What is Aromatherapy

For centuries the primary form of medicine utilized natural ingredients, including essential oils. The use of these nature made products began to decline in the early 20 th Century as allopathic medicine and pharmaceuticals became available. However, the mid to late 20 th Century saw a renewed interest in the therapeutic use of plant derived essential oils and aromatherapy is now considered to be one of the fastest growing integrative therapies in the world.

Aromatherapy is the art and science of utilizing pure, extracted, aromatic essential oils to maintain or regain wellbeing and vitality of body, mind and spirit. The term Clinical Aromatherapy is the intentional application of essential oils for therapeutic results.

The term “Aromatherapy” was coined by the French chemist Rene Maurice Gattefosse in the 1930’s, using the Latin aroma = sweet, the Greek aroma = spice, and the Latin therapia and Greek therapeia = curing, healing. Gattefosse understood aromatherapy to be a classic allopathic therapy within the framework of conventional medicine in which essential oils are used to treat diseases.

The primary tools in Aromatherapy are Essential Oils.

Essential Oils are highly concentrated, volatile plant extracts, from a single specified botanical source that give a plant its characteristic fragrance and chemical makeup. Essential oils can be derived from an entire plant or various parts of a plant such as leaves, flowers, bark, wood, roots, fruits, or the rinds of citrus fruits. The International Organization for Standardization defines an essential oil as “a product made by distillation with either water or steam, or by mechanical process of citrus rinds, or by dry distillation of natural materials.” 1

Essential oils are the chemical components that give a plant its healing and curative properties to address disorders or undesired conditions. “The use of these in aromatherapy provides effective treatment for many physical and emotional illnesses and imbalances… Scientific documentation that includes clinical studies and empirical evidence (documentation derived from direct experience or observation) is used to identify these therapeutic results.” 2

Each essential oil has a unique chemical makeup that provides therapeutic benefit. Research has shown these benefits include:  

 

 

1 Technical committee 54, ISO Standards. (1997). Vocabulary of Aromatic Natural Raw Materials (ISO/DIS 9235:1997). Geneva, Switzerland: The International Organization for Standardization.
2 Harrison J. Aromatherapy: Therapeutic Use of Essential Oils for Esthetics, Milady, 2008

Back to Top of page