The word aromatherapy was coined
in 1930 by French Chemist Rene Maurice Gattefosse. The incident that inspired
Gattefosse to devote his life to studying the healing properties of essential oils, took place in his lab where he lit his
arm on fire and looking for the nearest liquid he happened upon lavender. His
wound healed quickly without a scar. It was Gattefosse who brought aromatherapy
into the modern day; however the story of aromatherapy goes back much further.
Aromatherapy has been around
for 6000 years or longer. In areas like China, India, Tibet, Australia, New
Zealand, North America, South America, Egypt,
Rome and the Middle East many cultures have used aromatic
plants in their use of herbal medicine. The Egyptians were the first to learn
to extract oils from plants and used them for ceremony, cosmetic purposes and embalming. The Greeks and Romans used aromatics
widely in ritual and ceremonies as well as medically and for massage. The father
of modern medicine, Hippocrates, used aromatherapy baths and scented massage. Hippocrates
also used aromatic fumigations to rid Athens of the plague.
With the fall of the Empire
in the 5th Century the use of aromatics died out in Europe.
Today aromatherapy is everywhere. Aromatherapy is in the home and it is in clinical settings (including some hospitals). Aromatherapy is one of the fastest growing areas of alternative medicine today.
Essential Oils are extracted
from plants, flowers, trees, fruits, bark, grasses and seeds each with their own unique healing properties. There are about 150 essential oils all in all. Each essential
oil has its own distinctive therapeutic and psychological properties, which improve existing conditions and prevent future
conditions from occurring.
Essential Oils can be used
in a variety of ways. Oils can be added to a bath or applied to the skin during
a massage. Oils can be used in a steam inhalation, placed in a light bulb ring
or used to scent fabrics. They can be used in hot and cold compresses, to scent
paper or ink, as perfumes or room sprays, potpourris, as healing ointments, and as a wonderful additive to shampoo or lotion.
