Aromatherapy
Body Awareness
Aromatherapy Paper
March 20, 2013
Aromatherapy is a branch of herbal medicine that centers on using fragrant substances, particularly oily plant extracts, to alter mood or improve an individual’s health or appearance. The benefits of aromatherapy range from stress relief to enhancement of immunity and the unlocking of emotions from past experiences. Skeptics cite a lack of credible supportive studies published in reputable scientific or medical journals, but this largely because there is not funding for research studies, as is true of many alternative methods.
Aromatherapy is a buzzword used by the cosmetics, fragrance, and alternative-medicine industries. Although the method has ancient roots, proponents did not call it aromatherapy before the 1930s. This expression derives from the French word aromatherapie, coined by Rene Maurice Gattefosse, a chemist whose book of the same name was published in 1928. After a lab explosion Gattefosse conveniently plunged his badly burned hand into a vat of lavender oil. He noticed how well it healed, and thus began the development of modern aromatherapy. However, aromatherapy and its essential oils have been used for therapeutic purposes for nearly 6,000 years. The ancient Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used them in cosmetics, perfumes, and drugs. Essential oils were also commonly used for spiritual, therapeutic, hygienic, and ritualistic purposes. One of the reasons that aromatherapy has been so hugely successful is because it uses a holistic approach, whereby the aromatherapist takes into account a person’s medical history, emotional condition, general health and lifestyle before planning a course of treatment. The whole person is treated - not just the symptoms of an illness - and this is in direct opposition to the modern trend of just treating the presented condition.
The wood-resin distillates and flower, leaf, stalk, root, grass, and fruit extracts of aromatherapy contain
Aromatherapy Paper
March 20, 2013
Aromatherapy is a branch of herbal medicine that centers on using fragrant substances, particularly oily plant extracts, to alter mood or improve an individual’s health or appearance. The benefits of aromatherapy range from stress relief to enhancement of immunity and the unlocking of emotions from past experiences. Skeptics cite a lack of credible supportive studies published in reputable scientific or medical journals, but this largely because there is not funding for research studies, as is true of many alternative methods.
Aromatherapy is a buzzword used by the cosmetics, fragrance, and alternative-medicine industries. Although the method has ancient roots, proponents did not call it aromatherapy before the 1930s. This expression derives from the French word aromatherapie, coined by Rene Maurice Gattefosse, a chemist whose book of the same name was published in 1928. After a lab explosion Gattefosse conveniently plunged his badly burned hand into a vat of lavender oil. He noticed how well it healed, and thus began the development of modern aromatherapy. However, aromatherapy and its essential oils have been used for therapeutic purposes for nearly 6,000 years. The ancient Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used them in cosmetics, perfumes, and drugs. Essential oils were also commonly used for spiritual, therapeutic, hygienic, and ritualistic purposes. One of the reasons that aromatherapy has been so hugely successful is because it uses a holistic approach, whereby the aromatherapist takes into account a person’s medical history, emotional condition, general health and lifestyle before planning a course of treatment. The whole person is treated - not just the symptoms of an illness - and this is in direct opposition to the modern trend of just treating the presented condition.
The wood-resin distillates and flower, leaf, stalk, root, grass, and fruit extracts of aromatherapy contain