Aromatherapy Massage West Midlands, Holistic Therapy

What is Aromatherapy?

Aromatherapy is a holistic therapy, which means it takes into account the mind, body and spirit of the client and involves the use of essential oils extracted from plants.

It is both an art, and science of using aromas; essential plant oils in treatments. It can be described as both; as an art because of the intuitive and creative aspects of preparing special blends for each individual person. And as a science because it relies on sound scientific knowledge.

History of Aromatherapy? (Its roots can be dated back to the early Egyptian people 5,000 years ago).

The Egyptians

The ancient Egyptians are often said to be the pioneers of aromatherapy as they had a vast knowledge of aromatic plants and used the oils for cosmetic, religious (incense) and medicinal purposes, and to embalm their dead. All of the essential oils were said to have antiseptic properties, which would slow down the decomposition of the deceased.

The Greeks

The ancient Greeks acquired much of their knowledge about aromatic plants and oils from the Egyptians. They to discovered that some odours of certain flowers were either stimulating or relaxing. They used olive oil to absorb the odour from flower petals or from herbs and used it for perfumed oil for both cosmetic and medicinal purposes. Greek soldiers when going into battle would take with them an ointment containing myrrh to treat their wounds.

Hippocrates was a Greek physician who was regarded as the 'father of medicine' he used essential oils to rid Athens of plague and also wrote about using plants, such as frankincense, myrrh, roses and opium for medicinal purposes.

The Romans

Many Greek doctors were employed in Rome as physicians and they shared their knowledge of aromatic oils with the Romans. The Romans not only used the essential oils for medicinal purposes but also to beautify themselves, applying oils both before and after bathing and also using them as perfume.

The Middle East

An Arab physician called Avicenna (AD 980-1037) wrote many books involving plants and their effects on the body. He is also thought to have invented the first distillation method for extracting aromatic oils from plants, rose being the first.

Medieval times

From the 14 th Century up until the 17 th Century plague swept Europe with devastating consequences. Bonfires were lit with aromatic wood in the streets to purify the air. A pomander of orange stuffed with cloves would be regularly carried. Doctors often wore nose-bags containing aromatic herbs, which was said to kill germs. The herbs commonly used were cinnamon and cloves.

The Chinese

May have been one of the first cultures to use aromatic plants for well-being. Their practices involved burning incense to help create harmony and balance.

Rene-Maurice Gattefosse

Rene-Maurice was a chemist whose family owned a perfumery business. While working in his lab one day he badly burnt his hand and plunged it into a container of lavender oil. He observed that the burn healed quickly without any blister or scar. He also discovered that many other of the essential oils had excellent antiseptic properties and were better than the antiseptics used at that time which were produced from chemicals and not plant materials. His first book, written in 1928 was called Aromatherapie the first time this term had been used.

In the 1930's a Frenchman called Albert Couvreur also published a book about The Medicinal Uses Of Essential Oils.

Dr Jean Valnet

During the 1940's and 50's Dr Valnet was a surgeon in the French army and had used essential oils to treat injured soldiers in the Second World War. He later used them with mentally ill patients in psychiatric hospitals. His own aromatherapy book was published in 1964 and entitled The Practice Of Aromatherapy.

Madame Marguerite Maury

Madame Maury was a French biochemist that did not want to advise people to ingest the essential oils. She decided she would apply them externally and did some research to find out what affect the oils had on the body both mentally and physically. She developed the method of diluting and applying essential oils by massage.

She later came to England in the 1950's and set up an aromatherapy clinic in London teaching beauty therapists how to use the oils in massage.

Robert Tisserand

Is the modern day expert in aromatherapy he started practicing as a therapist in 1969, founded a company to market essential oils and aromatherapy products in 1974, and wrote the first book in English on the subject in 1977 entitled The Art Of Aromatherapy, which is now published in ten different languages. He is on the editorial committee of the International Journal Of Aromatherapy, which he founded in 1988 and edited for 12 years. He works closely with doctors and herbalists, and tracks all the published scientific research relevant to essential oils. He co-founded several aromatherapy associations and is the principal of the Tisserand Institute a London based organisation he established in 1987. Robert's latest publication Essential Oil Safety is the first definitive reference guide for the aromatherapy industry on the safe use and application of over 300 essential oils.

Aromatherapy treatment is excellent for all types of stress related problems such as:

• Headaches

• Asthma

• Mouth ulcers

• High blood pressure

• Gastritis

• Irritable bowel syndrome

• Impotence

• Wind

• Psoriasis

• Colds and flu

• Eczema

• Nervous breakdown

• Menstrual problems

• Peptic ulcer

• Indigestion / heartburn

• Heart attack

• Depression

• Anxiety

An aromatherapy treatment will take about one hour and thirty minutes this includes the facial massage and consultation. A back massage only would take about thirty minutes.

Contra- indications

Aromatherapy is a very safe treatment, but there are certain conditions that the therapist should be aware of that may prevent treatment being carried out or require advice of a doctor.

• Any recent fracture or sprain

• Severe bruising, cuts or abrasion in treatment area

• Epilepsy

• Recent haemorrhage or swellings

• High/ low blood pressure

• Thrombosis/embolism

• Diabetes

• Spastic conditions

• Dysfunction of the nervous system

• Skin disorders/nail diseases/scalp infections

• Recent operations

• Varicose veins

• Pregnancy

• On abdomen during first two days of menstruation

• Sunburn

• Fever

• Infectious diseases

• Cancer

When experiencing an aromatherapy massage the therapist uses a variety of different types of massage movements called effleurage, petrissage, neuromuscular and lymphatic drainage.

Here are some oils that maybe used during a treatment and one use.