When Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, they walked East. Wise move.

For thousands of years thereafter, it was in the Middle and Far East that many of the essential oils we use today were first developed.

Essential oils have been used for centuries in incense, perfume and cosmetics and for religious, medicinal and culinary properties in every culture and society.

Some still retain their original sacred use. Even today, juniper twigs are burned to purify the air in Tibetan temples. And of course, Frankincense is still a staple in many Christian churches. The Vedas, Indian’s most ancient scriptures, list over 700 fabulous oils, herbs and essences for a multitude of uses, sacred and secular. In the Indian and Oriental traditions, herbs are sacred and the person who works with them is dealing with a profoundly spiritual as well as a physical substance.

Indeed, Ayuveda, India’s "Science of Life," considers all plants feeling beings who absorb energies and cosmic forces from the stars, including but not limited to, the sun. We all know the role light plays in photosynthesis to help the plant grow and flourish, but in the Ayurvedic tradition, those energies are far more powerful and pervasive than we know. For this reason, essential oils and all herbs are carefully chosen and prescribed according to the patient’s "Dosha" – his physical/mental/spiritual characteristics – not just on the basis of the disease or symptoms alone.

It is still a mystery as to why some plants yield essential oils – in the seeds, bark, root, leaves, flowers, wood, balsam and resin – and others do not. Some believe they play an important role in the transpiration and life processes of the plants, and to prevent disease in the plant. Others say they serve to attract or repel certain insects or animals.

In Beauty…and in Health

Essential Oils – considered to be the purest form of plant and flower energies – can easily be used at home, to enhance the beauty and health of your complexion, hair and body. Cosmetically, of course, they have been used in perfumes, skincare and color cosmetics, since the earliest civilizations evolved.

In addition, as medicinals, oils are commonly prescribed as antiseptics, anti-inflammatories, fungicidals, deodorants, stimulants, and repellents of insects and parasites.

Make Your Own Essential Oils

Essential oils are usually diluted before being applied to the skin.

To make your own at home, simply add drops of your favorite essential oil to a base oil

Make Your Own Perfume

Select 3-4 essential oils at most – 1 or 2 oils each for the light, medium and top notes. Don’t dilute with alcohol (which is common in store-bought fragrances), to maintain the maximum potency, drop for drop.

Top Notes – The first notes you smell should send you straight to heaven. Choose light, airy scents like Eucalyptus, lemon, and basil.

Middle Notes – Make your perfume’s personality crystal-clear. These are stronger, mid-range notes that emerge after the top and linger longest, as the ‘heart’ of the fragrance. Three good choices: geranium, lavender or majoram

Bottom Notes – The drama queens of any perfume. Like the close of a great symphony, these rich, heavy notes emerge slowly and definitely, echoing resonantly after the others die down. Bottom notes, by definition, linger behind and act as a fixative to stop the lighter oils from dispersing too quickly. Try patchouli, jasmine, myrrh.

More blending tips

Most oils blend best with members of its own family or a neighboring group. Group 1, the woodsy-scented oils, goes with Group 2, herbaceous oils, for example, better than with Group 5, the resinous oils. But, don’t let that discourage you from playing – a rose is a rose, but everybody’s nose is different.

Group 1 – Woody: cedar, pine, evergreen

Group 2 – Herbaceous: rosemary, sage, tyme

Group 3 – Citrus-Fruity: bergamot, lemon, orange

Group 4 – Foral: lavender, rose, geranium

Group 5 – Resinous: galbanum, frankinscense

Group 6 – Spicy: ginger, cinnamon, pepper

Keep your oils in a cool, dark place. Exposure to light and air affects the oil’s potency and scent.

AROMATHERAPY

Sense is a primal thing. It’s a faculty we share with the animals although their sense of smell is infinitely more sensitive than ours. When we inhale through our nose, the stimulus goes directly to the creative, right side of the brain and also to our limbic system, the part of the brain that is the most ‘primitive’ and the seat of the emotions. When smell stimulates the limbic system, harmones are released. In addition, at the floor of the nasal cavity are neurons that recognize odors associated with sex and may be the reason we are attracted to one member of the opposite sex while indifferent to others. The object of our attraction has a subtle aroma that simply jingles our nasal neurons!

A growing body of research indicates that aromatherapy is indeed, a beneficial therapy for many aliments including insomnia, weight loss, pain management, concentration difficulties and stress. Long taught in medical schools in Germany and England, the U.S. is just beginning to take aromatherapy seriously and in some respects, to use it as a complement to conventional therapies.

While the power of fragrance and oils to change emotions and moods has been known since ancient times, the term, "Aromatherapy", was actually a late development in the history of herbal therapy, being coined by a French doctor, Rene-Maurice Gattefossé, in 1928, when he discovered that lavender helped heal a stubborn burn on his hand without scarring. He also confirmed that the essential oil in its entirety was more beneficial than isolating its main active component.

Aromatherapy – Experience it by Touch or Smell

Professional aromatherapists prefer massage as a means of treatment because they are easily absorbed by the skin and transported throughout the body. Specific essential oils are chosen to suit the condition and temperament of the patient. The essential oil is then blended with a base of one or more oils like sweet almond oil, hazlenut, safflower, peanut, soya, corn oil, or grapeseed oil and massaged into the skin.

If you blend your own, do not use mineral oils. In concentration, between 1 – 3% of the blend should be the essential oil.

In addition to massage, aromatherapy oils can simply be inhaled. Or, you can also add a few drops to a diffuser or burn an essential oil candle.

Some aromatherapy treatments to try at home:

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Here’s some other essential oils to try at home – to use, massage a few drops of the following blended in an oil, cream or lotion base on the affected area.

Ironically, over the centuries, as we learned more about oils and their healing properties, science began to develop synthetic substitutes which encouraged the growth of today’s pervasive drug industry, which has overshadowed the ancient healing arts. Herbal medicines and essential oils lost their credibility, in the West, especially, and it has taken us over a hundred years to look back at the plant world once again for nature’s own remedies, even as many species of plants are being threatened by extinction.

The endangered Rain Forests of South America in particular, offer a virtual pharmacopeia of plants that provide the basis of many of our medicines today – and may hold the key to healing even more of mankind’s most serious diseases in the future, if we can unlock their secrets before their habitat is destroyed forever. In addition to contributing to save the Rain Forests, get involved in your own community to help save local forests, meadows, wetlands, rivers, ponds, and other environmental spaces where plants grow. The plants you save could help your family to flourish in good health for generations to come. It’s a BeautyWalk thing for all of us to Think Green – for generations to come, it could be our paradise found!

Cade Pemberton has worked for leading cosmetic companies including Revlon, Calvin Klein, Yves St. Laurent, Shiseido and many others. Cade is a frequent contributor to lamasbeauty.com.

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