FollowThe Getting Started with Essential Oils
Essential oils are oil-soluble liquids that are found in seeds, flowers, roots, shrubs and bushes. These oils are volatile, natural and aromatic and are used for emotional, spiritual and physical healing.
Essential Oil History
Essential Oil History- Essential oils have been used for thousands of years for a wide array of things. It is believed that the first people to use essential oils were the Egyptians, who used them for body preservation, religious ceremonies and beauty recipes. Soon after, the Romans and the Greeks discovered the many uses of essential oils and started using them for a variety of reasons including aromatherapy.
The Basics
The Basics– Essential oils are incredibly strong and potent. There are more than 300 essential oils that are being used today for an array of things. These oils are highly concentrated and derive from the essence of flowers, trees, resins, shrubs, grasses and herbs.
Essential oils are mainly clear in color but they also come in colors such as dark blue, amber, green and yellow. Different essential oils come from certain plant parts as well. For instance, orange oil comes from the peel, frankincense comes from the resin, pine comes from the needles and twigs, cinnamon comes from the bark, rose comes from the petals and ginger comes from the root.
Methods of Production
Methods of Production- There is a very different ways to extract essential oils including enfleurage, solvent extraction, maceration and cold pressing but the most common way is through steam distillation. It takes a great deal of work to make essential oils and a whole lot of plant too. For example, it takes 60,000 roses to make an ounce of rose essential oil and 220 pounds of lavender flowers to make a galloon of lavender essential oil. There are some oils like Jasmine that need to be picked the minute the flowers open and sandalwood cannot be harvested until it is at least 30 years old.
Methods of Use
Methods of Use– There is three ways that you can use essential oils: inhalation, topical and ingestion. With the inhalation method, you can use it a few different ways. The direct method allows you to place a drop of oil on your hands, rub them together and then smell your hands. You can also use a diffuser that heats the oil or you can create a steam tent by adding oil to a bowl of hot water, covering your head with a towel, leaning over the bowl and taking deep and slow breaths.
For topical applications, you can run a drop or two of oil on any part of your skin. You can also add a hot compress in order to deepen the absorption or you can add a few drops of oil to a hot bath.
With ingestion methods, you only want to ingest the oils that are labeled as dietary supplement. One of the ways you can use this method is adding a couple of drops to a glass of water. Another way to ingest essential oil is to add a drop or two into any of your cooking or baking recipe.
