n conversations about aromatherapy I often hear the objection that people don’t trust it to cure their conditions more than they trust commercially prepared medications from pharmacies and health or drug stores. One conversation about the potency of aromatherapy with a longtime loyal recipient of my massages inspired me to share why aromatherapy works and always will work. So here it is:
Millennia of existence prove its effectiveness
The very fact that aromatherapy has been here far longer than commercially made medicines should serve as a strong testimony. If aromatherapy didn’t work, wouldn’t it go extinct through all civilizations to the modern world of science, knowledge, and information? If ancient civilizations in all parts of the world cured their rich and poor with aromatherapy and there was as much sickness in the world then as there is now, shouldn’t this serve as a testimony that aromatherapy works?
Also, if essential oils are extracted directly from plants rather than chemicals engineered by man, shouldn’t essential oils be better for health and our bodies and sufficiently potent to cure our ailments? If aromatherapy didn’t work, would the Egyptians put its products into the graves of their pharaohs? And could the suppliers of aromatherapy compete charging small fortunes for it in today’s world? After all, they have more than enough competition from pharmaceutical companies…
The active ingredients
Let’s look at why aromatherapy works from another perspective. When you buy a commercially made medicine, the active ingredient, which is highly likely also a manmade chemical, is diluted by default. This is because you have to eat the tablet with the powder that shapes and holds the tablet together, plus colourings and preservatives so that the medicines can sustain long shelf life. Likewise you have to swallow the capsule with the material that encapsulates the active ingredient, colourings, and preservatives. The powder that holds the tablet and the material that encapsulates the capsule will dissolve in your stomach with the active ingredient. Hence the active ingredient will be far less potent. This also explains why you have to take a whole course of some medicines before their effect kicks in.
Essential oils don’t have this problem, because a) you don’t digest them. The skin absorbs them into the blood stream. B) they come in glass bottles, thus don’t contain powders, colourings, nor encapsulating materials to hold them. The glass bottles don’t mix with the active ingredients of essential oils. The glass bottles simply contain the oils. And c) the essential oils are the active ingredients themselves. Thus many cannot be used neat on the skin, because they could irritate it. That’s exactly due to their potency! For this reason an aromatherapist will dilute the essential oils to various intensities in carrier oils. And the carrier oils contain minerals which are also wonderful for the skin. The minerals beautifully complement the concentrated essential oils.
The cost of aromatherapy speaks volumes too…
The small fortunes that you’ll pay for essential oils reflect the fact that you’ll get the pure product [unless the oils are adulterated. But I’m not taking this option into account to clearly put my point across here]. And do you know why some essential oils cost so much? Because people can collect the nature’s gifts from which we extract the essential oils only at limited times of day or night or in limited conditions. And exactly this and other factors make them expensive due to the costs of labour.
But in the long term the effectiveness and kindness of aromatherapy to the body and soul will beautifully even out its cost. And the fact that you can also use aromatherapy at home, at work, and even on animals is also a big plus for justifying its cost. It makes life pleasant and happier. And pleasure and happiness are highly sought after. And will be even more so in future. So is it really that expensive in the long term?
Perhaps this article and others about aromatherapy on this site show that I’m a qualified aromatherapist. I beautifully combine aromatherapy with massages exclusively for older executive, corporate, and professional men. Fancy a massage that you’ll get nowhere else? Let’s talk about it.
