Holistic Health Secrets

Aromatherapy is the use of extracts from aromatic plants for healing.

Aromatherapy essences are used in the form of volatile or essential oils which are applied during massage or infused in bath water.

French chemist, Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, is known as the father of aromatherapy.   Rene-Maurice Gattefosse used the term “aromatherapie” to describe the science of using aromatic extracts from plants to create healing effects and published a book called Aromatherapie in 1937.

There is a legend which has evolved (much like with the tale that is used to describe the origins of Reiki) which describes a Eureka-like moment when Gattefosse burnt his hand in a lab, stuck it in a jar or vat of lavendar oil (depending on which version of the story you read) and discovered that his hands began to heal and thus aromatherapy was born.

The real story is more dramatic. According to Gattefosse, there was a laboratory explosion in July 1910 which covered his body with “burning substances” and set him alight. His hands were also covered with the potentially fatal “gas gangrene“.

He extinguished the substances by rolling on a lawn and rinsed his hands off in lavender essence which stopped the development of the gas gangrene (a condition that can lead to death). Healing began on the following day.  But the accident didn’t immediately launch a “discovery” or the development of aromatherapy as he had already been researching the use of essential oils.

Gattefosse treated the war wounds of French soldiers with essential oils during World War One.

The use of aromatic oils for healing has also been used for millennia in  Babylonian, Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine.

Essential oils are highly concentrated liquids that are extracted from plants and evaporated at room temperature.  The oils are believed to carry the essence or soul of the plant that they originate from.

Aromatherapy essences can be used in conjunction with chakra healing and colour therapy.

Examples of aromatherapy essences include lavender, peppermint, rosemary, tea tree and eucalyptus.

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