Essential Oil Education

As you go through life, unless you don’t have the ability to smell (anosmia) you have been picking up smells and registering them in your brain as either pleasant or unpleasant. You have a very good memory and once you register a fragrance the next time you smell it, your brain identifies it by name or memory.

So how do we create a pleasing fragrance for spiritual awareness?

Try starting with fragrances that are known to you that have been soothing, comforting and healing for you. Was it the smell of incense when you visited a majestic church? Was it the smell of cinnamon when your mother or grandmother was cooking? Was it the fragrance of roses or other delectable flowers in your garden? Idenify those fragrances and then gather therapeutic (not perfume grade) essential oils. The perfume grade oils have no healing ability to them at all and may even contain harmful additives or have some of the richer components removed. Once you have your therapeutic oils identified and gathered you don’t want to just “mix” them together. Having a balanced blend is critical to having a good experience. Whenever in doubt, simply just use one oil at a time. If you invite too many “stars” to the party their fragrances will compete for attention.  I recommend using just one oil at a time until you gain a level of comfort in working with them.

Now read up about the oils you have chosen. What qualities do they possess? What is their chemistry like? You will want to balance 50-60% of the blend with oils high in phenols or ketones, 20-40% monoterpenes, and 5-15% sesquiterpenes. More about this topic in the next post.

PS: Want to know more about blending for spiritual awareness? Go to my site at http://www.ISHAhealing.com and click on our schedule of classes. Blending is taught in the second course of our certification in clinical aromatherapy program.