How Do Essential Oils Work
"Aromatherapy" is a phrase coined by Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, Ph.D., in 1920, who was a French cosmetic chemist. While working in his laboratory, he had an accident that resulted in a third degree thermal burn of his hand and forearm. He plunged his arm into a vat of lavender oil, thinking that it was water. To his surprise, the burning slowly decreased and then stopped within a few moments. Over a period of time, with the continual application of lavender oil, the burn healed completely without a trace of a scar. As a chemist, he analyzed the essential oil of lavender and discovered that it contained many substances referred to as chemical constituents or chemical properties. As a result of this, Dr. Gattefosse determined that essential oils contained tremendous healing properties.
Aromatherapy works only with scents derived from natural living sources, such as flowers, seeds and roots. Synthetic scents have 'smell' but no energy, and any sensitive nose can readily tell the difference. In 160, the French medical journal L'Hopital published an article on aromatherapy by Dr. J. Valent, in which he explains this mechanism as follows:
Carried by the bloodstream, the ionized plant aroma impregnates every corner of the body, powerfully revitalized the polarized and discharged cells, replenishes electronic shortages by recharging the bioelectromagnetic batteries, and disperses cellular residue by dissolving the viscous and diseased substances of body fluids. It oxidizes poisonous metabolic waste products, increases energy balance, frees the mechanism of organic oxidation and self-regulation, and reaches the lungs and kidneys, whence it is excreted or exhaled without trace.
In the resin or oil being released from the plant, we find trace elements of nutrients, hormones, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, antibodies, and antifungal, antibacterial, anti-infectious, antiseptic, and immune-stimulating properties. Another key agent found present in that resin is OXYGEN. Oxygen molecules are part of the chemical elements of the resin, such as alcohols, phenols, esters, sesquiterpenes, terpinols, etc., which together create an essential oil.
The plant releases the oil in order to clean the break, kill bacteria and start the regeneration process. When blood is released because of broken skin, it is for the same purpose: to clean the wound, kill the bacteria, prevent infection, and begin the healing and regeneration process. A simple comparison of the plant and the human body shows us a precise similarity, as both the oil and the blood are the transporters of the fundamental nutrients necessary to feed and nurture the cells.
Furthermore, the essential oil has the ability in its chemical structure to penetrate the cell wall and transport oxygen and nutrients inside the cell, thus increasing cellular oxygen and giving more support to the immune system. Research has shown that with their immune-stimulating properties, essential oils enhance and support the building of the immune system, whether they are inhaled or rubbed on the body topically. Even those who contract a cold or the flu recover 70 percent faster using essential oils.