the skin, health for the body. As an educator and product formulator and clinician, I take the cautious approach to always bring balance to the person in mind, body, and emotions.
The essential oils are very powerful -- and thus we use small amounts, never directly to the skin, and usually in combination with a balance of helpful "carrier" oils (generally cold press vegetable/herbal oils - not concentrated like the essential oils). Dilution and Dosage are critical, as the application is strong. A little goes a long way. In our world today, we tend to think that something is good, we should use more of it. And next, we find people drinking the oils! Alas! Due to the concentrated effect of these concentrated oils from our plants.. they are often too strong, and then we combine the complexity of any medications that might be taken... and we then have a problem. Unfortunately, in the case of herbs and essential oils... the negative effects can range from immediate to undetected for years. And most especially on our little ones -- who need only the smallest dilution or even just teas or the flower waters we call hydrosols are usually sufficient.