Imagine you are walking on a park on a lovely warm summer’s day and you see a wonderful rose bush covered with pink blooms. You can’t help yourself but feel attracted by the shape of the flowers. Consequently, you can’t experience the wonderful fragrance of the flower if you don’t bury your face in those soft, cool petals so the sweet and lemony aroma fills your nose and you breathe in. Your senses get an alertness with the fragrance. Maybe you remember something that happened in your life a while ago – or long ago. Maybe there is even a childhood feeling attached to that memory, releasing an emotion that you hadn’t felt long ago, leaving you at peace.
The experience of a fragrance and its effect on the senses make a change in our mood. The essence of aromatherapy is this – taking that experience further by using the concentrated fragrance of the oil. By applying this concept to the body we can achieve physical effects, making a real difference to our life. It can have an impact on our mood, feelings and emotions. Even physical problems can be solved, such as muscular aches and pains by using aromatherapy techniques to help your body.
The Power of Smell
People are often unaware of the so important sense of smell. We all have them but often only notice it when it is temporarily absent, i.e. when we get a cold. During cold periods, food has no taste and we simply can’t smell properly. If someone loses their sense of smell permanently, this can actually cause severe depression, as we rely deeply on this to add vitality of the world around us. Smell is connected to our brain via nerve impulse triggers when we breathe in. It has such a strong influence on our well-being that aromas can make you feel mentally calm and also trigger internal chemical changes, relaxing your body.
Therapeutic Application
So how do we apply these special natural fragrances? Two pathways can be used.
- Breathing through the nose/mouth -> Essential oils can travel through the mouth into the passageways of the respiratory tract. Pungent oils such as Eucalyptus are a good example. If you have a cold or a blocked nose, inhaling such a powerful aroma will open up the respiratory passages and can improve breathing by helping to loosen mucus, making it easier to cough.
- Via skin -> Your skin has many layers. Taking baths with essential oils as well as using massage brings these oils into direct contact with your skin.
Having a warm bath and adding some drops to the water or massaging the essential oil directly to your skin helps the tiny essential oils molecules to pass through the top layer of the skin and enter the bloodstream. Later on, the body will use them as needed and will eventually pass out of the system via the kidneys.
Examples of Oils
- Rosemary – This one will give you a feeling of warmth to the muscles, improving local blood supply and easing away stiffness.
- Lavender or Orange Blossom – Help to ease physical pain, soothing aching muscles or headaches. They also have a sedative effect on your body and mind.
- Black Pepper or Cardamon – Have an energising effect, warming poor circulation and helping to produce feeling of physical vitality.
- Peppermint or Rosemary – Stimulating, cleansing the body and removing toxins as well as improving concentration.
- Lemon or Mandarin – Aid the flow of digestive juices, tonifying the system and helping combat depression.
What Aromatherapy Can Do For You
It can greatly enhance your wellbeing. It can make a great difference to you energy levels; if you need to feel re-energised you can use one of the oils; same thing if you need to feel more relaxed.
When my daughter get a cold, I usually put a steamer in her bedroom and add some drops of Eucalyptus oil. It works like a charm, a few days later and she is completely recovered form her cold.
Building an aromatic bath experience every evening routine can help you improve your sleep patterns and give you better rest.
Vaporising
You can vaporise essential oils and use them in the home or at work, as some oils can help keep your mind alert and improve concentration.
Immune System Help
The use of essential oils in baths, inhalations and massage can even improve the function of you immune system, therefore you recover quickly from illness, as well as building your resistance to infections such as colds and flu, especially in winter time, when the flu season is to stay.
What do you think about using essential oils for health and wellbeing? Do you have any suggestions about how one can improve their life quality by incorporating essential oils in the daily routine?
Leave your comments and let’s starts a conversation!
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