THE ART AND SCIENCE OF AROMATHERAPY
Although aromatherapy has been around for a long time, only within the last few years has it achieved popular awareness. Virtually unknown in the United States 20 years ago, aromatherapy has now become the fastest growing natural healing art in this country. In recent years, this fascinating art has attracted extensive media attention and is becoming highly fashionable. What makes it so special? Apart from the undeniable therapeutic properties of plants and their essential oils, aromatherapy appeals to our sense of the esthetic. And with the current upsurge of interest in anything that could be remotely categorized as “stress-reducing”, “natural” or “holistic”, aromatherapy certainly resonates in harmony with the mood of the times. But aromatherapy is not just a new trend or a new thing to do.
Aromatherapy is a multifaceted healing art and science which uses the essential oils of aromatic plants and trees to promote health of body and serenity of mind. It requires knowledge of botany, essential oil chemistry, anatomy, physiology, psychology, etc. Aromatherapy is one of the few healing arts that could be described as creative, for much of the skill of an aromatherapist lies in the ability to create wonderful aromatic blends, not just to heal a specific ailment but also to stir the imagination and to engender a sense or joy or tranquility. To add, as the French say, a “je ne sais quoi, un presque rien”, “I don’t know what, an almost nothing”. This is an attempt to describe the bit of subtle magic that fragrance conveys and contributes to our quality of life. It is unpredictable, cannot be analyzed by scientific method and yet it can be experienced. It is interesting to note that no two people blending an identical formula will come up with a blend smelling exactly the same; there is no rationale to explain this but it certainly has something to do with the physical and emotional make-up, energy and intent of the blender.
Although the roots of this therapy are ancient, the basic principles upon which aromatherapy is based are even more valid today, with the advent and proliferation of ecologic and chemical toxins, resistant strains of bacteria and viruses and the ever increasing physical and emotional stress of our everyday lives. Essential oils are one of the great untapped resources of the world. Here we have a system of natural help that is far more than a system of medicine that can prevent illness and alleviate symptoms. These days the medicines and household goods we use are mostly chemical-based, and the food we eat and the air we breathe contain more chemicals than we would like. The cumulative effect of these, and their unknown effects as they react together within us, cannot be good for us, any more than chemical overload is good for the planet. Sooner or later we are going to have to find some alternatives and, for some of our problems, the alternative is literally right under our noses, drawing us to them with their sweet-smelling aroma – precious miracles and delights of creation – nature’s essential oils.
History
The oldest, and continuous to this day, use of aromatics is in Ayurvedic medicine originating in India, over 6,000 years ago. The system of healing was based on the holistic aspects of mind, body and spirit. The Vedas, dating to approx. 1500 B.C. mention many aromatic materials used for culinary, healing and religious purposes. The Chinese too have a long history of use of aromatics. Around 2500 BC the Emperor Huang Ti wrote “The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine”. In 1579 after 26 years of study Li Shih-Chen published a large manual recording the use of 2000 herbs and 20 essential oils. Egypt has long been considered the birthplace of modern medicine, perfumery and pharmacy. The use of aromatics in every day life is well documented: the Egyptians perfected the use of cosmetic oils, healing unguents, perfumes and embalming techniques. In 1922 when Tutankahmen’s tomb was opened, among the items found were scent pots revealed to contain frankincense. The tomb had been sealed for 3000 years.
The use of aromatics spread to Greece and Rome. Greek soldiers were known to carry ointment made with myrrh into battle for treatment of wounds. Galen, a Greek physician to the Roman Empire, wrote a major treatise on the theory and use of plant medicine and is credited with inventing the first cold cream, still used today. Hippocrates, who lived about 2500 years ago, praised the virtues of a daily aromatic bath and scented massage to prolong life. Dioscorides wrote an incredible herbal reference manual in the first century AD which remained a standard medical reference work in Western medicine for over 1000 years. Avicenna is credited with perfecting the art of distillation about 1000 AD. His methods were so advanced that the apparatus for distillation has barely been altered in 900 years. In the 12th Century the Crusaders developed trade routes with the Middle East and brought an influx of spices, herbs and exotic scents into Europe. Herb gardens were cultivated in monasteries and monks and nuns prepared popular remedies.
During the Renaissance the use of essential oils expanded into perfumery and cosmetics. With the progress made in chemistry and distillation, the production of balms, scented waters, fragrant oils for skin care and medication flourished. It also became evident that when the black plague struck, those working with essential oils remained immune. During the Bubonic Plague in the 14th Century, frankincense and pine were burned in the streets and incense and perfumed amulets were worn as protection.
Scientific advances in the 19th century were responsible for the decline of herbal therapy. Scientists were able to synthetically reproduce in the laboratory many of the substances found in the plants. For example, they discovered and produced aspirin (which occurs naturally in the bark of the willow tree) The advent of modern medicine led to an almost complete decline in the use of essential oils and herbs.
In the early part of the 20th century there was a resurgence of interest in the knowledge that had been previously accumulated. The first person to use the term aromatherapy was
the French cosmetic scientist, Rene-Maurice Gattefosse when he published his book on the subject in 1938. Initially he concentrated on the cosmetic uses of essential oils but he was quick to realize that many of the oils were powerful antiseptics. During an experiment in the laboratory he accidentally burnt his hand and immediately plunged it into a vat of lavender oil which happened to be nearby. The burn healed at an accelerated rate without any infection and left no scar. Gattefosse’s research into the therapeutic properties of essential oils caused a great deal of interest in France and Italy. The essential oils were found to be effective not only in healing the skin and strengthening immunity but also capable of relieving emotional conditions such as anxiety and depression.
The French physician Jean Valnet, an ex-army surgeon, contributed the most to the medical assessment and acceptance of aromatherapy. During the Second World War he used essential oils to treat the wounds of soldiers, as well as specific illnesses. His book, The Practice of Aromatherapy, published in 1964, has become a classic. Dr. Valnet also used essential oils to successfully treat several long-term psychiatric patients. These patients also had physical symptoms caused by the side effects of drugs they had been given to control their depression and hallucinations. They were gradually weaned off the drugs and treated with essential oils, which have few, if any, side effects.
In the 1950’s the Austrian cosmetologist Marguerite Maury developed a special massage technique to administer essential oils through the skin. She believed they worked more efficiently and safely when introduced into the body through the skin or by inhalation, rather than used internally. She introduced the idea of choosing individual prescriptions for each client based on that client’s particular needs and scent preferences. In the 1970’s an Italian scientist demonstrated that a feeling of optimism could be induced through smelling the essential oils of bergamot, lemon and orange. Other research, experiments and uses followed and in the past 20 years a renewed interest in aromatherapy has blossomed with new research and books, the establishment of aromatherapy schools, associations and practice safety standards.
Today aromatherapy as both an art and science stands at the threshold of holistic healing at its best. Airborne infection at many French hospitals has been reduced by over 75% due to essential oils being released into the air by diffusion. Production and job satisfaction has increased over 40% in many Japanese offices and factories with the introduction of essential oils into the workplace. Many companies in Scandinavia offer workers aromatherapy massage, among other alternative therapies, as part of standard benefit packages.
What are essential oils and how do they work?
Essential oils, or essences, are highly concentrated substances extracted from various parts of aromatic plants and trees. They may be found in the petals (rose), leaves (eucaplytus), roots of grass (vetiver), bark (cinnamon), wood (sandalwood), citrus rind (lemon, orange, bergamot), seeds (caraway), rhizomes (valerian), bulbs (garlic) aerial tops (marjoram and fennel) or resin (frankincense) and in sometimes more than one part
of the plant. The orange tree produces three different smelling and chemically diverse essences with varying medicinal properties: heady bitter-sweet neroli (the flowers), similar, less refined sharp scent of pettigrain (leaves) and orange (rind of the fruit).
Essential oils are usually captured by steam distillation, a process whose origins can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia. Unlike normal vegetable oils, such as corn and olive, plant essences are highly volatile and will evaporate if left in the open air. The oils accumulate in specialized oil bearing plant tissues, small “bags” located between the cell walls; they contain hormones, vitamins, antibiotics and antiseptics. Essential oils act as regulators and messengers, catalyze biochemical reactions, protect the plant from parasites and diseases, play an important role in fertilization and are responsible for the fragrance of the plant. In a way, essential oils represent the spirit, the soul of the plant.
The chemistry of essential oils is complex. Most consist of hundreds of components, such as terpenes, alcohols, aldehydes and esters. For this reason a single oil can help a wide variety of disorders. Lavender, for example, is endowed with antiseptic, anti-bacterial, antibiotic, antidepressant, analgesic, decongestant and sedative properties. Clary sage, traditionally known to regularize and promote menstruation, contains estrogen. Blue chamomile contains azulene, a power anti-inflammatory agent which incidentally cannot be duplicated synthetically. Tea tree, Rosalina, and Ravensara, (all in the melaleuca family), contain powerful antiseptic, antibacterial and antifungal agents. While each essential oil has its own unique properties, many also share common therapeutic actions. All plant essences are antiseptic to a greater or lesser degree; eucalyptus, tee tree and thyme being among the strongest. The essential oil of oregano is 26 times more powerful an antiseptic than phenol, the active ingredient in many commercial cleansing materials. Rosemary and juniper are antirheumatic; when rubbed into the skin, they stimulate blood and lymphatic circulation and increase oxygen to the painful areas, which in turn aids in the elimination of tissue wastes such as uric and lactic acids which contribute to the pain of arthritic and rheumatic complaints.
Moreover, due to their tiny molecular structure, essential oils applied to the skin can be absorbed into the bloodstream. They also reach the blood as a result of the aromatic molecules being inhaled. In the lungs they pass through the tiny air sacs to the surrounding blood capillaries by the process of diffusion. Once in the bloodstream the aromatic molecules interact with the body’s chemistry. One of the most satisfactory aspects of using essential oils medicinally and cosmetically is that they enter and leave the body with great efficiency, leaving no toxins behind. The methods used include body oils, compresses, lotions, baths, inhalation (by steam, direct from the bottle or from a tissue). Unlike chemical drugs, essential oils do not remain in the body but are excreted through urine and feces, perspiration and exhalation. As well as being noninvasive and nontoxic to the human organism, essential oils are noninvasive in terms of heat and electromagnetism. Essential oils appear to stimulate the body’s own natural healing mechanisms through its electromagnetic fields, as well as to stimulate blood circulation.
When the combination is more than the sum of its parts, there is a synergistic effect. By mixing together two or more essential oils a chemical compound is created that is different to any of the component parts, and these synergistic blends are very particular and powerful. An increased potency can be achieved with synergistic blends without increasing the dosage. For example, the anti-inflammatory action of chamomile is greatly increased by adding lavender in the correct proportion. The interaction of particular essential oils upon each other gives a vibrancy and dynamism to the whole which could not be achieved by using a single component on its own.
Quite apart from their medicinal properties, just smelling an essential oil can uplift the spirits and make us feel better. How does that work? When essential oils are breathed in, the molecules rise to the top of the nose and meet the olfactory mucous membrane with its receptors made up of thousands of hairy sensory cells. The receptors identify the smell and the sensory stimulation is passed on through the olfactory bulb, which acts as an amplifier, through the olfactory nerve and directly into the limbic system of the brain. – the oldest and most primitive part of our brain, also called the rhinencephalon, or “smell brain.” It has been long established that certain odors will evoke an old memory, grandma’s house, a former lover, a foreign city, a traumatic childhood event. Why is this? Two important parts of the limbic system are triggered by the nerve impulses, the amygdala and the hippocampus. The centers of memory, sexuality, emotional reactions and creativity are found here. While the scent is being compared to a known scent and labeled, pictures and feelings from the past are associated with the scent information. As a consequence we will react emotionally and physically through our autonomic nervous system to an aroma. In the limbic system, the nerve impulse is led to the hypothalamus which serves as a switching point for the transmission of scent messages to other areas of the brain. The hypothalamus is also the control station for the pituitary. As it receives scent data, it conveys chemical messages to the blood stream. It is the hypothalamus that activates and releases hormones and regulates body functions. The thalamus connects the scent information of the limbic system to the area of thinking and judgment. The entire process, from the perception of a smell to the corresponding gland secretion, takes just a few seconds. Therefore a simple inhalation of an aroma can cause changes in the body and, depending on the information received, can initiate any number of physiological processes. For example, the immune system could be activated, blood pressure changed, digestion could be stimulated, etc. Aroma data so received can cause us to become calm, lively, euphoric, hungry, satiated, sleepy, active, free from pain, etc. Clary sage has been found to stimulate the thalamus into releasing encephalin, a neurochemical that creates a sense of euphoria and simultaneously gives pain relief. Ylang ylang appears to stimulate the pituitary gland into releasing endorphins, a sexually stimulating neurochemical. Lavender, chamomile and neroli stimulate the release of serotonin, which has a calming effect on fear, stress, aggravation and sleeplessness. ” It is interesting that the French word for smell, “sentir” also means “to feel”.
Aromatherapy as a psychotherapeutic tool has been used in Europe for over 30 years and shows much promise for ongoing research in helping to evoke and release suppressed memories and emotions that have detrimental effects on the psyche. Current clinical trials on the use of rosemary (the herb of remembrance) and its effects on Alzheimer’s and senile dementia are showing dramatic results in improving and recapturing forgotten memories.
Since the olfactory system is such an open gate to the subconscious, aromatherapy is an excellent palliative for psychological, emotional and spiritual work. Its use in hospice care has long been used in Britain and Europe and in the last decade or so has become increasingly popular in the United States as its pleasantness, gentleness, safety and effectiveness have been recorded. The aim of the treatment is to bring about an improvement in quality of the patient’s life. Essential oils have been found to be capable of this by relieving stress, raising spirits, strengthening and revitalizing the mind, providing comfort to the body by easing some of the distressing effects of the illness. Some of the benefits of aromatherapy in palliative care are: reduction of anxiety, stress, tension and fear, promoting a feeling of well being, relieving constipation, headaches, muscular aches pain, edema, respiratory complaints, insomnia, nausea, improvement in circulation; elevation of the pain threshold level sometimes enabling a reduction in analgesics.
Quality of Essential Oils
It takes a great deal of work to produce a tiny amount of pure essential oil. Sixty thousand rose blossoms are required to produce one ounce of rose oil. In the case of jasmine, the flowers must be picked by hand before the sun becomes hot on the first day they open. The sandalwood tree must be thirty years old and thirty feet high before it can be cut for distillation. Between these two extremes, a whole range of growing and picking conditions apply to the plants that will ultimately provide the precious essential oils. The yield varies between .005% and 10% of the plant. 50 lbs of eucalyptus = 1 lb of oil; 150 lbs of lavender = 1 lb. 500 lbs of sage, thyme or rosemary, etc. The price of each oil reflects these conditions and because it takes 8 million hand-picked jasmine blossoms to produce 2.2 pounds of oil it is one of the most expensive oils on the market. The oils nevertheless remain cost-effective: only minute quantities need to be used; one drop of oil is equal to one ounce of dried herb.
For effective therapeutic use it is crucial that only pure essential oils be used, that is, natural plant essences which have been extracted by steam distillation, solvent extraction, expression, maceration or enfleurage. Reconstituted, adulterated or chemical copies of natural essences simply do not work for medicinal purposes. Additionally, all essential oils, even if pure, are not the same. As with a fine wine compared to a “jug” wine, plant health, growing condition, climate, picking conditions, distilling and bottling control and storage have a huge effect on the ultimate quality of the oil. Unscrupulous suppliers will dilute a pure essential oil in a carrier base and pass that off as “pure natural essence” for example. There are some oils which, when mixed with others, mimic the aroma of the essential oil whose name they carry. For example, carnation oil is very expensive and so black pepper and ylang-ylang are combined to create the aroma of carnation. If you are buying oils for your own use, be sure to find a reputable supplier, who deals in aromatherapy-grade, chemically-tested oil, rather than ones used for purely cosmetic purposes.
​
Safety of Essential Oils
Most of the safety precautions involving essential oil lie with the aromatherapy practitioner, rather than with the client or patient. Prolonged exposure in a poorly ventilated area can cause headaches or nausea, etc. Sensitization over time working with the same oils can occur.
As a general rule, essential oils should not be applied to the skin undiluted (neat) with the exception of lavender and tea tree. Carriers can be either oils (olive, almond, grapeseed, sesame, etc.), distilled water, melted beeswax, gels, salts, etc. depending on the blend used and method of application. It takes a very small amount of essential oil to make an effective blend, generally a 1-5% solution, the lowest being for children and elderly; the highest for spot application of a salve or linament. In addition, certain essential oils are potentially irritating to the skin and are used in much smaller concentrations and proportions.
Almost all of the citrus oils (lemon, orange, grapefruit, bergamot) have varying degrees of photosensitivity and should not be applied immediately before going out in the direct sunlight. Citrus oils should also be avoided in bath products, as well as peppermint, cinnamon and verbena, as they can irritate the skin. Angelica root, tagetes, fig lead, ginger and cumin should be avoided prior to direct sunlight or sunbed treatment.
If taking homeopathic medicine, consult homeopath before use – some oils may reduce effective of homeopathic remedies.
Sensitive skin: use well-diluted oils; avoid or use in small doses: basil, bay, black pepper, cedarwood, citronella, clary sage, fennel, ginger, juniper, lemon, lemongrass, lime, Melissa, nutmeg, orange, peppermint, pine, tea tree, thyme, ylang-ylang.
Most oils associated with neurotoxicity or hepatoxicity (i.e., fennel, tansy, thuja, wormwood, tansy, tarragon) involve oral use which is not widely used in this country and should never be undertaken without medical expertise and supervision.
Many oils should be avoided during the first trimester of pregnancy because of their ability to cross the placental barrier.
Epilepsy: Avoid fennel, hyssop, rosemary and sage.
Hypertension: Avoid cypress, clove, nutmeg, pine, rosemary and sage.
Hypotension: Avoid sweet marjoram.
Asthma: Start by using low concentrations and observe any negative reactions.
Insomnia: Avoid peppermint, basil, lemon verbena and rosemary due to their overstimulating properties.
Chronic Kidney disease/urinary problems: Avoid juniper, eucalyptus, parsley seed and black pepper due to irritant properties.
Diabetes: Avoid use of rosemary (possibly suppresses insulin response) and eucalyptus citriodora (had hypoglycemic effect on rabbits)
Hepatitis: Avoid eugenol rich oils (cinnamon and clove bud)
Most of the contraindications involve the use of a large amount of single oil rather than a synergistic blend. The small amount in a blend has a very low risk of irritation. It is always best to err on the side of caution.
There are very, very few cases of allergies or over sensitization to essential oils, as compared with synthetic scents and adulterated essences. This is both because the amounts used are miniscule (i.e. 10-12 drops in 2 ounces of carrier) and the essential oils are diluted in a carrier, such as olive oil or distilled water. There are almost no known side effects with the safe use of essential oils. Individuals may strongly like or dislike a scent and an aromatherapy practitioner will use scent preferences in formulating individual blends, as well as taking into consideration any contraindications. In almost all cases there are alternate oils or blends that can address the complaint, if there is sensitivity or allergy reaction.
Conclusion
Aromatherapy can be used at many different levels. Essential oils are extremely versatile; they are both medicine and fragrance; they can cure the most severe physical condition; they can reach to the depth of our souls. Once you step into the world of essences, you will be exposed to one of the most delightful and harmless forms of addiction. If you allow yourself to be touched by the power of these wonderful substances, you will discover a new world that is actually very old – the almost forgotten world of nature’s fragrances. This is a world without words, a world of images that you explore from the tip of your nose to the center of your brain – a world of subtle surprises and silent ecstasy.
Gwendolyn Evans, Certified Clinical Aromatherapist