Aromatherapy
Historically aromatherapy has been used for thousands of years for healing and spiritual rituals. Aromatherapy and its various uses was a sacred practice in most traditional cultures including the Persian, Hebrew, Mayan, Greek, Egyptian and Chinese.
Today, aromatherapy is a very active movement in Europe, especially in France where it is now a recognized medicine reimbursed by medical insurance.
Plants from all over the world contain useful essential oils. These highly volatile oily substances to which the plant owes its perfume and flavor, are present between the cells and act as plant hormones, regulators, and catalysts. They may be considered as representing the vital elements or life force within the plant.
Extraction methods are of utmost importance with purity being imperative in order to obtain good therapeutic results.
Breathing in these essentials oils is what gets the required results.
Aromatherapy requires an extremely high quality of essential oils. Synthetic substances cannot replace the real product. There are hundreds of chemical components in essential oils. Most of them are in minute quantities, and yet it is the precise combinations and ratios of elements which render each oil powerful.
Because of that, solvents or preservatives are not used in the preparation of first-quality essential oils. A steam-distillation method of extraction is used instead. This process consists of sending steam througout the plants, which evaporates oils.
The steam is then condensed and the oils separate from the water. This method yields a high quality oil. The best oils come from wild organic plants.
The amount of oils found in each plant varies greatly and this is reflected in the price.