Sunday, 26 September 2010

Aroma Therapy - what exactly is it?

In a way it's a real pity that aromatherapy uses fragrant extracts.

Over the last few months I've been spending quite a lot of time trying to source good quality essential oils. For therapeutic purposes, it's important to use 100% pure essential oils, and though this might not seem too difficult the problem is that there are so many companies who seem to be under the illusion that it's the fragrance that's important, and not the purity. This couldn't be further from the truth.

And this is the problem. A large proportion of the oils sold as "aromatherapy oils" or "essential oils" are really nothing of the sort. They are fragrances which are oil based, and that's about as far as it goes.

But AromaTherapy is not just pleasant smells that make you feel good. It's not woowoo. It's a healing therapy that happens to use oils which are naturally fragrant.

Essential oils - real essential oils, I mean, which are extracted correctly and 100% pure, not adulterated with other things to make them smell nice, cheaply - are plant extracts. Yes, many of them smell absolutely delicious, but their properties aren't contained in the scent, as such. Those healing properties are in the components which make up the oil, which come from the plant, and may or may not be directly involved in producing the scent.

If you're using essential oils for aroma therapy, you should regard the scent as more of a mnemonic than anything else. Just as ancient herbalists used to associate the look of plants with their properties (and ignorant modern day doctors assume that they decided the properties by the look, rather than vice versa), just as Every Good Boy Deserves Fun doesn't mean that only obedient children should practise their scales, the scent is an incidental property (which can serve to remind us of the purposes to which a particular oil can be put) not the whole thing.

Candles and tarts (flameless candles), reed diffusers and joss sticks cannot be relied on to provide healing. They may smell nice, but they are unlikely to do more than scare away a few insects, make your bathroom smell more savory or lift your mood. They are not therapeutic items.

Aromatherapy has become a bit of a minefield because of profiteers and plain ignorance. If you're serious about using essential oils for healing, you need to bear this in mind.

OK. Rant over. You can go back to what you were doing now.  :-)

Thursday, 23 September 2010

Citrus Essential Oils in the Home

Citrus essential oils have a natural antiseptic property, which explains why cleaning materials based on orange, for example, started to come onto the market a decade or so ago. They smell a lot nicer than some of the things used in other cleaning products, as well, and it's very unlikely that you will come to any harm using them (unless you're allergic, of course), which can't be said about certain chemicals commonly used around the home.

I came across this article which contains 3 recipes for household use of citrus essential oils, and I thought I would pass it on. You'll find it here: http://www.aromahead.com/blog/2010/09/21/citrus-essential-oils-three-great-recipes-for-fall/

So far as using citrus oils on the body goes, it's worth pointing out that they often cause photosensitivity - so it's best to avoid spending much time in strong sunlight - or to cover the area you've treated if you intend to do so. Of course, the sun is becoming weaker now in the Northern hemisphere, unless you live quite close to the equator, but it's something to bear in mind for the summer time.

Monday, 20 September 2010

Even more ways to benefit from aromatherapy

I only recently found out about a new type of diffuser for essential oils called a reed diffuser (or a stick diffuser, as the Gold Canyon rep calls them in this video). These are easy to find online from quite a number of suppliers, and in general come with a particular fragrance which you choose at the time of purchase to provide permanent room fragrance, rather than for therapeutic use. You can also buy refills.

Once you've set them up they will release fragrance continually for up to a year so they would be ideal for making sure your bathroom or other rooms about the house stay fresh smelling. As they are being used purely for ambience it's not so essential to ensure that you are buying 100% pure essential oil, as I usually advise.

Sunday, 12 September 2010

Lavender for academic excellence?

According to research at Muhammadiyah University in Indonesia "Lavender’s scent has proved to stimulate students' cognitive senses, therefore improve their ability to concentrate". Yet another use for this amazing plant, though the method suggested doesn't use the essential oil, but lavender plants in pots placed strategically. Still there's no reason why you couldn't use a few drops of lavender essential oil in a diffuser to similar effect, as 100% pure essential oil will have exactly the same properties.

Here's the link to the full article: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/09/11/lavender-aromatherapy-can-improve-academic-performance-research.html

Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Essential Oils aren't just for medicine

Wow! This article in Australian magazine Electronics News is amazing!

It talks about how researchers in the electronics field are experimenting with using essential oils to make upcoming consumer products like "roll out screens" for e-readers using essential oils as an "essential" component. Who'd have thought it?

One thing that's disturbing about it is that the oil that seems to work best so far is Tea Tree oil which can only be sourced from Australia, as so far as I know the tree concerned won't grow anywhere else. Supplies are already a bit limited, and if they start using it on products that are sold to millions of people, this can only get worse.

Let's hope they find another essential oil that is more easily sustainable.

Monday, 6 September 2010

Buying 100% pure essential oil

You already know how important it is that you always buy 100% pure essential oil - because other oils are adulterated with chemicals, and others may be too dilute and therefore not therapeutically useful. It's a problem that so many people advocate "essential oils" for purely aromatic purposes - a room scent or even a perfume. Because of this, many suppliers have appeared who sell what I wouldn't class as real essential oil - but they are labelled as such. In stores, it's not unusual to find these substandard products on sale.

So how do you get the good stuff? I recommend Starwest Botanicals (click on Essential Oils in the left hand sidebar). They have a great range of oils in sizes from 1/3 ounce up to a gallon.

Sunday, 5 September 2010

Wednesday, 1 September 2010

How to use Lavender Aromatherapy Oils on the skin

Lavender Aromatherapy Oils are so useful, I've already written 2 posts about them, and I'm not done yet. I keep thinking "one more post will do it" but then I realize I've gone on for about as long as anybody can stand, and there's still more to say,..

Anyway, for the latest instalment, head on over to: http://guidetoaromatherapy.org/essential-oils-guide-lavender-aromatherapy-oils-2/