Aromatherapy has made a strong contribution over the last decades for a better understanding of the power of medicinal plants. At the same time it has given us access to a new form of “energy medicine” which means nothing less than helping us to understand the more subtle implications of health and disease. And this means also to focus primarily on prevention and give up the dogmatic concepts of only symptom oriented treatments.

There is this marvellous depth in essential oils linking them to oldest folk-medicinal knowledge and at the same time offering the most rigorous scientific comprehension of their innumerable effects – and positive side effects!

Massage and touch

The sense of touch is easily linked to the sense of smell and the beneficial effects of essential oils combine in the methods of Aroma-massage. We know today from countless experiences and testimonials that an Aroma-massage can work wonders on each of us if it is performed with the right knowledge of the ingredients we use. Touch is an essential factor for our wellbeing. Children in the first years of their lives evolve better when they have frequent skin contact with parents, brothers and sisters. Direct skin contact by carrying and caressing is most natural and primeval form of behavior with babies. Anne Liedloff, in her book “The Continuum concept” writes that a fragrant massage engenders happy and self-confidant adults. And happy and self-confident children too….

“Love is given to babies mostly through direct contact. A true lack of this can be mortal.”

R. Tisserand

In New York Bellevue Hospital death rate of babies 1938 decreased from 35% to 10 % after “mothering” had been introduced.

New born animals have to be licked and caressed by their mother right after birth – otherwise they die. During the last century the so-called “marasm” was a frequent cause of death for children. Most of these cases happened in orphanies homes for children without parents. Today we know that lack of love and direct body contact was the primal cause of this “enigmatic” disease. Children raised in orphanies under loveless conditions show a marked decrease in growth hormones. Survival rates in premature born children are singificantly higher when the babies, instead of being left to hatchers, are “hatched” between the breasts of the mother. (Bogota, Columbia)

Lack of skin contact in early age leads to love-dependant adults. In more serious cases this leads to neuroses and behavioral disorders.

“Significant bio-chemical differences can be observerd between people, who have experienced sufficient stimulation via the sense of touch and those who lacked this experience. This is valid for the whole life: The unloved person probably is a completely different biochemical being than the loved one.”

A. Montagu, Touching

An Aroma-massage is more profound than normal massage: Essential oils have a high penetrability through the skin and can be traced within minutes in our organism. A good massage with using a carrier oil and essential oils in combination improves on a long term basis the degree of relaxation and the quality of our sleep. It is a first class neuro-physiological relaxation therapy.

And more than this:

• Aroma-massage enlivens blocked energies and mobilizes hidden reserves.
• Aroma-massage leads to marked decrease of stress.
• Aroma-massage improves bad circulation and decreases nervous tensions.
• Aroma-massage helps for lack of self-confidence in women with PMS.
• Aroma-massage is a direct way to influence and purify our subtle energies.

A light „auric massage“ involving essential oils means to connect with powerful cosmic energies fully present in the essential oils. And this is: warming the body, warming the soul through the gentle touch of tender hands and opens the heart with the help of beautifully fragrant messengers of vegetal intelligence.

Within two minutes we can imbibe our skin (and our energy field in and around us) with the vibrant “living molecules of light“ of essential oils allowing them to penetrate our whole system – purifying, invigorating, protecting us in no time. This is what the ancient seers of India called “KAVACH“ or the “invisible armour” of the spiritual warrior. The experience can be striking: We can make ourselves impenetrable against any negative influence from outside or from inside with this gentle protective medicine of the new millenium.

It’s about energy…

Who has not experienced coming back from work after a stressful day, tired, exhausted, “burnt out” and just wanting to rest, to forget, to “close the door”… Well, I can say from my own experience: Take a shower or a bath and imbibe your body with a layer of a fragrant invigorating synergy of oils, a self-composed blend of your favourite “recovery oils” – and you will see. You turn out to be another person within minutes. You can’t escape that – it is automatic.

Because you are right away working on your personal energy field – instead of drinking coffee or alcohol to “fire” you up. Which means: you work from the subtlest layers of QI or PRANA, you can also say of OJAS (Ayurveda) onto your physical existence where imbalance will always first start on a purely energetic level. This level is within reach through simple aroma massage, olfaction, a „touch and breathe“ intervention. Yes, truly, essential oils have a direct access to our energy fields, frequencies, resonances… It’s all about “energy medicine” anyway!

In the meantime we have discovered that essential oils have a high electrical resistance, for example:

• Clove bud = 4000 Ohm
• Thyme = 3300 Ohm
• Lavender 2800 Ohm
• Peppermint 3000 Ohm

Clove is = 20 times higher than human blood. And Clove oil has an ORAC value (Oxygene Reduction Absorbtion Capacity = free radical scavenger capacity) of over 1 million. That means: more than 40 times higher ORAC value than the Chinese Goji-berries, famous for their high anti-oxidant capacity.

More than this, the use of vibrational energy to treat disease has led to discoveries of the electro-magnetic frequencies of essential oils. Rose oil, we have talked about this on other occasion, has a frequency which is about 4 times higher than an average human body. Can we imagine? Actually, clinical research shows that essential oils have the highest frequency of any natural substance known to man, creating an environment in which disease, bacteria, virus, fungus, etc. cannot live.  And in this, as seen, numerous essential oils show frequencies which are many times greater than the frequencies of herbs, foods – and even the human body, as mentioned.

And remember: essential oils are absorbed and go to work within seconds in the body. Even a massage oil which contains a fatty carrier oil with some percentage of essential oil does not keep the essential oil on the surface of the skin – not at all. The subtle aromatic molecules are sent right away through the epidermis, the corium and the sub-cutum into the bloodstream and create their healing-relaxing effects within minutes from there. Layering the oils in soft applications together with some addition of warmth may even produce faster penetration and results. 

And also to keep in mind: Essential oils stay in a healthy body up to 8 hours providing a positive frequency to the body. And since they contain oxygenating molecules they can also transport nutrients into the cells.

Smell and touch

The rediscovery of our sense of smell and the accompanying changes in our appreciation of natural versus unnatural scents through aromatherapy therefore goes hand in hand with a rediscovery of our sense of touch. In an enlarged way we can say that something has to smell in order to touch us.

In an aroma massage the frontal and posterial “doors” of the central nervous system are opened simultaneously through “smell” and “touch”, activating an incredible symphony of neuronal connections in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord, giving rise to a powerful release of “happy“ neurotransmitters.

By shedding light and warmth on the “frozen” image of the god and goddess in us, aroma massage moves and melts the stases and metastases of our “kleshas” (Ayurveda) or life-traumas to the ocean of preconscious bliss where “mother is at home” and “paradise lost” is no more.

Nowhere essential oils can unfold their full therapeutic energies more than by means of an Aroma-massage in a pure, spiritual setting, under the warm loving strokes of the heart. Any anger, any fear, any relational problem, can thus be “stroked away” with the powerful messenger substances distilled from the core of nature.

Carrier oils for massage

An Aroma-massage can be done either with a certain number of pure essential oils (we have to know which and which not), or via a blend of essential oils with carrier oils. The latter allow a broader choice of essential oils for direct skin application as they dilute a number of essential oils which, when applied unblended, can be irritant to the skin. Many of the carrier oils have by themselves therapeutic properties. There are hundreds of plants known to contain vegetable oils. Actually, for my personal understanding, a vegetable oil in a plant is like the “mother milk” for the new to be borne “sipling”. No carrier oil is in the leaf, or the root, bark, wood, stem… It is only there where the plant prepares reproduction: in the seed or in the fruit. Most of the carrier oils are actually in the seeds of the plants. These oils, taken orally, allow the human body to produce heat and energy. They contain many precious fatty acids (Omega-acids particularly) and nutrients indispensable for a correct functioning of our physiology. They are the strongest energy carriers in the nutrition of men and animals.

Experience the essential oil

An essential oil is a very personal “object”, the liking or disliking of which has to do with our innermost feeling, emotional state, state of health and well-being, personality etc. As you inhale the fragrance of essential oil close your eyes, try focus on nothing else. Develop a personal, intuitive recognition of what the oil does to you. Is there an “echo” in some part of the body? Is there an “echo” in some part of your feelings?

And other questions:

• Do you like or dislike the fragrance?
• What do you associate with it?
• Does it trigger some specific memory?
• Does it go deep or remain superficial?
• Is the fragrance light or heavy?
• Does it stimulate or relax?
• Does it energize?
• Is it a floral, “leafy”, woody note?
• Is it harsh, fine, sweet, pungent, herbal, spicy etc.?
• Is it warming or cooling?
• Does it open or close you?
• Is it euphorizing?
• Special experiences?

We produce our own blend

Essential oils can be blended together for different purposes. The most important are:

• Therapeutic
• Perfume
• Aromatizing and environmental enhancement

There are different approaches to compose a synergy or blend of essential oils. We may take oils:

• From the same family (i.e. citrus group, eucalyptus group)
• From the same plant (i.e. bitter orange, petitgrain bigarade, neroli)
• From different subspecies of the same plant (i.e. Thyme ssp., Lavender ssp., Rosemary ssp.)
• According to basic perfumery principles like “head notes – heart-notes, base-notes”
• According to major similarities in the bio-chemical profile (i.e. Rosewood + Ho-oil or Spike lavender + Lavender sage + Spanish Marjoram)
• According to standard recipes of perfumery
• According to effects (winter bath, deep rest, fresh air, anti-stress)
• For creating our own phantasy notes
• etc.etc.

Do you sleep well? Make your own Aroma-massage blend

We take essential oils which affect sleeping problems according different plant families:

• Rutacea (Mandarin, Petitgrain big., Petitgrain mandarin, Lime, bitter Orange … )
• Apiacea (Angelica, Lovage, Celery)
• Valerianacea (Spikenard, Valeriana wallichi (Tagar), Valerian)
• Lamiacea (Lavender, Marjoram, Spearmint, Tarragon, Basil, sweet)
• Verbenacea, Poacea (Verbena, Melissa, Lemongrass, Lemon Myrtle)
• Pinacea (Cryptomeria japonica, leaf)
• Asteracea (Roman Chamomile)

We put a few drops of on a handkerchief before sleeping. We apply soft back and foot massage.

And more benefits of Massage

So then, not to forget: Massage is an important emotional factor in our lives. Regularly given, it can compensate for a considerable amount of missed caressing during childhood. Even a “painful” massage is experienced by most people as pleasant. And more:

• Massage stimulates circulation and lymph system
• Massage stimulates the immune system
• Massage releases muscular tensions and soothes pains muscles and joints.
• Aroma-massage is more profound than normal massage: Essential oils have a high penetrability through the skin, as we have seen and can be traced within minutes in our organism.
• A good Aroma-massage improves on a long term basis the quality of our sleep and the degree of relaxation. It is a first class neuro-physiological relaxation therapy.

The “mystical union” of the aromatic touch-and-heal

Many of the culture pioneers of our time – those who carry the messages of new understanding and behaviour into the world which a few decades later become standard – many of them are busy in creating new rites of the profane, celebrating in an ever increasing exhilaration the magic of one of the closest encounters on the physical level human beings can enjoy together: the “mystical union” of the aromatic touch-and-heal.

And here – to conclude – a massage oil recipe from our friend Beverley Higham from UK against Cellulitis:

• 50 ml Sunflower oil
• 18 ml Jojoba
• 10 ml Avocado
• 10 ml Grapeseed
• 10 ml vitamin E
• mix with essential oils -–10 drops each – of Grapefruit, Rosemary, Lemon and Juniperberry and apply locally.

A new chance for us all

It is encouraging to see how we as human beings – left for a few decades in a relatively “peaceful world” are picking up the eternal messages from Mother Nature. Messages from “as it was before”, true, but in a new way, with new understandings, new directions and – new connections. No human civilization, I say it again and again, has ever had the chance to apply global ethnobotanical medicine, medicine from all plants on all continents, medicine from all cultures so directly as we can do it today with Aromatherapy. The small little pouch with 24 essential oils accompanied by some carrier Sacha Inchi oil from Peru, or some Chia oil from Mexico, or some Sesame oil from India, or some Hemp oil from Canada… There is so much in there, so much energy, beauty, intelligence – AND HEALING! One can only bow down and say:

Thank you, Divine Intelligence, thank you Mother Nature for all these precious gifts to us humans!