THE HISTORY OF Aromatherapy
The first historical evidence of Aromatherapy was found in a Neanderthal grave in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) dating from 60,000 BC.
Grains and pollens from plants known to have medicinal properties were discovered in the grave. Ayurvedic medicine has been using plant-based remedies for centuries and the Chinese also recorded their use in 2,800 BC. Ancient Egyptian priests were expert perfume makers and oils made from plants were used in religious ceremonies as well as for treating physical and emotional ailments.
The knowledge spread throughout Europe via the Greek and Roman Empires and later the crusades, culminating in the first published work on the subject called the Complete Herbal Encyclopaedia by Nicholas Culpepper in England in the 1600s. Use of herbs and flower remedies declined with the progress of modern medicine for the next couple of hundred years until Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, a biochemist and perfumer coined the phrase Aromatherapy in his book on the subject in the early 1900s. He discovered the properties of lavender oil when he used it to treat a burn and discovered how effective it was. He also developed antiseptic oils by distilling lavender for field hospitals in WW1.
Other notable contributors to the creation of modern aromatherapy are Marguerite Maury who researched the effect of essential oils on the nervous system and incorporated them into massage. Micheline Arcier who worked with Maury opened her clinic in London in the 1960s and founded the International Federation of Aromatherapists.
Proponents of Aromatherapy believe that it works by enhancing the process of self-healing by indirect stimulation of the immune system, thereby achieving homeostasis or balance in the body. Essential oils have specific properties pertaining to physical and psychological conditions which can be affected by the absorption of the oils through the skin, via massage or compresses or via the respiratory system via inhalation.
Every oil has biochemical components that cause a chemical reaction in the body and clinical aromatherapy uses diagnostic methods to consult and create a treatment plan specifically designed to help improve or prevent a condition.
Very little hard scientific evidence exists to support the claimed effects of aromatherapy but feedback from case studies seems to show that clients experience benefits from this practice. Whether some of this is the Placebo effect, or the benefits of the massage itself or whether it is indeed the properties of the oils working cannot be proved but as part of an holistic approach to physical and mental health in the modern world, aromatherapy has an important part to play.
Indeed much of modern medicine is based on herbal and plant based remedies, such as Aspirin and as part of a growing interest and belief in more natural answers to the stresses and strains of modern life, aromatherapy is again becoming increasingly popular.
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