Aromatherapy Primer

Quality Matters

Aromatherapy is not about fragrance, but about healing. In aromatherapy, aromas -ARE- therapeutic. The healing properties come from highly concentrated extracts taken from herbs, flowers, and other plants. These extracts are called essential oils and are used at full strength.

Certain properties in essential oils trigger therapeutic effects in your body. When inhaled deeply, or applied to the skin surface in carrier oils, these properties produce very specific beneficial results.

Some of these benefits are well known, such as relaxation, energy stimulation, and pleasant memory association.

Other benefits are less well known, but equally as powerful. The anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties in certain oils enhance the immune system. Some oils act as appetite stimulants, others act as appetite depressants, and both can help with weight management. Still other oils are hormone regulators.

How To Use

The list of potential benefits goes on and on. Learning how to use oils to achieve these benefits is what aromatherapy is really all about.

To achieve these benefits, full strength, undiluted essential oils are required. The term "100% essential oil" is used to describe oils that contain only the extract of a particular plant. Many people also assume that because an oil is l00% essential that it also is absolutely pure, but this is not true.

The essential oil industry itself actually grades the quality of 100% essential oils on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the purest, top grade.

The lower grade oils are extracted using lower quality processes, like adding chemicals to draw oil from live material, or using heat to enhance extraction. These kinds of methods destroy the live, vital essence of the essential oils, and sometimes even add chemical or toxic elements to the finished product. They certainly do not produce a pure, safe to breathe deep oil, and they are not recommended for therapeutic purposes.

Maintaining Quality

The ultimate therapeutic value of the essential oils used is totally dependent on the quality of the live plants, the way the oils are extracted, and the way they are handled after extraction. High standards that focus on product purity are critically important.

The best oils come from wild or organically grown plants because the plants themselves are chemical free. Also, the best oils are extracted using methods that use no heat and take more time, thus preserving the vitality and life essence of the plant. In some cases, such as with citrus oils, it is relatively easy to use these methods to extract a quantity of oil. In other cases, as with rose oil, the process is difficult and the raw material is rare, making the resulting oil quite precious

Common oils that are easy to extract consequently cost less then the more precious oils. The #1 quality oils will always be priced according to the value and rarity of the particular oil, and will never be lumped into one price point based on bottle size.

Tested and Certified

Therapeutic quality, #1 essential oils are laboratory tested with gas chromatography and certified to be free from impurities. When these oils are used, the therapeutic integrity of the plant is available. The quality is evident in the full vitality of the fragrance. In fact, the fragrance in these oils is so similar to the living plant that your nose might not be able to tell the difference. From a therapeutic standpoint, you might actually find the fragrance of the oil preferable to the live plant because the concentrated oil has intensified the vibrational, healing qualities of the plant.

Floral Waters

When essential oils are distilled, the process actually yields another, totally distinct product known as a hydrosol, or floral water.

Floral waters are a natural complement to essential oils because they contain all of the water-soluble properties that were in the original plants. Floral waters offer a more gentle, less concentrated form of the natural elements and are often easier to use.

Reprinted with Permission from Joanne Bassett -- www.bassettaromatherapy.com