Sunday 29 June 2014

Aromapedia

The idea of aromapedia is nothing new.  There are excellent A-Z guides available.  I particularly recommend that by Patricia Davis and Julia Lawless. There is also the useful Wikipedia entry on Essential oils.
 Aromapedia by Ian Brealey is a follow on booklet to the Everyday Aromatherapy students booklet. It deals with the most commonly used information of value to students and new practitionersAn essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants. It is essential in that it is something of importance.  Essential oils find many applications however a particularly useful one is for maintaining health and wellbeing, this is the subject matter of aromatherapy.
The moment we use the word wellbeing we move beyond the medical world of helping people to stay alive or die with dignity to self help and professional help for everyday living well. This is a vast area drawing on all human experience from commerce, combat, spirituality  to making a home or maintaining a community.
Aromatherapy does involve using the senses but appreciation of essential oils for their relaxing or stimulating fragrance is strictly the world of perfumery. When we use the grand fragrances Jasmine, Rose and Neroli and combine them with geranium and ylang adding a drop of Benzoin, Frankincense or Vetiver we are drawing heavily and usefully on this world of accords being top, middle and basenotes. Pure aromatherapy involves study and application of chemical communication between the aromatic compounds found in essential oils and the body.  
Aromatherapy has its art but this is also high science.  In fact essential oils attract the attention of researchers worldwide not only for their particular pharmacological effects but also for health and beauty.  This has found particular application in rejuvenation where the energy of the aromatherapist and essential oils interacts with the energy of the individual.  Chemistry indeed.
 Restoring the appetite of an elderly individual for food and life may not seem the stuff of Nobel Prizes but such rejuvenation is valuable all the same and has obvious application in the wellbeing of our own families. Poor appetite and nutrition lowers the bodies defences making the body suceptible to infection and cancer.
Essential oils have also been used since they were first obtained for flavouring, and preservation and first aid for cuts and bruising.

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Wednesday 4 June 2014

The "British" school of Aromatherapy - then and now

What is sometimes described as the British school of aromatherapy utilises elements of swedish massage and reflexology.

In fact Madam Maury was an Austrian who opened rejuvenation clinics in England, Paris and Switzerland.

Her research work to demonstrated the effects of essential oils on the nervous system, their influence on the well being of people.http://www.oilsandplants.com/maury.htm

 The British school of Aromatherapy is live and well and the research effort continues into the use and applications of essential oils for health and beauty. A number of schools and their alumni are active and combine their efforts in the form of organisations principally IFPA, FHT, IFA.

Each year these UK organisations hold annual general meetings and training conferences

 http://www.ifparoma.org/
 7th June 2014
http://www.ifparoma.org/public/conference.php

 http://www.fht.org.uk/home/
19th/20th July
 http://www.fht.org.uk/2014/splash
seminars
http://wam.fht.org.uk/wam/event_booking.exe?GTEVI=6789&GTEVFP6789

 http://www.ifaroma.org/us/home/
11th October 2014
 http://www.ifaroma.org/us/news/ifa-uk-conference-11th-october-2014/

http://botanica2014.com/
5-8th September
 This is an important show of plant theraputics with leading international speakers

Training seminars also run at Beauty exhibitions notably BeautyUK, Birmingham NEC
10th,11th May 2015
 http://beautyukshow.com/



There is also another strong training link to record and that is with the Soil Association and organic farmers and distillers of essential oils worldwide
Soil Association