AROMATHERAPY
From as far back as ancient Egypt, it was believed that essential oils (the basis of aromatherapy) could heal the body, alter moods, stir memories for therapeutic purposes, arouse sexual desire, and generally improve the quality of life. The first known evidence of the Egyptians' relationship to scent was during the time of the building of the pyramids.
The Egyptians passed their knowledge on to the Hebrew slaves, who departed Egypt for the Promised Land, led by Moses. In the Book of Exodus, the holy anointing oil that God directed Moses to make from myrrh, sweet cinnamon, calamus, cassia, and olive oil, would have been a powerful antiviral and antibiotic substance.
The ancient Greeks also learned about aromatherapy and use of essential oils from the Egyptians, and practiced using oils for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. Ancient Greeks and Romans further refined the use of essences in cosmetics, medicine, and fragrance blending.
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, said that the way to health is to have an aromatic bath or some other exposure to essential oils every day. As far back as the fourth century, B.C., he recognized that burning certain aromatic substances offered protection against contagious diseases and this is a method we can adopt at social gatherings today for the same reason (incense, candles). We now have the scientific documentation about the antibacterial and antiviral properties of essential oils. In fact, the history of perfume needs to be reevaluated in light of our modern knowledge of protective and health-giving properties of aromatic substances.
Dioscorides, (di-o-scor'idees) a Greek who served as a doctor in the Roman army in 78 A.D., wrote principles of aromatherapy that are still in use today in his "Materia Medica". It became the Western World's standard medical Bible for the next 1500 years.
Aromatherapy has a very colorful and interesting background. It is considered by many to be the oldest existing medical practice in the world, based simply on the fact of its high success rate in treating all sorts of physical as well as emotional problems. Today in Europe the use of aromatherapy is very widespread. In England, the International Federation of Aromatherapists (IFA) is recognized as a leading authority in the practice of medicine and pharmacology. French doctors use medicinal plants in their everyday practices. Clinical research has proven that the use of aromatherapy, with regards to modern scientific criteria, allows for the treatment of a good number of infections, even those considered to be very serious diseases.
In this age of expensive psychotherapy, we are discovering that scent plays a crucial role in a person's psychology. Aromas do affect moods and emotions. Not only is the sense of smell 10,000 times more sensitive than any of the other senses, but our brain records our feelings based on the memories we have of certain smells. The ancient limbic system of the brain links a particular smell to a particular emotion, completely bypassing the analytical mind. The psychology of scent may sound mystical, but it involves very concrete effects. It can completely open up the subconscious to a point where we are reattuned to the world outside our various obsessions.
Smell is the only sensory system to directly project into the limbic system, making it perhaps our most basic, primitive sense. Studies have shown that odor is first detected by the olfactory epithelium, a sort of receptor sheet located in the nose. This starts a chain of events that leads to an information flow to the olfactory bulb and limbic system of the brain.
The limbic system is the part of the brain that processes memory, emotions, sexual drive, hunger, etc. It controls the hormones, it dictates the heart rate and body temperature. This part of the brain controls who we are and our rhythmic processes. Rhythm is very important to our bodies and how they work related to our respiration, heart beat, blood circulation, and metabolism. Essential oils, with their powerful scent and natural components, directly contribute to restoring that rhythm and balance.
For a long time, essential oils were thought to be a waste product of the plant. Only gradually has their role in health come to be understood. Essential oils are located in small pockets between the cells of a plant and are passed into the inter-cellular liquid as needed--much as hormones do in the human bloodstream. Plants make use of these oils when they are under attack from insects, disease, drought, or other stress.
Basically, essential oils build the immune system of the plant, just as they help to build the human immune system when used properly. The most effective way to use essential oils is not orally, as one might think, but by external application or inhalation. The methods used include body oils, compresses, cosmetic lotions, baths, hair products, and various methods of diffusion. The flexibility of medicinal use makes the essential oils a special benefit as they do not have to pass through the digestive system before they work. The molecular structure of an essential oil is so fine that it is able to penetrate the human skin and/or the nasal passages, circulate into the bloodstream, and enter the organs within just a few minutes. This is the primary reason that essential oils must be used in their purest forms, and cannot be synthetically reproduced. A synthetic oil is merely fragrance and has no healing properties.
One of the most satisfactory aspects of using essential oils medicinally and cosmetically is that they enter and leave the body with great efficiency, leaving no toxins behind. Unlike chemical drugs, essential oils do not remain in the body, and therefore, cause no side-effects.
A plant, like the human body, is merely the physical manifestation of a spiritual origin, and the essential oil that it produces is the "soul" of that plant. This is the basis of a science known as anthroposophy, an approach that looks at the spiritual, as well as the physical properties of plant and man. Essential oils absolutely act on a whole person, not simply on the physical level. Being 50-100 times more concentrated than the dried form of an herb, they are so highly potent that they work on all energy levels of the mind, body, and spirit.
Aromatherapy is also a global therapy. The finest rose in the world comes from Turkey and Bulgaria. It's been growing there for centuries. Peppermint comes from England. Orange and citruses come from the United States. It would be wisest to purchase lavender from France, because it grows wild there. Tea tree comes from Australia, especially New South Wales. Sandalwood comes from India. They've been using sandalwood in balms and ceremonies for thousands of years. The idea is to keep the connection between the plant and the land that created it, so that we can benefit by the continuity of that connection.
The tie between aromatherapy and other forms of energy medicine is the principle of "morphogenic fields." There are very specific energy fields surrounding plants, and the places that they come from, and of course, human beings as well. The energy that "transports' information is available to be utilized for healing and balance on all levels of being.
In the latter part of the 19th century it was noted that populations living in the flower growing districts of France had a very low incidence of tuberculosis, which was then a common disease. Additionally, those who worked in the flower industry were generally free of respiratory disease--reminiscent of the perfumers and herb growers who never seemed to come down with the Plague during the Middle Ages.
In 1928 Rene Maurice Gattefosse coined the word aromatherapy in Lyon, France. An explosion in his laboratory left him badly burned. He thrust his hand into the nearest liquid he could find and later found it to be pure lavender oil. Not only did it heal very quickly, it left no scarring and there was very little pain. He entered the history books for rediscovering the use of essential plant oils in healing.
Lavender oil just happens to be one of the best essential oils that can be applied pure on burns. It has a soothing effect and is known for its wound healing ability. Not only does it kill the pain but it has the ability to heal without leaving scarring. Gattefosse was amazed by the simplicity of his discovery. His discovery was nothing "new" to the local villagers who had known for many generations the powerful healing of essential oils