What Are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are derived from plants. Every single essential oil has a unique medicinal benefit and sometimes work differently for each individual. They have been around for centuries and over the last few years, have become mainstream in many homes. Just about everywhere you go, you will see essential oils on shelves at your local retail store, dollar store and drug store. This has led to hundreds of published studies done on the effectiveness of essential oils and human health...and much controversy over what is pure, natural or therapeutic.
Here's a brief history to further clarify where essential oils are derived from and some very basic theories about their counterpart. They are derived from an aromatic plant using a careful steam distillation process. Pure Essential Oil is 50-70% more powerful than the dried counterpart - meaning just one drop of peppermint essential oil is equivalent to drinking 28 tea bags peppermint tea. Each oil has hundreds of singular compounds in them, and each compound can have a different benefit - ie. peppermint oil is commonly used to support upset stomach, however, it's also used to support tension aches and has an invigorating effect to perk you up from a sluggish stance.
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Theoretically, the benefits of essential oils are astounding. When used aromatically for mood support (by smelling them), the aromatic compounds can essentially affect change in the limbic center of the brain (the part that controls emotions and neurotransmitter production). The same theory applies when used in a diffuser or applied directly to the skin.
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My favourite way to use essential oil is to apply it on the bottom of my feet. This allows for quick absorption into your blood stream in less than 30 seconds and once in your bloodstream, they have access to every cell in the body. Because every cell in our body is protected by a layer of fat, it's difficult for synthetic drugs to penetrate these layers. Essential oils, on the other hand, can penetrate that layer because they are fat-soluble (meaning they work on a cellular level - ie. immune support to protect against viruses, support of the health of our DNA replication and improving cellular communication!
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I always like to recommend essential oils to my clients and sharing ways they can be used to assist them emotionally, support for their immune system, respiratory health, hormonal imbalances, musculoskeletal system, skin care and nutrition. It's my way of giving back and educating individuals about reducing unnecessary toxins in my body.
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I am proud of the Essential Oil company I'm a part of due to the quality and integrity of their products and their commitment to "....providing only the highest quality and purest essential oils so that families could know with surety that they were using only the best to promote health and wellness for their loved ones. This commitment lead to the creation of a new standard of therapeutic quality: CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade®."
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