The use of plant oils can be traced back over 6000 years. The Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all recognised the therapeutic properties of essential oils and plant extracts.
Aromatherapy can be defined as the art and science of utilizing naturally extracted aromatic essences from plants to balance, harmonize and promote the health of body, mind and spirit. It is an art and science that seeks to explore the physiological, psychological and spiritual realm of the individual's response to aromatic extracts as well as to observe and enhance the individual's innate healing process. Source: National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy www.naha.org.
Smell is a potent brain trigger. In biological terms, the neural networks of our sense of smell bypass our thinking brain and take a direct route to our emotion and memory centers.
There is no certification for aromatherapists in the United States. However, there are over 2,000 clinical aromatherapists who prescribe aromatherapy for all kinds of ailments, including acne, fungus, asthma, allergies, and constipation.
The term aromatherapy was coined by Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, a Frenchman from a family of perfumers. Gatefosse researched the healing powers of plant oils following an accidental discovery that Lavender oil quickly healed his badly burnt hand
Research out of France, published in January in the journal Pediatrics, indicated that pleasant odors (the researchers used vanilla) help premature infants in incubators with the breathing disorder apnea.
Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell & Taste Research Foundation in Chicago found that the combined scent of lavender and pumpkin pie was the “nasal Viagra”, increasing median blood flow to the penis by 40 percent. Runner-up scents were doughnut and black licorice (31.5 percent) and pumpkin pie and doughnut (20 percent).
Article ID: 197
Created:
August 29, 2005
Modified:
August 29, 2005
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