Positive Health Magazine - Articles about Aromatherapy

Note about this page: The latest issue of Positive Health magazine is published on the 4th Thursday of each month. The articles from that issue (or summaries thereof) are placed on this web site on or about the same date.

Recipes For Health And Beauty Using Essential Oils. Edited extract from The Aromatherapy Kitchen by Nicola Jenkins. This feature shows you how to make a wide selection of stimulating and soothing products for cleansing, toning and moisturising, as well as wonderful natural oils and bubble baths to complete your aromatherapy routine. The recipes should not take more than ten minutes to produce, and will be ready for immediate use.

Choosing Oils to Balance the Chakras and Auras By Dr Glennis Rogerson Dr Rogerson is a practising therapist who has written a course on Chinese Medical Theory. This article is a small part of the course material and covers how essential oils can be used to affect the hormonal balance of the body through effects on the seven chakras and the glands.

Aromatherapy for Pain Relief by Bob and Rhiannon Harris The authors, who are essential oil resource consultants, illustrate how aromatherapy can be used effectively in the complex area of pain management.

Hydrosols – Aqueous Distillate of Essential Oils by Suzanne Catty The author of this article is a fully qualified aromatherapy practitioner, educator, researcher and author who, through her Canadian company Acqua Vita imports organic, wild and authentic essential oils and hydrosols from distillers all over the world.

Properties of Good Quality Essential Oils by Lowana Veal The author offers useful advice on how to choose a good quality, unadulterated oil by examining the Latin names given, specific components listed, country of origin, part of the plant used, price, batch number, GC/MS readout, 'best before' date, labelling and organic alternatives.

Memories of My Trip to Domaine de L'Ylang-Ylang by Theresa Lloyd This is the story of the author's first inspiring visit to Mauritius in January 2001 and first long-haul flight. It was there that she discovered a remote site called Domaine de L'Ylang Ylang, a long established essential oil distillery.

Cooking with Organic Aromatherapy Essential Oils by Kolinka Zinovieff and Menkit Prince Although the use of essential oils in massage, steam inhalations, baths and beauty products is not new, the authors have taken the concept one step further by exploring the use of organic aromatherapy essential oils in cooking.

The Fragrant Journey by Kerry Doyle The overwhelming passion of my life instigated the journey beyond the shores of my native England, the place of my excellent training and the home of my practice and small distribution business. It was an intended exploration of my senses, to discover the sensuality, the source, the growing aromatic plant which, of course, is the beginning of essential oils.

Integrity of Essential Oils by Dr Akash Chopra and Julian Franklin One of the most frequently asked, and debated questions is: how do we know that the essential oil is ‘pure’? . . . One would think it is a simple process to establish whether an essential oil has been tampered with during its journey from a farmer to manufacturer, and finally to the consumer.

Antiviral and Antimicrobial Properties of Essential Oils by Dominique Baudoux During the 1960s, Dr Jean Valnet gave rise to the rebirth of aromatherapy, which split up into several schools, allowing thousands of doctors to get familiar with an anti-infectious technique not acknowledged by medical schools. Eager to meet their colleagues’ demands, pharmacists and some biology labs that practised aromatograms joined with practitioners, creating a unique medical-pharmaceutical dynamic. Encouraged by hundreds of thousands of patients, a wide-ranging movement was born.

Holistic Skin Care: How to make your own personalized skin products by Sue Mann Making your own products gives you the freedom to tailor the ingredients to your specific needs and tastes; it also allows you to avoid the use of petro-chemical by-products such as liquid paraffin and mineral oils.

Aromatology: Its History and Uses by Penny Price In the UK for various reasons, not least among them ignorance and fear, aromatherapy has been reduced to a fraction of its potential. It is no more than ‘massage with smells’ to so many people.

Organic Production of Essential Oils in the UK by Dr Jane Collins Agriculture, our most important global industry, provides the world’s population with food from plants and animals. Farmers grow plants and animals to harvest as foodstuffs and are limited, mostly, by the local weather, pests, weeds, plant and animal diseases. This means that in the UK, in our cultivated fields, pastures and orchards, we can only grow plants (as crops) which can withstand low temperatures and frost.

Aromatherapy, Massage and Chinese Medicine by Joanne Baker The physical and mental disorders of the individual too often reflect imbalances in the world at large. In Chinese medicine it was deemed important to bring the energy of the body into balance with the natural environment. Disease was attributable to changes brought about by the weather, the seasons or personal infringement of the natural law.

Healing Unresolved Trauma Through Meta-Aromatherapy by Christine Westwood Meta-Aromatherapy as the name implies goes beyond the very beneficial use of the essential oils alone. It uses a number of therapies in combination which are particularly effective for chronic conditions and uses the psychological aspects of essential oils.

Tea Tree Oil by Cynthia Olsen In today's societies, natural medicine is becoming more mainstream. The baby boomers now make up a large portion of consumers in the natural products industry. Sales of herbs in the United States market alone in the natural health food stores and chain stores rose over 20% between 1994 and 1996, and continue to rise in popularity, while other countries in the world are following suit.

The Effect of Aromatherapy Treatment on Raised Arterial Blood Pressure by Jolanta Basnyet Aromatherapy treatment is widely used for the purpose of relaxation and although the effects of aromatherapy massage are controversial, there is a shortage of controlled studies to substantiate its beneficial effect on the raised arterial blood pressure.

Links to other Aromatherapy web sites

Terrorist Attacks - Volunteer to help! United AromatherapyEffort are looking for volunteer aromatherapists as well as donated supplies to assist rescue workers with their physical and psychological traumas.

Audrey Leigh Lots of useful information about aromatherapy, including oil fact sheets and detailed information for many conditions. Also has a very good message board.

Aromatherapy An introductory article on aromatherapy

Aromatherapy Catalog, The Commercial site with plenty of good information, articles and glossary.

Aromatherapy Global Online Research Archives An archive of articles on aromatherapy from people all around the world. Articles are either hyperlinked or have mail links to the authors. Really useful resource for anyone doing research.

Aroma Tours A travel company organising interesting tours of the most aromatic areas of the world.

Aromatherapy Unlimited Commercial site with some useful information on oils and training.

Aroma Web Excellent site with a great deal of information and comprehensive links.

Australasian College of Herbal Studies This oregon based college has some useful resources including a virtual library.

Bassett Aromatherapy Commercial site with some useful information.

Better Botanicals Commercial company with some good basic herbal information.

Bird’s Encyclopedia of Aromatherapy A slightly eccentric but informative site with articles and links.

Botanical.Com Home Page, The An excellent herbal site with Grieves’ Modern Herbal online. Traditional herbal information can be useful in developing an understanding of the nature of oils.

Essential Oil Company, The Commercial site with some useful information.

Fleur Aromatherapy Commercial site with some useful information and services.

Fragrant World Guide to Aromatherapy A really useful site with good links and information. A comprehensive directory of more than five hundred practitioners and suppliers.

Frontier Herbs Commercial herb and oil supplier with plenty of information.

Michel Vanhove’s International Aromatherapy Pages A superb site with comprehensive articles, pictures and links. Pages in four different languages.

Leydet Aromatherapy Commercial site

Tea Tree Oil Information Web Site Plenty of information on Tea Tree oil and its uses.

Essential Oils from the Tibetan Shangri-La by Jolanta Basnyet My main purpose of this year’s visit to India and Nepal was to re-discover and explore in greater depth the area of essential oils, the availability and quality of natural raw materials for the extraction of essential oils and first and foremost their efficacy when applied in treating different conditions.

Oils to the Rescue in Egypt by Susanna White There was an accident just waiting to happen. Sloppy tour guides abandoning us in temperatures of over 40 degrees and dodgy coaches. Thank goodness I’d brought my essential oils!

Hydrolats for Therapeutic Use by Barbara Payne From time to time you may have seen a product which seems to bear a variety of names such as hydrolat, hydrosol, floral water, distillate, and aromatic water, to name but a few and when examining the toiletries on sale you may also encounter a range of others such as toilet water, rose water, and Eau de Toilet. Confused? You are not alone! What are these substances? How do we obtain them? What can we use them for?

Aromatherapy and Massage for people with a learning disability by Shirley Durell During my nurse training, I was able to observe Aromatherapists apply aromatherapy and massage to people with a learning disability. I also studied in depth the relevant literature. This increased my awareness of the potential of these therapies and instilled in me the need to consider the senses of smell and touch within this client group. This article by reviewing such literature, will discuss how the combined application of these therapies can contribute holistically to the lives of people with a learning disability.

The Need for Quality in Essential Oils by Kolinka Zinovieff Sadly, most aromatherapy essential oils on the market are of low quality: they are often synthetic or 'perfume grade'. This means they have little or no therapeutic effect – in other words they simply do not work. This unfortunately confirms the sceptics view that "aromatherapy has no effect what so ever".

Parkinson Disease Project by Shirley Price The idea to carry out a trial on people suffering from Parkinson’s Disease originated when a dear friend of mine contracted the illness, but was sceptical about trying aromatherapy.

The Profession, Standards and Safety of Oils by Sylvia Baker The Aromatherapy Organisation Council’s (AOC) pre-eminent position for the aromatherapy profession was confirmed earlier this year when it was granted the first independent seat on the UK Government sponsored Independent Care Organisations overseeing National Occupational Standards for Complementary Medicine, a position reserved for organisations demonstrating they are the acknowledged leading body for their therapy.

The Use of Essential Oils by Maureen Farrell If we focus on the therapeutic use of essential oils and on aromatherapy, we can explore at various levels. Perhaps the most obvious is that of the pharmacological and physiological effect; the concept of the “magic bullet” and the allopathic approach of matching a remedy to a symptom.

Aromatherapy Energetics An Oriental Approach by Gabriel Mojay It may at first sight seems strange to apply to aromatherapy (a therapeutic approach that seems so distinctly European) the theories of an ancient medical tradition that originated in China. That is, until we reflect that vital energy – whether we we call it Qi or Dynameis – is as universal to humanity as is aromatic plants to the planet.

Aromatherapy Plant to the Bottle by Jan Kusmirek Whilst great work is being done by various organisations, such as the Aromatherapy Organisations Council which is the central body for UK aromatherapy organisations, as well as practitioner organisations like the International Federation of Aromatherapists and the Register of Qualified aromatherapists, there are nevertheless diverse opinions as to what constitutes good and bad courses, schools, essential oils etc.

Integrated Natural Therapies by Teddy Fearnhamm “Our most fervent desire as aromatherapists is to get aromatherapy recognised and used as a serious alternative to traditional medicine.” Reading these words in a recently written article from overseas I was reminded how very far we have progressed in the United Kingdom in the discipline of clinical and scientific aromatherapy.


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