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What is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy refers to the “treatment using scents”. Essential oils (aromatic essences extracted from plants, flowers, trees, fruit, bark, grasses and seeds) possess unique healing and valuable antiseptic properties for health improvement, emotional well being and restoring body balance.
There are around 150 kinds of various oils that can be extracted. These oils have distinctive therapeutic, psychological and physiological properties to improve health and prevent illness. Some of these oils are anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, anti-depressant, stimulating, relaxing, expectorating, support digestion and possess diuretic properties.
Essential oils exert an influence after getting absorbed in our body. They can even affect our mind and emotions. They enter the body in either of the three ways: inhalation, absorption and consumption. The residue naturally gets dispersed from the body.
According to chemists, essential oils are an amalgamation of organic compounds viz., ketones, terpenes, esters, alcohol, aldehyde and hundreds of other molecules. They are extremely difficult for classification because of their complexity and small molecules. They easily penetrate through the human skin, enter the blood stream and finally get flushed through the elementary system. A concentrate of essential oils is not greasy, it resembles water and evaporates quickly. Some of the oils are light liquids, insoluble in water and evaporate instantly when exposed to air.
To yield 3 kg of lavender oil around 100 kg of lavender is required and to yield barely 1 kg of jasmine oil, some 8 million jasmine flowers are required.
Some of these aroma oils are quite expensive. They are extracted through maceration. The purification process is employed through defleurage and in certain cases where fat is used in place of oils, the process then for final purification is termed as enfleurage.
Some of the common essential oils used in aromatherapy for their versatile applications are:
1. Clary Sage (Salvia scarea)
2. Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus)
3. Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens)
4. Lavender (Lavendula vera officinalis)
5. Lemon (Citrus limonem)
6. Peppermint (Mentha piperita)
7. Petitgrain (Citus aurantium leaves)
8. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
9. Tea-tree (Melaleuca alternifolia)
10. Ylang Ylang (Cananga odorata)
These oils need to be used appropriately. |
