Aromatherapy History

Introduction

I have been given the task of writing an essay about Aromatherapy. In this essay I will talk about the history of aromatherapy and its pioneers. I will also talk about oils and the different methods that are used to extract oils from a wide range of sources, the ways that we pick oils for specific needs and how we prepare the oils before we use them on a client during massage treatments. I will then go on to talk about the different types of massage and how we can incorporate different oils into them for the certain needs and circumstances of each individual client. I will also discuss other ways of using oils other than during aromatherapy massage. I will talk about contraindications of aromatherapy treatments and conditions

It was an Egyptian man called Imhotep who had a great knowledge of advanced medicine through years of research whilst using infused oils and aromatic ointments. (Paterson, 2006). Medical papers have been discovered from the 1500’s which are known to hold various recipes and remedies in a wide range of ailments that have been used in Egyptian medicine at some point in time. Some of these methods are still used today and the application is still much the same as they were then. Remedies that are dated back to the first century most of which are still used in today's aromatherapy. Incense that were commonly used in people's homes were also formed from aromatics. They

I will talk about these different sources and what processes are used to extract the oils from the source. When oils are extracted from plants there are different ways that they can be extracted from the pant this is mainly due to where the plants have been grown, the climate that they have been grown in and it can also depend on the soil that is used when the plant was planted. It is even said that when a plant is harvest and way it was harvested can depend on how they will then choose what extraction method will be used. To ensure that you are going to get the best quality from the source. It is extremely important that you get the most natural biochemistry of the plant, as it will then mean that you are going to the best oils sourced. There any many different ways of sourcing essential oils. One of the ways that we extract an oil can be through Solvent extraction. This is when a solvent called hydrocarbon is used to dissolve the essential oils from the plant. This Is done by adding the solvent to the plant. The dissolved essential oil is then distiller by filtering and concentrating the oil, until you have a combination of resin, wax and essential oil this is know as the concentrate. Pure alcohol is then added to the concentrate which will eventually evaporate and leave behind the oil. Steam distillation is