Aromatherapy
is the use of essential oils as a ‘holistic’ treatment,
balancing and harmonizing your body, mind and soul. Essential
oils (sometimes referred to as ‘Medicines of the Earth’)
are stored in tiny sacs between cells that carry the plants
life force, or immune system. Essential Oils are extracted
from different parts of flowers, fruits, barks, roots and
leaves. They are derived from many different methods of extraction
and the type of extraction depends on the type of plant the
oil is being extracted from.
Essential oils regulate the plants functions, they are the
carriers of the plants energy - they protect the plant from
heat, cold, fungus, insects and assist plants in the fertilization
or pollination process. Essential Oils are also considered
the plants hormone system, which tends to mimic or own endocrine
(hormone) system.
Society is beginning to understand that illnesses may originate
in the mind and the ‘holistic’ approach may be necessary
for healing both mind and body. Essential Oils act as a ‘biotic’
in a non-evasive manner, building and mobilizing your body’s
own healing powers as opposed to a synthetic ‘antibiotic’
which adds further stress and trauma to living tissue, eventually
causing allergies and side effects. Naturally, essential oils
have a small number of constituents and trace elements. These
trace elements have a synergistic effect on the other elements.
Only those ‘exact’ elements give Essential Oils
their therapeutic quality. The synthetic industry desperately
tries to reconstruct these complex combinations of components
which is virtually impossible. They also lack the ‘vital’
live force in it’s natural origin. There is a type of
photography called ‘Carillon - in which you can see the
energy fields that surround living organisms. Aromatherapy
is a valuable complimentary treatment to current mainstream
medicines. A photo of a freshly cut leaf, shows a distinct
colorful aura. As time passes and the leaf dies, that aura
disappears. Photographs of high quality essential oils show
a strong visible aura.
Essential Oils affect our physiological well being and regulate
physical imbalances. They also remove ‘toxins’ on
which illness flourishes. Essential Oils invite us to appreciate
mother nature. Our physical well being depends on us being
totally well. We are intended to be in touch with nature and
living in the city with all the pollution and concrete, makes
it hard for us to do this. Essential oils allow us that luxury.
The practice of aromatherapy includes many different forms.
Proceed to the next page to start finding out about those
forms.
HOW ESSENTIAL OILS WORK
Olfactory System
Our sense of smell is our most enduring and powerful of all
our senses. It is linked with emotions which are stored in
our limbic brain. Our memory of scent is longer lasting and
more accurate than our sight or reasoning memory. Scent triggers
our emotions affecting the autonomic system (controls nerves
leading to your body’s glands and organs). Stress level,
heart rate, respiratory and digestive systems are all influenced
by our emotional state. Essential Oils fragrant molecules
travel to the brain through the breathing process - having
the ability to affect the brain immediately through the olfactory
system. This is the only place on the body where the central
nervous system is directly exposed to the environment. Our
other nerves or senses must travel through our sensory path
of neurons and spinal cord before reaching the brain. The
olfactory bulb is lined on both sides with a special tissue
consisting of approximately ten million nerve cells covered
with a thin layer of mucous. These nerve cells are replaced
every twenty eight days. Each nerve cell has six to eight
tiny hairs acting as receptors by electrical impulse to the
olfactory membrane (actual brain cells)
Topical
Essential Oils absorbed topically (through the skins pores)
reach the bloodstream through connective and lymphatic tissues.
This happens in approximately 10-20 minutes. Essential Oils
have a minute molecular structure and the capability to penetrate
the subcutaneous or (fat) layer allowing easy penetration
of the skin.
Caution
Caution must be taken when ingesting the oils and in early
pregnancy. Only under the experience of a trained therapist
are these methods to be recommended. When essential oils are
taken internally they are least effective because they have
to travel through gastric juices before reaching the specified
organ needing treatment.
METHODS OF EXTRACTION
Essential oils are extracted from various different parts
of flowers, fruits, bark, roots and leaves. There are many
different methods of extraction and the type of extraction
depends on the type of plant the oil is being extracted from.
Here are some of the more widely used methods.
Distillation
Small pieces of plant material are put into the container
in the still. The Water below the container is heated to create
steam and carries the oils extracted through the tube to the
cold water - which carries it to the receptacle. The receptacle
is filled with water and essential oils (essential oils are
lighter than water) float to the top of the receptacle. Stainless
steel stills are preferred to metal as some essential oils
will cause metal to corrode.
Cold Press (Expression)
Citrus fruit has small (very visible) oil glands deposited
in the skin of the fruit. The skin of the fruit is shredded,
mixed with water, and extracted by pressure. No heat is used
in this process as this would destroy volatile and important
substances (as does overcooking vegetables.) It is very important
that fruit used by this process be of organically grown origin
(ie. no pesticides).
Enfleurage - (Pornades)
Freshly cut plant material (such as jasmine) is immersed in
a neutral fat or oil and spread on sheets of glass. This process
is repeated for weeks and eventually the fat becomes saturated
with the volatile oils and then alcohol is used to separate
the essential oils from the fat.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Method
This method is a fairly recent discovery. CO2 or butane, when
liquefied under pressure, extracts essential oils from plants.
Essential oils distilled in this manner allow the plants volatile
components to remain. Aroma therapists are still studying
the properties of essential oils are extracted by this method.
Upon extraction, essential oils fall into three of the following
categories:
Concrete
Extracted by hydro-carbon (petroleum) type solvent from raw
or live tissues of the vegetable family. Usually solid and
have a waxy non-crystallized consistency. This method of extraction
is used when heat takes away the ‘nutrients’ or
goodness of certain plants (bark, flower, herb, root) Concretes
contain 50% wax and 50% oil therefore being more stable and
concentrated.
Absolute
Extracted from Concrete by a second process using pure alcohol.
Not recommended for therapeutic work because of the remaining
impurities from the alcohol (2% or less). The texture is highly
concentrated liquid. In rare cases solid or semi-solid (clary
sage).
Resinoid
Extracted from hydrocarbon solvent from dead organic material.
Typical resinoids (amber), oleoresins (turpentine) and oleo
gun resins (frankincense and myrrh).
Various textures
Liquid, semi-liquid or solid. Is a good fixative to prolong
the scent of a fragrance
Origin of Essential Oils
Essential oils are meant to be harvested in the country where
Mother Nature intended them to grow. Aromatherapy is part
of a multi billion dollar industry and farmers and wholesalers
are trying to grow crops of plants where they are not intended
to grow. Plants have their optimum healing properties when
grown and harvested in the optimal growing and climatic regions.
It is also important that the oils are grown botanically or
wildcrafted without pesticides and fertilizers.
Price
Basically - you get what you pay for. There are different
qualities of essential oils, just as there are different quality
tomatoes, there will also be some price fluctuation, depending
on the harvest conditions. It also depends on the amount of
Essential Oils a plant produces: It takes 160 lbs of Lavender
to make 1 lb of Essential Oil, it takes 1000 lbs of Jasmine
to make 1lb of Essential Oil, etc. Some companies have re-labeling
and high overhead costs which are projected in their oils.
Some Essential Oils are also diluted (make sure the carrier
is botanical). Become a label reader and ask your seller for
all of this information. There are some tests a consumer can
do to test the purity of the oils. Essential oils are not
an ‘oil’ in the true sense of the word. Unlike fatty
oils they are volatile and evaporate without a trace (except
maybe a bit of color) when dropped on a piece of tissue or
white silk, leaving no oily residue. The nose knows, trust
it !!!
Packaging:
Essential Oils should be kept in dark containers and should
not be exposed directly to light or drastic temperatures -
this can diminish the volatile properties of the oils. All
of the PURE Aromatherapy blends are confined to the strict
standards we have set for ourselves. As you can see by the
photo, our oils are stored and shipped directly to you in
dark glass containers which prevent contamination from UVA
and UVB sources.
Shelf Life
Essential oils are fresh botanicals and should be treated
as such. They are at their optimum for healing power within
the first few years. Citrus fruits are more sensitive and
should be used as soon as possible. Some essential oils like,
jasmine, rose, patchouli, sandalwood, ripen over the years,
much like a good wine.
Finally, a word on safety. Most essential oils are safe to
use in minimal doses. Your body tends to take what it needs
from the essential oils and dispense of what it does not need
through various organ elimination (lungs, skin (sweat), and
excretion (urine, bowels).
