Aromatherapy: The Wonderful Power of Scents

Aromatherapy is a wonderful treatment that experiments with different essences to help relieve symptoms and promote overall good psychological and physical health.

When you’re open to exploring the world, you can let yourself go by using your senses. One of the most powerful is scent, the magical sense that brings you back to the special moments in your life, to good memories. Through aromatherapy, you can travel anywhere and find peace.

Approximately in the year 4500 BC, aromatherapy quickly spread in the East. It’s an alternative therapy to reach a state of well-being by breathing in certain aromas and oils. Recently, in Western culture, it has gained a fair level of popularity.

Through aromatherapy, you can discover a range of scents that spark peace in you, both physically and mentally.

What is it?

Aromatherapy is a discipline that uses essential oils extracted from aromatic plants in order to boost well-being. Furthermore, it goes hand in hand with traditional medicine by promoting relaxation and good health in general.

Scents act in your mind at an unconscious level, making you experience different sensations. Therefore, in aromatherapy, each scent has a meaning and it helps balance a part of your body and mind.

Smell receptors capture the aroma and it’s sent all the way to your brain, which processes it. This happens in both the limbic system, where your body associates different emotions to certain scents and in the hippocampus, where smells are related to memories. This part of your mind is in charge of memories, and therefore, some oils have the power of changing what you think and feel.

But smell isn’t the only sense associated with aromatherapy. Touch plays an important role as well. This is due to the therapy using essential oils that you can put in your skin through massages.

What an aromatherapy session looks like

Aromatherapy sessions usually last about 30 minutes; a span of time dedicated to focus on yourself and enjoy the present moment. There are three types of application:

Inhalation

Inhalation is the exposure to different smells, depending on what you want to improve about yourself. You must inhale them either directly or through a vaporizer.

Bath

You must get inside a tub with hot water and add a few drops of essential oils to experience essential oils in a bath.

Massage

The person in charge of the therapy dilutes several aromatic essences in oils and gives you a massage using the oil mixture. It’s especially useful to relieve muscle pain or to relax.

You may even use all three methods. Keep in mind that aromatherapy must be done by an expert, who must first ask you about your overall physical and psychological health so that they know what you can improve during therapy.

Who can benefit from aromatherapy?

Anyone can benefit from aromatherapy. So, whoever wants to break free from stress should definitely try this legendary technique. Also, it’s highly recommended to people who suffer from any of the following issues:

• Chronic stress
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• Joint pain
• Breathing issues
• Skin problems
• Fatigue
• Muscle pain
• Digestive problems
• Cancer
• Depression

Although aromatherapy is useful to treat these problems, keep in mind that it definitely isn’t the main solution to all your problems. This therapy works better when complemented by other traditional medical treatments.

So, if you’re already following another treatment, don’t substitute it. Aromatherapy isn’t a replacement but should be used to complement your treatment instead.

Essences

The world of essences is infinite. Here are some of the most used scents in aromatherapy:

• Jazmin helps with stress and insomnia.
• Almond boosts your mood.
• Geranium helps with menstrual pain and inner peace.
• Pepper decreases anxiety levels.
• Rosemary relieves circulatory and rheumatic problems.
• Ginger eases breathing and improves circulation.
• Grapefruit is perfect to manage anger.
• Cypress is an invigorating aroma to reduce stress, allergies and menopause symptoms.
• Cinnamon is relaxing, helps reduce fatigue, and relieves stress.
• Rose is for insomnia and depression.
• Citrus is used for a peaceful sensation.
• Lavender improves skin issues, it’s relaxing and relieves muscle pain.
• Mint relieves nasal congestion and digestive issues.

Aromatherapy uses all of these essences and many more. The scents used in your session will depend on what you need and what the expert suggests.

However, using some of these essences at home can already make you feel better. Of course, if you want to use them effectively for long-term well-being, you should talk to an expert on the matter. They will guide you into the magical world of aromas.

The benefits

Promotes relaxation

Aromatherapy promotes relaxation because you’re reducing your parasympathetic nervous system’s activity, which is usually active when you’re stressed out. By activating relaxation, aromatherapy can make you feel more in control and confident. Some essences to help with this are lavender and chamomile.

Helps relieve symptoms of severe illness

This type of therapy isn’t a cure, but it can help you get some “weight off your shoulders.” As a result, your body will respond better to treatment.

Boosts your libido

Aromatherapy activates and increases the blood flow’s energy.

Physical and psychological well-being

Besides helping with digestion, circulation and muscle pain, it also improves respiration. It also relieves depression, anger, stress and anxiety symptoms.

As you can see, aromatherapy is a wonderful universe of scents. Each aroma provides a benefit to your health. Let yourself go and use the magic of essences and dare to experience this kind of treatment. Each smell will take you to a different place in order to get the best out of you.