Aroma Therapy - What is this natural treatment?

What is Aromatherapy?

Posted By admin on June 19, 2011

Since the earliest time health has been a major issue for mankind. This has meant a whole series of different ways of dealing with it, ways that go from knowledge gained from nature and passed on form generation to generation; it has meant the exercise of power, it has meant experimenting, it has meant prevention and health care. It has moved social issues and it has also meant a lot of money and power.

We live in a time where science plays a major role, as does economic power; at the same time we are living a period of time where many people are recovering and even re-inventing other medicinal traditions.

All medicines have their root in nature where one way to use it is by developing new medicines in a laboratory and another where we look at natural (meaning from nature) substances and apply them with the least amount of meddling. Aroma Therapy looks to nature to help in preventing and solving health issues.

Since ancient times nature has provided resources for the human being to regain or maintain their health, and it was in those times, before the scientific method was applied to medicine, that man had to rely on leaves, roots, fruits and seeds of plants to improve their health system. In ancient times the Egyptians prepared their medicines from essential oils and used these as cosmetics, for baths, and to harmonize the temples. Mann was tested and experimented, then passed on that knowledge from generation to generation.

Today we have access to different sources of information and we also have studies that confirm how plants can help improve our health.

Aromatherapy is an ancient art that is now being incorporated into this era of rapid change and accelerated life. This discipline is the use of essential oils from plants, with their natural chemistry, not only help in the physical but also psychological areas. You can also call it a “cure with odors” or “flower power”.

To understand what it is, is quite simple. Simply separate the name into its two parts. Aroma and therapy.

The first step deals with scent (hence aroma) but this is also where the first problem arises when applying aromatherapy. Apart from the fact that it is difficult to describe a scent in words, you cannot catalog them as pleasing and apply them to everybody, as there is a connection between neurology and psychology – in other words between smell, emotion and memory on the one hand, and the physical on the other.

A bad memory associated with a particular odor may interfere with the intended effect of aromatherapy in some people.

For this reason it is important for those who are starting in the field of aromatherapy to fully investigate whether the person is emotionally allergic to a smell.

Therapy refers simply to a process for treating a disease. Usually this has been taken to mean applying a treatment when an ailment is present; however what about prevention?

Natural health treatments in general look at the person from a holistic point of view and this has many benefits and the one I want to highlight however is that aromatherapy, and other natural alternatives, seek to maintain a persons health at its highest level. Prevention is a misnomer, as it still looks at ill health, and not good health. So though we may refer to prevention, in fact we should mean maintain good health.

Aromatherapy provides a therapeutic use of pure aromas for a natural treatment and an important supplement to help restore our balance and harmony.
Essential oils have many properties that cause stimuli in humans and become an invaluable element of welfare.

Aromatherapy and Maintaining Good Health

Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils of plants with their natural chemical not only help in the physical but also mental areas of the individual.
Although it is considered by many as an alternative therapy, aromatherapy is part of the natural medical movement and as such provides an additional means to assist the individual in different situations, such as:

Counteracting insomnia
Reduce stress
Reduce anxiety
Relieve pain
Cure depression
Strengthen the immune defenses
Correct chronic stomach problems

Each plant has a characteristic aroma, a group of properties and indications of what may be used, and its own market value.

Essential oils can not be applied directly to the skin as they are highly concentrated and so must be diluted in other oils or water.

They also can be combined to generate energy and produce a more powerful and beneficial state. That is precisely where science enters, creativity and art of aromatherapy to produce different blends.

The main method of application of aromatherapy is through dilution in hot water. Thus, water vapor mixed with the essences is absorbed through the respiratory system.

Another way of applying these oils is by using a mixture of essential oils combined with carrier oils and so the skin becomes a carrier itself, and at the same time it provides protection as the compounds from the plants are introduced, without running risks of harmful side effects.

The oil penetrates through small capillaries and are transported throughout the body via the bloodstream (a process that takes only 20 minutes), and have the advantage that they can be applied directly onto the treatment area.

This is one of the benefits, they act that much faster than oral drugs.

Aromatherapy is used in home spas, spa salons, physical therapy, sports performance, conditions in childhood or old age, special patient care, pet care, among others.

It is a popular topic as more and more people want to know about the properties and different applications of essential oils and fully enjoy all their benefits.

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