Healing environments are cultivated and supported with aromatherapy using chemical-free essential oils.
What is aromatherapy?
Quality aromatherapy uses chemical-free essential oils from plants for physical, mental and emotional, and spiritual support. Artificial perfumes made from toxic chemicals do not provide aromatherapy and instead often contain ingredients that are neurotoxic and carcinogenic. Educate yourself about products. Know that some aromatherapy (and perfume) products claim to contain 100 percent natural ingredients when they do not.
Essential oils are developed from essences in specialized plant cells, often under the surface of leaves, bark, or peel. The process uses energy from the sun and elements from the air, soil, and water. Development involves distilling with steam and/or water. Sometimes the plant material is even crushed to release its essence, efficacy, and odor. They are extracted in natural ways to become essential oils. Each type of essential oil has a different chemical structure that affects smell, absorption, and use by the body.
What are some health benefits of aromatherapy?
The sense of smell is the only one of the five senses directly linked to the limbic lobe of the brain, the emotional control center. Anxiety, depression, fear, anger, and joy all emanate from this region. The scent of a unique fragrance can evoke memories and emotions before we are even consciously aware of it. When smells are concerned, we react first and think later. All other senses (touch, taste, hearing, and sight) are routed through the thalamus, which acts as the switchboard from the brain, passing stimuli onto the cerebral cortex (the conscious thought center) and other parts of the brain.
The limbic lobe (a group of brain structures that includes the hippocampus and amygdala located below the cerebral cortex) can also directly activate the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is one of the essential parts of the brain, acting as our hormonal control center. It releases chemical messengers that can affect everything from sex drive to energy levels. The production of growth hormones, sex hormones, thyroid hormones, and neurotransmitters such as serotonin, are all governed by the hypothalamus. Thus, the hypothalamus is referred to as the “master gland.”
Essential oils— through their fragrance and unique molecular structure—can directly stimulate the limbic lobe and the hypothalamus.
What is the history of aromatherapy?
The term aromatherapy (aromatherapie) was coined in France in 1928. The use of oils and scents from plants for therapeutic purposes dates back to biblical times, ancient Egypt, China, India, the Middle East, and parts of Europe.
Where do I get quality essential oils?
Various companies are selling essential oil products. Contact me for more information.
