What is Aroma Therapy?

The word "Aromatherapy" conjures up images of people magically alleviating their depression or insecurities with wonderful scents. Aromatherapy is much more than that. Incorporating aromatherapy into your life enhances your overall health, beauty, and psychological well being. Aromatherapy can reduce stress, enhance your complexion, treat an annoying skin irritation, and eliminate a stomachache.

A healing art which uses the essential oils of aromatic plants, trees and flowers to promote health of body and serenity of mind.

It's the essential oils within plants that give them their characteristic smell and flavour. When we smell the delightful fragrance of jasmine flowers in the early evening, open a cedarwood box and inhale its woody smell or add the zest of a lemon to a drink, it's the essential oil that we are enjoying.

Essential oils may be found in different parts of the plant in the petals (rose), leaves (eucalyptus), roots of grass (vetiver), bark (cinnamon), heartwood (sandalwood), citrus rind (lemon), seeds (caraway), bulbs (garlic), the avail or top parts of the plant (marjoram) or resin (frankincense) and sometimes in the more than one part of the plant for e.g. the orange tree produces 3 different smelling essences with different medicinal properties - neroli from the flowers petitgrain from the leaves and orange oil from the rind of the fruit.

History and Origin
The use of essential oils goes back to ancient civilization almost 3000 years BC where they were used not only for their wonderful aroma and beauty care, but also for their preservative and healing properties and for their immediate connection with higher spiritual beings, in prayer and as offerings to god.