Essential oils can be extracted from the flowers, leaves, fruit, resin, wood and roots of over 400 aromatic plants.
The extraction process concentrates the essence of the plant. When used properly the oils can provide us with beneficial physical and psychological effects.
For example relaxing muscles and relieving mental tension as well as lifting, stabilising and balancing our moods.

Aromatherapy Treatment
Most people have an idea of the types of smells they like and dislike, so based on this I can normally offer a range of oils for them to choose from, then use one or two of their preferred oils in a blend with carrier oil for a relaxation massage, or use with other oils to stimulate or relax muscles during a therapeutic or sports massage.

It is interesting to note that no two people in this world are influenced by the same aromatic oil in exactly the same way and manner.
What is more, even the same person can be significantly affected differently, by the same oil depending on surroundings, time or mood.

Smell
Our sense of smell is the most basic of our five senses. Reception, interpretation, appreciation and analysis of smell are confined to the primitive brain called the limbic system.

Although humans can distinguish over 10 thousand different odours, we can only describe smell in a limited way. For example as pleasant or unpleasant, familiar or unfamiliar, like or unlike. We cannot describe its texture, flavour, shape or colour as we can with sight, sound, taste or touch.

When a smell enters our nose it meets millions of receptor neurons. These receptors convert the smell into a message which is sent to the olfactory bulb.
There the smell is processed and passed onto the olfactory cortex in the temporal lobe or to the limbic system.

The limbic system is basically made up of the hypothalamus, the hippocampus and the amygdalae.
The hypothalamus strives to maintain homeostasis in the body. It also affects, through the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems things like blood pressure, heart rate, the sleep/awake response and emotional arousal.
The hippocampus converts short-term memory into long-term memory and the amygdalae stores and processes the memory of emotional reactions (Marieb, 2003).

So how does aromatherapy fit into this? Every essential oil has therapeutic properties, for example stimulating, calming, balancing and sedating.
When we inhale an essential oil, it travels the smell pathway to the limbic system