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Aromatherapy is a wonderful means of stress relief for healthy living. It allows you to take charge of your own health by boosting your body’s defense mechanisms through touch and smell.
It creates harmony in the body, mind and the outside world that is so rare in today’s time. We live in a world that is continually disrupting our lives with pollution and everyday stress from our busy schedules. So take some time and read a little more about the benefits of aromatherapy and how it can have a positive impact on the way you look, think and feel for a healthier lifestyle.
The aromatherapy method uses essential oils to create a mood and feeling in the body. Essential oils are extracted from plants and once they are used they evaporate quickly allowing us to smell them as well as making them volatile. Essential comes from the Latin word essentia, meaning “essence” or “a liquid that quickly becomes a gas.” Essential oils can be thought of as volatile or spirit oils coming from the Latin word, volare, meaning “to fly”.
We either inhale the essence or the essential oils are applied to the skin. Either way they enter the lungs and move to the bloodstream going to work on organs in the body. Essential oils only stay in the body for at most a couple of hours, however the work they do while there is remarkable.
Through smell the essential oils enter the lungs, then bloodstream, and move on to the limbic center of the brain. While in the limbic center the essential oils alter the chemistry of the brain creating a mood designed by the user.
If the essential oils reach the body through massage, the touch receptors also work at relieving stress by improving gland, circulation, organ, and nerve function while relaxing muscles and sending blissful chemicals to the brain.
All of this with just a little bottle of essential oil! Are you convinced yet to explore aromatherapy? I recommend first finding a massage therapist that practices aromatherapy so that you can experience the benefits of aromatherapy without any other concerns.
After that, check out some essential oils at your local health food store and find the ones that make you say “ahhh.” Bring them home and burn them in a diffuser or make your own solutions to melt away stress. Just make sure you have diluted the oil from full strength. Otherwise, it will be way too strong for your skin to handle.
Safe Essential Oils to Use on the Skin
Basil, bergamont, cedarwood, chamomile, cinnamon bark, clary sage, clove bud, eucalyptus australiana, fennel, frankinscense, geranium, grapefruit, jasmine, juniper, true lavender, lemon, lemongrass, marjoram, myrrh, neroli, orange, patchouli, peppermint, pine, rosemary, sage, rose otto, sandlewood, tea tree, ylang-ylang
Relax and enjoy arousing your senses, stimulating your nervous system, treating your organs, soothing your emotions, and feeling your spirit soar. You will find that the benefits of aromatherapy are endless to your overall well-being.
A Note of Precaution: Pregnant women need to avoid specific essential oils. During pregnancy avoid using armoise, camphor, ,cypriol, davana, hyssop, pennyroyal, birch, tarragon. Also take general care if using anise, basil, bay, clary sage, clove leaf, clove bud, fennel, myrrh, nutmeg, pimento berry, rosemary, altas cedar, red thyme, spearmint, savory, or oregano.
Babies and those with sensitive skin should only use lavender, rose or chamomile oils. These are generally accepted essential oils for babies and will often prevent cradle cap and diaper rash.
-Brooke Pennington
Brooke Pennington is the head Yoga instructor for her local YMCA and also works with local businesses in their health and wellness programs. She can be contacted at brooke@naturalhealthlifestyles.com
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