Like the use of dried or fresh herbs in herbalism, aromatherapy draws on the healing powers of the plant world, but instead of using the whole or part of a plant, it uses only the plant’s essential oil. Essential oils are approximately 75-100 times more concentrated than dried herbs, which is why only very small amounts are typically needed to be effective.
In aromatherapy, inhalation, topical application, massage, and baths are the principal methods used to introduce essential oils into the body. Through these methods essential oils work to improve health on many different levels including physical, emotional, energetic, cellular, and spiritual.
On the physical level, they can be antiseptic and immune system stimulants. On the emotional level, they can stimulate memories (conscious and subconscious), basic drives, and hormones. On an “energetic” level, they have a vibrational frequency that can be used to move subtle energies within the body.
On a cellular level, they are good for healing wounds, repairing scars, stimulating tissue growth and regulating the skin. And on a “spiritual” level, essential oils have been used in every major culture and society for thousands of years in ritual, prayer, purification, magic, celebration, and meditation.
Needless to say, the quality of an essential oil is paramount to its efficacy in aromatherapy applications. The quality of an essential oil depends on many factors: where the plant source is grown, altitude, climate, condition of the soil, time of day plant material is harvested, and length of the extraction process. The highest-grade and most effective oils are produced from plants that are organically farmed or wild crafted and cultivated without the use of chemical pesticides, herbicides, or other industrial substances.
Essential oils are extracted in different ways, including steam distillation (the most commonly used method), cold or expeller pressed (most often used for citrus oils and nut oils), solvent extracted (used for extracting oils like jasmine and rose whose flower petals are hard to distill), and super-critical carbon dioxide extraction (a newer process referred to as CO2).
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