Bryan Sumner
As consumers, we are truly embracing the natural health movement. We’ve taken a good hard look at our medical system, and realize there must be something better — and it turns out that Nature has been offering it this entire time in the myriad forms of plant medicine. Using plants and herbs for healing has been happening the whole during the whole of human civilization. Researchers have now even discovered animals in the wild eating particular plants to cure their ills. We are now seeing an explosion of interest in “aroma medicine”, the use of pure and natural essential oils as powerful healing tools. And these tools are readily available to you and your family to improve your health and wellbeing.
The body of evidence published in peer-reviewed scientific journals proclaiming the valid medical effects of organic essential oils is growing by leaps and bounds. A search on Pub Med, an on-line database of the US National Library of Medicine, for “essential oil” returns 8808 results as of April 10th, 2009. The very first listing describes the anti-dementia (Alzheimer’s) effects of Lemon essential oil! The diversity of actual medical applications of essential oils is truly incredible — more diverse than just the plants themselves, as many essential oils have multiple applications. The inhalation of lemon has been shown to improve mood, improve mental accuracy and even act as an antimicrobial, perfect for general household cleaning.
Perhaps the most important effects of all are those seen in the treatment of serious illnesses. Many modern medical aromatherapists believe the greatest promise of essential oils still lay in the development of protocols for treatment of infectious disease. The MRSA “superbug”, referring to one of several strains of Staphylococcus bacteria that are resistant to the powerful antibiotic drug Methicillin, has become an overwhelming problem in the world’s hospitals. Folks go in for care of one condition, and while their immune defenses are low, they come down with an infection that’s very hard to cure (because man-made antibiotics don’t work). Enter essential oils: Pub Med is filled with studies showing the efficacy of essential oils like Tea Tree and Geranium against MRSA (particularly when combined with another potent natural antibacterial, Grapefruit Seed Extract).
Future medical applications even include treatment of Cancer, the most feared disease of all. Natural medicine doctors have been admonished for years by proclaiming that “nature has a cure”, yet the body of evidence continues to grow with the many studies showing the anti-tumorial action of oils like Frankincense and Lemongrass. These plants have been used for centuries for healing — now, the essential oils offer us very concentrated medicine that happens to be very compatible with our physiology. Essential oils easily penetrate our cell membranes, travel safely through our bloodstreams, and can play a dual role of eradicating tumors while enhancing the ability of our immune system to do its job (other studies are showing essential oils actually “tune” the electrical state of our white blood cells such that they do a better job of removing unwanted microbes from our bodies).
And for the really big one: pure essential oils are showing great promise in the treatment of many cancers. Frankincense and Lemongrass are just two of the oils that have been shown anti-tumorial, and Sandalwood has been show to specifically prevent skin cancers from UVB radiation exposure. Searching for “Frankincense tumor” gives a first result of: “Frankincense oil derived from Boswellia carteri induces tumor cell specific cytotoxicity”. The conclusion states: “Frankincense oil appears to distinguish cancerous from normal bladder cells and suppress cancer cell viability…” There are many more results like this, with a variety of oils and a variety of cancer cell lines. This is a very exiting time for natural medicine, as a combination of new extraction techniques, and faster turn around times in research facilities made lead to new, life saving protocols in the very near future (and it’s important that we as members of the world community keep voicing our opinions, and making these changes in our available medical treatments — it’s not only good for us, it’s good for the world as well, as the production of natural medicines takes SO much less energy than their pharmaceutical “equivalents”).
It’s important to note that essential oils don’t just effect serious medical conditions — they have a place in our everyday lives, too. Tea Tree essential oil is a wonderful, effective antibiotic, especially useful when combined with soothing Lavender for childhood cuts and scrapes (if you’re tough, just use the Tea Tree to prevent infections). Essential oils have been shown to reduce bacteria in the mouth which reduce tooth decay. Helichrysum essential oil is one of the most profound pain relievers and inflammation-reducers for muscular injuries, and makes small kitchen burns heal almost instantly (just a drop on that little hot spot and you’ll be quickly convinced!). Sea Buckthorn heals wounds and reduces wrinkles. Chamomile or Mandarin have been used for years in Europe to soothe the traumas of childhood, and lend a hand to parental sanity. The scent of many pure essential oils just makes folks happier (and it’s important to note this same results do not occur with “fragrances”, a term for man-made smells — they do not have the same make-up as natural plant aromatics do — and in fact, many people are allergic to them).
Sure, this can sound a little overwhelming…where, really, to start when you’re new to it all? Well, that’s the trick: just get started. Anyone in your family not sleeping well? Rub a drop of lavender on each foot at bedtime for a few nights and see what happens. Someone with athlete’s foot or other similar rashes? Mix 30 drops of Tea Tree and 30 drops of Palmarosa into a fluid ounce of Jojoba oil and massage into the area a couple times a day. Just get a simple diffuser, some Black Spruce essential oil and make your house smell like the middle of the forest. Dab a drop of Rose, Amber, Jasmine or Sandalwood oil to your wrist, rub them together and smell like heaven. It’s that easy. It helps to find a supplier of truly therapeutic grade oils, like the good folks at Synergy Essential Oils as well. And these simple ideas get you ready for when you might need to tap into the serious medicine available. Essential oils won’t be foreign anymore, and you’ll start to trust their real medicinal value. Also, there are tons of great books, and very qualified teachers. Open your eyes and heart to the world of Aroma Medicine, and you’ll be sure to find your way.
Tags: aromatherapy, aromatherapy diffusers, essential oils, massage oils, pure essential oils
Posted in Healthy Living · December 26th, 2009 · Comments (0)
When buying essential oils and different aromatherapy products it is important to consider the worth. Not all organic oils are the same, oil worth is a matter of the growing environment of the herbs and the removal techniques utilized.
Natural herbal oils are not all manufactured with the same method, to differentiate between the two plant chemicals are classified as either “food grade” or the higher end products meant for aromatherapy uses “therapeutic quality”. It is important to educate yourself on the diverse natural herbal oils available to know which oils could be ideal for your requirements.
Natural herbal oils can vary in cost from country to country. climate change is able to lower the availability of flowers and drive up the cost of their oils. The Indian sandalwood is considered an endangered species and highly valued for its scent so it is more valuable than different kinds of sandalwood discovered around the globe.
Apart from the environment in which a plant is cultivated the oil extraction method is the other major factor in its quality. Extraction is how the valuable oils and compounds contained in plants are removed and separated from unwanted chemicals or impurities. The two types of extraction are physical extraction and chemical extraction. Physical methods include steam extraction and a process called enfleurage. Supercritical extraction is a type of chemical extraction technique and can be used for obtained extremely pure and unadulterated compounds.
Harvested oils can be food grade or therapeutic grade. An oils content is included in its Food Chemical Codex or FCC. This is a breakdown of the compound concentrations of various oils.
Though all compounds should be extracted naturally from source herbs several producers use synthetic additives. Food grade organic oils should be avoided for this reason, in spite of the name which makes them sound suitable for aromatherapy.
For aromatherapy a medical uses therapeutic grade oils should always be used. This category of compounds denotes primarily natural oils with organic components. Determining the quality or purity of oils through inspection is hard without actually using the oils so to avoid buying poor quality supplies buy from reputable shops.
The author has authored a variety of articles on the uses of aromatherapy and different essential compounds and oil diffuser
Tags: alternative medicine, aromatherapy, essential oils, Health Issues, medicine, natural healing, oil diffusers
Posted in Health Issues · November 17th, 2009 · Comments (0)