Aromatherapy is one of the fastest growing areas among natural therapies. It consists of the words Aroma + Thrapy. It means treatment with smell. There are hundreds of medicinal plants divided into species. These plants, herbs, vegetables, fruits and their leaves, branches, flowers, stems and roots are treated with methods such as decoction, brewing, poultice, lotion, tincture.
Aromatherapy dates back 6000 years. Greeks, Romans and Ancient Egyptians used aromatic oils. The Egyptian physician Imhotep recommended fragrant aromatic oils for bathing, massage and embalming the dead 6000 years ago. The use of aromatherapy in the modern era began with the French chemist Rene Maurice Gattefosse, who called the therapeutic use of plant oils aromatherapy. After a burn on his hand was healed without a scar with lavender oil, he began to investigate the physical and psychotherapeutic effects of other plant oils. When French surgeon Dr. Jean Valnet started to use herbal oils for germicidal purposes, Marguerite Maury began to use aromatherapy as a natural treatment method and to write it in the prescriptions of her patients.
The name of the special massage applied with aromatherapy is shiatsu. Its origin is based in the Far East. Aromatic oils used in massage should be used with a carrier vegetable oil. It should not be used alone, it may be caustic. The ratio should be 98% carrier + 2% aromatherapy oil. Aromatherapy is good for stress-related disorders, blood pressure, muscle and headaches, stomach disorders and depression. In order to relieve these ailments, it is necessary to know very well the properties of the plants and which plant does what.
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