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What Is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy is the practice of using essential oils from herbs, trees, and plants for therapeutic purposes. The technique has been around for thousands of years, but the term wasn't coined until 1928, when French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse first used it after noticing the curative effects of essential oils during his work treating the wounded in World War I.
Usually practitioners mix a pure form of a scent with oil, such as vegetable oil, and massage it into the client’s body. The scents can also be added to bathwater or inhaled. Though everyone reacts individually to smells, aromatherapists link scents to specific effects: Frankincense gets us breathing more deeply, they say, while lavender and chamomile leave us relaxed.
The essential oils are thought to alter the autonomic nervous system, which controls automatic responses such as breathing and circulation. But only unadulterated oils are therapeutic: Perfumes, shampoos, and other nice-smelling concoctions don’t do the trick.
