What Is Aromatherapy?

Aromatherapy is an holistic healing approach that relies on natural plant extracts, usually essential oil to promote a feeling of well-being. The idea of well being is a state of being happy, healthy and comfortable with life. Many practioners advocate using the approach to manage mood and mindfulness.

It needs to be borne in mind that the subject is still a pseudoscience ! It is perhaps better to term it a complementary therapy that uses essential oils to improve our emotional and physical well being.

The claims that are made for it have been rather too extravagant to lend credibility to the subject. What it does however offer, is an opportunity to create a more positive attitude.

The idea of using essential oils has been with us for thousands of years. in the ancient cultures of India, China and Egypt for example, aromatic substances were regularly burnt to produce a holy ambience. The pungent smells were offered up to the gods as libations and produced various physiological and physical changes in those who breathed in the resinous aromas.

Later on, European physicians, especially those in Germany and France began exploring the production of essential oils. the science of essential oil distillation began to flourish producing a long stream of articles excited about the prospects of these oils as medicines and therapies for a variety of ailments. The term “aromatherapy” was coined by a French perfumer and chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé in a book he wrote on the topic that was published in 1937.  

Looking at various web-sites on the subject, we can see that those promoting the concept consider a positive state of mind as essential to how we continue to thrive in an uncertain world. The term well being is important. One web-site Aromatherapy Associates in London, UK has listed six ways to well being which are:-

1. Mindfulness – Being more aware of your thoughts, accepting your feelings (good or bad) and noticing surroundings can positively change how you feel.
2. Kindness – Small acts of kindness can improve your mental wellbeing. Even the smallest acts can count; smiling at someone or paying a compliment.
3. Be Natureful – Make spending time in nature a must-do ritual to restore and calm your senses and elevate your mood.
4. Learn – Learning new things can help give you a sense of achievement and confidence. Sign up to learn something new today.
5. Connect – Spend more time developing relationships with friends, colleagues, and family.
6. Love yourself – Self-care, whether in the form of positive affirmations or a pampering ritual. Sometimes we spend more energy avoiding our emotions than actually feeling them. Give yourself unconditional permission to feel your feelings.

The business has a very proactive approach to the application of aromatherapy and it behoves us to examine the philosophy behind this. It in part explains why many of us are using diffusers to try and create a more positive feeling in the home and the workplace. These diffusers produce an aroma from the essential oil which pervades the atmosphere.

From a scientific perspective, there is a increasing evidence that breathing in aromas from essential oils has a positive benefit in reducing anxiety and tension as with the inhaling of lavender oil.