Aromatherapy Benefits

Aromatherapy Benefits are amazing and powerful and natural. This type of complimentary medicine goes back to the ancient Egyptians, they used so many different oils. So on that note lets look at:

History of Aromatherapy:

During my research on the history of Aromatherapy was a Greek physician, Dioscorides and also a Pharmacologist and Botanist. He practiced his Aromatherpy in Rome and this was during the time of Nero.

He was also a surgeon with the army of the emperor, so he had the opportunity to travel a lot and was able to find medicinal substances like plants and minerals from all over the Roman and Greek world. He wrote a five-volume book in his native Greek.

Then we have a gentleman called De Materia Medica. Thanks to him we have lots of information about the medicines used by the Ancient Greeks, Romans, and other cultures of antiquity. The work also records the Dacian and Thracian names for some plants, which otherwise would have been lost. This is so important as the plants are precious.

The work presents about 600 plants in all, although the descriptions are sometimes obscurely phrased. Many botanical identifications still remain insecure and only an educated guess can be made by today's experts.

Also known as an essential oil, it is a concentrated, hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile, ethereal oils or aetherolea, or simply as the "oil of" the plant from which they were extracted, such as oil of clove.

An oil is "essential" in the sense that it carries a distinctive scent, or essence, of the plant. Essential oils do not as a group need to have any specific chemical properties in common, beyond conveying characteristic fragrances.

Essential oils are generally extracted by distillation. Other processes include expression, or solvent extraction. They are used in perfumes, cosmetics, soap and other products, for flavoring food and drink, and for scenting incense and household cleaning products.

Various essential oils have been used medicinally at different periods in history. Medical application proposed by those who sell medicinal oils range from skin treatments to remedies for cancer, and are often based on historical use of these oils for these purposes.

Such claims are now subject to regulation in most countries, and have grown more vague to stay within these regulations. Interest in essential oils has revived in recent decades with the popularity of aromatherapy, a branch of alternative medicine which claims that the specific aromas carried by essential oils have curative effects.

Oils are volatilized or diluted in a carrier oil and used in massage, diffused in the air by a nebulizer or by heating over a candle flame, or burned as incense, for example. The techniques and methods first used to produce Ethereal oil (Essential oil) was first mentioned by Ibn al-Baitar (1188-1248), an Andalusian physician, pharmacist and chemist.

The above information is curtesy of Wikipedia

So What are theAromatherapy Benefits:

From what I have learned over the years of doing massage is that the oils have a relaxaing effect on the mind and body. Some oils can be anti bacterial, anti viral and anti fungal.

Some can be used as a sedative, an anti depressant like Clary Sage. Aromatherapy for weight loss, depression and anxiety and so much more..

They can also improve your skin tone and elasticity. Rose Absolute I believe is great in anti-agying skin care. Some oils can help to break down cellulite, tone the skin, help with stretch marks and much more...

You can visit my other page for ideas for making your own Aromatherapy Facial Cleanser Recipes

Certain oils combined can have a hydrating effect on a dry skin, some like Camomile can calm a sensitive skin. Tea Tree for example can dry up an oilier skin. Great to find these ingrediants in an organic facial moisturizer...

Witch hazel is also good, geranium and lavender is also widely used, the lavender oil is great for a combination skin, whilst geranium's aromatherapy benefits are great for a dry skin I believe.

The Aromatherapy Benefits are endless I guess as they are so versatile and most importantly they are natural, they smell good and so many people benefit from them. We really should use them more. I make my own aromatherapy recipes, like my own air freshner, I do this with an oil burner which I add eucalyptus and lemongrass and water. I only add 2 drops of each and it smells devine.

During the winter I will burn a lot of orange and eucalyptus and I can tell you I rarely get the cold. I also use aromatherapy body lotion, lavender being my favourite. So for me the aromatherapy benefits of using them works.

In order to achieve the aromatherapy benefits you need to look at how to use the oils, which I will explain to you.

How to use Aromatherapy Oils:

You can do this in a few ways some of which I have done many times especially when I did massage. So first of all you need to dilute these oils as the majority would burn the skin if they were put on the skin neat.

Now diluting can be done in a few ways you can mix it with a medium like almond oil, or grapeseed oil, or the wonderful hydrating murula oil, this is one I used a lot. Now I used to mix 20 mls of oil with 2-3 drops of essential oil.

You can also put 2-3 drops in a hot bath, or you can also put 2-3 drops in cold water and mix it up the pop a clean towel in the water and then rinse it and use the towel as a cold compress. And lastly you can burn oils in an oil burner or diffuser.

Then by doing that you will then start to feel the affects of the aromatherapy benefits. The main one being the smell initially and depending on which one you use can have a varied effect.

Another great idea if you are feeling stressed out? relaxation and aromatherapy go well together. There are so many benefits.

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