Some Basics of Aromatherapy – Part 2
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
This is the second blog post about aromatherapy — herb fragrance or aroma. As stated in Part 1, aromatherapy is a traditional way herbs have been used for many centuries. It has been used by herbalists since ancient times to treat, relieve and improve certain human ailments and conditions.
Aromatherapy is a form of alternative herbal treatment that uses volatile plant materials such as essential oils and other aromatic compounds for the purpose of beneficially altering a person’s state of mind, mood, cognitive function or health.
The ancient Greek physician and herbalist Dioscorides described many such oils along with the medicinal beliefs of those ancient times regarding the healing properties of each of these oils. He included all of his information in his first century work De Materia Medica.
The invention of the distillation of essential oils in the eleventh century by the Persian, Ibn Sina Avicenna, using steam formed the foundation for what later became aromatherapy. His distillation process made it easier to obtain and use these oils medicinally.
Many centruries later — in the early 20th century — the concept of aromatherapy was first proposed by the the French chemist and perfumer, Rene-Maurice Gattefosse. He used the essential oil of lavender to heal his burned hand. Then, he coined the term “aromatherapy” in his book, Aromatherapie: Les Huiles Essentielles, Hormones Vegetales, published in 1928. Now you can see why aromatherapy is a newcomer to western herbalism. Also, more recently, medical science discovered that aromatherapy may have some real value in treating certain human conditions and ailments.
Here are some of the basics of aromatherapy.
First there are three different methods used to apply it:
- Aerial diffusion — for adding environmental fragrances to the air or to add aerial disinfectants to the air;
- Direct inhalation — to disinfect the respiratory tract, to break up respiratory congestion, to encourage the expelling of phlegm or to enable desired psychological effects; and
- Topical applications — for general massage, baths, compresses and therpeutic skin care.
Second, herbalists use a variety of herbal and other plant materials when practicing aromatherapy. Here are some of them
- Essential oils: Frangrant oils extracted from plants chiefly through steam distillation (i.e. eucalyptus oil) or expression (grapefruit oil). However, the term is occasionaly used to describe fragrant oils extracted from plant material by any solvent extraction.
- Absolutes: Fragrant oils extracted primarily from flowers or delicate plant tissues through solvent or super critical fluid extraction (i.e. rose absolute). The term is also used to describe oils extracted from fragrant butters, concretes, and enfleurage pommades using ethanol.
- Carrier oils: Typically a plant-based oil that dilutes essential oils for use on the skin (i.e. sweet almond oil).
- Herbal distillates or hydrosols: The aqueous by-products of the distillation process (i,e, rosewater). There are many herbs that make herbal distillates and they have culinary uses, medicinal uses and skin care uses. Common herbal distillates are chamomile, rose and lemon balm.
- Phytoncides: Various volatile organic compounds from plants that kill microbes. Many terpene-based fragrant oils and sulfuric compounds from plants in the genus Allium are phytoncides, though the latter are less commonly used in aromatherapy due to their disagreeable odors.
- Vaporizer (Volatized) Raw Herbs: Typically higher oil content plant-based materials dried, crushed and heated to extract and inhale aromatic oil vapors using the direct inhalation method.
You can read and learn more about aromatherapy from these two sources:
- Herbs for Health and Healing by Kathi Keville and Peter Korn. They have included extensive information on aromatherapy and its uses in Chapter 16 — Aromatherapy: Healing and the Emotions.
- The Herb Society of American New Encyclopedia of Herbs & Their Uses by Deni Brown, Pages 44 and 45.
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