Fire Through Spirit - Infolightenment

Ask
Corbie

HOW TO USE ESSENTIAL OILS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE
By Ariel Jackson-Ross

Smell a rose, peel an orange , or rub a mint sprig, and we are aware of the potent effects of the special scents contained within. But what exactly are we smelling? It is the esential oils contained within the petals, the peel, and the leaf that contain these oils. These oils can be found in all the parts of a plant; the seeds, bark, root, stems, and wood.

Aromatherapy is a very enjoyable healing art. There are few simple luxuries as pleasing as soaking in a fragrant hot bath or being massaged with wonderfully scented oils.

Aromatherapy is the enhancement of body, mind and spirit with aromatic botanical essential oils. These oils contain tremendous balancing and enhancing properties. Most often used in massages, baths and direct inhalation, they are readily absorbed through the skin, and when inhaled, they affect the brain and its release of neurochemicals.

Since ancient times, essential oils have been used to benefit the body, mind and soul. Old manuscripts, which are used almost like prescriptions, list fragrances from plants as ingredients in charms, ceremonies, as well as health remedies, cosmetics and even food. Many oils have significant religious aspects. Middle Age monks were renowned for their brilliant cultivation of many different herbs and plants as well as their knowledge of their benefits to people. Juniper is still burnt in Tibetan temples to purify, as Frankincense is used in Roman Catholic churches. Chinese medicine still uses ginger and opium, which are both therapeutic and have a religious base. And of course, Egyptians used oils consistently, both for everyday use, as perfumes and cosmetics, as tonics and potions, and to embalm their dead.

Basically, the concentrated pure plant extracts, fragrant as well as therapeutic, are what we call Essential Oils. The use of essential oils is Aromatherapy. Most of the aspects of modern medicine came from herbalism, of which aromatherapy is a part.

Some oils promote relaxation, some rejuvenation. Many different oils can be used to treat or prevent health problems, as well as help to change ones mood and create a sense of well-being.

You can experience the benefits of essential oils in many different ways: by direct inhalation, or breathing them in through the nose, or absorbing them thought the skin. Some oils are skin sensitive and can cause a reaction, because they are so concentrated, so it is best to make certain the oil is skin safe. You can easily test this by placing a tiny drop on the skin of your inner arm from the wrist to the elbow. If a reaction occurs, use as an inhalant only; do not use on your skin.

There is a pointed difference between real essential oil and what are known as essence or fragrance oils, which are synthetic. Basically, and essential oil releases different neurochemicals in the brain that can tell our body to experience different things, such as the release of the natural body chemical, serotonin, known for its relaxing and calming properties. Essential oils gently activate your body's natural healing energies. A fragrance oil is simply a nice scent that may smell similar to an essential oil, but cannot produce the same effect on the body. Many products out there claim they are Aromatherapy products, and are made with fragrance oils only, and therefore are not therapeutic. Check with the manufacturer if you can, otherwise, the prices can provide a good indication of this. For example, Rose and Jasmine essential oils are extremely expensive, and if the price does not reflect this, they are probably fragrance oils. A lot of companies are picking up on the uses of aromatherapy and adding them to their products; Lavender and Orange oil are very popular today. However, again, these may or may not be real essential oils.

Aromatherapy is an easy way to enhance the quality of your life and improve your health and well-being. The essential oils of Rosemary can prompt your mind to work more effectively. Tea Tree can help boost your immune system. Eucalyptus is great for any respiratory ailment. Lavender can help you unwind and relax. Peppermint can energize you for a night on the town. And Chamomile can help calm you or even a restless baby to a soothing sleep.

A main use of Aromatherapy is to help manage and reduce stress. No one is safe from modern day stress, it seems, and anything that helps reduce it naturally is a bonus to the strong chemical medicines that not everyone needs. Regular use of oils can help you control stress, help alleviate anxiety and tension, and minimize aches and pain in the body. And aromatherapy treatments for the skin, hair and body can add new dimensions to your health and beauty regime. Help your dry skin naturally, balance oily hair, clear problem skin areas, and create a healthy glow. And of course, use as a personal perfume, which will stay on your skin and leave a lingering and unique natural scent that most commercial products cannot match.

Not only do their extracts help us live better, but plants support the environment. Without plants, we humans could not live. Life giving oxygen is essential to our lives. Plants use the carbon dioxide that we exhale to manufacture this life-sustaining element. Besides making the world a more beautiful place to be, plants make the air a little cleaner, reduce some of the effect of greenhouse gases, and diminish global warming. And the use of oils can help connect us with nature. In these stress-filled times, we often forget he importance of nature and its benefits to the world in general. In fact, the neglect of nature is significant to the current global environmental crisis.

Depending on the essential oil used, Aromatherapy can help you relax, stimulate, rejuvenate, increase mental alertness and much more. Scent is a very primitive, deeply moving and yet subtle catalyst for the unconscious mind. We depend and rely on this important sense daily, and the use of scent in everyday life has endless possibilities.

Five elementals logo.

Properties and Histories of Some Essential Oils

Cedarwood

American Indians burned it to relieve head cold and chest congestion, as well as promote and stimulate childbirth deliver.
Most pencils are made from cedarwood; it tends to remind one of childhood due to learned-association. Very popular in men's colognes.
Helps diffuse anger, aggression and fear. Thought to be energizing and strengthening. Particulary good for circulation.
All-round tonic and stimulant; helps both dry and oily hair complaints. It soothes and softens skin, controls dandruff, and stimulates the scalp and hair follicles.

Eucalyptus

Also known as the Fever Tree; sick people were relocated to Eucalyptus-populated areas to improve their health.
The leaves of the tree are well known as a koala's only food.
Well known as a treatment of respiratory conditions; a great diffuser oil for asthmatics.
Useful for wounds and insect bites; cooling to the body, can relieve fever and skin irritations.

Lavender

All-around remarkable oil, it treats lung, sinus, and vaginal infections, treats digestive disturbances, including colic, relieves muscle pains and inflammations, helps boost immunity and is also an excellent treatment for laryngitis and asthma, especially combined with Eucalyptus.
A cell regenerator that prevents scarring and stretch marks, it has a reputation for slowing wrinkles.
Use on sun burns, wounds, rashes and skin infections.
Used traditionally during childbirth as a soothing, loving, comforting room scent.
A great emotional healer, used to help all types of stress, nervousness, exhaustion, insomnia, irritability, depression and even manic depression.
Balances emotions and feelings of instability; helps to inducea restful sleep (Try a couple of drops on a pillow or in an evening bath).

Peppermint

Well known as a stomach aid and breath freshener.
Helpful with all digestiveproblems; relieves nausea and good for travel sickness.
Cooling natural liniment for the skin; soothes many aches and pains including headaches.
Clears emotions and invigorates the mind; refreshing and uplifting.
Rats and mice detest the aroma, making it an effective vermin deterrent - good around grain bags in barns.

Grapefruit

A powerful weight loss aid, reduces cellulite, balances body fluids and increases physical strength.
Noted for its cleansing action, used to sterilize, and as a breath freshener.
Reduces stress, it is energizing and helps promote feelings of youthfulness and anticipation.

Rosemary

Burned during the plague to ward off infection; a purifier and antiseptic.
In Ancient Greece, students wore it in their hair while studying to increase and strengthen their memories.
Europeans put a couple of drops in white wine as a remedy for poor circulation.
Once used to prevent baldness, still very popular and helpful for the skin and hair. Rub a few drop into the scalp.
Vapours open sinus and breathing passages; also improves digestion, circulation, metabolism and mental clarity.
Purifies body by removing cellulite and lymphatic deposits; relieves aches and pains.

Tea Tree

Early European colonists made a healthy and tasty tea,
hence the name.
Used by the legendary Captain Cook to overcome scurvy and keep his men strong and healthy.
Medically proven to be an antiseptic, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic and antiviral; used during WW2 for open wounds and infections.
Treats skin conditions including acne; heals scrapes, blisters, absecesses, burns, cuts and infections - a first aid kit in a bottle.
Powerful against bacteria, fungi and viruses - it has attracted a lot of attention in the medical world.
Like its cousin, eucalyptus, it relieves the symptoms of asthma, bronchitis, colds, congestion, coughs, earaches, fevers, laryngitis, sinusitis, sore throats, and tonsillitis. Improves immunity and reduces the incidence of colds, flu and other infectious illnesses.

How to use Essential Oils in your Everyday Life

Use a few drops on your Scent Ring placed on a light bulb, or the dish of an Aroma Lamp or Aroma Diffuser.
Use as a direct inhalant, especially for therapeutic use.
Add 3-10 drops to your bath water. (Always hand stir in just as you are about to enter your bath to receive the full benefit of the oils.)
Use as a massage oil. (Add a few drops to a tablespoon of carrier oil such as almond, grapeseed or jojoba)
Sprinkle any scent on potpourri to revive and enhance the scent.
Put a few drops on a cotton ball and place in drawers, closets, pockets, cupboards, etc.
Add a few drops to the washing machine, on the filter pad of your vacuum cleaner, and in your humidifier.(Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, and Sweet Birch will help to clean and disinfect naturally)
Place a couple of drops on the inside cardboard of the toilet paper roll and your tissue box.
A few drops on your dishwater will make the job more pleasant. (Any Citrus Scent will aid in cleaning)
A few drops rubbed into your hairbrush will add a pleasant scent as well as help the hair. Add a few drops of the same essential oil to your shampoo or conditioner. (Try one of these: Normal-Grapefruit, Dry-Lavender, Oily-Cedarwood)
Use a drop of Tea Tree on skin cuts, burns, blisters, and blemishes.

Ariel Jackson-Ross took an interest in Aromatherapy while she was studying at the University of Guelph, Ontario. A neighbor moved next door who was a professor of Aromatherapy in England, and had moved to Canada for personal reasons. Ariel was privately trained by her new friend, taking a particular interest in the properties of Essential oils and how they work together.

After discovering that most candles labeled 'aromatherapy' weren't the real thing, Ariel created a line of real aromatherapy candles. May of 1996 saw the birth of 5Elementals Magical Aromatherapy Candles and Products.

The full line of products can be found at www.5elementals.com.