Aromatherapy

Essential oils are more than fragrant substances
for the aromatisation of our living rooms.
They are the manifestation of man's dream
to capture the scents of nature.
Perhaps these captured scents of flowers,
plants and roots are encoded messages
with which nature intends
to lead man back to his origins.
If this is the case,
aroma therapy will be the future
means of communication
with wholesome qualities that allows man
and nature to get together again.
Axel Meyer

Going right back to antiquity, fragrant essences played an important role in a great many advanced civilisations. Pharaohs and kings surrounded themselves with the most precious and finest fragrances, because pleasant smells and aromas were associated with divinity, purity and power. But even in those times aromatic essences were not only used to promote beauty and a feeling of well-being, they also formed an integral part of natural medicine, available in the form of balms, baths, ointments, inhalations and massage oils.

So aromatherapy is not a recent invention of the health and well-being industry, it is a centuries-old discipline that has a positive effect on the body, mind and soul. In the plants from which they are derived, the somewhat volatile essential oils perform an important function in protecting the plant from attack, heat, cold and pests, whilst also attracting bees with their scent, thus helping to propagate species.

With aromatherapy, pure essential oils involving the traditional kinds of formulations found in natural remedies are used in a variety of ways and as an effective means of addressing a whole range of issues (e.g. by applying them as ointments or massage oils or using them in baths or aromatic lamps). Essential oils are highly concentrated plant extracts that are obtained by means of steam distillation, expression from peel or extraction. The versatile nature of plant essences and their vast range of possible applications can be traced back to the multitude of ingredients they contain (it is not uncommon for one oil to have more than 400 ingredients!); this might go some way to explaining the often spectacular success which aromatherapy can achieve.

Many people today want to follow a holistic approach when it comes to their health; aromatherapy is the ideal holistic treatment, as it not only addresses physical symptoms, but also the patient’s mind and soul. Some essential oils have even been registered as natural pharmaceutical products, such as eucalyptus, peppermint and pine needles. In Germany, aromatherapy is becoming more and more popular and the numbers of people seeking to return to the healing powers of nature are increasing all the time.