Spa & Aromatherapy – How it influences your moods, emotions and wellbeing

They say that the World Wide Web probably has the richest pool of knowledge at one single place, and I agree very fully. So here I am giving my one cent’s worth on spa and aromatherapy – something that I am quite involved in at a personal level and am still gaining knowledge about. Unavoidable of course, since it is part of my business and one of my favorite past times, but honestly, it is more than just that. Fact is, I am very passionate about natural oils and how they affect our daily lives in this 21st century and am curious to know how aware people around me are about them.

For sure, most of us frequent spas at one time or another. And due to the over-commercialization of the word ‘aromatherapy’, we probably would have encountered essential oils somewhere along the line, whether in soaps or lotions or air fresheners. But how many of us are really adept about what essential oils can do for us? I found myself amazed by the myriad of oils there are in existence – God has certainly supplied us with many remedies for our current conditions in His wonderful garden and this is truer now than before, with lives getting more complicated, health going down the drain while stress levels shoot up the ceiling.

First, what does aromatherapy really mean? The word was first coined by a French chap in the 1920s, some poor bloke named Rene Maurice Gattefosse, who ingeniously thrust his burning hand into a vat full of lavender oil to put out the fire in a freak accident and found that the miracle oil gave him relief from the pain and shortened the period of time he took to recover from the burn. What a chance finding really! He continued to devote his life to researching on essential oils along with a long list of other people, thus the function of the different oils have been quite well documented. Some have been used as alternative medicine by ancient people to treat certain conditions like asthma, arthritis and skin disorders, and are even mentioned in folklores in many parts of the world.

So, ‘aromatherapy’ really originates from the French word aromatherapie, which means ‘treatment using scents’. Aromatherapy, to put it simply is the use of scents extracted from 100% pure essential oil, and not just any fragrance or perfume compounds. Essential oils refer to a concentrated hydrophobic liquid that contains the volatile aroma compounds of the plants. These essential oils can be extracted from various parts of the plants such as the flowers, fruits, leaves, bark, roots, grasses, seeds & gums. Different plants such as rose, lavender, jasmine, ylang-ylang, rosemary and etcetera will produce different essential oils, and each essential oil has its own unique scent, chemical and beneficial properties.

Essential oils are most famously used to influence our moods, stimulate the body’s natural healing mechanism, and promote a sense of well being. I hide a bottle of rose absolut essential oil in my bag to keep the depression and moodiness at bay during certain periods of the month, and I always keep in handy at home some tea tree oil, lavender oil and neem oil mixture in case of any cuts, grazes, insect bites or pimples. At the beginning, I did wonder if the soothing and calming effect of the rose oil was partly due to my psychology, having studied about these effects. Still, whether or not this was true, I cannot deny that the scent of roses reminded me of field full of roses on a restful cool morning, and no doubt it is very pleasant and comforting indeed! Just rub a drop on your hand and the aroma lingers for hours! Just the same, ylang ylang oil has been known for centuries to have an aphrodisiac effect – put it simply, it makes one feel sexy and in the mood – in fact, ylang ylang flowers have been placed on the beds of newly weds in ancient times, so there you go! If nothing else works, here’s your Viagra in a bottle in preparation for a romantic night out with your loved one! Interesting isn’t it?

So how do essential oils actually work internally? Essential oils can be massaged into the skin or inhaled through the nose into the lungs. Receptors in the nose transmit electric impulses to the limbic system in the brain. This limbic system controls our emotional responses, memory, intuition and libido. This is how aromatherapy can affect our memory, mood and emotions. Aromatherapy scents that are inhaled will eventually reach a part of the brain called the hypothalamus that controls hormone production. In this way, aromatherapy scents can also affect the physical body. The benefits of aromatherapy may be felt from a few minutes to several hours and best of all, essential oils are not drugs and they do not remain in the body. If you’re interested in how this can work for you whatever your conditions, stay tuned for more in my next entry! More to come on must-visit spas around our area and how you can benefit by tailor-making your own oils for use during these sessions! ^.^