Why Aromatherapy?

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Why Aromatherapy? Why Do I Care? What’s so essential about essential oils?

Why do I care? Why should you?

Below you will find all the normal rhetoric about aromatherapy, it's history and why and how it really does work. I want to tell you why I care about aromatherapy and why I care whether you decide to use it or not. 

I went back to nursing school at the age of 43 after a successful career in the corporate world. I wanted to DO something - don't we all. I was passionate about nursing and the allopathic model - I hadn't been aware of anything different truthfully. I loved, loved, loved my classes - especially anatomy and physiology. What a miracle our bodies are - each and every one of us. I was so excited to start my nursing career and as in everything I do, I went in with all the enthusiasm I could muster. I started out in the Operating Room. Hmmm - not a good idea probably, but at that time there was no "nursing shortage" and I was lucky to have even gotten a job in a local hospital as opposed to a nursing home miles away. It didn't take long for me to get stomped on. We nurses are hard on each other - actually, the surgical tech's (not all of them - I love you Sheila!) but enough that it was not a comfortable fit for me. I learned so much though and now in retrospect I can see why it was essential (pun?) for my overall education. Sometimes it's even good for us to get stomped on. I got to see and learn things that I wouldn't have if I had started on the nursing floor. So - after a lot of tears, self-doubt and fear, I transferred to other floors eventually ending up in Critical Care. I loved it so much! I took books home, spent hours at Barnes and Nobel delving through what I could find there, perpetually had a stack of books at my bedside and read and studied each and every night (ask my husband), and literally lived and breathed this area of nursing. I eventually burned out of course. I'll tell you why. I cared - and I cared too much. I saw too many things and things I didn't have control over or could change - I tried.

Aromatherapy - what's aromatherapy?!

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I became interested in essential oils, mainly at the time because of personal and family skin care issues. My passion slowly but surely moved over to aroma-THERAPY as I began to see how effective they were at accomplishing the things that all the antibiotics and pharmaceutical methods hadn't. I started using them on friends, family, ourselves and our elder dog who had been with me for many years - and they worked! I saw that they were far more complex than I had originally understood and knew I had to learn more than I could find in books. I took a class to become certified,  it was for health care professionals and it just happened to be offered in a city in Nebraska - not Lincoln but close enough. That was in 2005 - this is 2011 as I write this. I attended an Alliance of International Aromatherapists Conference in 2007 that seriously changed my life. No doubts anymore. Since that time I've tried to balance making aromatherapy products, selling them to make a living because we saw it make such a difference for people with skin issues, and still have time to research enough that I was confident in the medicinal aspects of the essential oils. I'm there. No doubts and excited. The website still has a lot of work, but it's not "work" - although my house could probably be cleaner. You too will be once you start using them.

The Art of Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is the art and practice of using essential oils extracted from aromatic plants and herbs to restore or enhance health, beauty and well-being. Aromatherapy puts to use the medicinal properties found in the aromatic essential oils of various plants. Through a process of steam distillation or cold pressing, the volatile constituents of the pure plant oil (the plant’s essence) are extracted from its flowers, leaves, branches or roots.

According to Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt, Director of the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy, the term “aromatherapy” is somewhat misleading, as it can suggest an exclusive role for the aroma in the healing process. “In actuality,” says Dr. Schnaubelt, “the oils exert much of their therapeutic effect through their pharmacological properties and their small molecular size, making them one of the few therapeutic agents to easily penetrate bodily tissues.”

How Aromatherapy Works:

According to Dr. Schnaubelt, “The chemical makeup of essential oils gives them a host of desirable pharmacological properties ranging from antibacterial, antiviral and antispasmodic, to uses as diuretics, vasodilators and vasoconstrictors. Essential oils act on the adrenals, ovaries and the thyroid and can energize or pacify, detoxify and facilitate the digestive process.”

The oils’ therapeutic properties also make them effective for treating infection, interacting with the various branches of the nervous system, modifying immune response and harmonizing moods and emotions.

The Physiological Effects of Fragrance:

Aromatic molecules that interact with the top of the nasal cavity give off signals that are modified by various biological processes before traveling to the limbic system, the emotional switchboard of the brain. There they create impressions associated with previous experiences and emotions. Because the limbic system is directly connected to those parts of the brain that control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress levels and hormone balance, scientists have learned that oil fragrances may be one of the fastest ways to achieve physiological or psychological effects.

John Steele, Ph.D., of Sherman Oaks, California, and Robert Tisserand, of London, England, (now California) leading researchers in the field of aromatherapy, have studied the effects on brain wave patterns when essential oils are inhaled or smelled. Their findings show that oils such as orange, jasmine and rose have a tranquilizing effect and work by altering the brain waves into a rhythm that produces calmness and a sense of well-being. In the same way, the so-called “stimulating” oils – basil, black pepper, rosemary and cardamom – work by producing a heightened energy response.

Inhaling the fragrance of certain essential oils can help clear sinuses or free congestion in the chest, as well as alter the neurochemistry of the brain to produce changes in mental and emotional behavior. Even aromas too subtle to be consciously detected can have significant effects on central nervous system activity, sometimes to the point of cutting in half the amount of time needed to perform a visual search task.

Basically, aromatherapy involves the use of unadulterated fragrant essential oils that are extracted from various plants. I'm not sure why I'm still surprised at how well essential oils work since in nature, the plant's essential oils act to protect the plant from parasites and diseases. Steam distilled or cold-pressed, the essential oils can be mixed with a neutral-scented carrier oil and then may be applied to the skin, sprayed into the air, added to bath water, etc. Some fragrances are stimulating, while others promote relaxation. Aromatherapy is used to promote healing from various physical, mental, and emotional conditions. More and more research is revealing just how powerful aromatherapy, when used correctly and with aromatherapy grade essential oils, can be.

We have listed some of the best links on the web to help you learn about health & natural healing through the use of pharmaceutical-free, drug-free, essential oils and natural herbal products. You will see a whole new world of possibilities open up to you as you begin to realize God through nature has provided us with a vast assortment of natural healing possibilities.

We will be continually adding to an updated, comprehensive, one-of-a-kind resource for all of the ingredients we recommend and use, including essential oils, carrier oils (fixed oils such as vegetable oils), herbs and others. Please check back soon. New classes will be forming soon, both locally and through webinars. Sign up for our newsletter and Facebook and you will be quickly informed of new items being added.

Click Here for an excellent site for all sorts of information concerning aromatherapy & essential oils.