 What is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy
is the systematic use of essential oils in holistic treatments to
improve physical and emotional wellbeing. Essential oils, extracted
from plants, possess distinctive therapeutic properties which can be
used to improve health and prevent disease. Both their
physiological and psychological effects combine well to promote
positive health. These natural plant oils are applied in a variety of
ways including massage, baths and inhalations.
They are
readily absorbed into the skin and have gentle physiological effects.
Aromatherapy is an especially effective treatment for stress-related
problems and a variety of chronic conditions. The name dates from
the 1920s but different cultures and civilisations, such as the
Ancient Egyptians and the Roman Empire, have used plants and herbs
for religious, medical and cosmetic purposes, as well as in rituals,
embalming and preserving, for centuries.
 'The
Cradle of Medicine'
The Egyptians are known to have
used plant resins and essences in preserving the dead. Cedar and
myrrh were used in embalming and jars of frankincense and styrax have
been found by archaeologists in tombs dating from 3000BC. The
antiseptic and anti bacterial qualities of the oils and essences
helped to prevent dead bodies from rotting so that, when mummies were
discovered thousands of years later, they were perfectly preserved.
In a hot country with little sanitation, plant extracts and oils made
life more pleasant! Some of the prescriptions and formula ewere
inscribed onto stone tablets which is one of the reasons we know so
much about them today.
The Greeks
The Nile
Valley in Egypt was known as the 'Cradle of Medicine' and othercultures,
especially the ancient Greeks gained much of their knowledge from
travelling to this area and taking the information home. Hippocrates
(born around 460BC) was a Greek and he was an important person in the
development of the use of plants in medicine. He also wrote on the
subject, thus helping others to understand the useful properties of
plants and herbs.
The Arab influence
Any history of aromatherapy
should mention a Persian called Abd Allah ibn Sina(980-1037),
usually referred to as Avicenna, who contributed a great deal to
medicine both past and present. Firstly, he described accurately
about eight hundred plants and their uses. Secondly, he devised very detailed
instructions on massage and thirdly, he is credited with discovering
the process of distillation by which most of our essential oils are
obtained.
The first scented baths?
The Romans had a
huge Empire, which existed for over 500 years (from 27BC until
around the fifth century AD). They had conquered many other countries
and had access to all the plants and oils of those countries. Oils
and essences were an important part of Roman culture. For example,they
were used at the public baths, in the water and in massage. This might
not seem very significant to us, but baths were a central part of a
Roman's daily life. They were like present-day cafés and pubs: this was
where you went not only to get a wash and massage but also to chat to friends,
family and business associates.
Four millennia of experience
China
and India both have a long history of using plants and herbs and their extracts
for medical purposes. In India medicine is aimed at healing the
whole body i.e. treating physical, spiritual and psychological problems
all at the same time. Traditional Indian herbal medicine, known as Ayurvedic
medicine, dates from thousands of years ago as does Chinese medicine.
Now, in 2000AD, 4000 years later, the use of Chinese medical treatments
such as acupuncture, shiatsu or herbal remedies is becoming widespread.
From the Crusades to the
Great Plague: Europe's Role
Europe's learnt about
the health benefits of plants and herbs through the travels of
knights and soldiers who brought back news of their use, especially
after the Crusades (from the eleventh to the thirteenth century).
Gradually, Europeans began to experiment with herbal remedies made
from plants and herbs that grew in their own countries, like sage,
lavender and rosemary. In the Middle Ages people protected themselves
against infection by carrying plants, wearing herbal bouquets and
throwing both over the floor. During the Great Plague perfumers and
apothecaries were thought to be immune from the disease. Using
flowers and plants against germs might sound superstitious but think
of how many lavender, pine and sandalwood disinfectants and cleaning
products we now have in ourlives! And gipsies still sell lucky
bunches of herbs to ward off evil.
Blinding with science
The development of chemistry
and printing in the nineteenth century helped herbal and plant
medicine in two ways. New chemical processes made it easier to
extract oils and the invention of printing meant that lots of books
on the subject, called herbals, were published. However, science helped
both to develop the use of plants and herbs in medicines and to destroy
it. It became easier and cheaper to discover some of the elements of
plant oils, and their qualities, and attempt to produce synthetic
versions of them. So commercial, mass-produced products and remedies
using artificial ingredients replaced the natural formulas created
for the individual person and problem. Herbal medicine, using ancient
and tested traditions was no longer taken seriously and was even
considered 'quackery' compared to 'real' scientific medicine.
The 'invention' of aromatherapy
 The term aromatherapy was
coined by a French chemist called René Maurice Gattefossé in the
1920s. He was a chemist and perfumier who worked in his family
perfumery business. One day he burnt his hand and plunged it into a
vat of lavender oil to cool it down. He discovered that the lavender
oil helped his burns to heal and prevented scarring. During the
First World War (1914-1918) he used oils on soldiers' wounds and discovered
that they helped heal wounds much faster. He went on to research the
AROMATHERAPY therapeutic properties of essential oils and first used
the phrase aromathérapie in a scientific research paper he delivered
in 1928. Several other French scientists, including Dr Jean Valnet,
continued the research into the effect of essential oils on physical
burns and wounds as well as psychological disorders. Valnet also used
oils on soldiers' wounds, this time during the Second World War
(1939-1945), because of their antiseptic qualities.
Aromatherapy reaches Britain
Marguerite Maury, an
Austrian biochemist and follower of the work of Valnet, is the person
responsible for bringing aromatherapy to Britain. She had discovered
that when she used essential oils in massage the skin absorbed the
oils very well. In the 1940s she brought her ideas for massage
treatments using essential oils to this country and, with the help of
several people (including Micheline Arcier, Dr W.E.Arnould-Taylor,
Eve Taylor and Dr Jean Valnet) she set up aromatherapy practices. Her
students then set up their own practices and the interest in this
method of treatment has been growing ever since. Furthermore, although
first established as a beauty therapy, aromatherapy was developed as
a clinical (i.e. medical) therapy by Robert Tisserand.
Full circle
Thanks to Gattefossé and his followers, aromatherapy
began to be taken seriously again. The reputation of complementary
therapies is now coming full circle. A move away from orthodox
medicine and commercial drugs has coincided with, or perhaps caused a
surge of interest in the use of natural complementary therapies.
Traditional medicine now uses more and more such therapies to
complement treatments of physical and psychological conditions. |
